WIFI Poor in part of the house - Can i add another Wifi router?

kwinabeeste

I get poor wifi in part of the house as its a fair bit from the main router. I have another router so is it possible to just connect the second one to the main router with a lan cable (a long one!!) ?

Not sure if I am saying that correctly so any help would be appreciated.

PogMoThoin

What you need is a wireless access point and it needs to be on a different channel far away from the channel your original wifi router is on or they will interfere

PlanIT Computing

kwinabeeste wrote: »

I get poor wifi in part of the house as its a fair bit from the main router. I have another router so is it possible to just connect the second one to the main router with a lan cable (a long one!!) ?

Not sure if I am saying that correctly so any help would be appreciated.

What brand are the routers?

You'll need to set the same ssid / security settings up on both routers and turn DHCP OFF on the second router.

Also, try and set them on the same subnet with different addresses ( 192.168.1.254 - primary, 192.168.1.253 - secondary etc )

Voodoo2

kwinabeeste wrote: »

I get poor wifi in part of the house as its a fair bit from the main router. I have another router so is it possible to just connect the second one to the main router with a lan cable (a long one!!) ?

Not sure if I am saying that correctly so any help would be appreciated.

Yes you can if you just want internet - If you plug in to the a LAN port of your main one that you currently use, from there connect it to the WAN port of the second one you have you will have internet etc. but you will have issues sharing stuff over the network - Make sure they are on different IP ranges so Main router e.g 192.168.0.1 and your second router DHCP set to 10.0.0.1 and set to different WiFi channels etc

The easy way I would do if you have two routers you may as well instead of buying another piece of kit and save a bit of money seen as you the second router and willing to run a cable - Is run your long cable to where you want to put your 2nd rounter - On the SECOND router disable DHCP and plug the cable from your main rounter into a LAN port - If your router is G-Only set the SSID's the same but on different channels so CH1 on main router and CH12 on the second one just give some air space. If your routers are N dont do this as it leads to other problems but if its just for web browsing it will be perfect

If you need any help of I havent made it clear just let me know

Gun Shy

Voodoo2 wrote: »

kwinabeeste wrote: »

The easy way I would do if you have two routers you may as well instead of buying another piece of kit and save a bit of money seen as you the second router and willing to run a cable - Is run your long cable to where you want to put your 2nd rounter - On the SECOND router disable DHCP and plug the cable from your main rounter into a LAN port - If your router is G-Only set the SSID's the same but on different channels so CH1 on main router and CH12 on the second one just give some air space. If your routers are N dont do this as it leads to other problems but if its just for web browsing it will be perfect

If you need any help of I havent made it clear just let me know

You make it sound so simple :-))

Thanks I have the same problem as the first poster and just been given a spare Eircom router. I have cat 5 already run when I did the extension just need to figure out the connectors to join them up in the attic.
If I run across a problem I'll be back and thanks again.

Voodoo2

Gun Shy wrote: »

Voodoo2 wrote: »

You make it sound so simple :-))

Thanks I have the same problem as the first poster and just been given a spare Eircom router. I have cat 5 already run when I did the extension just need to figure out the connectors to join them up in the attic.
If I run across a problem I'll be back and thanks again.

Well if we all had plenty of money to be spending on new equipment we could make uber effecient networks but when you have to work with what you got it works out well too

moomooman

Hi,

I went through this not so long ago. Main router located in the attic but wifi wasnt strong enough on the ground floor, so put an Eircom Netopia router (the free one they provide) in the hallway which was set to "Bridging mode".

Once I connected the Eircom router to the main one in the attic (via Powerline adapters rather than Cat5 but the principle is the same) it broadcast WiFi covering the downstairs. Working perfectly.

It is working but probably not set up in the most elegant fashion. I gave the Eircom a different SSID otherwise I had two WiFi networks being detected showing the same SSID, which didnt seem right to me, but hey its working right?

Gun Shy

moomooman wrote: »

Hi,

?

Thanks to all here, should (hopefully) be able to sort it out over the weekend. Will try my best to muddle through the technical parts of it. Will be fun because basically haven't a clue but posts here seem to make it straightforward enough.
Got a spare netopia from a friend and another promised so that should cover whole house. Not a big house but extension is sort of funny and causes problems with signal.
Thanks all

PhantomShrimp

Hi,

I've searched and searched and this is the closest thread I could find.

We upgraded to UPC and received a Thomson modem. As above the wireless reception upstairs is poor. Every room in the house has a UPC access point (don't know if this is relevant). We also have a SMC router and thought we could get the two to talk to each other and plonk the SMC upstairs as a wireless extension point. We failed.

Has anyone done this through solely wifi? We are renting and I don't want to run a cable all over the house.

Can anyone help please? I've tried ehow, microsoft, thomson and SMC and failed.

Thanks.
PS

jimmycrackcorm

I've just added a similar reply to another thread where I have the same issue and used homeplug network adapters plugged into the electrical sockets with a second upstairs WiFi router.

Gun Shy

Voodoo2 wrote: »

Yes you can if you just want internet - If you plug in to the a LAN port of your main one that you currently use, from there connect it to the WAN port of the second one you have you will have internet etc. but you will have issues sharing stuff over the network - Make sure they are on different IP ranges so Main router e.g 192.168.0.1 and your second router DHCP set to 10.0.0.1 and set to different WiFi channels etc

The easy way I would do if you have two routers you may as well instead of buying another piece of kit and save a bit of money seen as you the second router and willing to run a cable - Is run your long cable to where you want to put your 2nd rounter - On the SECOND router disable DHCP and plug the cable from your main rounter into a LAN port - If your router is G-Only set the SSID's the same but on different channels so CH1 on main router and CH12 on the second one just give some air space. If your routers are N dont do this as it leads to other problems but if its just for web browsing it will be perfect

If you need any help of I havent made it clear just let me know

OK so Im having problems

Hope you can help again, I cant seem to be able to disable DHCP on the second Netopia router.
have only a basic grasp of what I'm trying to do here but went into expert mode and found DHCP but it dosent give me the option to turn off.

coolpix23

Open a browser, put 192.168.1.254 into the address. Go to "Expert Mode" then "Configure" then "Advanced" then "DHC Server" and un tick "DHCP Server Enable"

If you need to change the channel it's in "Expert Mode" then "Configure" then "Advanced" then "Wireless" then "Advanced Configuration Options". You need to change the "Default Channel" and change "AutoChannel Setting" to "OFF - Use default". Supposetly 1, 6 and 11 don't overlap.