[matt8445]

I apologize in advance if this seems like a simple question.

I have a cable modem/gateway in my basement. It works fine, but the wireless is a bit week by the time it gets upstairs. I am in the process of running CAT5 throughout my house and I have it run from the basement to the office upstairs. I purchased a Linksys EA3500 wireless router and connected it to the cat 5 in the office. It appears the the wired portion of the network works fine as it should. However the wireless wants to create a new network with a new SSID. How do I configure the router to just mirror the current network, I believe it would be just as a hotspot, correct?

[LincolnSpector]

Hi, Matt.

No need to apologize for a simple question (or any question, for that matter).

Try this: Set the new router's WiFi network to use the same name and password as the original. I think that will do it.

Lincoln

[smax013]

matt8445, on 28 June 2012 - 05:44 PM, said:

I apologize in advance if this seems like a simple question.

I have a cable modem/gateway in my basement. It works fine, but the wireless is a bit week by the time it gets upstairs. I am in the process of running CAT5 throughout my house and I have it run from the basement to the office upstairs. I purchased a Linksys EA3500 wireless router and connected it to the cat 5 in the office. It appears the the wired portion of the network works fine as it should. However the wireless wants to create a new network with a new SSID. How do I configure the router to just mirror the current network, I believe it would be just as a hotspot, correct?

Ah, but it is not necessarily a simple question...

My question back is: Are you using your "network" just for an Internet connection for all devices? Or do you also want share stuff between between computers (i.e. actually use your "network" as a local network as well as an Internet connection)?

If it is the former, then Lincoln's suggestion should likely work.

If it is the latter (or if the former and Lincoln's suggestion does not work), then things get more complicated as adding the router in a "normal" fashion will create a "network within a network", which might still work for your needs. But, you might need to see if you can put the Linksys into some sort of "bridge mode".

[matt8445]

I am looking to have it all be one network. I have a couple of NAS drives that I back up to as well as share photos and movies between my wife and I's computer.

My understanding is that I do not want to enable any sort of DHCP from the second router. I just cannot figure out what settings to enable/disable on the actual router.

I'm at work now, but when I get home I will do a screenshot of the main config screen on the router.

I think one of the things that screwed me up a little was it wanted to "auto configure" my network, and run this simple network wizzard thing. Well I went to far in it and it made a new network and now I don't want that.

Matt

[smax013]

matt8445, on 29 June 2012 - 08:00 AM, said:

I am looking to have it all be one network. I have a couple of NAS drives that I back up to as well as share photos and movies between my wife and I's computer.

My understanding is that I do not want to enable any sort of DHCP from the second router. I just cannot figure out what settings to enable/disable on the actual router.

I'm at work now, but when I get home I will do a screenshot of the main config screen on the router.

I think one of the things that screwed me up a little was it wanted to "auto configure" my network, and run this simple network wizzard thing. Well I went to far in it and it made a new network and now I don't want that.

Matt

First thing I never, ever do with routers (unless I absolutely have to) is use their "Setup Wizards" from the CD that comes with them. You lose a lot of control over the setup that way. But, then I am a "tech geek" so like the control. For most people, the "wizard" will do fine.

In your case, you will have to do the "manual" way since you are kind of doing a "non-standard" setup.

I downloaded the manual for your router and it looks like you need to look at page 35 of the manual. It provides instructions for setting up the router as an "access point" (i.e. using "bridge mode"). This should do what you want it to do.

[LiveBrianD]

You need DHCP disabled in the second router, which should be plugged into the first one. It should also be set not to authenticate with the internet connection (and no PPPoE or the like set there).

[smax013]

LiveBrianD, on 29 June 2012 - 09:16 AM, said:

You need DHCP disabled in the second router, which should be plugged into the first one. It should also be set not to authenticate with the internet connection (and no PPPoE or the like set there).

Just disabling DHCP is not enough...essentially you need to disable the NAT functionality. DHCP is just the function that hands out the dynamic IPs for the private network that the router creates by way of the NAT function. Even if you just disable the DHCP, the router likely will still create a subnet with the subnet of the original router. You need to engage the "bridge mode" that basically turns off the NAT functionality.

[LiveBrianD]

I recall I had to do that when I tried this before, come to think of it.

[crazy4laptops]

smax013, on 29 June 2012 - 09:46 AM, said:

LiveBrianD, on 29 June 2012 - 09:16 AM, said:

You need DHCP disabled in the second router, which should be plugged into the first one. It should also be set not to authenticate with the internet connection (and no PPPoE or the like set there).

Just disabling DHCP is not enough...essentially you need to disable the NAT functionality. DHCP is just the function that hands out the dynamic IPs for the private network that the router creates by way of the NAT function. Even if you just disable the DHCP, the router likely will still create a subnet with the subnet of the original router. You need to engage the "bridge mode" that basically turns off the NAT functionality.

On Netgear routers, turn off DHCP on the 2nd router and then plug the 2nd router in to the first one on the LAN side, not WAN, works beautifully!

This post has been edited by crazy4laptops: 04 July 2012 - 07:24 AM