Use LAN port of repeater

Thanks Emerald... that's exactly what I have done to extend the WIFI range. Like I said, all that works beautifully. The IP of the 1st router is 192.168.1.1, the 2nd is 192.168.1.2. DHCP range is set from .50 to .150.

Vonage works fine with the 1st router (primary one where the DHCP is enabled). For the sake of this problem, let's not talk about Vonage... Let's say I wanted to connect a laptop to the 2nd router by Ethernet. Easier to trouble shoot with a laptop than with a device like Vonage. ANyway, I also did a couple of other experiments...

Experiment 1:
I got a 3rd router... IP address 192.168.1.3. Connected it to the 2nd router. Just this time, Router #3 and Router #2 are NOT connected by an Ethernet cable. I used the Wireless Repeater option (option available on D-Link DIR-600M). After that, if I connected the Vonage device OR my laptop with a LAN cable to Router #3, it works well. Conclusion: if I connect 2 routers by an Ethernet cable in the Master-Slave config (like the Router 1 to Router 2 connection I spoke about), I am not able to connect other devices to the available LAN ports of the Slave router (Router #2).

Experiment #2:
I tried this rather improbable option... I limited the IP addresses the Primary router (#1) hands out from 0.50 to .100. Then I enabled DHCP on Router #2, and asked it to hand out IP addresses from .110 to .150. This also did not work (which I kinda expected).

Hi... To answer your 1st question, sort of. On my Macbook, the icon for USB Ethernet becomes Yellow in the Network Settings Dialog. The text reads "Self-Assigned IP". The IP address shows up as 169.254.135.0 with a subnet mask of 255.255.0.0. Normally my subnet mask is 255.255.255.0. Also when I perform a lookup on that IP address, it comes up as a "Link-Local IP" address. Not sure what that means.

To answer your 2nd question... When I assign a static IP address, the USB Ethernet icon turns Green on the Network Settings Dialog. While I can access both, the Primary and Secondary routers' settings pages (192.168.1.1 and 192.168.1.2), I get absolutely NO internet.

Is there any process of isolating LAN Port 1 for incoming only (from the Primary router) and assign Lan Ports 2, 3, 4 for outgoing (for connecting other devices)? Or perhaps if I could use the WAN port for the incoming line from the Primary router, I assume then the LAN ports will automatically be set for Outgoing... Perhaps?

Here's what I found on the Linksys support page:

There are two (2) ways to cascade a Linksys router to another router:

i. LAN to LAN – Connecting one of the Ethernet ports (LAN ports) of the Linksys router (main router) to one of the Ethernet ports (LAN ports) of another router (secondary router).

This type of cascading requires the main and the secondary routers to be on the same LAN IP segment to allow the computers and other devices to connect to both routers. To do this, you need to disable the secondary router's DHCP server. This configuration is recommended if you want to share files and resources within the network. For a video tutorial on this setup, click here.

NOTE: When cascading routers using this method, you will not be able to access the web-based setup page of the secondary router as it will have the same IP range as the primary router.

ii. LAN to WAN – Connecting one of the Ethernet ports (LAN ports) of the main router to the Internet port (WAN port) of the secondary router.

This type of cascading requires the main router and the secondary router to have different IP segments. This connection makes it easier to identify which router the computers and other devices in the network are connected to since they will have different LAN IP segments. However, computers that are connected to the main router will not be able to communicate with the secondary router, and vice versa since there are two (2) different networks.

Thanks,

Hi Yimmi... Thanks for the note. That's something I will try next. Like I wrote on my earlier post, I found the LAN-WAN connection info on the LinkSys support site. Let's see if I can make that work...

Success!!! The LAN to WAN connection worked!

When I had a LAN to LAN connection, the Primary Router was 192.168.1.1 and the Secondary was 192.168.1.2 (with the DHCP turned off).

Now, when I connected the LAN of the Primary Router to the WAN of the Secondary router, just as the LinkSys page (http://www.linksys.com/ca/support-article?articleNum=132275) said, I gave the Secondary Router an IP address of 192.168.2.1 and I turned on the DHCP for the Secondary router. Note that I changed the 3rd octet to a different value.

I also connected a 3rd router to my Secondary router (but note - as a Wireless Repeater), since I could not pull an Ethernet cable that far out from either the Primary or the Secondary routers.

So now, this is how it is set:
1. Primary Router is 192.168.1.1 - DHCP is turned ON
2. Secondary Router is 192.168.2.1 - DHCP is turned ON
3. The 3rd router is 192.168.2.2 - DHCP is turned OFF

All 3 routers have the same SSID and password so I do not have to worry about switching between APs.

The only negative of all of this? I can access the settings page for ALL 3 routers ONLY WHEN I am connected by LAN to the Secondary router. If I am connected by LAN to the Primary router, I can access the settings page ONLY for the Primary router.

This problem of mine had several people foxed. The IT guys in my office, a friend who works for CISCO... Anyway, now the problem is solved. If anyone wants more info, please post a question or send me a private mail.

Thank you, Emerald and Yimmi for contributing to the brainstorming.
Warm Regards!