Two wireless routers- one system?

[Mike]

Due to several large lumps of metal in it (dishwasher, cooker, fridge, freezer) the kitchen in our house acts as an efficient blocker of the wireless network signal to some parts of the house.

Is it possible to instal and run two wireless routers, or an extra 'slave' router, to cover off those areas currently getting a poor signal?

Thanks in advance

Mike

[BT@Home]

I believe what you want is a repeater, or a bridge. It just extends the range of your wireless signal.

Sorry I can't recommend one as I've never needed to use one.

[CDTi]

You need a wireless extender like this, Mike:

http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=278082


You could also try an external antenna if your existing router can take one.

[Kandyman]

or this
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=97711&doy=28m10&C=SO&U=strat15

[e668ecp]

I've done this and it was a pain in the bottom lol. I had an ADSL router with DHCP and a DSL router again with DHCP. What I did was alter the IP address range of the ADSL router to say between 0 and 100 and then alter the IP address range of the DSL route to between 101 and 200. I then fixed the IP address of the DSL router to 253 and the ADSL one to 254. What now happens is that when one signal is lost the laptop (as it is the PC that moves) disconnects and reconnects to the next preferred network.

Hope this is of some use.

[Mike]

Cheers guys :) Don't know what I'd do without your help and advice.

I quite like that Belkin unit CDTi - it looks quite cool and compact ;)

I'll post again once I've bought and set up.

Regards

Mike

[MGOracle]

Belkin makes baby jesus cry! Horrible quality and reliability.

You could get a Wirless AP (which acts as a bridge) instead of just boosting the signal (like a bridge) you actually connect to this instead of the router. It then connects to the router.

Netgear are the daddies here.

[telemalc]

ive just changed to a livebox router and had a problem with an older computer running windows 2000, all the other computers worked ok. i pluged my old belkin router into the livebox with an ethernet cable and continued to use the old computer on the belkin . works perfectly.
malc

[Mike]

Just bought a NETGEAR extender unit. Will try and get it up and running and let you know how it goes. Anyone know how to find/check the tcp/ip settings?

[GreyGhost]

On the router or your pc?

[Mike]

On the router or your pc?

doh! On my pc, thanks GG

[GreyGhost]

Windows person needed I can muddle my way around if it's in front of me but not off the top of my head.

I can tell you that your router address is 192.168.0.1 subnet mask 255.255.255.0 and if your computers are set to get their addresses automatically (via DHCP) then their IP addresses will be 192.168.0.2 and so on, with the same subnet mask and the DNS will be the routers address.

This is assuming you left the address range as the default. I see no reason why you would have changed it.

I believe when you plug in your repeater it will simply act as a pass through from the router. Thus requiring no changes on your computers.

[Mike]

Windows person needed I can muddle my way around if it's in front of me but not off the top of my head.

I can tell you that your router address is 192.168.0.1 subnet mask 255.255.255.0 and if your computers are set to get their addresses automatically (via DHCP) then their IP addresses will be 192.168.0.2 and so on, with the same subnet mask and the DNS will be the routers address.

This is assuming you left the address range as the default. I see no reason why you would have changed it.

I believe when you plug in your repeater it will simply act as a pass through from the router. Thus requiring no changes on your computers.

Cheers GG. The installation instructions require me to follow a procedure that, in brief, involves:

first plugging the NETGEAR range extender into my pc to set it up - this involves recording my current tcp/ip before I configure my pc to the ones you quote above. After all is complete I am then told to reconfigure my pc back to its original settings.

So I am already completely lost and I haven't even started - have to laugh!!

[GreyGhost]

Cheers GG. The installation instructions require me to follow a procedure that, in brief, involves:

first plugging the NETGEAR range extender into my pc to set it up - this involves recording my current tcp/ip before I configure my pc to the ones you quote above. After all is complete I am then told to reconfigure my pc back to its original settings.

So I am already completely lost and I haven't even started - have to laugh!!

What is being asked here is that you set your network manually instead of dhcp. You need to locate your network control panel and you want to be looking at LAN. I think it is right click for properties then tcp/ip. In here you will need to enter the details manually. This will enable you to connect via a LAN cable (CAT5E Ethernet) from your PC to the repeater. I presume the set up is documented and should be relatively easy probably requiring your encryption code or password. Once having done the setup you can then disconnect the cable, remove the info you entered into your PC and click the button that says get address automatically. (You may have to restart, not sure) That should not really be an issue as you are connecting using the wireless link from then on and so LAN will be ignored. If you choose to connect your PC by cable to the router for any reason then it will be back where it was before you performed this task.

Hope this make snese.

[Mike]

Cheers GG . It makes eminent sense and I now understand what I am doing.

tvm

Mike