Setting up Repeater

[drewtcjones]

I have two routers. My main one is a Netgear that has been flashed with ddwrt and the other one is a netgear 3g router that i cant flash with ddwrt. Is there any way i can use the 3g router as a repeater without having to flash it?

[dalekphalm]

I have two routers. My main one is a Netgear that has been flashed with ddwrt and the other one is a netgear 3g router that i cant flash with ddwrt. Is there any way i can use the 3g router as a repeater without having to flash it?

Sort of. It would depend on whether you wanted the repeater to act totally wirelessly, as well as the possible settings of the 2nd router.

 

First, you'll want to change the IP Address (host address) of the 2nd router to be on the same network as the first:

So if the IP Address of the first router is 192.168.1.1, you'll want to change the 2nd router to 192.168.1.x (I would set it as x = 2 personally)

 

Next, disable DHCP on the 2nd router. This will ensure that the first router will control all IP assignment for your whole network.

 

Lastly, if the netgear 3g router does not have a "repeater" mode, then you'll need to run an ethernet cable from the main router to the WAN port of the 2nd router.

[drewtcjones]

Sort of. It would depend on whether you wanted the repeater to act totally wirelessly, as well as the possible settings of the 2nd router.

 

First, you'll want to change the IP Address (host address) of the 2nd router to be on the same network as the first:

So if the IP Address of the first router is 192.168.1.1, you'll want to change the 2nd router to 192.168.1.x (I would set it as x = 2 personally)

 

Next, disable DHCP on the 2nd router. This will ensure that the first router will control all IP assignment for your whole network.

 

Lastly, if the netgear 3g router does not have a "repeater" mode, then you'll need to run an ethernet cable from the main router to the WAN port of the 2nd router.

so they have to be hardwired together no matter what or only if the 3g router doesnt have the mode?

[dalekphalm]

so they have to be hardwired together no matter what or only if the 3g router doesnt have the mode?

Only if the 3g router doesn't have a "Repeater" mode.

 

With that in mind, you want to run the ethernet cable between the two if at all possible, as setting up a purely wireless repeater (gets its signal wirelessly then regenerates a new wireless signal) will have severe performance degradation. By running the ethernet cable, you'll ensure far better overall performance and better signal.

[drewtcjones]

Only if the 3g router doesn't have a "Repeater" mode.

With that in mind, you want to run the ethernet cable between the two if at all possible, as setting up a purely wireless repeater (gets its signal wirelessly then regenerates a new wireless signal) will have severe performance degradation. By running the ethernet cable, you'll ensure far better overall performance and better signal.

alright, I needed to set this up because my moms laptops wireless card Is horrible. I might just end up upgrading that instead because I can't run the routers together via Ethernet.

[dalekphalm]

alright, I needed to set this up because my moms laptops wireless card Is horrible. I might just end up upgrading that instead because I can't run the routers together via Ethernet.

Can you describe or draw a picture of the setup? Specifically looking for how large the house (or apartment or whatever) is. How many floors, and how many rooms per floor. Also looking for where the main router is located, and where the wireless clients (laptops etc) are located. Also how many walls are between the laptop and the main router, and what material they are made of (mostly looking for concrete or metal beams).

 

This will determine whether just upgrading the wireless card for the laptop (getting a new one) will be enough.

[drewtcjones]

Can you describe or draw a picture of the setup? Specifically looking for how large the house (or apartment or whatever) is. How many floors, and how many rooms per floor. Also looking for where the main router is located, and where the wireless clients (laptops etc) are located. Also how many walls are between the laptop and the main router, and what material they are made of (mostly looking for concrete or metal beams).

This will determine whether just upgrading the wireless card for the laptop (getting a new one) will be enough.

she has two laptops in the same place that she works with. The other has perfect connection and her Asus laptop only gets 1 bar of wifi.

[dalekphalm]

she has two laptops in the same place that she works with. The other has perfect connection and her Asus laptop only gets 1 bar of wifi.

Best solution then is to get an external wifi card for her 2nd laptop. USB would be the easiest to find (and possibly cheapest). If it supports USB 3.0, then get one of those. Another option is if the laptop has a PCMCIA/CardBus/etc slot, which is potentially faster than USB 2.0.

[drewtcjones]

Best solution then is to get an external wifi card for her 2nd laptop. USB would be the easiest to find (and possibly cheapest). If it supports USB 3.0, then get one of those. Another option is if the laptop has a PCMCIA/CardBus/etc slot, which is potentially faster than USB 2.0.

she has a 3.0 port so I will probably go that way. Thanks

[dalekphalm]

she has a 3.0 port so I will probably go that way. Thanks

If your router is dual band (5.0 GHz and 2.4Ghz) then getting a dual band wifi adapter and use 5.0GHz may help with cutting through any interference. Either way, make sure to get a Wireless N 300 or 450 adapter (just stay away from the N150 ones, as they are only half speed).