Using two networks at the same time

[hpattni]

Hello,
Hope can help, I have two wifi networks in my home, 1 has the internet wifi signal and 2 is my personal network. How can I use the internet signal from one whilst staying connected to my own network.

the net sifi signal is from a virgin media superhub, and my personal wifi network is using an asus rt-n65u which has a wds mode not sure if this can help. if there is anyone out there who could help please let me know

 

[hpattni]

**sorry the net WIFI signal....

 

[eibgrad]

Use a second wireless adapter.

 

[hpattni]

Eibgrad thanks for the reply, I'm not sure how that would help me? Could you explain your answer? I would prefer to use the equipment I already have just need some help on how to set it up. Apologies if I sound like a noob but it's probably cause I am

 

[eibgrad]

Well, you said you have two networks, each accessible via their own wireless AP. I presume they're completely independent and use their own network scheme (e.g., 192.168.1.x and 10.0.0.x). If this isn't the case, if there's more to the story than what I've inferred, feel free to elaborate.

Anytime you need to access two different and independent networks, you need a network card (wired or wireless) for each. And because each uses a unique network scheme, your PC knows which network connection to use depending on the IP addresses you reference.

 

[hpattni]

Right that makes a lot of sense actually. So in theory if I get a wifi adapter which is 5ghz compatible I could use that for the Asus router (personal network) and the internal adapter in the laptop to access the net, right?

Ok so you've probably guressed my next question.... How the hell would set this up in windows?

Thanks again for the advice!

 

[hpattni]

** probably guessed

 

[eibgrad]

If you haven't done it before, it may seem complicated, but it really isn't. People just aren't used to seeing multiple networks on the same machine. But all you do is install the second network adapter and connect it to the other wireless AP.

That said, one thing that *might* make the second network connection slightly more involved to configure is if that network doesn't have a DHCP server to auto-configure your PC or other devices. It's not something you usually think about w/ your primary/internet network since the router always comes w/ a DHCP server. But if you've simply setup a wireless AP on another network w/ no DHCP server, that means you need to MANUALLY assign IP addresses to all your devices on that network.

 

[hpattni]

Hi Eibgrad, sorry its been a while but was waiting for my wireless adapter to be delivered.

Right it was easy enough for the laptop to use two network adapters and see both networks but now I cant get any interent connection

In the network and sharing center, it shows one of the connections as having internet access but I cant access it.... any idea on what I'm doing wrong?

 

[eibgrad]

Make sure you do NOT specify a gateway IP on the second adapter.