Secondary router

[Parentnoia]

Not exactly sure what to name the thread, so I'll just explain what I'm trying to do.

Right now, my wired/wireless setup is that I'm the only one in my house running off of wired (as well as wireless for phone). I'd like to hook my consoles to a wired connection but dont want to run more cables from one end of the house to the other. I do however have a spare router (the currently used one isnt mine). Is there a way to connect my personal router to the pre-existing wired connection then set it up as it's own sub-network for all of my personal things (desktop, 360, xbox one) as well as extend wireless coverage?

[audiofanaticz]

Yes, you can, Im running 3 routers in my house myself.

For ease of use its best to use all the same routers, and update them to their newest firmware.

If they are all the same routers running the same firmware version you can have one wireless connect to the other to the other. Similar to a wiireless repeater (which is another great option).

Other wise you going to have to run a cat5 or cat 6 cable from a output of your main router to the input of your second router.

Your going to have to access the routers admin panel and change a few things and make sure settings and names are the same iirc.

I have it all wrote down on a piece of paper to so I know what I gotta do if I need to change something again, will try to find it and reply back.

[beaker]

You can also use DDWRT and just make them access points instead of routers, then it will be easier to "see" everything on the network without the need to add routes to different subnets.

[Parentnoia]

Primary router is a Belkin F5D8236-4. My personal router is a Netgear WGR614 v6.

I have no clue if they're even compatible.

As for network routing from a subnet, I dont really have a network persay. If I connect my stuff to the router at all would create a network. All my family uses the router for is wireless broadcast. That's partly why I want to use my router. That way I can password protect my area of the internet use. Cant put a password on the main router because no one would remember the password.

[Tuxer]

Yep, that's relatively easy to setup. Unfortunately, since all routers are different, I can't give you step by step instructions. But connect the two routers via cable. Configure the Netgear to automatically retrieve an IP address (DHCP connection) and then just configure the rest of the settings to your liking. You will need to make sure that the Netgear's network will be a different set of IP addresses. In otherwords, if the Belkin is set to give out 192.168.0.100 to 192.168.1.200, then set your Netgear to give out 192.168.1.100 to 192.168.1.200.

From a Google search of "second router for guest network": Create a guest Network on a second router with SUBNETTING!!

Again, the step by step and exact configurations will be a little different compared to what you see on your routers, but the idea is the same.

[Maxim]

I've done this a few times at my house, my parent's house, and friend's houses using long ethernet cables or powerline kits and cheapo routers to expand the wireless networks.

When following the steps below, be sure to plug into the router that you're configuring via ethernet for the first 4 steps rather than rely on wireless to ensure that we're changing the settings on the proper router.

1. Adjust the DHCP range of the main router to allow for static IP's (default is usually 192.168.1.2-192.168.1.255, change this to something like 192.168.1.10-192.168.1.255 so we can use 192.168.1.2-192.168.1.9 as static IP's)

2. Disable DHCP on the secondary router that you want to use as an access point

3. Change the IP address of the secondary router to a static IP in the range we just freed up so that we can access it later (192.168.1.2, for example)

4. Connect the primary and secondary routers via the LAN ports using an ethernet cable or powerline kit (don't plug into the WAN port of the second router, that won't work)

The main router should now see the secondary router with a static IP address. You can now plug into either router to complete these steps. The secondary router's configuration page should be accessed using the IP address we set in step 3.

5. Assign the same wireless SSID and password to both the main and secondary routers

6. Choose channel 1, 6. or 11 on the main router and a different one of those channels on the secondary router (for example, channel 1 on the main and channel 6 on the secondary). Do not assign the same channel to both routers

This will turn your secondary router into an access point for your wireless network as well as a wired switch with 3 open LAN ports to plug into. Your main router will function exactly as it did before.

[knowledge]

great info here

[Parentnoia]

The only thing that info doesnt answer is, how do I password protect the secondary router, but not the main router?

[Tuxer]

Password protect what, the wireless? Just think of your secondary router as the only one you have. Setup a completely separate wireless network with it, and create a passcode for the wireless SSID (name). Any changes you make to the second router won't effect anything on the first router and that includes passwords.

[Parentnoia]

Password protect what, the wireless? Just think of your secondary router as the only one you have. Setup a completely separate wireless network with it, and create a passcode for the wireless SSID (name). Any changes you make to the second router won't effect anything on the first router and that includes passwords.

Step 5 of his instructions say different.