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Adding a wirrless router to an existing (non-wireless) network

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  • Routers
  • Wireless Network
  • Printers
Last response: in Wireless Networking
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September 29, 2014 1:52:20 PM

Hi,

I have permission to add a router to our works network to give wifi, on the condition it does not alter any IP addresses or create any issues with the existing network.

Currently we have a 6 ethernet ports in vicinity - to which we have 3 PC's and 3 printers connected. What is the best way to add a wireless router to this setup?

I know very little about networking, nor does my boss, but do either of these 2 sound feasible:

1) buy a switch. Disconnect the printer from the ethernet port, plug switch into this port, then into switch plug back in the printer and then run another cable to a wireless router. If i do this then the wireless should run its own DCHP server for the wireless devices that connect to it without interfering with the existing network?

2) Switch off DCHP in the wireless router, connect it to the ethernet cable then plug in printer to the back of the new router. This way hopefully printer will have same IP address as the network and all wireless devices will get an IP address from the main DCHP server?

Do either of these sound OK? to me option 1 sounds the best, but i'm unsure if it will affect anything. Any other options greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

More about : adding wirrless router existing wireless network

September 29, 2014 2:00:15 PM

Hello allanf,

What kind of modem or hub does your work use?

Thanks,
Kolton
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September 29, 2014 2:11:56 PM

It all depends if the devices on the router need to communicate with other devices on the network or vice versa, and how many unused IP addresses there are.
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September 29, 2014 2:21:55 PM

Thanks for the quick response guys.

Firstly, I don't know what our network structure is. We are connected across the city to other work offices that are part of a chain of companies. We are run independently, but use their network. Nor do I know how many unused IP address's there are.

The devices that connect to the intended WIFI in this place do not need to connect to any other computer/printer in this building or to any other computer across the city. It is more for pleasure use as the 3G signal is poor in the building.

We used to get around this by just plugging a TP Link USB dongle into a computer here and setting it to soft AP mode. However it began to crash a lot so we are looking at a more stable solution.
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September 30, 2014 10:36:18 AM

This is rather simple to do. Get a router with multiple ethernet ports (most have 4 so no issue here). Log into the router admin menu and turn off DHCP on its lan side. This prevents the router from assigning IP addresses to any device that connects to it via wired or wireless Best to do this before inserting in your network. Then connect it to your existing switch by connecting a cable to one of the lan ports NOT the WAN/Internet port. Take the disconnected device and plug it into one of the ports on the new wireless router. It is now acting as a switch. and connect what you want to it wirelessly. You are good to go. No ip changes to your network and now you have a few extra ethernet ports available that are unused on the router and wireless. Enjoy!

Bob Silver
NETGEAR Networking Assistant
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September 30, 2014 10:59:32 AM

That works if the primary router has enough availible IP addresses for the devices he hooks up to the router, if not then they will run into issues.

He would be better off since he does not need the wifi devices to connect to office resources to just leave the router in normal confiig with it using a different IP subnet then his work network, and auto dhcp for wan interface.
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September 30, 2014 12:14:23 PM

Can you trust the users on this wireless to not causes issues for your main network. You obviously can't leave it unencrypted and if this has a lot of people coming and going...ie a guest network you will have to change the encryption key all the time.

Since it does not need to connect to existing equipment more the question is does it matter if it CAN connect to existing equipment.

If this is actually a guest network you are trying to add to a wired business network it is going to be quite complex to get this done securely. Generally this is done with vlans and generally both the router and the switches must support this feature.
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