New Apartment Networking Setup

[Jon721]

Hello comrades,

 

I moved into an apartment with my wife about 4 months ago and though our internet service is fantastic (gigabit), there are a few problems with it. Our apartment has a networking closet with ethernet connections to outlets in nearly every room, so initial setup was pretty easy. Unfortunately networking is my weakness when it comes to computers so I thought I'd reach out to the community for advice.

 

Here's what our network looks like right now:

 

 

The reason I use the AT&T modem as a switch is twofold:

1. It has very few wireless network settings and generally is a little glitchy.
2. It is in the study's closet, inside a wire closet. The reception to the rest of the apartment is not good.

I'd like to be able for the desktops to see the printers, but they can't. I'd also like to connect an external HDD to the ASUS router or a desktop that always stays on to serve as a mini-filesharing device. I'll upgrade to a NAS later for our media.

 

The problem I think is that I've essentially created two networks: Devices on the AT&T wired network such as the desktop cannot see things like the printer, but devices on the ASUS wireless/wired network can see the printer (it's on the same network). I need to somehow bridge these networks.

 

I tried to open an AP from the AT&T modem just to connect to in order to print, but the desktops don't have wireless so that really doesn't help anything. The printer is wireless only and the phones can already see and print to it since they're on the same network. The AT&T router is directly connected to the ASUS router, so it should be super easy for me to do this, I just don't know enough about networking.

 

I've attached the Visio file if that helps.

 

Thanks in advance for your suggestions and advice.

network diagram.vsdx

[Mira Yurizaki]

3 minutes ago, Jon721 said:

I'd like to be able for the desktops to see the printers, but they can't. I'd also like to connect an external HDD to the ASUS router or a desktop that always stays on to serve as a mini-filesharing device. I'll upgrade to a NAS later for our media.

 

The problem I think is that I've essentially created two networks: Devices on the AT&T wired network such as the desktop cannot see things like the printer, but devices on the ASUS wireless/wired network can see the printer (it's on the same network). I need to somehow bridge these networks.

 

I tried to open an AP from the AT&T modem just to connect to in order to print, but the desktops don't have wireless so that really doesn't help anything. The printer is wireless only and the phones can already see and print to it since they're on the same network. The AT&T router is directly connected to the ASUS router, so it should be super easy for me to do this, I just don't know enough about networking.

I have a setup sort of kind of like that, in that my AT&T modem/router has devices connected to it, but I have an ASUS router acting as a access point. Everyone can see each other just fine.

 

I'm not sure if you can do the same thing on your router if it's wired only, but it wouldn't hurt to look.

[Jon721]

3 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

I have a setup sort of kind of like that, in that my AT&T modem/router has devices connected to it, but I have an ASUS router acting as a access point. Everyone can see each other just fine.

 

I'm not sure if you can do the same thing on your router if it's wired only, but it wouldn't hurt to look.

I wonder if it is a setting I need to change on the modem, or the router. I'll check when I get home, thank you. It's good to hear that this should be working just fine. I haven't messed with the router much other than putting Merlin firmware on it and initial setup.

[IrwinAllen13]

Hey Jon,

All routers i have run across gives you the ability to turn off the DHCP server. Therefore as M. Turizaki mentioned, just have the ASUS router act as an Access point & Switch. Just turn off the "Router" part.

 

The last ASUS router I used (RT-AC3200) which i believe is running Merlin. Has an easy configure option for turning the router into a Access Point. (or even a Bridge)

[Donut417]

3 hours ago, Jon721 said:

Hello comrades,

 

I moved into an apartment with my wife about 4 months ago and though our internet service is fantastic (gigabit), there are a few problems with it. Our apartment has a networking closet with ethernet connections to outlets in nearly every room, so initial setup was pretty easy. Unfortunately networking is my weakness when it comes to computers so I thought I'd reach out to the community for advice.

 

Here's what our network looks like right now:

 

 

The reason I use the AT&T modem as a switch is twofold:

1. It has very few wireless network settings and generally is a little glitchy.
2. It is in the study's closet, inside a wire closet. The reception to the rest of the apartment is not good.

I'd like to be able for the desktops to see the printers, but they can't. I'd also like to connect an external HDD to the ASUS router or a desktop that always stays on to serve as a mini-filesharing device. I'll upgrade to a NAS later for our media.

 

The problem I think is that I've essentially created two networks: Devices on the AT&T wired network such as the desktop cannot see things like the printer, but devices on the ASUS wireless/wired network can see the printer (it's on the same network). I need to somehow bridge these networks.

 

I tried to open an AP from the AT&T modem just to connect to in order to print, but the desktops don't have wireless so that really doesn't help anything. The printer is wireless only and the phones can already see and print to it since they're on the same network. The AT&T router is directly connected to the ASUS router, so it should be super easy for me to do this, I just don't know enough about networking.

 

I've attached the Visio file if that helps.

 

Thanks in advance for your suggestions and advice.

network diagram.vsdx

Well the AT&T box is a router as well. And I think for their fiber service, you are forced to use it. The easy way to fix issues with out spending money would be to disable the DHCP server on the Asus Router and connect the AT&T router to it via LAN. It will essentially make what you have one big network. Im guessing your using the ASUS router for WiFi? 

[Jon721]

6 hours ago, IrwinAllen13 said:

Hey Jon,

All routers i have run across gives you the ability to turn off the DHCP server. Therefore as M. Turizaki mentioned, just have the ASUS router act as an Access point & Switch. Just turn off the "Router" part.

 

The last ASUS router I used (RT-AC3200) which i believe is running Merlin. Has an easy configure option for turning the router into a Access Point. (or even a Bridge)

 

5 hours ago, Donut417 said:

Well the AT&T box is a router as well. And I think for their fiber service, you are forced to use it. The easy way to fix issues with out spending money would be to disable the DHCP server on the Asus Router and connect the AT&T router to it via LAN. It will essentially make what you have one big network. Im guessing your using the ASUS router for WiFi? 

I'll check out setting the ASUS Router as an AP instead of letting it DHCP in full router mode. Thanks, I'll update back soon with what I find!

[Jon721]

Changing the mode on the ASUS router to be an AP turned it into a wireless extension of the AT&T modem, instead of creating a new network w/ DHCP assigning new 192.2.x.x addresses on a new subnet. Now, all devices are visible to each other!

 

Thanks for the help, the Merlin firmware made this really easy for anyone with this same problem in the future.