Solved Can I "extend" the wi-fi signal using secondary router?

[DavidMKD]

Hi,
Couple of days ago I switched over new ISP in Macedonia, on T-Home with a Optic Broadband (I don't know if that's the correct terminology) and they gave me a new router, Huawei (don't know the exact model, will update asap). The thing that confuses me that there is no cable modem, the optic cable goes straight to the router and it's used like normal router, Wi-Fi, one LAN port for PC and another empty port. Because the W-Fi coverage isn't that good, I was thinking of setting up a secondary router, insert the LAN cable that goes from the Huawei router to PC now to go from the Huawei router to the new router. From the new router to put a cable that goes from the secondary router to the PC, BUT, there is big BUT in my mind because I can't see any way that I would configure the second router to get to that internet connection. Can anyone tell me if I can use a second router as I explained and have internet and Wi-Fi or I need to buy an extender?

 

[HarriePateman]

Yes you can here is a brilliant link

How to Extend Your Wi-Fi Network With an Old Router

 

[phantomofrussia]

You can definitely do that. You will need to plug the LAN cable into the WAN port on the second router. Make sure the second router is setup to receive an IP address from DHCP and it should work. I setup my parents network the same way. They have service from Verizon but before they switch over they had a nice linksys router. When they switched over I plugged in the second router and it worked perfectly. If you are going to keep the wifi turned on both routers, make sure to either have them select the best channel to use or manually set the channel for the wifi signal to be either 1, 6, or 11 but it cannot be both on the routers. Otherwise you will have interference and poor signal quality. Let me know if you have anymore questions.

 

[DavidMKD]

You can definitely do that. You will need to plug the LAN cable into the WAN port on the second router. Make sure the second router is setup to receive an IP address from DHCP and it should work. I setup my parents network the same way. They have service from Verizon but before they switch over they had a nice linksys router. When they switched over I plugged in the second router and it worked perfectly. If you are going to keep the wifi turned on both routers, make sure to either have them select the best channel to use or manually set the channel for the wifi signal to be either 1, 6, or 11 but it cannot be both on the routers. Otherwise you will have interference and poor signal quality. Let me know if you have anymore questions.

Thank you for the fast reply. Yeah I have couple questions to ask.
This part that you mentioned that I need to setup the second router to receive IP address from DHCP. In the configuration window, I need to check that DynamicIP option? Because when I connect the router it gives me that setup. It gives me 3 options, PPPoE, DynamicIP and StaticIP. PPPoE isn't possible because I don't have username and password, and here in the DynamicIP it asks for a configuration of the AP Mode (SSID, Channel etc.) and in StaticIP it asks for Primary DNS, IP address, subnet mask. The second question is, yeah, I need the connection from the BOTH routers, the current channel is 6 on the first router and 1 on the second, is that right?

EDIT: I found a DHCP settings on the router but only the IP Adress but not the Subnet Mask...

 

[HarriePateman]

You can definitely do that. You will need to plug the LAN cable into the WAN port on the second router. Make sure the second router is setup to receive an IP address from DHCP and it should work. I setup my parents network the same way. They have service from Verizon but before they switch over they had a nice linksys router. When they switched over I plugged in the second router and it worked perfectly. If you are going to keep the wifi turned on both routers, make sure to either have them select the best channel to use or manually set the channel for the wifi signal to be either 1, 6, or 11 but it cannot be both on the routers. Otherwise you will have interference and poor signal quality. Let me know if you have anymore questions.

Thank you for the fast reply. Yeah I have couple questions to ask.
This part that you mentioned that I need to setup the second router to receive IP address from DHCP. In the configuration window, I need to check that DynamicIP option? Because when I connect the router it gives me that setup. It gives me 3 options, PPPoE, DynamicIP and StaticIP. PPPoE isn't possible because I don't have username and password, and here in the DynamicIP it asks for a configuration of the AP Mode (SSID, Channel etc.) and in StaticIP it asks for Primary DNS, IP address, subnet mask. The second question is, yeah, I need the connection from the BOTH routers, the current channel is 6 on the first router and 1 on the second, is that right?

Did you check out the link i posted?

 

[DavidMKD]

Did you check out the link i posted?

I'm reading it right now but DD-WRT isn't available for my routers

 

[HarriePateman]

Oh okay, however the same principles will apply.

 

[phantomofrussia]

Thank you for the fast reply. Yeah I have couple questions to ask.
This part that you mentioned that I need to setup the second router to receive IP address from DHCP. In the configuration window, I need to check that DynamicIP option? Because when I connect the router it gives me that setup. It gives me 3 options, PPPoE, DynamicIP and StaticIP. PPPoE isn't possible because I don't have username and password, and here in the DynamicIP it asks for a configuration of the AP Mode (SSID, Channel etc.) and in StaticIP it asks for Primary DNS, IP address, subnet mask. The second question is, yeah, I need the connection from the BOTH routers, the current channel is 6 on the first router and 1 on the second, is that right?

EDIT: I found a DHCP settings on the router but only the IP Adress but not the Subnet Mask...

What is the model of the second router?

 

[DavidMKD]

What is the model of the second router?

TP-LINK TL-WR940ND, I've even found a DD-WRT firmware for it...

EDIT: I haven't, it's for TL-WR940N, is there a difference?

 

[phantomofrussia]

Reading the link that HLPTech posted and follow their instructions will definitely be your best bet. DD-WRT firmware is some really good stuff

 

[HarriePateman]

Reading the link that HLPTech posted and follow their instructions will definitely be your best bet. DD-WRT firmware is some really good stuff

Thank you, phantomofrussia.

And welcome to sevenforums.

 

[chev65]

Normally you would not use the WAN port on the secondary router and would plug those routers into each others LAN port, LAN port to LAN port, my entire network is set up this way which is two routers and a dedicated access point and I've set up literally thousands of networks this way as well.

You only need to disable DHCP on the secondary router then set up the secondary access point from it's newly acquired IP which it will eventually be picked up from the gateway router. This also puts everything into the same subnet.

I should also point out that it's much better to set up the secondary router as a wireless access point instead of a repeater. Repeaters only extend the gateway router's wireless range but they do this by splitting the bandwidth between the two.

For this reason I believe it's better to set up the secondary router as a stand alone wireless access point.

 

[phantomofrussia]

Normally you would not use the WAN port on the secondary router and would plug those routers into each others LAN port, LAN port to LAN port, my entire network is set up this way which is two routers and a dedicated access point and I've set up literally thousands of networks this way as well.

You only need to disable DHCP on the secondary router then set up the secondary access point from it's newly acquired IP which it will eventually be picked up from the gateway router. This also puts everything into the same subnet.

I should also point out that it's much better to set up the secondary router as a wireless access point instead of a repeater. Repeaters only extend the gateway router's wireless range but they do this by splitting the bandwidth between the two.

For this reason I believe it's better to set up the secondary router as a stand alone wireless access point.

Chev, you are correct. I was helping the OP setup two separate networks when he just needs one. Thanks for catching that.

 

[DavidMKD]

Normally you would not use the WAN port on the secondary router and would plug those routers into each others LAN port, LAN port to LAN port, my entire network is set up this way which is two routers and a dedicated access point and I've set up literally thousands of networks this way as well.

You only need to disable DHCP on the secondary router then set up the secondary access point from it's newly acquired IP which it will eventually be picked up from the gateway router. This also puts everything into the same subnet.

I should also point out that it's much better to set up the secondary router as a wireless access point instead of a repeater. Repeaters only extend the gateway router's wireless range but they do this by splitting the bandwidth between the two.

For this reason I believe it's better to set up the secondary router as a stand alone wireless access point.

Normally you would not use the WAN port on the secondary router and would plug those routers into each others LAN port, LAN port to LAN port, my entire network is set up this way which is two routers and a dedicated access point and I've set up literally thousands of networks this way as well.

You only need to disable DHCP on the secondary router then set up the secondary access point from it's newly acquired IP which it will eventually be picked up from the gateway router. This also puts everything into the same subnet.

I should also point out that it's much better to set up the secondary router as a wireless access point instead of a repeater. Repeaters only extend the gateway router's wireless range but they do this by splitting the bandwidth between the two.

For this reason I believe it's better to set up the secondary router as a stand alone wireless access point.

Chev, you are correct. I was helping the OP setup two separate networks when he just needs one. Thanks for catching that.

Reading the link that HLPTech posted and follow their instructions will definitely be your best bet. DD-WRT firmware is some really good stuff

Thank you, phantomofrussia.

And welcome to sevenforums.

Thank you all, I'VE FINALLY MADE IT. After 3 hours of struggle it worked using StaticIP. I found 2 ways that I can connect the router, one was the same method that I've posted in the first post and second was to install DD-WRT and use repeater bridge.