network question

[JamesJ]

I have u verse coming out to install internet tomorrow and I have ALWAYS had a dead spot for WiFi at my house. Since ATT is providing a wireless N router to me, I was wondering if it is possible to have that provide WiFi to one half of the house, run a cat 5 cable off of it to a Ethernet hub in my media closet...then from the hub run a cable to another wireless router at the dead spot in my house and use it to provide WiFi. The "slave" router will be one running DD-WRT firmware so it should be pretty open to anything...if this is possible, what settings would I use? Thanks Yall (just making MSmith feel at home with a southern word)!

 

[rockymtnhigh]

Two separate routers? Why not just get a second access point to extend the network?

I have Apple Airport Extreme router in basement connected to network junction box, feeds wired internet, and sends out a 80211N network. I have a second Apple Airport Extreme upstairs, which extends the existing wireless network. Not even plugged in to ethernet. Just gets the signal from the first and rebroadcasts it. The two cover 3200 sq feet on three levels. No hiccups.

Your second router will have to be using the same internet connection that is coming into the house. I don't think you can run two networks sharing internet off that. But I could be wrong. Your hub is most likely really just a switch, and the network info that will come into the second router will already be fed through the primary one. Oy. I think I understand this better than I can describe it.

 

[jimdandyvi]

You will not have any problems doing this particularly using DD-WRT. Just go to the DD-WRT wiki main page and look for the section on setting up a repeater bridge. Settings will depend on what version of DD-WRT firmware and the chipset in the router running DD-WRT.

You will be setting the second wireless router to repeater-bridge so it technically is no longer acting as a router.

 

[JamesJ]

Two separate routers? Why not just get a second access point to extend the network?

I have Apple Airport Extreme router in basement connected to network junction box, feeds wired internet, and sends out a 80211N network. I have a second Apple Airport Extreme upstairs, which extends the existing wireless network. Not even plugged in to ethernet. Just gets the signal from the first and rebroadcasts it. The two cover 3200 sq feet on three levels. No hiccups.

Your second router will have to be using the same internet connection that is coming into the house. I don't think you can run two networks sharing internet off that. But I could be wrong. Your hub is most likely really just a switch, and the network info that will come into the second router will already be fed through the primary one. Oy. I think I understand this better than I can describe it.

I would LOVE two apple routers, but that is expensive..I have this extra router with dd wrt firmware that I am hoping will work..I am good with computers but trying to learn networks as quick as possible.

 

[mattv]

you don't have to bridge anything unless you are a gamer or running servers off the "slave" router.

Router 1 can serve clients directly as well as router 2. I would strongly suggest running your slave router with a different IP range but that is very simple to change.

There are no technical problems with this "double-NAT" configuration. Of course, you can avoid the double-nat by configuring your slave router as a bridge, as mentioned earlier in this thread.

best of luck to ya!

 

[rockymtnhigh]

I would LOVE two apple routers, but that is expensive..I have this extra router with dd wrt firmware that I am hoping will work..I am good with computers but trying to learn networks as quick as possible.

Yeah, it wasn't cheap! (But it is easy, and it works, and I just didn't want to spend time worrying about routers anymore )

 

[JamesJ]

Apple really makes their products easy to use and very solid...I want a Time Capsule ( But with Tara doing photos it would have to be a 2 terabyte) that way I would NEVER worry about my mac.

 

[stimpson]

Apple really makes their products easy to use and very solid...I want a Time Capsule ( But with Tara doing photos it would have to be a 2 terabyte) that way I would NEVER worry about my mac.

I have the 1TB and totally love it.

Sent from my iPad using SatelliteGuys

 

[rockymtnhigh]

Apple really makes their products easy to use and very solid...I want a Time Capsule ( But with Tara doing photos it would have to be a 2 terabyte) that way I would NEVER worry about my mac.

I just plug an external drive into my Airport Extreme and it is effectively a Time Capsule.

I just read there is a NEW much faster network protocol that is rumored to come out for the Airport line later this year. Bummer, since I have too much invested in what I have already.

 

[Foxbat]

Another plus in Apple's favor is their routers are not WiFi-branded. Which means they are not subject to the WPS exploit (see http://www.grc.com/sn/sn-337.htm for the transcript of the Security Now podcast with Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte). WPS is WiFi Protected Security, the feature that lets you configure your wireless router with WPA2 security, then bypass it with a simple procedure for adding a new device.

 

[rglore]

I just plug an external drive into my Airport Extreme and it is effectively a Time Capsule.

I don't think this works anymore. I used to do that but after upgrading to Snow Lepoard it would not work. I got a 1TB Time Capsule two years ago, it's backing up four Macs and still has 600 MB free.

 

[Foxbat]

I don't think this works anymore. I used to do that but after upgrading to Snow Lepoard it would not work.

I'm using a Samsung 1 TB drive in an external USB 2.0 enclosure plugged into my Airport Extreme as the Time Capsule for my Mac Mini and MacBook Air. Both are running Lion. I did format the drive as HPFS+ instead of FAT32, so I wonder if that makes a difference.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

I'm using a Samsung 1 TB drive in an external USB 2.0 enclosure plugged into my Airport Extreme as the Time Capsule for my Mac Mini and MacBook Air. Both are running Lion. I did format the drive as HPFS+ instead of FAT32, so I wonder if that makes a difference.

Yeah, I have had no problem using the external drive as a "time capsule" connected to the Extreme, first with Snow Leopard and now with Lion. But I did have to make sure I was using a HPFS+ formatted drive.