Sub network configuration with no LAN access to main router

[Marine_Boy]

Hello everyone!

 

Ok, so I'm renting a room right now. There is a Wi-Fi router that is providing internet to everyone in the house. Now what I want to do is to add another Wi-Fi router to the network and use it as my private Wi-Fi router. Now the trick is that the landlord didn't allow me to run a LAN cable from the router to my room. Is there a way to set up an AP that will wirelessly connect to an existing Wi-Fi router and then function as I described?

 

Below you can see a drawing of what I mean. Maybe this will be more clear

I wonder as well, if my network, configured on "My router" will be visible for people who are connected to "Main router"? And if it will, can I do something to prevent it?

 

I have a really basic knowledge about networking so be easy on me

Thanks in advance for all the helpful answers!

[Lurick]

Do you have access to the main router?

If so, what model is it?

 

The best way would be to create a separate subnet on the "My Router" and connect it to the "Main Router" via powerline or something, depending on what the living situation is. I say that because if you're in a house or townhome then you'll be fine but if you're in an apartment then it gets more complex with regards to powerline.

 

You would disable NAT on "My Router" and just create a static route on "Main Router" pointed to "My Router" and set "My Router" to have an IP on the interface connected to "Main Router" in the same subnet as "Main Router"

[Marine_Boy]

6 minutes ago, Lurick said:

Do you have access to the main router?

If so, what model is it?

 

The best way would be to create a separate subnet on the "My Router" and connect it to the "Main Router" via powerline or something, depending on what the living situation is. I say that because if you're in a house or townhome then you'll be fine but if you're in an apartment then it gets more complex with regards to powerline.

 

You would disable NAT on "My Router" and just create a static route on "Main Router" pointed to "My Router" and set "My Router" to have an IP on the interface connected to "Main Router" in the same subnet as "Main Router"

I'm currently connected via Wi-Fi to Main router. Unfortunately, we are not allowed to alter the settings of the router at all(it is fully managed by the landlord). So, even tho I have the physical access to the router, I'm not allowed to change any settings or configuration That's why I was curious if it is actually possible to connect two Wi-Fi routers wirelessly and then configure my network on my router.

 

[Lurick]

23 minutes ago, Marine_Boy said:

I'm currently connected via Wi-Fi to Main router. Unfortunately, we are not allowed to alter the settings of the router at all(it is fully managed by the landlord). So, even tho I have the physical access to the router, I'm not allowed to change any settings or configuration That's why I was curious if it is actually possible to connect two Wi-Fi routers wirelessly and then configure my network on my router.

 

Ah, then you wouldn't be able to segment your network easily by those connected to the main router but you could setup your own SSID and whatnot and, depending on the model of the router you buy, you could maybe put some access lists on to restrict access at least to those devices behind your router. Powerline for connectivity would be your best bet though.

[Marine_Boy]

3 minutes ago, Lurick said:

Ah, then you wouldn't be able to segment your network easily by those connected to the main router but you could setup your own SSID and whatnot and, depending on the model of the router you buy, you could maybe put some access lists on to restrict access at least to those devices behind your router. Powerline for connectivity would be your best bet though.

Do you know any routers that would allow me to achieve this? I don't even know what sort of functionality to look for in the specification  

[Lurick]

9 minutes ago, Marine_Boy said:

Do you know any routers that would allow me to achieve this? I don't even know what sort of functionality to look for in the specification  

Sure, there are plenty out there but I guess the biggest question I should have asked is what's the budget for the powerline adapters and the router?

[Marine_Boy]

19 minutes ago, Lurick said:

Sure, there are plenty out there but I guess the biggest question I should have asked is what's the budget for the powerline adapters and the router?

The budget. I'm thinking around 150-200 euro.

Why do I need power line adapters?

[Lurick]

Just now, Marine_Boy said:

The budget. I'm thinking around 150-200 euro.

Why do I need power line adapters?

Well you can do a wireless bridge, but powerline will give you more reliable connectivity.

What country are you in or do you have a list of a couple sites I can browse for routers and whatnot?

[Marine_Boy]

1 minute ago, Lurick said:

Well you can do a wireless bridge, but powerline will give you more reliable connectivity.

What country are you in or do you have a list of a couple sites I can browse for routers and whatnot?

Oh, I get it. But powerline won't work for me, since you have to connect the powerline adapter to the router via LAN cable, which for some reason isn't allowed...

I live in The Netherlands. Below the list of a few web shops.

 

https://www.megekko.nl/

https://www.alternate.nl/html/index.html

https://azerty.nl/

 

[Lurick]

3 minutes ago, Marine_Boy said:

Oh, I get it. But powerline won't work for me, since you have to connect the powerline adapter to the router via LAN cable, which for some reason isn't allowed...

I live in The Netherlands. Below the list of a few web shops.

 

https://www.megekko.nl/

https://www.alternate.nl/html/index.html

https://azerty.nl/

 

I would go with something like this then:

https://www.alternate.nl/ASUS/RT-AC66U-Dual-Band-Wireless-AC1750-Gigabit-Router/html/product/1021019?lk=22102

or if you need something a bit more robust (which I don't think will help really)

https://www.alternate.nl/ASUS/RT-AC86U-dual-band-Gigabit-wifi-router-met-MU-MIMO/html/product/1381263?lk=22102

 

There is a Bridge mode in the settings here:

https://event.asus.com/2012/NW/DUMMY_UI/EN/Advanced_WMode_Content.html

[Marine_Boy]

4 minutes ago, Lurick said:

I would go with something like this then:

https://www.alternate.nl/ASUS/RT-AC66U-Dual-Band-Wireless-AC1750-Gigabit-Router/html/product/1021019?lk=22102

or if you need something a bit more robust (which I don't think will help really)

https://www.alternate.nl/ASUS/RT-AC86U-dual-band-Gigabit-wifi-router-met-MU-MIMO/html/product/1381263?lk=22102

 

There is a Bridge mode in the settings here:

https://event.asus.com/2012/NW/DUMMY_UI/EN/Advanced_WMode_Content.html

Thanks a bunch! You are a legend!

 

Last question. Will the devices connected to my router be visible to the devices connected to the "Main router" and vice versa?

[Lurick]

Just now, Marine_Boy said:

Thanks a bunch! You are a legend!

 

Last question. Will the devices connected to my router be visible to the devices connected to the "Main router" and vice versa?

Yah, they'll be on the same subnet and broadcast domain so they'll be visible from the main router and vice versa unfortunately but you should be able to, and I'd have to check around on this, filter some of the discovery stuff at least which would mean someone would have to know the IP address of your devices at least to access them, or attempt to access them.

 

As for setup I didn't really go over this but you'll get the router and connect one LAN port to your switch, setup bridge mode, and then disable DHCP on your router under the LAN tab of the GUI -OR- you can still have a DHCP server running on your router and you'll just need to set it to a the higher end of the subnet the main router uses. It's not ideal but unless you have like 200 devices connected then there won't be any issues. For example, if on your computer you go to the command prompt and type in "ipconfig" look for the Default Gateway section, that will be the IP to access the main router and will give you the subnet as well. For example if the gateway is 192.168.1.1 and the subnet mask is 255.255.255.0 then on your router, under DHCP, you would set the it like this:

 

[Marine_Boy]

4 minutes ago, Lurick said:

Yah, they'll be on the same subnet and broadcast domain so they'll be visible from the main router and vice versa unfortunately but you should be able to, and I'd have to check around on this, filter some of the discovery stuff at least which would mean someone would have to know the IP address of your devices at least to access them, or attempt to access them.

 

As for setup I didn't really go over this but you'll get the router and connect one LAN port to your switch, setup bridge mode, and then disable DHCP on your router under the LAN tab of the GUI -OR- you can still have a DHCP server running on your router and you'll just need to set it to a the higher end of the subnet the main router uses. It's not ideal but unless you have like 200 devices connected then there won't be any issues. For example, if on your computer you go to the command prompt and type in "ipconfig" look for the Default Gateway section, that will be the IP to access the main router and will give you the subnet as well. For example if the gateway is 192.168.1.1 and the subnet mask is 255.255.255.0 then on your router, under DHCP, you would set the it like this:

 

Ok, thanks a lot for all the info!   I will order a router sometime next week and try and set it up. Would you mind if I would PM you if I will encounter some issues?

[Lurick]

Just now, Marine_Boy said:

 

Ok, thanks a lot for all the info!   I will order a router sometime next week and try and set it up. Would you mind if I would PM you if I will encounter some issues?

Not at all, PM away with questions

[Marine_Boy]

7 minutes ago, Lurick said:

Not at all, PM away with questions

Thanks a lot!

[brwainer]

1 hour ago, Lurick said:

I would go with something like this then:

https://www.alternate.nl/ASUS/RT-AC66U-Dual-Band-Wireless-AC1750-Gigabit-Router/html/product/1021019?lk=22102

or if you need something a bit more robust (which I don't think will help really)

https://www.alternate.nl/ASUS/RT-AC86U-dual-band-Gigabit-wifi-router-met-MU-MIMO/html/product/1381263?lk=22102

 

There is a Bridge mode in the settings here:

https://event.asus.com/2012/NW/DUMMY_UI/EN/Advanced_WMode_Content.html

Note that this won’t work if the upstream router has WPA enabled. The instructions say only Open and WEP are supported. I believe this is a limitation of WDS in general.

 

An alternative is to get a router that can be flashed with Tomato or OpenWRT, and run it in “Client Bridge” mode. As opposed to WDS bridging which makes the router act as a repeater for the network, “Client Bridge” causes the router to use the wireless as its WAN, while still being able to create its own LAN for wired and wireless clients. The drawback is that any time the router has to reconnect the WAN wireless, it will temporarily drop the LAN wireless as well. For static setups with a single upstream wireless this is normally not an issue, but at a hotel it can sometimes be a nightmare. 

 

The other alternative is two routers back to back. The first runs purely in Client mode (use wireless only for WAN, don’t run a LAN wireless, and provide LAN on ethernet ports), while the second runs in either regular mode or AP mode (or, you just connect an AP to the client mode router).

[Acedia]

Usually any 30€ TP Link access point can go into "Client" mode.