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Multiple Routers?

S

sultanoflondon

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 3, 2013
342
16
Hi all,

I have a house in which the router does not manage to adequately serve all areas of the house with a good steady connection. It is very strange because when I have a connection, it's great and I can stream 720p YouTube no problem at all. But when it's bad, I can't even open up a webpage. It drops out a lot!

Sorry if I am stating the obvious here, but I don't know how much the internet connection technicalities change throughout the world. Here in the UK, we have one telephone line through which we get the internet connection, from the ISP. I have only one telephone line (it is possible to have two ISPs and two telephone lines). Is it possible for me to configure TWO internet routers that will transmit a Wi-Fi connection on two different SSIDs and two different networks, but use the same telephone line?

I have tried power line adaptors: they never work across electrical circuit breakers and the peripheral areas of the house that have bad coverage are on different electrical circuits than the one the router is on.

I can't move the router for complicated reasons for the internet-based TV service we have, but trust me, that would not be an option.

Neither can I change the router to a more powerful one because of the same complicated reasons for the internet-based TV service.

All devices that use the internet on the router are using a Wi-Fi connection.

Any help is appreciated! Thanks very much!
 
Why not set one router up in bridge mode and so you only need one incoming internet connections.

If you have two phone lines, its possible to have two ISPs, though your cost will be 2x then it should be.
 
maflynn said:
Why not set one router up in bridge mode and so you only need one incoming internet connections.

If you have two phone lines, its possible to have two ISPs, though your cost will be 2x then it should be.
Click to expand...

As I read it, bridging is only meant for two wired networks, right? Could I bridge two wireless networks this way, so that one wireless networks gets a connection from another?
 
Bridging extends a network, either wirelessly (which is the most common approach to using a bridge in the home) or wired, but wired means you need to have a cat 5 cable going from one router to another.

A wireless network is the best setup for a home because you don't have to deal with running wires.

You hadn't mentioned wireless, i.e., wifi at all, so I don't know if that's an option in your situation.
 
maflynn said:
Bridging extends a network, either wirelessly (which is the most common approach to using a bridge in the home) or wired, but wired means you need to have a cat 5 cable going from one router to another.

A wireless network is the best setup for a home because you don't have to deal with running wires.

You hadn't mentioned wireless, i.e., wifi at all, so I don't know if that's an option in your situation.
Click to expand...

Sorry about that!

Yes, I will need a wireless network for my home.

I can't have an ethernet cable running from one router to the other: that's not feasible for my home set up, unfortunately.

Would wireless bridging be an option?

----------
maflynn said:
Bridging extends a network, either wirelessly (which is the most common approach to using a bridge in the home) or wired, but wired means you need to have a cat 5 cable going from one router to another.

A wireless network is the best setup for a home because you don't have to deal with running wires.

You hadn't mentioned wireless, i.e., wifi at all, so I don't know if that's an option in your situation.
Click to expand...

http://techchannel.radioshack.com/bridge-wireless-routers-2216.html

How about this?
 
maflynn said:
Bridging extends a network, either wirelessly (which is the most common approach to using a bridge in the home) or wired, but wired means you need to have a cat 5 cable going from one router to another.

A wireless network is the best setup for a home because you don't have to deal with running wires.

You hadn't mentioned wireless, i.e., wifi at all, so I don't know if that's an option in your situation.
Click to expand...

None of the routers that I own are DD-WRT compatible, would this be a hindrance?
 
Hello
I wouldn't use 2 routers because then you are running 2 different networks, it might be a better idea to get an AccesPoint which you then connect to the same network.
 
lukeg01 said:
Hello
I wouldn't use 2 routers because then you are running 2 different networks, it might be a better idea to get an AccesPoint which you then connect to the same network.
Click to expand...

Would it not be possible to bridge the two routers as mentioned before? Would this be the equivalent of an wireless AP?
 
I tried to use an apple 3TB time machine as a bridge extender for upstairs and the standard BT home hub 3 downstairs. in the end it was easier to just have two networks. The Apple devices don't seem to be able to bridge between other stuff very well.

The two devices then need to be linked via ethernet.
 
lukeg01 said:
well.... the term bridging is basically very often misused, bridging is using a bridge to connect 2 networks, a bridge is basically something to connect 2 different networks and is like a hub but a bit more advanced and secure.
(http://www.nutt.net/2004/11/20/difference-in-hub-switch-bridge-router/)

basically you should see if its possible to configure the router as AP.
Wich routers are you using if I may ask?
Click to expand...

It is virtually impossible for me to connect the two devices via ethernet, unfortunately, unless I have the AP about one foot away from the router itself, which wouldn't help, would it? Would daisy-chaining about three or four routers very close to each other improve drop outs at far range at all?

What other options do I have?
 
AFEPPL said:
The two devices then need to be linked via ethernet.
Click to expand...

This. Especially if your house is old and has solid brick/stone walls internally.

I live in a typical US suburban house (lightweight, wood framed building with hollow sheetrock/plasterboard walls) and even I need two hard-wired wifi access points to get decent coverage.

Or you could try a couple of powerline Ethernet adapters in place of cat 5 wired Ethernet. Provided they're available where you live.
 
Arran said:
This. Especially if your house is old and has solid brick/stone walls internally.

I live in a typical US suburban house (lightweight, wood framed building with hollow sheetrock/plasterboard walls) and even I need two hard-wired wifi access points to get decent coverage.

Or you could try a couple of powerline Ethernet adapters in place of cat 5 wired Ethernet. Provided they're available where you live.
Click to expand...

In my past experience, power line adaptors don't work across circuit breakers?
 
sultanoflondon said:
In my past experience, power line adaptors don't work across circuit breakers?
Click to expand...

Bummer. I'd invest in some Ethernet from one end of the house to the other. It's not quick or easy but it's the best long-term solution.

That's what I did. Luckily I could run it up inside one hollow outside wall, across the attic and then down the opposite outside wall. Two story house: had to pull off and refit baseboards and crawl about in the attic but it was worth it in the end.

I ran a few extra wires too. Just in case the original goes bad.
 
I wouldn't recommend daisy chaining a lot of devices because it will really really slow things down, Getting more ethernet ports in the house would be ideal but hard yet I would recommend this.
yet there is a third option which I am not really a fan off but its your choice.
That is going for a WiFi repeater, and put it somewhere in the middle. This way the repeater wil give you acces to the network. But everything it receives it needs to send it on its own wireless connection to the router and everything the router needs to send back to its client has to go through the repeater as well, this is slower but if there is no way off getting ethernet it might be the only way!
 
sultanoflondon said:
In my past experience, power line adaptors don't work across circuit breakers?
Click to expand...

They don't work reliably in my experience. I have some circuits that will bridge and some that won't. Can I troubleshoot the problems ? No.

I second the ethernet suggestion. That's what I did. If you are going to do this, then IMO run two lines of CAT6 to/from patch panels. There are CAT6 patch panels (Digitus make them). I also suggest you get a proper punch down tool (saves a lot of iffy connections).
 
I currently use power line adapters between the two - all the upstairs stuff is mainly for streaming of movies and runs off 1GBe cisco switch. The link speed over the powerless is 44MB/s which is more than enough to get HD movies to the ATVs. The throughput does vary however...

Once the weather gets better I'm going to replace the Powerlines with a direct 1GBe cat6 link between the two.
 
lukeg01 said:
I wouldn't recommend daisy chaining a lot of devices because it will really really slow things down, Getting more ethernet ports in the house would be ideal but hard yet I would recommend this.
yet there is a third option which I am not really a fan off but its your choice.
That is going for a WiFi repeater, and put it somewhere in the middle. This way the repeater wil give you acces to the network. But everything it receives it needs to send it on its own wireless connection to the router and everything the router needs to send back to its client has to go through the repeater as well, this is slower but if there is no way off getting ethernet it might be the only way!
Click to expand...

I do this, I use a Huawei WS323, a teeny thing that plugs into a power socket. In Repeater mode it works well as it is boosted. The range is extended.

What I am about to do is this, OP said he doesnt or can't use ethernet, but read on. I will run ethernet up an internal corner near my router, into the ceiling. Cover that corner with a tidy bead. run ethernet across and inside the ceiling to where my Sky cable goes in, run it under the rain gutter, into a plastic plumbers pipe, into my garage, then not the attached slept. Connect to an unmanaged switch. Short ethernet to TV, PS3, Xbox, iMac. Plug the repeater into the wall and short ethernet to that, for wifi to iPhone, iPad, laptop.

It will be much faster, as cable is 40 metres, it will be little slower than at my router. Full duplex. Wifi does half duplex. (send OR receive.)
 
Pay an electrician to run the Ethernet wire from your router location to your access point location. It will yield the best results.
 
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