Home Network with two routers question

[Lunchbox700]

I've done some searches here and gotten some info, but still not sure. We are moving in to a house that already has a network setup (that I setup) we are moving upstairs it's a large house and we have some devices upstairs that are not wireless also. I would like to add the router we have now to the existing network what do I need to know, and problems/limitations I need to know.

We will be sharing a comcast connection and the two routers are these.
Connected to Comcast now is Netgear Rangemax WNDR3700 its a dual band router.
The one I want to add is the Netgear Rangemax WNDR3400 dual band . (they both should be the same but someone bought the wrong router for us even though they had clear instructions )
Push come to shove we could share the one router, but its a pretty large house and I know signal drops upstairs . Plus we will be sharing 3 windows desktop/laptops, 3 apple laptop/desktops, apple tv, wireless printer, 3 game consoles, Kindle Fire, iPad 3 , 3 iOS devices . So as you can see I would like to break that up a little.
Balls after I right that up we all are going to cancer way to much wireless around.

 

[ezramoore]

You could put the router in switching/AP mode and if there is an Ethernet connection upstairs (you didn't say).

If you are trying to wirelessly 'extend' your network with the second router acting as both the AP and the backhaul to the first router, both over wireless, you will be cutting your bandwidth in half, and likely giving yourself headaches.

Both those routers support DD-WRT, which I would recommend you install regardless.

 

[Lunchbox700]

There is not an Ethernet connection upstairs. So it would be over wireless.

 

[jtara]

I would try to get an Ethernet connection upstairs if at all possible. It will get all your upstairs wired devices off of WiFi as well as the link between the two routers.

I have a similar setup, though in a much smaller space. Even so, I needed the two routers for 5gHz coverage of just a 2400 sq ft condo.

I have dissimilar routers. Both are running (different) 3rd party firmware.

My office has a D-Link DIR-825 running OpenWRT. I also have a switch in the office, D-Link DGS-1216T.

My living room has a LinkSys WRT-610N hidden behind home theatre setup running DD-WRT. (OpenWRT isn't available for this model.) I also have a 6-port switch in the same location, because the WRT-610N doesn't have enough ports for all the wired equipment, and only support 100Base-T. So, the wired equipment doesn't even go through the WRT-610N. The WRT-610N is just there to support wireless devices (iPad, iPhone, macBook, guests) in the living room area.

The WRT-610N has the same node name as the DIR-825. The WRT-610N is set-up to use the DIR-825 as the Internet router.

Earlier versions of iOS had some trouble switching between the two, but this has improved in recent releases. (Older versions would hang-on to the weaker signal unless it was completely unusable.)

The two are connected with CAT6 cable. I made sure to accomodate this when I did a remodel, running an orange plastic conduit behind the kitchen and bathroom, which were both ripped-out for the remodel. I also installed a removable baseboard system (sadly, no longer available because the sub-contractor that made them for the manufacturer went out of business and lost the molds...) in most of the rooms.

 

[Lunchbox700]

I may have to do that the only bad thing is the house is designed a little weird the upstairs even though it has a master bedroom two smaller bedrooms and even laundry and two baths they are only over half of the first floor and the office is not part of what it's over so there just air so it might need some more strategic planning on my part.

 

[ezramoore]

I may have to do that the only bad thing is the house is designed a little weird the upstairs even though it has a master bedroom two smaller bedrooms and even laundry and two baths they are only over half of the first floor and the office is not part of what it's over so there just air so it might need some more strategic planning on my part.

You could also do some mains power networking to get ethernet up there. If you don't need big bandwidth on your local network I'm sure that the bottleneck would still be with your ISP.

From the Ethernet that the mains power networking would get upstairs you could run a router/wireless AP.

 

[Lunchbox700]

Thanks that's an interesting idea.

 

[satcomer]

Just remember basic networking. With DHCP being 'serverd" that device should be closet to the closet point to the ISP modem. Then an other routers should NOT be DHCP servers that are behind the router running NAT. In Apple wireless routers they have a way to turn off NAT (Network Address Translation) by going into"Bridged Mode". Other router brand have other sayings to turn off NAT. So remember to turn off NAT in home routers that are behind another NAT router.

 

[ezramoore]

Just remember basic networking. With DHCP being 'serverd" that device should be closet to the closet point to the ISP modem. Then an other routers should NOT be DHCP servers that are behind the router running NAT. In Apple wireless routers they have a way to turn off NAT (Network Address Translation) by going into"Bridged Mode". Other router brand have other sayings to turn off NAT. So remember to turn off NAT in home routers that are behind another NAT router.

In trying to decipher what satcomer said, I think he is talking about potential DHCP conflicts and NATing loops, which aren't usually an issue with simple home gear. You can plug most routers WAN port into one of the LAN ports of another that is closer to the WAN without any issue. Try it first, if it doesn't work post back here.

 

[jtara]

In trying to decipher what satcomer said, I think he is talking about potential DHCP conflicts and NATing loops, which aren't usually an issue with simple home gear. You can plug most routers WAN port into one of the LAN ports of another that is closer to the WAN without any issue. Try it first, if it doesn't work post back here.

My office router is my DHCP server. DHCP is turned off on the living room router. No problem using DHCP on living room devices. The LR router is set with the office router as the gateway. Of course there's no NAT going on in the LR router, since the office router is handing-out the addresses and has the connection to the Internet.

 

[ezramoore]

My office router is my DHCP server. DHCP is turned on on the living room router. No problem using DHCP on living room devices. The LR router is set with the office router as the gateway. Of course there's no NAT going on in the LR router, since the office router is handing-out the addresses and has the connection to the Internet.

Exactly, it really shouldn't be a problem. I think satcomer was trying to say that it would be a problem.

 

[whooleytoo]

You could also do some mains power networking to get ethernet up there. If you don't need big bandwidth on your local network I'm sure that the bottleneck would still be with your ISP.

From the Ethernet that the mains power networking would get upstairs you could run a router/wireless AP.

I just installed a pair of powerline adaptors, and am very happy with them. For local file copies, I went from 22Mbps (over N wireless) to about 75Mbps; and it's more reliable as well.