Extending home LAN question

I have an 40-year old home with plaster/lathe walls and computers that
extend from one end to the other. Currently, I am using a 4-port
wireless Netgear router, but the wireless clients on the far end of
the house only connect intermittantly.

I have a 4-port Linksys wired router and am thinking of moving the
wireless router to the highest point in the house and connecting it to
the wired router.

It's been awhile since I've done this type of work, so I'd like to ask
if this will work

Current setup:
WAN into wireless router providing DHCP, 3 wired clients and wireless
clients.

The changes would be...

Wireless router
- disconnect WAN port
- move router to a more center, higher position
- turn off DHCP and change the address to 192.168.0.2
- use a crossover cable to connect a LAN port from the wireless to a
LAN port on the wired router

Wireless client
- accept DHCP
- set the default gateway to the wired router IP (or, should this be
the wireless router IP on the same subnet?)

Wired router
- turn on DHCP
- set the LAN segment to be on the same subnet as the wireless router
and clients
- allow wired and wireless clients to accept dhcp from the wired
router
- plug in cable modem into WAN port

TIA,
Dave

<tom_sawyer70@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1185127193.056693.82670@w3g2000hsg.googlegrou ps.com...
>I have an 40-year old home with plaster/lathe walls and computers that
> extend from one end to the other. Currently, I am using a 4-port
> wireless Netgear router, but the wireless clients on the far end of
> the house only connect intermittantly.
>
> I have a 4-port Linksys wired router and am thinking of moving the
> wireless router to the highest point in the house and connecting it to
> the wired router.

Hi,

That sounds like a plan.

> It's been awhile since I've done this type of work, so I'd like to ask
> if this will work
>
> Current setup:
> WAN into wireless router providing DHCP, 3 wired clients and wireless
> clients.
>
> The changes would be...
>
> Wireless router
> - disconnect WAN port
> - move router to a more center, higher position
> - turn off DHCP and change the address to 192.168.0.2
> - use a crossover cable to connect a LAN port from the wireless to a
> LAN port on the wired router

Yep, this will effectively use your wireless router as just a WAP.
Wireless routers are basically wired routers with built-in WAP's. Turn the
DHCP server off since DHCP will be handled by your wired router. In the LAN
settings, set the IP to 192.168.0.2 and subnet mask to 255.255.255.0 Try a
straight-through cable first. It should work. Modern stuff autosenses.


> Wireless client
> - accept DHCP
> - set the default gateway to the wired router IP (or, should this be
> the wireless router IP on the same subnet?)


Yep, your clients' gateways will be your wired router: 192.168.0.1, I
assume. That is your gateway to the internet.
Shouldn't really have to hard set the gateway IP on your clients though, as
the gateway IP also gets pulled from DHCP.


> Wired router
> - turn on DHCP
> - set the LAN segment to be on the same subnet as the wireless router
> and clients
> - allow wired and wireless clients to accept dhcp from the wired
> router
> - plug in cable modem into WAN port


You got it.

If your coverage still isn't satisfactory, you'll need a second WAP. If
you want a second WAP to repeat your wireless router, make sure they are
compatible before purchasing. Also know that repeaters cut your bandwidth
in half. If your traffic is mainly just internet (unless you have a T2+),
cutting your pipe in half probably won't have much an effect (except for
some latency), but if you do a lot of LAN traffic (computer-to-computer file
transfers) then it will be ugly. Its better to run cable to a second WAP
and use the same SSID/channel as the first. Or, you can do what I'm doing
for one of my second WAPs: plug it into a wireless-ethernet bridge (cable
replacement). You then get the convienence of having a "repeater"
over-the-air, but without cutting the pipe in half.

On 22 Jul, 18:59, "tom_sawye...@yahoo.com" <tom_sawye...@yahoo.com>
wrote:
> I have an 40-year old home with plaster/lathe walls and computers that
> extend from one end to the other. Currently, I am using a 4-port
> wireless Netgear router, but the wireless clients on the far end of
> the house only connect intermittantly.
>

There is a simple solution - get a pair of devices that use your mains
wiring as the network - security issues are minimal and you have a
much more reliable connection than wireless. I have a set made by
Devolo - can't fault them - no interference from household electrics
either. You can get ones that have wireless or wired connection to
your computer - I think they have to be wired at the router end
though.

On Sun, 22 Jul 2007 10:59:53 -0700, tom_sawyer70@yahoo.com wrote:

> I have an 40-year old home with plaster/lathe walls and computers that
> extend from one end to the other. Currently, I am using a 4-port
> wireless Netgear router, but the wireless clients on the far end of
> the house only connect intermittantly.
>
> I have a 4-port Linksys wired router and am thinking of moving the
> wireless router to the highest point in the house and connecting it to
> the wired router.
>
> It's been awhile since I've done this type of work, so I'd like to ask
> if this will work
>
> Current setup:
> WAN into wireless router providing DHCP, 3 wired clients and wireless
> clients.
>
> The changes would be...
>
> Wireless router
> - disconnect WAN port
> - move router to a more center, higher position
> - turn off DHCP and change the address to 192.168.0.2
> - use a crossover cable to connect a LAN port from the wireless to a
> LAN port on the wired router
>
> Wireless client
> - accept DHCP
> - set the default gateway to the wired router IP (or, should this be
> the wireless router IP on the same subnet?)
>
> Wired router
> - turn on DHCP
> - set the LAN segment to be on the same subnet as the wireless router
> and clients
> - allow wired and wireless clients to accept dhcp from the wired
> router
> - plug in cable modem into WAN port
>
> TIA,
> Dave

A couple of points ...

Putting the wireless router in a central location is good, but higher may
not be better.

I wonder how well your wireless clients will be able to connect to the
internet if the NAT function is not provided by the gateway itself (I
think that is what you proposed). If your proposed configuration does run
into that kind of trouble, try the following ...

Put your wireless router in a central location and physically reroute the
WAN cable to it. Get a switch instead of using the wired router and
continue to use DHCP of the wireless router (which would remain as
internet gateway) so it can sort out IP addresses and be sure there are no
conflicts between wired and wireless clients. Connect the up-link port of
the switch to one of the LAN ports on the wireles router. Do not use
crossover if done this way.

Bob