[FAQ] Using two routers together/ Extending Wi-Fi

dUnKle

Will check when next at home
What should they be

mickevh

The simple answer is, whatever works best. However, to reduce interference between the extended coverage footprints, it's best for the channels to be different and at leat 5 apart. If you choose two (channels) from the set [1,6,11] you should be OK unless you're using "channel bonding" in "N" mode.

Using "Channel-bonding" AKA "40MHz mode" there isn't enough spectrum available in the 2.4GHz waveband to find more than one "40MHz" (wide) channel. (ABG Wi-fi and, er, "unbonded" N channels are 20MHz wide.) Often in big deployments (I've got hundreds of AP's at work) we compromise on this and don't offer 40MHz channels in the 2.4GHz band. That hits the max link rate available (ever erroneously referred to as "speed") but means we get less interference and therefore less garbled packets requireing retransmits, thence better aggregate throughput.

hibs7hearts0

The advice is really helpful. I have a spare home hub 2 which BT sent me and I just wanted to check that I can set this up as an access point following the details. Also is the spare address for the secondary router within the DHCP range of the primary router or outside it?

mickevh

I don't see why not. Thus far we've never seen a SOHO router that wouldn't work.

Outside.

abraxias

Hiya there

Right, I've yet to find a definitive answer to my networking requirement so here goes. I have two rooms where there is a lot of equipment requiring networking/internet access.

In the lounge there is a Netgear DGND3300 router, which is connected to the internet directly and has a load of wired connections and is also used as a wireless access point for laptops/phones.

In the study I have further computers and a VoIP phone. It wouldn't be practical to run an ethernet cable between the two rooms, so I'd like to hook all the equipment in the study up via ethernet to some device which then connects back to the DGND3300 wirelessly.

I believe I've got as far as understanding that bridging is the way forward, but I can't quite figure out the settings. I was planning to use a Netgear WN604 Access Point upstairs, running in bridge mode. Does that however require the DGND3300 to be in bridge mode too, which I think then effectively stops it being able to accept client wi-fi connections as well?

So basically, two rooms, both with lots of cabled connections, need to connect the two rooms wirelessly. How?

mickevh

You might also care to have a read about HomePlugs.

Chrisj17

I'm looking to do this for my bedroom as the walls in our house are too thick for me o pick an internet connection up from my bedroom. I have a Homeplug in my living room connected via the main router. And also another on in my bedroom thats how i get my internet connection in my room for now. But i also have other wireless devices that i would like to use like my phone and android tablet etc. So i'm just wondering would it be possible to connect a router up from my homeplug ?

Thanks for any help.

Chrisj17

To answer my own question, Yes you can lol. Just set it up and it's working like a charm

Thanks.

nacijann

I have just bought Zoom wireless N range extender/access point but I can't get it to connect to my VM superhub except in ethernet client mode which renders the LAN ports redundant. I have tried leaving it on default IP, 192.168.2.1, and changing it to 192.168.0.254, the last IP address on the DHCP range of the VM superhub. I've gave it the same SSID and also left it as the default, I've tried adding it's MAC to the superhub but I can't get wireless connection to the superhub, so I guess my question really is, do I really need to cable it up to the superhub in order to get it to work? This defeats the purpose of purchasing it as I wanted the ability to roam and wire into it as the boys Xbox in the loft area is not wireless capable.

mickevh

Exact make and model of your device would be useful.