Need solution to connect entertainment/office wirelessly

[mrsmith70]

Hello everyone,

I have Verizon FIOS and I purchased a TV and blue ray player a few months ago that can accept an internet connection via ethernet. I also want to connect an external hard drive and a printer to be able used on my wireless network, which is also located near my TV/BD Player.

My Actiontec router by Verizon is located in the basement, and all my 3 of my computers are laptops, so we connect wirelessly for internet access. The TV is connected via cat5 cable that is ran across the floor and hanging down to the basement, which is very unattractive and I keep on telling my wife it's temporary, for 5 months now

We connect to our printer and external hard drive by the USB cable that's hanging off of them, plug it into the laptop, print or upload/download, and unplug when we are done, which was also supposed to be "temporary".

I own a Linksys Wireless-N router which is currently not being used. I'm trying to figure out if I can wirelessly connect the Actiontec to the Linksys, but after reading some posts it does not look like I am able to.

So, besides running cat5 cable from the office/living room to the Actiontec, I am looking for a cleaner solution.

I was thinking of connecting the Linksys directly to the Actiontec, disabling the wireless from the Actiontec and enabling the wireless from the Linksys, then set up an Access Point upstairs, and connect the TV and BD player using cat5. Will this work?

I'm also looking for a solution to be able to print wirelessly and to be able to access the external hard drive from all of our laptops.

Can I use a "Wireless Print Server" as an access point? I'm not an expert re: wireless/wired connectivity so I can't see why I cannot do this.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

-Mike
Northern VA

 

[Emerald]

what model and version linksys router do you have?

 

[dse879]

There are couple of ways how to set this up. To make things simple leave your actiontec router (which will be your main router and will be in charge of assign the IP addresses for all your devices) in the basement and disable the WiFi. Now your Linksys router will act as a switch and acces point.

In order to use the Linksys router as a switch follows these steps: plug in the cat5 cable comming from the basement to the Ethernet port on the router and then connect one of your laptops to one of the four free lan ports on the Linksys router. Now you have to acces the Linksys router interface to do some changes. You acces the router configuration page by typing in your web browser some thing like 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.1.100 this will depend on the router, if none of those IP address work check the router manual. The reason you have to do this is to 1-)disable DHCP on the Linksys router so that only the Actiontec router provides IP address, otherwise, ther will be conflict with IP address because the two routers will be handling IP address to your devices. 2-) To enable WiFi on the Linksys router so that all your laptop or other devices can connect wirelessly. Once you have done those changes reset the Linksys router and unplug all cables from the router ports

At this point your routers have been configured and ready to use.

Using the cat5 Ethernet cable comming from the Actiontec plug it in one of the LAN port on the Linksys DO NOT use the Ethernet port on the Linksys at all. After that, you will have 3 port available that use can use for your TV or Blueray player. Next stablish wireless connection with your laptops.

As for your printer follow the instructions of your printer provided by the manufacture to add it to the network (I'm asuming it is a network printer) but basically all you have to do is to stablish a wireless connection between your printer and the Linksys router or simply using a cat5 cable plug it into one of the open LAN ports on the Linksys. After that just installed the printer sowtware on each laptop.

The only problem I see here is your external hard drive (HDD). Unless the hard drive is a network type you will only be able to access the data when is plug in to one of your laptops using the USB cable. The other way is to plug it to one the laptops and set up file sharing on the laptop. The only problem with this is that if the laptop is not connected to the HDD or the laptop is off none fo the other laptops will be able to access the HDD.

I know that all this looks like it is a lot but it is rally not that much. Let me know if this help

 

[mrsmith70]

what model and version linksys router do you have?

It is a Linksys WRT310N, one ethernet input, 4 ethernet output.

Thanks

 

[mrsmith70]

There are couple of ways how to set this up. To make things simple leave your actiontec router (which will be your main router and will be in charge of assign the IP addresses for all your devices) in the basement and disable the WiFi. Now your Linksys router will act as a switch and acces point.

In order to use the Linksys router as a switch follows these steps: plug in the cat5 cable comming from the basement to the Ethernet port on the router and then connect one of your laptops to one of the four free lan ports on the Linksys router. Now you have to acces the Linksys router interface to do some changes. You acces the router configuration page by typing in your web browser some thing like 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.1.100 this will depend on the router, if none of those IP address work check the router manual. The reason you have to do this is to 1-)disable DHCP on the Linksys router so that only the Actiontec router provides IP address, otherwise, ther will be conflict with IP address because the two routers will be handling IP address to your devices. 2-) To enable WiFi on the Linksys router so that all your laptop or other devices can connect wirelessly. Once you have done those changes reset the Linksys router and unplug all cables from the router ports

At this point your routers have been configured and ready to use.

Using the cat5 Ethernet cable comming from the Actiontec plug it in one of the LAN port on the Linksys DO NOT use the Ethernet port on the Linksys at all. After that, you will have 3 port available that use can use for your TV or Blueray player. Next stablish wireless connection with your laptops.

As for your printer follow the instructions of your printer provided by the manufacture to add it to the network (I'm asuming it is a network printer) but basically all you have to do is to stablish a wireless connection between your printer and the Linksys router or simply using a cat5 cable plug it into one of the open LAN ports on the Linksys. After that just installed the printer sowtware on each laptop.

The only problem I see here is your external hard drive (HDD). Unless the hard drive is a network type you will only be able to access the data when is plug in to one of your laptops using the USB cable. The other way is to plug it to one the laptops and set up file sharing on the laptop. The only problem with this is that if the laptop is not connected to the HDD or the laptop is off none fo the other laptops will be able to access the HDD.

I know that all this looks like it is a lot but it is rally not that much. Let me know if this help

Thanks dse879,

This is very detailed and will help a lot, but my main goal is to eliminate that cat5 cable between the Actiontec which is in the basement and the Linksys which will be near my tv/bd player.

I was wondering if I can make a wireless connection between the Actiontec and the Linksys and use the Linksys as an Access Point for the tv/bd player, etc.

Do I need to buy a wireless switch, or something else if he Linksys router wont work? It is a Linksys WRT-310N.

Thanks!

 

[Emerald]

Some of the WRT310N can be converted to a bridge/repeater.
If you have a version 1, you can find the optional firmware and instructions on how to flush it here:

http://www.dd-wrt.com/site/support/router-database

The version can be found on the label on the bottom of the router next to the WRT310N. If there is nothing it could be a Version 1.

it should look something like this:

WRT310N v2 (this would be a Version 2)

 

[mrsmith70]

Some of the WRT310N can be converted to a bridge/repeater.
If you have a version 1, you can find the optional firmware and instructions on how to flush it here:

http://www.dd-wrt.com/site/support/router-database

The version can be found on the label on the bottom of the router next to the WRT310N. If there is nothing it could be a Version 1.

it should look something like this:

WRT310N v2 (this would be a Version 2)

I have v1. So it looks like I have many steps to perform to make dd-wrt work for this router. Will running/converting the Linksys to this "dd-wrt" allow me to make the wireless connection between the Actiontec in the basement and the Linksys upstairs where I can connect the rest of my equipment that has ethernet?

As for the HDD, it looks like I will have to get at least a HDD with ethernet (NAS).

Thanks,

-Mike

 

[Emerald]

converting the router should allow you to receive the signal upstairs and also connect wirelessly and via network cable.

regarding you HDD and printer you could try one of these options

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833320030&cm_re=wireless_print_server_usb-_-33-320-030-_-Product

HDD only
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822601002
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812719001&cm_re=nas_adapter-_-12-719-001-_-Product

printer only
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833156036&cm_re=print_server_usb-_-33-156-036-_-Product