11/18/2014

How to Add a Second Router to an Existing Wireless (Wi-Fi) Network

Expand the Range of your Wireless

Network with any Old Router
Summary: This step-by-step guide describes how you can add a second wireless
router to your existing home network and extend the range of the Wi-Fi signal. The
router will work as a Wireless Access Point. By Amit Agarwal.

The wireless range offered by your router will vary depending on which WiFi standard it supports is it 802.11g or 802.11n compatible? and its
physical location (if there are any walls around, they will obstruct the Wi-Fi
signal).
The 802.11n routers, also known as Wireless N routers, typically have a
higher Wi-Fi range but even if you get one of these, the wireless signals may
still not reach certain areas of your home like the corner study or the
bedroom on the first floor as there are just too many obstructions in the
form of walls between your laptop (or mobile device) and the wireless router.

Expand your Wireless Network Range with

an Old Router
What should you therefore do to ensure that the Wi-Fi signals are available
in full strength in every corner of your house?
You can easily extend your Wi-Fi network
(http://www.labnol.org/internet/extend-wifi-wireless-network-range/13534/) with

some additional hardware like Wi-Fi repeaters and Wireless Access Points
but if you want to save a few bucks, just get hold of an old wireless router
that you no longer use and connect it to your existing router using an
inexpensive Ethernet cable (http://www.labnol.org/gadgets/visual-guide-tocomputer-cables-connectors/10694/) .

Heres how I have setup the wireless network at my home using 2 routers
connected with an Ethernet cable. I have is a main Wireless-N router
connected to the ISPs modem. Then theres a second wireless router

http://www.labnol.org/software/add-router-to-wireless-network/19716/

1/4

11/18/2014

How to Add a Second Router to an Existing Wireless (Wi-Fi) Network

(Wireless-G) that is connected to the main router over an Ethernet or Cat-5

cable.

Use a Second Router as an Access Point

Lets call our main router OBAMA (this is the router that is connected to the
modem) and PALIN (the second router that you want to add to you existing
network to increase your wireless range).

A: Note the Settings of the Main Router

Step 1: First we need to determine the IP address
(http://www.labnol.org/software/find-ip-address-of-router/18936/) and the Subnet

Mask (http://www.labnol.org/internet/find-subnet-mask/25410/) of OBAMA, our

existing router.
Open the command prompt in Windows, run the command ipconfig /all
and note the value of Default Gateway. That your routers IP address. If
you are on a Mac, open the Terminal window, type the command route -n
get default and make a note of the gateway value.
For this example, lets assume your routers IP address is 192.168.30.1 and
the Subnet Mask is 255.255.255.0.
Step 2: Open your web browser and type the routers IP address into the
address bar. If you are using IE, you might want to add http:// to the
address else IE may throw an error.
Youll now have to provide the user name and password for accessing the
router settings. This will vary depending on your routers manufacturer
just Google for <brand name> default router password or try the standard
combinations like admin/admin, admin/password and admin/<blank> (no
password).
Step 3: Once you are inside the router settings, switch to Wireless Settings
and make a note of the Wireless mode, the SSID and the channel.
If you have protected your Wi-Fi (http://www.labnol.org/internet/secure-yourwireless-wifi-network/10549/) with a password, also note down the security

mode used (WPA, WEP or WPA2) and your secret passphrase. Close the

http://www.labnol.org/software/add-router-to-wireless-network/19716/

2/4

11/18/2014

How to Add a Second Router to an Existing Wireless (Wi-Fi) Network

browser window.

B: Configure the Second Router

Step 4: Next we need to configure PALIN, our second router. First reset the
router (http://www.labnol.org/tech/reset-router-to-factory/19719/) to factory
defaults by hard-pressing the reset button for about 10 seconds.
Now connect the PALIN router to your computer using the Ethernet cable.
Put one end of the cable in any of the LAN ports available on the router and
the other end in your computers Ethernet port. Make sure the router is
powered on.
Step 5: Open the browser again and type 192.168.1.1 the default internet
IP address of your PALIN router. If you are not using a Linksys router, try
192.168.0.1 which is the default for Netgear and D-Link routers.
Once you are in the router settings, you need to change the values of the
Wireless mode, the channel, the security mode and the passphrase such that
they match with your OBAMA router. You make use a different SSID name
for this router.
Then go to Setup > Advanced routing and change the current mode from
Gateway to Router. Next disable DHCP Server since our main OBAMA
router will handle the task of assigning IP addresses to devices connecting to
the wireless network.
Finally, change the IP address of the PALIN router to any free address in
your LAN. For instance, if the IP address of OBAMA router is 192.168.30.1,
you can safely assign 192.168.30.2 to PALIN. Also make sure that the
Subnet mask is the same as determined in Step 1. Save the router settings.

C: Connect the Two Routers with a Cat-5 Cable

Now that we have configured the routers, its time to connect them with a
physical Ethernet cable. Your main OBAMA Router probably has five (1+4)
ports the WAN port (or the Internet port) should be connected to the ISP
modems as before. Pick any of the available LAN ports on the router and
connect it to any of the LAN ports on the PALIN router using an Ethernet
cable. Thats it.

http://www.labnol.org/software/add-router-to-wireless-network/19716/

3/4

11/18/2014

How to Add a Second Router to an Existing Wireless (Wi-Fi) Network

Now that everything is setup, you can connect your computer and mobile
devices to the second router using either a wired connection (the three ports
are still free) or over Wi-Fi. Since everything is part of the same home
network, all your shared folders, music libraries, photos, and other files will
be accessible from all computers and mobile devices that are connected to
the network.

comments (javascript:void(0)) contact (http://ctrlq.org/)

This story was originally published at Digital Inspiration (www.labnol.org) by Amit
Agarwal (amit@labnol.org). This printer-friendly version is made available for your
personal and non-commercial use only.

http://www.labnol.org/software/add-router-to-wireless-network/19716/

4/4