Best Way to Setup 2 Routers Ina 2 Story House

When nosotros moved into the new house and setup the new domicile office a few years back, I posted virtually wiring the house for wired Cat-6 ethernet. I've never liked or trusted wireless, and so when we started building the place it was always in the program to wire everything and focus on speed.

Fast forrard to 2010 and the Wii is wireless, the iPad and iPhones are wireless, the Windows Phone 7 is wireless, my wife's laptop is wireless, and it's all slow. It'due south dull considering I'm using the standard Verizon (now Borderland) FIOS wireless router to cover all corners of a two story house. Over the final few weeks information technology's been especially irritating every bit the wife has moved her laptop into another room and I've started watching streaming Netflix from the corner of a room I'd never had a wireless device in.

I tried using the standard admin interface to heave the power of the wireless router a chip, but that didn't work. Then I bought an aftermarket external antenna for the router (information technology but screws on and replaces the standard antenna) and while that helped a little, I was still getting 1 or 2 out of five bars in the two rooms nosotros used wireless devices the most. Streaming video or news (audio or video) or downloading podcasts was incommunicable.

I constitute an actress Verizon Router in my pile of tech junk while cleaning up and so got the idea to make a second wireless network upstairs. Sure, I could set it upward easily with another SSID (service set identifier - a wireless network name) just that would be cheesy and my devices wouldn't roam smoothly between networks.

Here'due south the trick, thanks to some friends on Twitter and a little thought.

The Starting Point

In my instance, I had a standard Verizon (ActionTec) router with the IP of 192.168.1.1. That's a static (non-changing) address. The router has DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) turned on, which means that this router hands out IP Addresses to my devices. It hands out those addresses in a certain range, specifically 192.168.i.two through 192.168.one.254.

Your router will likely vary, but on this one you navigate to My Network, My Network Connections, and so click on the Edit icon on the main network interface. You'll end upward here:

Notice the Beginning IP Address and Cease IP Address. You'll want to change this to 192.168.i.3 because we're going to use 192.168.1.2 as a static address for the second router when we set up it up.

Equally an aside, you actually should make certain your wireless router is using WPA2 for wireless security. If you're using WEP, it'southward about as effective as tissue paper, and so alter it to WPA2 with a potent countersign or find a techie nephew to do information technology for yous.

Next, plough off your start (primary) wireless router completely. Routers aren't expecting folks to exercise what we're doing, and so when you turn on the second router it will also default to 192.168.1.1. Yous're turning off the get-go so the 2d can exist changed.

Plough on the 2nd router and set its static IP address to 192.168.1.two. Nether IP Address Distribution, set it to "disabled." It'southward important that yous don't accept 2 devices on your network passing out IP Addresses. This second router volition simply exist bridging the wireless and wired globe at your firm. It has no responsibilities around IP addresses.

Hither's an unnecessary diagram:

Make sure the wireless settings of the second router is the aforementioned as the first router. Aforementioned SSID, aforementioned security type, same password. The simply difference will be the channel. Moreover, we'll want to make sure the channels are sufficiently far apart.

Of course, if yous're rich and famous and have a  HUGE area to cover, you can add a third wireless access bespeak and simply brand certain that third AP uses a channel that's sufficiently far away from the other ii. Effort to make the 2d router be 5 away from the first router's channel. The guidance is channels 1, half-dozen and eleven are a good guideline. I used xi for the offset and half dozen for the second.

Here's a bully chart showing the channel spread from Wikipedia. I used channels 11 and vi for my two routers.

Of form, y'all'll need an ethernet run going from a LAN port on your starting time router to a LAN port on your second router. In my instance, each room has ethernet in the wall goingn to a gigabit switch. I pluged the second router into the wall from its LAN port and information technology worked.

Reboot everything, plug them all in and at that place y'all go.

Simply thirty minutes later and I'1000 happily streaming video to my wireless portable devices in parts of my house that were previously useless.

Technical Summary

• Showtime Router
• 192.168.1.one
• DHCP to use the range 192.168.1.iii-192.168.1.254
• A wireless channel like 11
• Second Router
• 192.168.one.2
• DHCP is disabled
• Identical wireless security setup as Starting time Router
• Except the wireless Channel. Try channel 6 if the beginning is 11.
• Plug hard-wire into the LAN port, non the WAN port.

Related Links

• Wiring the firm for a Home Network
• Wiring the house for a Habitation Network - Part 2 - Pattern Q&A
• Wiring the house for a Home Network - Role 3 - Isp Hookup
• Wiring the house for a Dwelling Network - Part 4 - Thank You True cat 6 Gigabit Ethernet
• Wiring the firm for a Home Network - Part 5 - Gigabit Throughput and Vista
• New Task, New Business firm, New Infant, and Designing a Totally New Habitation Office
• How To: Use Google Earth or Virtual Globe to Visualize a New House Lot - Part 1
• How To: Use Google Earth and SketchItUp to Visualize a New House Lot - Part 2

Well-nigh Scott

Scott Hanselman is a one-time professor, former Master Builder in finance, now speaker, consultant, male parent, diabetic, and Microsoft employee. He is a failed stand up-upwardly comic, a cornrower, and a volume author.

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Source: https://www.hanselman.com/blog/configuring-two-wireless-routers-with-one-ssid-network-name-at-home-for-free-roaming

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