Use a Second Router as an Access Point

Let’s 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 and the Subnet Mask 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 router’s 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, let’s assume your router’s 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 router’s 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.
You’ll now have to provide the user name and password for accessing the
router settings. This will vary depending on your router’s 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 with a password, also note down the security
mode used (WPA, WEP or WPA2) and your secret passphrase. Close the
browser window.
B: Configure the Second Router
Step 4: Next we need to configure PALIN, our second router. First reset the
routerto 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 computer’s 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, it’s 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
available LAN ports on the router and
connect it to any of the LAN ports on the PALIN router using an Ethernet
cable. That’s it.

Now that everything is setup, you can connec

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