Network Help

[firebug]

Here goes...

I have found that my wireless router (Linksys WRT54G) in the basement isn't quite strong enough to give a robust signal to my iPhone while I am working out in the garage.

The wireless router was moved upstairs to a rear bedroom and a wired router (D-Link DI-604) was put in its place.

Is there a way that it can be set up so that the wireless router will still work while the wired one in the basement is connected to my wired devices (I have structured wiring in the house so every room has cat-5 run to it).

One oddity... my main desktop is a G5 cheese grater (OS 10.5.x) and for some reason it will only get onto the internet if the cable modem is plugged into a LAN port on the router (not the WAN port as is recommended ). Every time a shaw guy comes by they always move the ethernet cable into the WAN port so I just nod and agree and then once they leave I switch the cable modem back into a LAN port.

I have tried
1) cable modem -> WAN port DI-604 and then a LAN port DI-604 -> WAN port on the Wireless Linksys and I get no internet through the wireless or on my desktop (wired)

2) cable modem -> LAN port DI-604 and then a LAN port DI-604 -> WAN port on the Linksys and I will get internet on the desktop (wired) but no internet on the wireless network

3) Cable modem -> LAN DI-604 and then a LAN DI-604 -> LAN port on the Linksys with the same result as #2

I am hoping that this is something that can be set up, but might require some kind of configuration on the two routers.

If anyone can offer some guidance I would be very grateful.

Best regards,

firebug

[cal_guy]

I believe what this is what your looking to do.

http://www.voipmechanic.com/turningoffdhcpwireless.htm

[mykalberta]

You would have to check the specs on the router to see if the port is bi directional. Else you will need a crossover cable. It wouldnt be difficult to splice the ends of the existing cable if you have some extra length in the wall. Contractors are normally supposed to leave about 1 foot extra at each jack for resplicing. If you dont want to do that you can purchase a little box that acts as a crossover dongle. They are about $20 the last time I checked. That is more used for testing but no reason why it couldnt be put into permanent use.

The above would allow you to setup a bridge between the two devices. That should be in the basic firmware. If not download the Tomato firmware for the router. The other thing you could do is disable the router functions on the Wireless Router and turn it into a switch with Wireless Access Point. Again I dont use the default firmware so cannot give instructions but you can do that on those devices.

It could be that your router is broke. The WAN port should be the correct port. Try hard resetting your Router (so long as you dont have alot of config changes made on the router). See if that fixes it.

[firebug]

Thanks for everyones help.

Haven't gotten it to work yet, but I will keep trying!

When I have more time I will try and give a better update of where I am at.

~firebug

[jammies]

You *should* just be able to change the subnet on the wireless router and then plug its WAN port into a LAN port on the wired router. So if your subnet on the wired router is 192.168.1.XX, make the subnet on the wireless router 10.1.1.XX, which you do by accessing its webpage configuration and looking at the LAN settings.

Then, anything connecting to the wireless router will get a 10.1.1.XX address, which will go out the WAN port to the wired router, which will then route it out to the internet.

[Jedi Ninja]

Originally Posted by jammies

You *should* just be able to change the subnet on the wireless router and then plug its WAN port into a LAN port on the wired router. So if your subnet on the wired router is 192.168.1.XX, make the subnet on the wireless router 10.1.1.XX, which you do by accessing its webpage configuration and looking at the LAN settings.

Then, anything connecting to the wireless router will get a 10.1.1.XX address, which will go out the WAN port to the wired router, which will then route it out to the internet.

Usually you have to disable the DHCP server on the wireless router as well.

[Bobblehead]

It sounds like this may be a bit beyond what you are comfortable doing, but depending upon the version of the WRT54G you may be able to change the firmware and increase the power of the antenna.

That is what I did to get a better signal (but don't bump it too high or you may shorten the life of the router).

[jammies]

Originally Posted by Jedi Ninja

Usually you have to disable the DHCP server on the wireless router as well.

Isolating the wireless network by hooking it to the wired network through the WAN port allows the 2nd DHCP server to remain isolated. You're thinking we want to bridge to the wireless router, but what I want him to do is to essentially have 2 completely separate networks that are only connected by the gateway (WAN) port on the wireless router.

I know this works because I've done it, and it's easier than bridging the two, as long as you're not wanting to have devices on the wired network accessing devices on the wireless network directly. What I used it for was at a client who wanted to give the public access to the internet wirelessly, but didn't want to have their internal network exposed nor pay for a 2nd internet connection; I put a router/firewall between the wireless network and the wired one, and thus ended up with exactly the same situation as I described here (although with a much more stringent policy than the OP is likely to want considering it's two networks in his own house), and it works flawlessly.