For the past couple days I've been attempting to set up a secondary network connected to my house's main router, but I'm at wits end. The hardware in question is a Linksys EA4500, and a Netgear WNDR3400v3 that I've flashed with Tomato. The house's main router is the Linksys, and it works just fine for the devices we have connected to it, my intention was to connect the Netgear's WAN port to one of the Linksys's LAN ports, and configure the Netgear as a seperate network with its own SSID and password. Once I connected the 2 devices like this, and I logged into the Netgear's configuration page, I found that no internet connection was being made from the secondary router. I tried a variety of things with the DHCP settings, even setting the router to a static IP and giving it an exception in the main router. I've also experimented with setting the secondary router to router and gateway modes, but I've had no luck with either. Is there something I'm missing? What do I need to do to make this work?
Cascading 2 Routers via LAN to WAN
- Thread starter Bakesta
- Start date
Solution
The Linksys is at 192.168.1.1, and its DHCP goes from 192.168.1.100 to 192.168.1.149. I haven't altered the DNS in the main router, so it's set to 0.0.0.0, which I believe means it uses my ISP's DNS. I tried setting the Netgear to 192.168.2.1, and had its DHCP go from 192.168.2.2 to 192.168.2.51.
So if it worked then devices behind the secondary router would be going through double NAT to access the internet. While that mostly works fine, it can and does cause frustrating issues from time to time and isn't really the recommended approach.
Is there a particular reason you need devices connected to the secondary router to be on an entirely separate network? If you're just trying to extend your wireless range, turn off DHCP and DNS on your secondary router and connect the two routers together via LAN ports. This makes the secondary "router" function as a simple Wireless Access Point and network switch. All devices are on the same network and it should all work just fine.
That is... unless there's a good reason you need a separate network in your house.
Is there a particular reason you need devices connected to the secondary router to be on an entirely separate network? If you're just trying to extend your wireless range, turn off DHCP and DNS on your secondary router and connect the two routers together via LAN ports. This makes the secondary "router" function as a simple Wireless Access Point and network switch. All devices are on the same network and it should all work just fine.
That is... unless there's a good reason you need a separate network in your house.
SinxarKnights
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- Jan 3, 2007
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So how we have ours setup is Modem -> main router -> secondary router (AP).
For the main router the IP is likely 192.168.1.1 DHCP is on, wireless disabled (this router does not have wireless but the old linksys did).
The secondary router is where it gets tricky depending on the router model. Turn off DHCP and set the IP to 192.168.1.2, make sure the subnet mask matches the main router. Since you want wireless here, turn that on and setup the security how you like.
Now you plug the cable from the main router (from a LAN port) into the WAN port of the secondary router and it should just work, may have to restart your PC to make it get a valid IP if you are connected to the secondary router still.
You can in fact turn on wireless on the main router but just make sure the channels aren't overlapping too badly.
What this does is create one network that is handled entirely by the main router. When a client connects to the secondary router (it is an access point) wired or wireless, the IP is requested from the main router. This configuration generally does not require any crossover cables either.
For the main router the IP is likely 192.168.1.1 DHCP is on, wireless disabled (this router does not have wireless but the old linksys did).
The secondary router is where it gets tricky depending on the router model. Turn off DHCP and set the IP to 192.168.1.2, make sure the subnet mask matches the main router. Since you want wireless here, turn that on and setup the security how you like.
Now you plug the cable from the main router (from a LAN port) into the WAN port of the secondary router and it should just work, may have to restart your PC to make it get a valid IP if you are connected to the secondary router still.
You can in fact turn on wireless on the main router but just make sure the channels aren't overlapping too badly.
What this does is create one network that is handled entirely by the main router. When a client connects to the secondary router (it is an access point) wired or wireless, the IP is requested from the main router. This configuration generally does not require any crossover cables either.
Except you're still setting up a double NAT which causes problems with certain protocols and isn't best practice. I would hope that any vaguely recent router shouldn't require crossover cables either, auto-switching has been a thing for years now, though I concede there may be older/cheaper units around that still need a crossover cable and might cause issues.
OP would still be much better off with a single network, one WAN, everything else on LAN. There may be edge cases where a separate network is required. Ideally you'll have a multi-nic router providing two separate LANs, but that's more expensive and complicated, so you could possibly justify the double NAT config. But otherwise, unless you have a very good reason for requiring separate networks, the all-on-the-one-LAN option is much cleaner.
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