Help with adding a router/AP to a modem correctly

Let’s call our main router MASTER (this is the router that is connected to the ISP modem) and the other one as SLAVE (the second router will work as a ‘repeater’ to increase your wireless range).

Step 1: First we need to determine the IP address and the Subnet Mask of our MASTER router.
Open command prompt in Windows, type the command ipconfig /all and note the value of “Default Gateway.” That your main router’s IP address. If you are on a Mac, open the Terminal window, type the command route -n get default and make a note of the gateway value.
For this example, let’s assume that our MASTER router’s IP address is 192.168.30.1 and the Subnet Mask is set as 255.255.255.0.

Step 2: Open your web browser and type the router’s IP address into the address bar. If you are using IE, you might want to add http:// to the address else IE may throw an error.
You’ll now have to provide the user name and password for accessing the router settings. This will vary depending on your router’s manufacturer – just Google for “<brand name> default router password” or try the standard combinations like admin/admin, admin/password and admin/<blank> (no password).

Step 3: Once you are inside the router settings, switch to Wireless Settings and make a note of the Wireless mode, the SSID and the channel.

If you have protected your Wi-Fi with a password, also note down the security mode used (WPA, WEP or WPA2) and your password (or secret passphrase). Close the browser window.
B: Configure the Second Router as a Repeater
Step 4: Next we need to configure SLAVE, our second router. First reset the router to factory defaults by hard-pressing the reset button with a pin for about 10 seconds.
Now connect the SLAVE router to your computer using the physical Ethernet cable. Put one end of the cable in any of the LAN (Ethernet) ports available on the router and the other end in your computer’s Ethernet port. Make sure the router is powered on.
Step 5: Open the browser again and type 192.168.1.1 which is likely the the default internet IP address of your SLAVE router. If you are not using a Linksys router, try 192.168.0.1 which is the default IP for Netgear and D-Link routers.


Once you are in the router settings, you need to change the values of the Wireless mode, the channel, the security mode and the passphrase such that they match with your MASTER router. You can use a different SSID name for this router so it is easier to distinguish which router your phone or laptop is connect to.
Then go to Setup – > Advanced routing and change the current mode from Gateway to Router. In some routers, this is listed as NAT and in that case, you need to disable it. Next disable DHCP Server since our main router will handle the task of assigning IP addresses to devices connecting to the wireless network.
Finally, change the IP address of the SLAVE router to any free address in your LAN. For instance, if the IP address of MASTER router is 192.168.30.1, you can safely assign a fixed IP address of 192.168.30.2 to SLAVE. Also make sure that the Subnet mask is the same as determined in Step 1. Save the settings of the SLAVE router and close the browser window.
C: Connect Two Routers with a Cat-5 Cable
Now that we have configured the routers, it’s time to connect them with an Ethernet cable. Your MASTER Router probably has five (1+4) ports. The WAN port (or the Internet port) should be connected to the ISP modem. Pick any of the available LAN ports on the MASTER router and connect it to any of the LAN ports on the SLAVE router using an Ethernet cable. We’re done.

Since the two routers are part of the same home network, all your shared folders, music libraries, photos, and other files will be accessible from all computers and mobile devices that are connected to the network.

You can follow those instructions for pretty much any home router on the market. The variation will be where things are and what they are called in the router settings. For best throughput, look for a wireless AC router (offers the fastest transfer speeds). Within the AC router group, they offer various speeds as well, ranging from 300Mbps to 3 Gbps. Any of these should suffice because your existing modem/router caps at 100Mbps. If several devices are to connect wirelessly to this router, I would increase the speed somewhat to a mid-level model. Any standard Cat-5 cable is sufficient to connect the two. Just make sure you connect it into one of the Lan ports on the slave and not the Wan port. The wan should never be used on the slave router.
There's probably a lot I'm forgetting, but this should get you going.

1. It will not change the necessary steps, but some of the router settings may be labeled differently or found other a different tab in the interface. It might also use a different IP address to access the interface (192.168.0.0, or look it up online).
2. Yes, this allows seamless switching between routers based on signal strength. It also allows all devices to see each other. Devices on different SSID's will not see each other without further, more difficult configuration.
3. The key things to look for are a base 100 or Gigabit router (for wired connections). Also look at the wireless Mode it offers. The best currently is Wireless AC, but only devices with a matching AC mode can take advantage of it. With that being said, they are backwards compatible, so they offer all the modes that the older routers have as well. You are basically future-proofing with an AC router. You also have a range of wireless speeds for each mode. See above post for more details.
You may also be interested in extra features, such as the number of hardwired lan ports it has, a push-to-sync button that can easily authenticate devices with this feature, or a model that has Dual-band (5.0 and 2.4) frequencies. The band determines how fast it can transmit as well as the area of coverage. The 5.0 band offers better speed, but only at close ranges. The 2.4 band is slower at close range, but will offer better speeds than the 5.0 as the distance grows. The price is mostly dominated by wireless mode/transfer speeds, but the features do add to the cost.

4.Any brand should be fine. I highly recommend looking up a review online before buying any of them though, as there are definitely good and bad routers for the same price, and even company.

I prefer the Ubiquiti products, but they can be a bit challenging for the common user to set up. They really shine when matched with other Ubiquiti products. That being said, I usually recommend Netgears or linksys routers. The Netgear R6300 would be a good fit for you while offering some future-proofing for a decent price.

My fault. Here they are easily found around $100.00 US dollars. I'm afraid I can't guide you on what you might find locally there.