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Networking & wireless: Adding a router to a wireless network
Adding a router to a wireless network
by quantumpanda - 11/11/09 1:26 PMI just changed my cable/internet provider to AT&T U-Verse. Their cable modem is a wireless router, so it replaces the wireless router I already had connected to my old provider's cable modem (LinkSys WRT160N). My upstairs computer, where the old network connection was hooked up, has been connected to that router by Ethernet because it didn't have wireless built in to it. With U-Verse, the modem/router is downstairs, so that isn't an option.
I bought a wireless adapter for the computer upstairs. I have delayed turning off the old cable connection until I get this computer on the U-Verse network. Once I hooked up the adapter, I was able to successfully connect to the old network wirelessly (I left the Ethernet unplugged), where the router is sitting in the same room. I cannot connect reliably to the U-Verse network; it will connect, drop the connection, reconnect, over and over again.
My question is, is it possible to add the upstairs router to the U-Verse network and keep the old computer connected by Ethernet? I'm familiar with the basics of routing with multiple routers on one network, but I don't know how to connect them wirelessly. Or would I be better off turning off the wireless access point on the U-Verse modem and taking my upstairs router downstairs to use as the wireless access point? I have no guarantee that the latter would work, as the problem may be the new wireless adapter being unable to connect to a signal from downstairs, but without moving the router I have no way to test this.
Yes you can.
by R. Proffitt
- 11/11/09 2:27 PM
In reply to: Adding a router to a wireless network by quantumpanda
I think this is answered in this forum, the STICKY POST and around answer number 18.
Thanks!
by quantumpanda - 11/11/09 2:48 PM In reply to: Yes you can. by R. Proffitt
Thanks. I'll try that tomorrow. If it doesn't work, I'll be back. 
No dice
by quantumpanda - 11/14/09 5:34 PM In reply to: Thanks! by quantumpandaWell, I finally had the time tonight to try this setup. It didn't work. The LinkSys WRT160N will not allow me to change its basic settings unless it has an active outgoing connection on the WAN port (when I click "save settings", it returns an HTTP error page saying that the server dropped the connection). I tried several different configurations based on what I know of small network routing, none of them was fully functional. For the time being, I've deactivated the LinkSys router's wifi signal and returned the AT&T router to the default setup. In this configuration, the upstairs computer now cannot see the AT&T network at all, even though the settings for that router are the same as before I started messing with it. 
I'd like to try my original idea of connecting the two routers wirelessly so the LinkSys can remain upstairs with a wired connection to that computer, but seeing the trouble it gave me with changing settings downstairs, I'm not sure I'll have any better luck with that kind of setup. Is anyone familiar enough with this model of router to tell me if what I'm running into is typical, and is there a workaround?
I noted, in addition to #18 in the sticky post that was recommended, #20 was also relevant with regards to the poor signal from the AT&T router. Knowing that I'm not the only one having problems with this router helps. I can't seem to find any details on how that user set up their network bypassing the AT&T router, though. I don't know how to totally disable the router functions on the AT&T modem. Anyone else know what to do for this?
You can do double nat.
by R. Proffitt - 11/15/09 7:26 AM
In reply to: No dice by quantumpanda
I prefer the post 18 setup. But if you use another lan address range from the other lan then just from the one lan port on the first router to the wan port on the second router and you can use both.
Printer and file share might fail but internet access should be fine.
It doesn't work that way
by quantumpanda - 11/15/09 7:51 AM In reply to: You can do double nat. by R. Proffitt
I'd prefer the setup described in post 18, as well, but the Linksys router won't let me set it up that way. However I hook it up, 9 times out of 10 the basic setup page will fail to save settings, meaning that I can't get it to the proper settings for that setup. When I have been able to get settings saved, I have no internet connection. I'm hoping someone is familiar enough with this router to tell me a workaround for this problem.
Let's go over something I learned.
by R. Proffitt - 11/15/09 8:19 AM
In reply to: No dice by quantumpanda
When I configure the router I connect with ethernet and I use Internet Explorer. When I press SAVE it may give me a not found but I'm not seeing which step flunked for you.
Hope this helps.
Bob
Not saving settings
by quantumpanda - 11/15/09 5:25 PM In reply to: Let's go over something I learned. by R. Proffitt
When I was working on this last night, I had two Ethernet cables that I was swapping between, one to each router, with my laptop. On the Linksys router, if it could not find a responding signal on the WAN port, then when I clicked "save settings" on the basic setup page, which is where you set things like how it gets its external IP address and whether it acts as a DHCP server, I would get an HTTP error page saying the server dropped the connection, and when I reloaded that setup page, the settings had not changed. The reason this was a problem was because the directions linked from post 18 said to turn off DHCP on the access point and let the original router serve DHCP.
Sad to say.
by R. Proffitt - 11/15/09 7:00 PM
In reply to: Not saving settings by quantumpanda
I've yet to find a router I couldn't use post 18 on. This would be a first.
For reference: http://downloads.linksysbycisco.com/downloads/userguide/WRT160N_V10_UG_A-WEB,0.pdf
I see nothing in this manual that tells me that I couldn't get this work done. On page 10 I see where I can set this router's IP address, turn off DHCP and let the router be at the right address for my use.
I can also set the router on a STATIC IP on the WAN.
-> Keep at it. Not everyone gets this the first week or two.
Bob
Success!
by quantumpanda - 11/22/09 12:20 PM In reply to: Sad to say. by R. Proffitt
Finally had some time to work on this today. After some finagling, I was able to get the setup to work. It took quite a bit of fussing and reconnecting to get the upstairs computer an IP address, and thus Internet access, but it now works beautifully. Thanks to everyone for the help and encouragement!
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