Two wireless routers, two locations

I was wondering, if it is possible to connect two wireless routers into one wired dsl modem and placing the wireless router in two different location. Which would cause the the two locations to have wireless and only using one provider.

Ex: One wireless router connected to the modem which is placed in the central house. Another wireless router connected to the previous router and placed in another house (back of the central house) .

I hope you guys understand what i'm trying to say

In theory would this work? If so, how?

 

If i'm understanding you correctly, you are basically trying to extend the wireless range in your house? If so, you could just purchase a wireless repeater instead of another router.

From MS

 

Yeah, I thought about using a repeater. Thanks for suggustion btw

What i meant is One wireless router connected to the modem which is placed in the central house. *edit* Another wireless router connected to the previous router by hard wired and placed in another house (back of the central house) .

 

Yes its easily done, I've done it a few times. Here's how:

1. on your computer (connected to router #1) run IPCONFIG (start > run > cmd > ipconfig) and note the IP, subnet, and default gateway.
2. plug laptop into one of the 2nd wireless router's 4 ports on the back with Ethernet cable and access the routers admin menu.
3. in wireless router #2's admin menu, set it to static IP above router #1's dhcp IP range (router #1 is giving out IP's from 192.168.0.100 to 192.168.0.200 - then set router #2 ip to 192.168.0.201), set the same subnet (probably 255.255.255.0), and set the DNS server to the IP that your IPCONFIG listed as "Default Gateway".
4. on wireless router #2, turn off dhcp, turn on WEP or WPA password protection and set a password for your wireless. then save and disconnect the router from laptop. If you make a mistake, do a full reset on the router and try again.
5. connect router #2 to one of the 4ports on the back of router #1 using a crossover Ethernet cable. do not plug cable into either of the routers "wan port".
6. Now you will have 2 wireless routers broadcasting. Set each to a different ssid and channel. I recommend you only use channels 1,6, or 11 (found that out in a troubleshooting article).

 

Ah...Thank you!

 

I did a search of these forums and came across this thread; I am having trouble getting signal on my laptop once I'm out on the back patio and so am trying to find some solutions. Am a network/wireless novice, at best, and so am having trouble understanding all the different terminology/potential options . With the equipment in my signature, can someone please recommend the most cost-effective solution? The goal is simply to extend (I think) the wireless range so I have connectivity on the laptop outside the house....thanks v. much and pardon the low-level question....

 

What does your current layout look like - that is, where is your modem (DSL or cable) located, where is the router located, and do you have any systems that require a wired as opposed to a wireless connection?

 

The current layout is quite simple, actually. The DLink router is hooked up to the cable directly, obviously. No computer (there are 2 laptops in the house) is directly hooked up/wired to the router and both computers simply connect wirelessly. I don't have anything that needs a wired connection, as far as I know.

The router is in the den (along with a TV) at the front end of the house. Connection INSIDE the house is fine in any room (some better than others, but all good enough) but once I take the laptop outside to the back patio, the connection drops dramatically to the point where sometimes it drops altogether and cannot reconnect.

Hope that's enough info.? Thanks!

 

As per my experience never use a repeater. In my case it definitely increased 25% signals to 100% but the seepd of net decreased by 75%.

 

Buy a good wifi router or access point, place it at the place where u need signals, connect it with the first one using cat5 (definitely u need to configure it, the 2nd one, details regarding which u can easily locate on these forums) and u r ready to go. Trust me this is the best solution which i got after searching for lot many days..

 

Basically, from your description it sounds like the back patio is the area of the house that's farthest away from your current router, so the signal will be weakest out there, and most likely the structure of the house's back wall is further cutting down the signal.

The first thing I would check is to make sure that the internal wireless cards in each of your computers is set to operate at maximum transmit and receive power.

Also, do you know if there are a lot of other networks in your neighborhood? If there are, it's possible that your router is set to broadcast on a congested channel; the solution to that would be to set the channel selection to "auto" so the router chooses the best channel, or else to see which of the channels contains the most other networks, and then change your channel to the least-crowded channel.

Beyond that, arihantddn's suggestion is probably the best/easiest solution, although that will depend on whether or not you can run some ethernet cable from the den as far back toward the back patio as possible.

 

I think you are exactly right, Shyster. I think the brick walls of the house plays a big part. I say this because in the kitchen (at the back of the house), I can get great reception. However, as soon as I step out to the patio (from the kitchen), the reception drops dramatically.....there are a few other networks in the 'hood, for sure, as they show up when I do the "show available network" option. I think the channel selection is already "auto".

Arihantddn's suggestion may not work, as I don't necessary think i can run a hard cable between the router in the den (front of house) to the back of the house. As such, I was hoping there is some wireless solution, where the router in the den can wireless connect to a second piece that I would place in the back of the house and together, the range would be extended for use in the back patio.....

Does this make sense? Sorry, am very much a novice when it comes to wireless and networking matters ....thanks to all for your help and advice!

 

Do you also have a lot of glass in that back wall, like a sliding glass door, or big double-paned windows? Glass is one of the worst signal attenuators for wi-fi signals. Of course, brick is pretty good at it, too (although glass is worse).

I wouldn't worry too much about being a novice - we all were (and most probably still are ) and most of what I've learned, I've learned here, so it's only fair that I keep the knowledge-flow going.

There are probably three potential alternatives to hardwiring an access point: (i) getting a router with better transmission/reception characteristics, (ii) beefing up the antennas, e.g., with directional antennas, so that more of the signal goes toward the back than currently, or (iii) setting up a repeater that will take the signal from the router and repeat it out to the back patio.

So, to begin with, what specific make/model of router are you using?

 

Hi Shyster, the back patio doors are french doors with glass panes, but even with the back doors open, the signal is no better. In fact, I have tried to sit right by the doors on the patio (with the doors open) and the signal is still crap; whereas if I come back inside, no more than 3 steps inside, the signal is back on full. It's very strange, really!

I have a DLink 655, and the laptop in question is a Vista 64 with an Intel 5300. I read a lot of reviews before picking up the rounter, so I suspect (i) is not the route to go (i.e. get a better router)? I'm not knowledgeable about options (ii) or (iii), but obviously would opt for the cheaper option since all I'm looking for is better internet connection while on patio (i.e. not necessary to have full signal for transferring files wirelessly or anything like that)....

Again, thanks v. much!

 

Then, to me at least, it sounds like the path of least resistance is to get a wireless repeater, keeping in mind that the repeater may cut your throughput, but if you're not looking to do extreme gaming while lounging on the patio, it should probably not cause a tremendous amount of noticeable delay.

It's usually best to stay with the same brand (for maximum compatibility), and since you have the DLink router already, you might consider going with the DLink DWL-2100AP, which is a high-speed 802.11g access point that can also act as a wireless repeater.

 

Does it matter that the access point/repeater is a G while the router is an N? I went on the Dlink website and didn't find one that was for the 655; there was an access point device for the 855, but not the 655....?

Also, when you say the repeater may cut the throughput, does it mean it may affect the throughput EVERYWHERE, or just in the patio where the signal is probably relayed through the repeater? In other words, will the speed also decrease in the rest of the house, where I typically get 130Mbps now?

Thanks for your continuing assistance, much appreciated!

 

Since 802.11-N wireless is backward compatible with 802.11 a/b/g wireless protocols, I don't think that the fact that the repeater is G and the router N will break the system; however, it will slow it down to the G speed (theoretically 54Mbits/sec, or 108Mbits/sec for super-G; actual throughput is a lot lower). the 655 operates at 2.4GHz as well, so it should be compatible with that repeater.

I don't know if the repeater would reduce throughput on your entire network, but since it's essentially doubling up each broadcasted packet, there will be a lot more traffic in the air, which will undoubtedly slow down both systems connected through the repeater and systems connected directly to the router.

So, as a worst-case scenario, assume that the G repeater will both reduce your entire network speed to G speed and will also cut the throughput on the entire network in half (since it's doubling every packet that it repeats). According to this wi-fi planet article, actual throughput on a 54Mbits/sec 802.11g network is about 18-22Mbits/sec. Thus, if the repeater cuts throughput in half, you would be getting 9-11Mbits/sec of actual performance. However, unless you're trying to stream video or audio around the house on your network all the time, I doubt if you would notice much of a difference. One way to tell is to go into your performance monitors (via the control panel) and then check to see what the actual total Bytes/sec rate is for your computer - this is the actual rate at which your computer has been sending/receiving bytes from the wireless router. Multiply that by 8 and you more or less have the actual bits/sec rate for your network interface.

I just did that and downloaded the pdf manual for the D-Link repeater (since that was the webpage I was on). My wireless network has only one computer on it right now, and is operating in G mode. My technical connection speed is listed as 54Mbits/sec; however, when I downloaded that pdf of the manual, which came down pretty quickly, the maximum rate I hit for total bits/sec (that is, bits going or coming per second), I got a rate of about 6.6Mbits/sec. I know I've hit 1MByte/sec before downloading from sites like Microsoft, which would translate into a bit rate of about 8Mbits/sec, and I've seen a little higher on occasion, but really nothing that would have been bottlenecked by a throughput limit of 9Mbits/sec even (which would be about 1.125MBytes/sec, or 1,125KBytes/sec).

So, since you said that you didn't plan on doing really high-intensity networking while out on the back patio, I would think that the best solution would be to set up the repeater, but keep it powered down when you're not on the back patio, so it doesn't degrade the throughput of the rest of your network, and only turn it on as you head toward the back patio - by the time you get everything out on the patio table, get your drink set up, and get set up in that comfy patio chair, the repeater will have powered up, auto-negotiated with the router, and be ready, willing, and able to pass the signal back and forth from the patio.

As an alternative, you could get a router with dual-band capacity, like the DLink DIR 825, which can manage both 2.4GHz and 5GHz signals simultaneously. This gives you the ability to effectively run two networks from the same router. That way, with the repeater powered up, it would only affect the 2.4GHz network, slowing it down, but would not slow down the 5GHz network, so any other computers in the house that were connected to the 5GHz network would not notice any effects from the presence of the repeater.



Just FYI, there's a pretty decent, short, article on wi-fiplanet.com about wireless repeaters that explains some of the basic stuff in plain English (mostly ).

 

Wow....thanks for taking so much time to write all that and educating me. I will read those articles and then head to the store and ask about repeaters. If I can turn on the repeater only when I head to the patio, without disrupting the rest of the network normally, I think that's the best solution.

Thanks again and I will report back once I make some progress (or not)....

Update #1 - I have come across this product [Hawkin Hi-Gain HWREN1 Wireless-300N Range Extender], which seems to be getting decent reviews in the US; any thoughts? You are right, there simply are not that many wireless repeaters out there, and I wanted to get one that is more future-proof (i.e. works with DLink and is wireless-N).....

+1 !!!

 

hey buddy !! jus let me know what have u bought n how its workin..
jus gettin a bit curious..

 

I still haven't done this yet....however, rather than spending lots of money (such as that product I found in my previous post), can I just buy another D-Link router and get that to act as some sort of extender/bridge to extend the range? The fact that it's another D-Link product will be better, right? For example, I'm thinking D-Link Wireless N Router (DIR-615) once it goes on sale (since it retails now for about $50)....