Connecting secondary router via eth cable to extend range. Help

[idh1oi12jkl31jk2bgve3jk12b]

Hi all. 

I followed this guys (YouTube Link here). 

 

I do understand there are range-extenders, but that's not what I want. I am trying to maintain full speed of main router while extending it's reach. 

 

Here is what I did: 

 

1. I kept my main router on factory ip (192.168.1.1). 

2. I set "starting ip address" at 192.168.1.3
 

3. I then set my secondary router to ip address 192.168.1.2 (so it won't clash with main, i assume).
4. this router had an option to use AP-MODE which is meant for this purpose I assume. It disabled DHCP. See pic bellow. 

 

Now, internet works. Both Wifi and Wired. But it's not always solid when it comes to the WiFi. I will very often lose wifi connection - my devices will stop connecting to the wifi. 

I then need to restart the secondary wifi and it works again. Which makes me wonder if this has to do with the DHCP (maybe it's not assigniung address correctly? but I am very new to this - so I just don't know). 

 

Pics: 

 

1. MAIN router. 

2. SECONDARY router. 

(these two are connected via WIRE -  ETH / LAN CABLE). 

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!!

Thanks so much!!

 

 

[Anghammarad]

you need to look at the wireless settings too... 

best would be when the 2nd router is able to use dhcp forward. 

Else devices can have problems when there is the same network with similar wireless performance... trying to switch from and to... 

[idh1oi12jkl31jk2bgve3jk12b]

4 minutes ago, Anghammarad said:

you need to look at the wireless settings too... 

best would be when the 2nd router is able to use dhcp forward. 

Else devices can have problems when there is the same network with similar wireless performance... trying to switch from and to... 

 

Thx so much. 

 

DHCP forward? Did not see such option. Should I look for this in second router? 

 

thx again

[Anghammarad]

Just now, idh1oi12jkl31jk2bgve3jk12b said:

 

Thx so much. 

 

DHCP forward? Did not see such option. Should I look for this in second router? 

 

thx again

Yes, the DHCP Forward option should be on the second router, so devices, when polling for an IP get forwarded to router 1 from router 2. only one IP Authority in the house. 

Else you will get problems and should use different ranges like x.x.x.10-150 on router one, x.x.x.151-250 on router 2. Won't be really pretty but could work, if DHCP forwarding isn't working.

Not able to see the routers menues I have to "guess" and go from experience ^^
 

[WereCatf]

7 minutes ago, Anghammarad said:

best would be when the 2nd router is able to use dhcp forward

DHCP-forwarding is only needed when the devices are on a different subnet. That's not OP's situation.

[Anghammarad]

1 minute ago, WereCatf said:

DHCP-forwarding is only needed when the devices are on a different subnet. That's not OP's situation.

for security reasons wireless and cable lan should work on different networks, using the router as gateway in between.

[WereCatf]

Just now, Anghammarad said:

for security reasons wireless and cable lan should work on different networks, using the router as gateway in between.

That doesn't add any security, unless there are rules preventing traffic in one direction or another.

[idh1oi12jkl31jk2bgve3jk12b]

Thank you both for the discussion and help. 

 

BTW - just in case - this is  my 2nd router: 

 

https://www.totolink.net/home/menu/newstpl/menu_newstpl/products/id/163.html

[WereCatf]

21 minutes ago, idh1oi12jkl31jk2bgve3jk12b said:

Now, internet works. Both Wifi and Wired. But it's not always solid when it comes to the WiFi. I will very often lose wifi connection - my devices will stop connecting to the wifi. 

I then need to restart the secondary wifi and it works again. Which makes me wonder if this has to do with the DHCP (maybe it's not assigniung address correctly? but I am very new to this - so I just don't know)

You should show the 2nd router's WiFi-settings as well. You can also add default gateway and DNS as 192.168.1.1 on it, though that shouldn't change anything, unless there's some bug with the router's firmware.

[idh1oi12jkl31jk2bgve3jk12b]

Thank you. 

 

Attached: 

 

 

[Kanna]

How you made your forum name 

[idh1oi12jkl31jk2bgve3jk12b]

1 minute ago, Kanna said:

How you made your forum name 

 

Haha! Sorry. It was meant to be an auto-generated pass 

[WereCatf]

3 minutes ago, idh1oi12jkl31jk2bgve3jk12b said:

Thank you. 

 

Attached: 

 

 

Unless you have some really, really old WiFi-devices, you should use WPA2, not WPA-mixed. Also, short preamble, 20/40MHz coexist and TX beamforming.

[idh1oi12jkl31jk2bgve3jk12b]

Just now, WereCatf said:

Unless you have some really, really old WiFi-devices, you should use WPA2, not WPA-mixed. Also, short preamble, 20/40MHz coexist and TX beamforming.

 

Thanks so much. All these settings are gibberish to me. Will this fix my issue? 

[WereCatf]

3 minutes ago, idh1oi12jkl31jk2bgve3jk12b said:

Will this fix my issue? 

Literally no idea, since I don't have the router you have. You'll just have to try and see. That said, WPA-mixed allows devices to use WPA1 or WPA2 for security, but WPA1 is deprecated and vulnerable -- you should always be using WPA2, if possible. Short preamble, 20/40 coexist and beamforming should improve WiFi-performance, even if only a little.

 

Beamforming may also cause more trouble, so feel free to try with and without, if you see more issues.

[idh1oi12jkl31jk2bgve3jk12b]

1 minute ago, WereCatf said:

Literally no idea, since I don't have the router you have. You'll just have to try and see. That said, WPA-mixed allows devices to use WPA1 or WPA2 for security, but WPA1 is deprecated and vulnerable -- you should always be using WPA2, if possible. Short preamble, 20/40 coexist and beamforming should improve WiFi-performance, even if only a little.

 

Beamforming may also cause more trouble, so feel free to try with and without, if you see more issues.

 

Really appreciate all the help!!!

 

So you don't see any issue with the basic settings, right? 

 

I mean - setting MAIN router to 192.168.1.1, then having it assign ips starting from 192.168.1.3 since (while) setting the SECONDARY router to 192.168.1.2. 

Is this correct? 

 

Also - I don't need to set Secondary WiFi password as the same as MAIN, right? 

 

Thanks! 

[WereCatf]

1 minute ago, idh1oi12jkl31jk2bgve3jk12b said:

I mean - setting MAIN router to 192.168.1.1, then having it assign ips starting from 192.168.1.3 since (while) setting the SECONDARY router to 192.168.1.2. 

Is this correct?

No, that's fine.

1 minute ago, idh1oi12jkl31jk2bgve3jk12b said:

Also - I don't need to set Secondary WiFi password as the same as MAIN, right?

Are they using the same SSID? If so, then yes, the password should be the same. If they are not using the same SSID, then no, the passwords can also be different.

 

Btw, you posted your WiFi-password in the screenshot -- better change it.

[idh1oi12jkl31jk2bgve3jk12b]

No, they are using different SSIDs. Since the secondary router "fires" it's own WiFi signal, I assumed I can give the SSID any pass I want. I am glad I was correct. 

 

The odd thing is that my Wired connection ALWAYS works. Never issues. 

 

But for example, my Pixel phone, I will go to the store for a few minutes, come back home and I can't connect to the WiFi when I am back. 

 

Same thing happens to my Wifi with her iPhone. 

 

So I keep assuming there's some sort of "crash", and so I do a restart to it and then I can connect to wifi again. But this is annoying since it happens often. 

[WereCatf]

1 minute ago, idh1oi12jkl31jk2bgve3jk12b said:

So I keep assuming there's some sort of "crash", and so I do a restart to it and then I can connect to wifi again. But this is annoying since it happens often. 

The only other thing I can think of, it the above instructions don't help, would be to disable IPv6 on your 2nd router. It's amazing how bad IPv6 can be, even though it's been around for decades already.

[idh1oi12jkl31jk2bgve3jk12b]

Just now, WereCatf said:

The only other thing I can think of, it the above instructions don't help, would be to disable IPv6 on your 2nd router. It's amazing how bad IPv6 can be, even though it's been around for decades already.

 

Will try this! Thank you. 

 

 

Any chance this has to do with MAIN wifi channels? Like, setting up let's say MAIN wifi channel to always be 1 instead of AUTO, and then setting up SECONDARY wifi to let's say something else? Or this is not important at all? 

[WereCatf]

Just now, idh1oi12jkl31jk2bgve3jk12b said:

Any chance this has to do with MAIN wifi channels? Like, setting up let's say MAIN wifi channel to always be 1 instead of AUTO, and then setting up SECONDARY wifi to let's say something else? Or this is not important at all? 

No, that shouldn't cause the kinds of issues you are seeing. If they are both on auto, they'll just simply attempt to find the least-crowded channel and use that.

[idh1oi12jkl31jk2bgve3jk12b]

Just now, WereCatf said:

No, that shouldn't cause the kinds of issues you are seeing. If they are both on auto, they'll just simply attempt to find the least-crowded channel and use that.

 

Thank you so much for all the help!!! 

Will try your advice on the IPv6 in second router and will disable it and will report back here. 

Thanks again. 

[Falcon1986]

6 hours ago, idh1oi12jkl31jk2bgve3jk12b said:

On this unit, try:

• Default gateway: 192.168.1.1
• DNS1: 192.168.1.1
• DNS2: 1.1.1.1 (or any trusted public DNS closest to you)

Also, make sure that the WiFi settings suggested are applied to both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz radios (e.g. WPA2/AES, etc.).

[idh1oi12jkl31jk2bgve3jk12b]

28 minutes ago, Falcon1986 said:

On this unit, try:

• Default gateway: 192.168.1.1
• DNS1: 192.168.1.1
• DNS2: 1.1.1.1 (or any trusted public DNS closest to you)

Also, make sure that the WiFi settings suggested are applied to both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz radios (e.g. WPA2/AES, etc.).

 

Setting the DNS to the same IP as main router.... That's interesting.

Thank you for this! Will try this as soon as possible! 

[idh1oi12jkl31jk2bgve3jk12b]

On 11/2/2020 at 5:13 PM, Falcon1986 said:

On this unit, try:

• Default gateway: 192.168.1.1
• DNS1: 192.168.1.1
• DNS2: 1.1.1.1 (or any trusted public DNS closest to you)

Also, make sure that the WiFi settings suggested are applied to both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz radios (e.g. WPA2/AES, etc.).

 

May I ask what is the reason for setting the first DNS to be the same as main router's ip address? 

Curious about this. 

Thank you