Plugging a router into a router

[westonb27]

Hey all, I'm not the most well versed in home networking, but I'm living in shared on campus housing this year. I have one roommate, and he wants to bring his router into the house too. I have my router set up as I moved in earlier than he did. We only have one working ethernet port in the house (it's not big so we don't need another router) so I was wondering what kind of issues (or lack there of) to expect if he decides to connect his router to my router. Thanks!

[suchamoneypit]

It would work but all devices connected to his router would be viewed as on an entirely different network to the devices connected on your router.

[westonb27]

Just now, suchamoneypit said:

It would work but all devices connected to his router would be viewed as on an entirely different network to the devices connected on your router.

As long as their are no conflict issues that's fine with me. I don't care what devices go where as long as mine are working well.

[kirashi]

While he could definitely run his own router alongside yours, it would create NAT issues, making port forwarding a pain in the butt for him.

Your router is connected directly to the university network, and thus you'd only need to open ports on your router to forward them to devices on your router.

Any devices on his router would need both ports forwarded on his router, and ports forwarded on your router as well.

 

But more importantly:  What router models do you and your roommate have, and why does he want his own router?

[westonb27]

1 hour ago, kirashi said:

While he could definitely run his own router alongside yours, it would create NAT issues, making port forwarding a pain in the butt for him.

Your router is connected directly to the university network, and thus you'd only need to open ports on your router to forward them to devices on your router.

Any devices on his router would need both ports forwarded on his router, and ports forwarded on your router as well.

 

But more importantly:  What router models do you and your roommate have, and why does he want his own router?

1. My router: Netgear WNDR4500

    His router: ????? (He isn't here yet so I have no idea.)

2. I have no idea. he told me he was bringing one, but I moved in a few days ago and he won't be here till tomorrow. He said that we're just gonna have "dueling routers" though I see it as more of a hassle. 

[kirashi]

1 hour ago, westonb27 said:

1. My router: Netgear WNDR4500

    His router: ????? (He isn't here yet so I have no idea.)

2. I have no idea. he told me he was bringing one, but I moved in a few days ago and he won't be here till tomorrow. He said that we're just gonna have "dueling routers" though I see it as more of a hassle. 

 

Good, your router appears to be compatible with the Tomato Shibby custom firmware if you wanted to have more control over different features.

As for having "dueling routers"... well, that's just plain a bad idea. Additional interference and more steps for your roommate to troubleshoot.

[westonb27]

3 hours ago, kirashi said:

Good, your router appears to be compatible with the Tomato Shibby custom firmware if you wanted to have more control over different features.

As for having "dueling routers"... well, that's just plain a bad idea. Additional interference and more steps for your roommate to troubleshoot.

I've never heard of Tomato Shibby before. Is there a benefit to using that firmware over the stock Netgear firmware?

[kirashi]

47 minutes ago, westonb27 said:

I've never heard of Tomato Shibby before. Is there a benefit to using that firmware over the stock Netgear firmware?

If you need the flexibility of additional features, yes. And generally, it's more stable as well. If you want to look into custom router firmware, have a read about DD-WRT firmware and decide for yourself if you need it or not.

https://www.flashrouters.com/ddwrt-router-information

*please note that although the article is geared toward you purchasing a router from them directly, you don't have to at all.

[dalekphalm]

11 hours ago, westonb27 said:

I've never heard of Tomato Shibby before. Is there a benefit to using that firmware over the stock Netgear firmware?

For most people? No, custom firmware is simply an added complexity that they won't take advantage of.
 

The biggest concern with having two routers is:

WIFI Interference - I'm assuming both of you will have WIFI turned on, and that might cause interference with each other, especially in such close proximity.

 

There's no way to tell how bad the interference will be until you set them both up and try it out though. Might not be noticeable at all, or it could be cripplingly slow.

 

The other issue is Double NAT - which is only an issue if your roommate needs to do any Port Forwarding on his router (Since.. well, it won't work). This could be an issue if he's hosting a game server (or any actual server) or running BitTorrent, etc. Since, any port forwarding he does at his router will be stopped at your router. You can make Double NAT work w/ port forwarding, but it's a super goddamn pain in the ass, and simply not worth the trouble.

 

I would simply compare the two routers, and use the better one. He can always set his router up as an AP only (disable routing, DHCP, NAT, firewall, set IP to be an address on the same Subnet as your Router), if he wants better WIFI signal in his room or something. But that's configured differently compared to a standard Router settings.

[westonb27]

26 minutes ago, kirashi said:

If you need the flexibility of additional features, yes. And generally, it's more stable as well. If you want to look into custom router firmware, have a read about DD-WRT firmware and decide for yourself if you need it or not.

https://www.flashrouters.com/ddwrt-router-information

*please note that although the article is geared toward you purchasing a router from them directly, you don't have to at all.

Thanks for the introduction! I'm definitely interested in flashing Tomato to my router. If only for the VPN settings through OpenVPN.

[LiddellDogs]

Running custom firmware can be a huge benefit if only for the uptime.  I don't recall ever having a stock router I didn't have to reboot constantly.  My preference has always been DD-WRT but to each his own.  Plenty of options out there, just be sure you have the correct version ex. TP-Link TL-MR3220 V1.x is compatible with DD-WRT while V2.x is not.  Do your homework first

 

One option for your dilemma is to put a normal switch on the incoming line then a cable to each router.  Although it is a bit much for a small network.  It would give you each a separate network and you would have less issues than daisy chaining routers.

 

Also whenever I set up a wireless router I run "wifi analyzer" from my phone to see what channels are currently being used in the immediate area

[westonb27]

On 8/17/2016 at 6:20 PM, LiddellDogs said:

Running custom firmware can be a huge benefit if only for the uptime.  I don't recall ever having a stock router I didn't have to reboot constantly.  My preference has always been DD-WRT but to each his own.  Plenty of options out there, just be sure you have the correct version ex. TP-Link TL-MR3220 V1.x is compatible with DD-WRT while V2.x is not.  Do your homework first

 

One option for your dilemma is to put a normal switch on the incoming line then a cable to each router.  Although it is a bit much for a small network.  It would give you each a separate network and you would have less issues than daisy chaining routers.

 

Also whenever I set up a wireless router I run "wifi analyzer" from my phone to see what channels are currently being used in the immediate area

Thanks for all the info! I'll probably get around to trying out custom firmware during my winter break since I kinda need my router for all my work. But I'll look into getting a switch so we can both have our routers running if my roommate still wants to use his when he finally gets here.