Setting up Multiple Access points.

[muxammle]

Hello guys,

 

Hope you are all having a good time.

 

I am not into networking and because of that, i have very little knowledge about it. Yesterday, i read somewhere that i can setup unused routers as access points to increase strength of the network and the size.

I have 2 spare routers. I want to config them in such a way that i can use all the existing gadgets to access the same network and file sharing (i use PS4 as a media server so i need file sharing, not only wireless ap). But with different SSIDs.

 

I have attached the photo of my current network config, and what i plan to do.

 

Any help would be appreciated.

 

Muzammil Ahmed

[Xanthe_2871]

You absolutely can! You need to turn off the router's routing setting so it just functions as a wireless repeater, this tells you how:

http://lifehacker.com/how-to-extend-your-wi-fi-network-with-an-old-router-915783308

 

You can use any SSID you want, same goes for password. As long as they are in the router off mode (please excuse my non-technical terms) any device connected will see all the other devices on the whole network. 

 

Hope this helps!

[muxammle]

4 minutes ago, Xanthe_2871 said:

You absolutely can! You need to turn off the router's routing setting so it just functions as a wireless repeater, this tells you how:

http://lifehacker.com/how-to-extend-your-wi-fi-network-with-an-old-router-915783308

 

You can use any SSID you want, same goes for password. As long as they are in the router off mode (please excuse my non-technical terms) any device connected will see all the other devices on the whole network. 

 

Hope this helps!

Thanks for the prompt reply, and using non technical terms. lol. 

 

From what I have gathered reading about this, I have to disable DHCP on all the access points, and give them such IP addresses that they wont conflict with the main router. But they are all giving information about wireless connections. If I plug a wired device in any one of those secondary APs, will my device work?

 

Also, I just realized that the 3rd access point i plan to use is not a router, it is TP-Link Wireless Access Point. 

[Xanthe_2871]

1 minute ago, muxammle said:

Thanks for the prompt reply, and using non technical terms. lol. 

 

From what I have gathered reading about this, I have to disable DHCP on all the access points, and give them such IP addresses that they wont conflict with the main router. But they are all giving information about wireless connections. If I plug a wired device in any one of those secondary APs, will my device work?

 

Also, I just realized that the 3rd access point i plan to use is not a router, it is TP-Link Wireless Access Point. 

Wired devices plugged into the additional routers will  work, yes. Just keep in mind that you'll be limited to 3 ports and not 4 since the router's connection to the main router will also use one of those ports; you can not use the 5th internet port, it has to connect to the main router through one of the 4 device ports.

 

That's right, DHCP is the term I was looking for!

 

If that TP-Link Wireless Access Point is what I think it is then it should work perfectly for your project!

 

 

[muxammle]

4 minutes ago, Xanthe_2871 said:

Wired devices plugged into the additional routers will  work, yes. Just keep in mind that you'll be limited to 3 ports and not 4 since the router's connection to the main router will also use one of those ports; you can not use the 5th internet port, it has to connect to the main router through one of the 4 device ports.

 

That's right, DHCP is the term I was looking for!

 

If that TP-Link Wireless Access Point is what I think it is then it should work perfectly for your project!

 

 

Thank you again for the reply.

 

The TP-Link AP is this one: http://www.tp-link.com/eg/products/details/cat-12_TL-WA901ND.html

 

The trouble I am having is, all the guides suggests that i have to plug the wire in the LAN ports and not the WAN ports. But the access points technically only have WAN ports.

[Xanthe_2871]

1 minute ago, muxammle said:

Thank you again for the reply.

 

The TP-Link AP is this one: http://www.tp-link.com/eg/products/details/cat-12_TL-WA901ND.html

 

The trouble I am having is, all the guides suggests that i have to plug the wire in the LAN ports and not the WAN ports. But the access points technically only have WAN ports.

LAN for the non- TP-Link Wireless Access Point one, yes. 

 

The  TP-Link Wireless Access Point one would use WAN since it's intended to be used as a repeater/AP and not a router. I think. Only 80% sure on that one  

[muxammle]

5 minutes ago, Xanthe_2871 said:

LAN for the non- TP-Link Wireless Access Point one, yes. 

 

The  TP-Link Wireless Access Point one would use WAN since it's intended to be used as a repeater/AP and not a router. I think. Only 80% sure on that one  

Arrite. Thanks for the help

 

I will try that tonight and post here if it works out.

 

Best of luck and have a good day

[Xanthe_2871]

3 minutes ago, muxammle said:

Arrite. Thanks for the help

 

I will try that tonight and post here if it works out.

 

Best of luck and have a good day

I hope it all works out for you!  

[brwainer]

For devices designed as an AP (which includes some routers that either have a hardware switch or software option to convert to AP mode) you use the WAN port to connect to the network. When using the "disable DHCP and change the internal IP" method to make an AP out of a router, the router doesn't know you're using it as an AP only, and so the WAN port becomes useless.