How to Connect 2 Routers on the Same WiFi Network

[@DevOdyssey]

Would you connect a second router to your network, or replace it with Mesh WiFi?

[@raghuveerpalakurthi4163]

You gave a static IP for Cisco 192 168 0 3 initially on Netgear and then you went into Cisco and set IP as 192 168 0 2 Isn't the Access Point Cisco supposed to take the IP you assigned for it on Netgear?

[@DevOdyssey]

Hi @@raghuveerpalakurthi4163, See my reply to your same comment below.

[@CapN-Savvy]

Thats funny you say that because right now Im trying to figure out the best method to set up 2 separate networks using a Netgear Modem, Asus Gaming Router, & Eero 6 Mesh System. The Asus GS-AX3000 will be Router #1 and hardwired to my PC. The only other devices that will be dedicated to the Asus router are my Gaming Console and Oculus VR headset. All other home (smart) devices such as Chromecast, Google Home, family mobile phones, laptops, etc. will use the Eero 6 mesh. Everything is up and running - Modem Lan to Router #1 Wan and Router #1 (asus) Lan to Router #2 (eero mesh) Wan. I do see both networks and am able to connect successfully to each one so I believe I've done this much right. Now what I'm afraid of is conflicts with IP's. Particularly because I can't turn off DHCP on the Eero. I can set a Static IP which from what I have been able to dig up is not recommended for mesh routers or put it in Bridge which disables DHCP. Any suggestion or help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[@DevOdyssey]

@@CapN-Savvy Thanks for watching! Thats a good setup. I really like that actually because you have a dedicated router with fast speeds for gaming, which you won't as fast of speeds with mesh, but you will get better coverage, which will be great for those other smart devices. Nonetheless, I think you did well with this set up so you have my compliments on it. As for your connection setup, that sounds proper to me. The Asus router gets the public IP address since it's directly connected to the modem. Then the Eero mesh connects to the LAN port on the Asus router and creates its own mesh network from there. Alright so for your question. This really depends and is up to you. I am not sure what the default network defined by the Asus and the Eero are, but if they are the same network (say 192 . 168 . 1 . 1 /24) then you might run into some conflicts / unexpected behavior. By default the Eero will try to set up its own network, and it will be running a service called NAT. Thats what it uses to get out to the internet. The internet, according the the Eero, will be the local network set up by the Asus router. So if you want to access your PC on the Asus network, from the a device on the Eero network, you may run into issues there, as the device on the Eero network will look on the Eero network for your PC, even though its not there. So what should you do? This just depends on what you wanna you want to accomplish. If you want all the devices on the same network, and can talk directly to each other, place the Eero mesh in bridge mode. This will disable DHCP as you said, and the Asus router will handle sending out IP addresses for all of your devices. If you want to segment, or separate the devices (mostly for security purposes) leave the set up as is, but on the Eero side, change the IP network to be different than whats on the Asus router. For example, if the Asus is using 192 . 168 . 1 . 1 /24, then use 192 . 168 . 2 . 1 /24 on the Eero. Lastly, I am not sure what you mean but the Static IP on the Eero, but if its not recommended, then I wouldn't go with that. Let me know what you end up going with of if you have any other questions!

[@Akash.Chopra]

Mesh if I can't physically connect the two routers, otherwise I'll take the hardwired AP.

[@ytbeusr]

Thanks for this - I did the " configuring secondary router w/o bridge/access point mode" and it works a treat! One thing I had to do during set up was temporarily give my computer a static IP (through IPV4 settings) once I had turned DHCP off, otherwise my computer had no IP. Once plugged back in to the main router, I set my computer IP back to automatic, and everything works flawlessly :)

[@DevOdyssey]

You’re welcome @Jeremy Moore! Thanks for watching 😊. Setting a static IP on your computer makes sense, especially depending on which router you’re connecting through. Nonetheless, a static IP can make things easier as you go through the configuration. Thanks for leaving a helpful comment! A good reference for others.

[@anonplayer8529]

Thank you, I had been banging my head to a "wall" with this for quite awhile, your video cleared last critical points. I set an outdated adsl box with router and wifi as an extender in my home lan, works like a charm now, both wireles and lan. Definitely the best presentation of the procedure of all the videos I waded through, thumbs up and subscribed.

[@DevOdyssey]

You're welcome Anon Player! Thank you for watching 😊 I know that feeling. I experience it often when I get stuck on video projects, such as this one! But when you get the right information for a break through, it's a relief from all that head banging. Thats a great way to use an outdated ADSL box as a dumb switch and dumb access point. I really appreciate your sub and the compliments, it's this support that helps me make future videos! Enjoy your new network setup!

[@Rocker696]

This guy giving long replies & explaining everything clearly got me subbed instantly

[@DevOdyssey]

Thanks for watching RocktaR! Honestly, thanks so much for the kind reply. It means a lot to actually be recognized for my effort. I just really want to help others the same way I was helped and learned IT, from some random people on the internet sharing their information. Other than what I've learned from my career on the job, I've mostly learned a lot of what I know from the internet, and by just doing it myself. So when my video explanation isn't enough, and someone poses a comment to ask a question, I feel like a reply from me would mean a lot to the viewer, and at the same time, would hopefully get the information they're seeking from me, or from someone else in this community I'm building, and not write too long of a response to read 😂. I know I was in their shoes one time, asking questions to learn more, but didn't always get a response. I still am, it just depends on what new thing I am learning. So thanks for joining my community and subscribing! It helps to know viewers are getting value out of the content I produce. I certainly hope to reach 100k one day!

[@Akash.Chopra]

Great video! Very descriptive and detailed. Only thing I would add is to put the AP in dmz mode from the main. This way it's outside the main routers firewall, or disable the second router's firewall to remove the redundancy.

[@DevOdyssey]

@Akash Chopra Thank you!I appreciate the kind words. That’s an interesting though, as I haven’t played with the DMZ mode on a consumer grade router with stock firmware too much, but I’ve looked into it. Does putting it in DMZ mode place it on a different network? In that regard then yes it does separate it from the main routers firewall so you get some network segregation and security there. But if you want your devices connected to the second router to be able to communicate with devices connected to the first router, then that wouldn’t work. However I do agree with disabling the second routers firewall, as then it creates that flat network that’s likely wanted by most people watching this video. Disabling DHCP is good but the disabling firewall might help. The routers would live on the same network so I’m not sure how much it helps but I can’t say I’ve tried it. There’s plenty of features to play around with. Thanks for the suggestions!

[@Akash.Chopra]

@@DevOdyssey whoops I didn't think it's for a mesh network, you had it right forget what I was saying.. Lol.

[@DevOdyssey]

@@Akash.Chopra Well not exactly a mesh network, but rather a flat network where each Access Point is broadcasting the same network. I appreciate the suggestions though. It's good to think outside the box 😊

[@ishakmp]

Would digital devices that requires to be on same Wi-Fi network like printer, android TV cast, wifi file sharing work flawlessly in this configuration? sample scenario: I have a WIFI printer nearby primary router (i.e. it is connected with it). my lap is in a distant room and thus wirelessly connected with second router (AP). with this configuration, can I find and use printer from my laptop. hoping a detailed answer..🤞

[@DevOdyssey]

Thanks for watching @ishakmp! They should work flawlessly in this scenario. Thats because they would technically still be on the same network, even if the WiFi being broadcasted has two different names (though in this case you broadcast the same name for both the primary router and secondary router). You should be able to print from laptop on the secondary router (AP) to the printer on the primary router. These communications happen on the layer 2 networking level and again since they are on the same network, there should be nothing preventing them from communicating by default.

[@spsarolkar]

Hi, Thanks for the video, I have similar kind of setup between two routers, I have chromecast on one network, it does not get detected from vlc media player from bridged network, I believe this is issue with multicast traffic

[@DevOdyssey]

You're welcome and thanks for watching @spsarolkar! So when you say one network, I assume you mean its connected to one of the routers, and not the other. I say that because there should only be one network in this setup, and if there were two different networks, then that could explain your issues. With your bridged network, how does that look? I'll be honest, I'm not too familiar with multicast traffic, just know its general purpose, so I can't say if thats an issue you are experiencing. Nor do I know what VLC media player is expecting. I don't know if it needs to be on the same network (Layer 2) in order to detect the chromecast. It seems to me that might be the case, but I can't confirm. I'd first try to research what is required by VLC to detect any devices on the network and then ensure your network setup the right way for it.

[@altopride]

I have AT&T fiber with a combined router/modem gateway in the garage, with a box that connects to the Ethernet ports in various rooms. Ideally I would like to disable the built-in wifi and use ip-passthrough mode on my gateway, then connect two of my personal routers, but in different rooms in the house. Will these instructions work if I connect the primary and secondary routers to the gateway in separate rooms, or must the primary and secondary router be directly connected to each other? Thanks!

[@DevOdyssey]

Thanks for watching altopride! When you say "box that connects to Ethernet ports in various rooms", do you mean a network switch or a patch panel? I'm trying to understand what you mean here. As for what yo are describing, it sounds like it should be possible. You can use IP-Passthrough, shit off the build in WiFi on your AT&T router, heck you can even shut off routing too (if its an option) so that your router gets the WAN IP directly to it. Your description is actually an ideal setup. You don't need to connect the routers directory to each other, they just need to be physically connected somehow, even if its through a couple ethernet switches. Your set up would expand WiFi coverage to different rooms, and make that second router act as a great access point for your home. For example, in my home I have access points in different rooms that aren't directory connected to the router, but instead are connected via switches. This helps me expand my WiFi coverage in my home, similarly to how I described it in my video.

[@altopride]

I don’t understand all the terminology and I didn’t set things up this way - the networking setup came with the house. But the box says Cat.5e on it in case that’s helpful? Basically there are 4 ethernet cables connected to the gateway, and they plug into ports in the Cat.5e box, with each one corresponding to a room. Hopefully that makes some sense? What I decided to do was disable the Wi-Fi radios on the AT&T gateway and set up both routers in access point mode. So I have 2 SSIDs but that’s fine - I just make sure I’m connected on the right one when I want to cast or something. But if I want everything in one network it sounds like your setup would work for me. Thanks!

[@DevOdyssey]

@@altopride Ah I gotcha. One thing I will say is that any advice will depend on how your home is networked, and without seeing it or testing it in person, its hard to say what you should do. If its following a general set up I'd expect, your walls would be wired with Cat5e cables, that are all individual runs. Knowing that it's Cat5e is helpful, so that at least I know its not a phone line like Cat 3. I assume the Cat5e box is a patch panel, as that is usually where you would label what room each of those runs terminate at. Sounds like the setup you did should work, with each router acting as an access point. You can name them to same as noted in this video, but even if they have different names thats not a big deal, as either way you can still connect between the two but remain on the same network. If its a flat network, which I imagine it is, it shouldn't matter which one you are connect to for casting, should work regardless of the access point. Since you have one gateway that actually creates your network, all your access points do is broadcast the same network, just with a different WiFi name. The setup in this should definitely work for you, as you already have the hardware, and your home already has ethernet runs, which most homes do not, and makes this setup easily to implement. So if you just follow the WiFi portion of this video when using access point mode, you should be able to get both access points working with the same WiFi name.

[@williamsterben]

Thank-you for this excellent vid! I have been struggling with this for a while, the power line option did the job great!

[@DevOdyssey]

Thanks for watching Will! I appreciate the compliment 😊 Glad you could get it working with the power line option as well, as that really makes the difference to easily place the secondary router in another room to increase WiFi coverage in a different part of the home.

[@hippiedude72]

Hi & Thanks! I have my main routers 2.4 & 5g using two separate names for 2.4 camera use, can I still do that for this or must they all be the same? I'm not sure my 2.4 cameras will connect if they see both frequencies, Thanks again!

[@DevOdyssey]

Thanks for watching hippiedude72! Great question. So just to give you some confidence, there is definitely nothing wrong with having two different WiFi names for your 2.4 and 5 GHz bands. Sometimes thats an easy convenience to know the difference between the bands you'd connect to. They don't need to be the same, it's a matter of convenience when managing multiple wireless networks, and for purposes of your devices seamlessly roaming between the access points. You can name both WiFi networks with the same name and your cameras should only connect to the 2.4 GHz WiFi. That's because if your cameras only work on 2.4 GHz WiFi, thats likely the only WiFi frequency they will see, and as a result, thats the only one they would connect to, regardless if you have a 5 GHz WiFi with the same name. I can't guarantee this is how it would work, since I don't specifically know the cameras you're referring to, but thats how I imagine it would work.

[@hockey_islife5438]

Since I see you still answer question I have some questions My wifi is not the best but my parents are to stubborn to change from are isp router, the wifi can connect to my room but i have the worse connection in my house, so I am going to get a wireless router, for just my room, the isp router we have now is a wifi 5 router, And the one I am getting is a wifi 6 router, the modem is the basement , would I need my isp router to change to the same one or will I be able to use the router perfectly in just my room, is there any specific thing the router I wanna buy is there something that will not slow it down to are other wifi and will it work without a modem connected, would be nice if you could respond, please and thank you,

[@DevOdyssey]

Thanks for asking hockey_islife! So that's a lot to unpack but I'll give you my thoughts. It's unfortunate that your parents down want to get rid of the ISP Modem routers, but depending on the ISP, sometimes they are forced to use it. I know my parents have and ISP modem / router, so there is nothing they could do. However what you can do is connect your own equipment to that ISP router, and thats what I have done. So, if you want to use a WiFi 6 router, thats totally fine. But if you want to use it, you'll have to connect it to your parents ISP router using a ethernet cable between the ISP router, and the WiFi 6 router. Then you'd want the WiFi 6 router in access point mode, so that you are on the same network. Depending on the expectations, you may have to use the WAN port or LAN port on the WiFi 6 router. Doing this this way though may not resolve some of your issues. Sure WiFi 6 is backwards compatible with WiFi 5 devices, but also the WiFi 6 router would be in the basement, so location of the router would still pose a problem and won't help your connection too much for your room. Ideally, if you can move that router from the basement, to the first floor at least would significantly help your connection. If you can't do that, then I'd suggest you get a WiFi range extender to increase your wireless coverage, or set up a mesh WiFi system, that creates a mesh wireless network meant to improve your wireless coverage. You'd set up the range extender on the first floor, or close to your room to help with your connection. Same with mesh WiFi, and you'd set up the access points in different areas of the home to get the best coverage everywhere. Lastly, a range extender would be the only way to do this without connecting directly to the modem / router (I'm assuming its a combo). Every other system would require a starting, wired connection to the modem / router combo.

[@LAZYJOHN101]

Hi Dev,good tutorial.I m having issues with my phones that keeps disconnecting from wifi(coneccted without internet)My question is ..if someone from the house is using a second router can afect network connection?Thank you!

[@DevOdyssey]

Hi Liviu! Thanks for watching. I appreciate the compliment. It's possible that another router in the area could be causing WiFi issues. If they are using the same channel, that can cause interference between WiFi signals, and therefore degrade the connection. Given what you stated, it sounds like you are connected to the WiFi. So in that sense, the interference doesn't seem to be the issue. It seems like it could be two things. 1. You don't have internet connection on your network. 2. There is an issue with DHCP, and your devices are not getting an IP address from the router. As a result, your phone self assigns an IP address, and says its not connected. I'd double check to see if you are experience one of the two issues noted above. Now, I have seem some odd behavior where weak signals could cause network issues, where you are connected to the WiFi, but you aren't connected to the network (eg. DHCP). Its uncommon, but I have seen it happen. If you think you are experiencing that issue, you can unplug the second router, try to reconnect to the WiFi, and see what happens. If it works, then you might have a weak signal issue, or it could be something else with the second router being improperly configured. Give those a shot and you should be closer to figuring out the issue.

[@LAZYJOHN101]

@@DevOdyssey Thanks a lot for replyI will look into that.Maybe weak connection?i forgot to mention that's happening during busy times like evenings and weekends when more devices are conected . However the speed is not great either 36mb for download and 19mb for upload

[@DevOdyssey]

@@LAZYJOHN101 You're welcome! Its possible there is a weak connection, due to interference from walls or other signals. I actually just experienced this recently, I could only connect to the network when I was close to the router, when I went into another room, it disconnected. That can also be an indicator if the router is not powerful enough to handle all those concurrent connections and devices on WiFi. The more devices on the network, the less bandwidth you will have to that makes sense, but also that will be a limitation based on what your ISP provides you. You won't always get what you pay for, but you should get close, depending on the time of the day, and other factors like number of devices actively on the network.

[@ronlee9311]

I stumbled onto your video trying to find the solution to a problem. I'd have to say, you have come the closest to giving me a solution... I have a distant outbuilding. I purchased a wireless bridge antenna set and installed it. My internet is served through a cable modem into my main router and through the bridge. I have internet when plugging my computer straight into the ethernet cable coming into the outbuilding from the bridge. My problem comes when I try to attach a previously configured (per your guidelines) wifi router "access point" to the ethernet from the bridge. It does not see any internet signal and I can't find the router's IP listed on connected devices on the main router. I followed the instructions for both set-ups, but alas, I have not been able to offer wifi in my outbuilding. Any help would be appreciated.

[@DevOdyssey]

Thanks for watching Ron! I'm glad I got the closest to solving your problem, though I hope we can get it completely working with a discussion here. From my understanding of your setup, the scenarios is basically the same as my video, except you use a Point to Point Wireless Bridge, instead of an ethernet like or Powerline adapters. I haven't used Point to Point Wireless Bridges before, but understand them well enough. It sounds like your Point to Point bridge is set up correctly, since you are able to access the internet when directly connected to the bridge in your outbuilding when using your computer. Would you elaborate on what method you followed in the video? If you followed the Access Point method, i.e. your secondary router has a feature called "Access Point mode, or Bridge mode", then it should work like a charm, and simply plugging in the secondary router to the Point to Point Bridge in the outbuilding should connect it to the main network, and be able to serve up WiFi that is connected to the internet. If you followed the method where Access Point mode or Bridge mode is not available, then how did you configure the secondary router in the primary router DHCP settings? Did you simply set a static IP on the secondary router? If so, can you ping it when connected to the primary router? If you did it this way, you won't actually see the secondary router in the primary router, because you gave the secondary router a static IP address that lives on the same network as the primary router. The primary router will only show the secondary router in its DHCP settings if the secondary router makes a DHCP request to get an IP address, which if we set a static IP address, it won't be making a DHCP request. Knowing this will help us see how far the issue is within the configuration. Make sure when setting the static IP, that thats its within the reserved range of the network, so no conflicts arise, and make sure the netmask is correct, likely a 255 . 255 . 255 . 0 or /24. In addition, if you have a firewall, make sure that is not blocking anything, and lastly we want to make sure that secondary router actually replies to pings (for example, by default windows machines do not), so you can test that out as well by directly connecting the secondary router to your computer and trying out pings. Hopefully this gets your closer to a working setup!

[@greg5143]

Nice video. Question. Once you are done making sure the main router can see the AP router, you can disconnect them from each other and move the AP router to anywhere you want and it will still pick it up? I assume the AP router is broadcasting something so that the main router still pushes the internet connection to it for it to broadcast out.

[@DevOdyssey]

Thanks for watching Greg! If I am understanding you correctly, then the answer is no. You can disconnect the main router to the AP router, and move it where you want. However, you will have to reconnect the main router to the AP router using an ethernet cable to maintain that connection. Otherwise, devices connected to the AP router won't have network access or internet access. The AP router does broadcast a WiFi connection (2.4 Ghz and / or 5 Ghz), but that connection is for client devices, like smartphones, laptops, IoT devices, etc. That WiFi connection wouldn't actually connect to the WiFi from the main router. The the ethernet cable is what "bridges" them together. If you wanted the main router and AP router to connect together wirelessly, you'd want a mesh WiFi system. I believe I answered your question, but if I didn't, let me know.

[@greg5143]

@@DevOdyssey so a mesh system is the only way to have one modem amplify the main routers wireless signal? You can't have a second router that wirelessly talks to the main router and amplifys the signal?

[@DevOdyssey]

@@greg5143 Well not exactly. The key point here is if you want to boost the main router's WiFi signal, wirelessly, I'd recommend doing this using a mesh WiFi system. Now you can also do this by using a range extender, that picks up the main router's WiFi signal, and rebroadcasts it, instead of buying a mesh system. Effectively, they do the same thing, and a possibly an option for you. As for a "second router that wirelessly talks to the main router and amplifies the signal", technically no, unless it's a mesh system, as thats what you've basically described here. But if you get two off the shelf routers that are not "mesh capable" then the answer here is no. You can connect them in a "wired" set up, to expand the WiFi signal of the main router using a second router, but you cannot do it wirelessly, unless they're capable of mesh (or using a range extender). Hope this clears things up!

[@greg5143]

@@DevOdyssey ok. So it seems like unless I want to spend a ton of money on a new mesh system, I should buy some range extender.

[@DevOdyssey]

@@greg5143 Basically. While mesh systems are getting cheaper, I do agree they are on the more expensive side. Honestly, I think most routers are all going up in price with the technology advancements they are coming out with. Any reputable brand Range Extender should work just fine (Netgear, TP Link, Linksys, etc), but just to show you an example, you can refer to the Netgear one below: www.amazon.com/dp/B014YN7LVE This is an easy enough way that should help increase your WiFi coverage while not breaking the bank.

[@NuTDT]

the quality of 2 routers connect and mesh wifi , which one is better for the range and througtput, tks for your helps

[@DevOdyssey]

@Tiến Đạt thanks for watching! So good question, but the answer isn't so straight forward, and depends on your setup, but also the equipment. Generally speaking, Connecting two routers where the hardware is somewhat, supporting WiFi 5, will have better throughput. That's because in this configuration, you are forced to connect the routers via an ethernet cable, or also referred to as a backhaul. With that, since you are using a wired connection between the routers, the data speeds will be faster. With Mesh WiFi, you're effectively creating wireless connections between the WiFi Nodes and the router. Because this is wireless, and not wired, you will have more interference and less reliability of packet transfers, and therefore, the throughput wont be as good. Range depends on where you place the second router if connecting two routers, or WiFi nodes if using Mesh WiFi. You can likely get better coverage and range with mesh, but again can come at the cost of speed / throughput. With 2 routers, if you place them far enough, you can get good range, but the coverage might not be as good between the two routers. So if you want good coverage, and don't need super fast speeds, mesh will be fine. But if you want faster speeds, and can sacrifice some coverage, then connecting two routers would be best. You're welcome 😊

[@NuTDT]

@@DevOdyssey tks so much for your help, i was frustrated a few days ago, but can i ask you one more question, if i connect two router with the first router is connect to modem and the second router is connect with the other one by repeater mode(no cable ethernet), is it good as wifi mesh(coverage and throughput), so thankful for your help, have a good day ^^

[@DevOdyssey]

@Tiến Đạt You're welcome! And sure. I'm not entirely sure I understand your question, as I don't know how you'd connect the first router to the second router without an ethernet cable, and I'm not sure what repeater mode is. It sounds like you are talking about a wireless repeater to expand your WiFi, but this is different than a router (though the second router effectively acts as a repeater). So in any case, let's just assume you are connecting your first router to a wireless repeater. In this scenario, it will not be as good as mesh WiFi. This is because mesh WiFi has improved harder and software to maximize the coverage between the two nodes, versus a wireless repeater where it just repeats the signal and sends it as far as it can. it does not focus on creating a mesh. Let's look at this scenario - Two wireless repeaters and one router. This would not be as good as 3 mesh WiFi nodes, because the three nodes communicate together to create and mesh network between them to expand coverage in all directions and try to cover the gaps between them. Wireless repeaters don't communicate together like mesh WiFi nodes, and therefore do not have as good coverage, or as good bandwidth. Let me know if this makes sense.

[@NuTDT]

@@DevOdyssey tks so much for your help, i think i need acquire a new wifi mesh for my house, tks for your advice ^^

[@DevOdyssey]

@Tiến Đạt you're welcome! Glad to offer my advice. Best of luck with your new mesh WiFi setup!

[@Corboy6]

Hi, we’ve got 2 additional routers set up with the 2nd (non-bridge) option, we can ping back and forth between primary and secondary routers successfully, and the wifi on all 3 routers works no problem, but the if we try to use Ethernet from the secondary routers to a device, it doesn’t work. If we remove either of the secondaries (so just the primary and one secondary instead of two) then the Ethernet cable in the secondary does work (we tested this with both the secondaries individually and it works with both). Any idea? It picks up the connection, and we’re able to open the different modem configuration pages through that connection, but no internet

[@DevOdyssey]

Thanks for watching Corey! Your background explanation is helpful for troubleshooting. So this seems strange to me. I say that because, the way I understand your diagnosis, is that WiFi works fine on the secondary routers (by that, it sounds like devices connected to the secondary routers over WiFi are able to get to the internet), but not a direct ethernet connection. It makes no sense since I'd imagine if ethernet didn't work on the secondary routers, then WiFi wouldn't work (since any WiFi traffic is going to have to travel to through the ethernet connection from the secondary to the primary router). Thats a very interesting test you performed, how individually each secondary router works (via non bridged, DHCP off scenario), but not when they're both being used at the same time. So curious, in this setup using both secondary routers, are they both connected to the primary router via ethernet cable on the LAN ports, or is one secondary router connected to another secondary router via LAN port and ethernet cable? Wondering if that is where any problems may be, however to my knowledge, either scenario should work just fine. Have you run any ping tests between then when you're using both secondary routers? Are the routers assigned an IP address via the primary router? Can you ping the secondary router via a connection through the primary router. Those are some troubleshooting steps that can help, but otherwise, I honestly can't pin point a specific cause as to why you are seeing this really strange behavior. Hopefully these troubleshooting steps help!

[@Corboy6]

@@DevOdyssey Thanks for the response. Yep, with both secondaries connected, devices on their wifi get internet no problem Each of the secondary routers are connected directly to primary via separate ethernet cables (LAN to LAN). I was getting a successful ping by connecting a laptop via ethernet to the secondary and pinging primary, and vice versa (I'm pretty sure I tested this while both secondaries were connected too) I was also able to open the IP for secondary A configuration whilst I was plugged into secondary B, so it is definitely carrying some sort of connection. The IPs for the secondaries we set manually in their own configuration pages, and we disabled their DHCP servers. We also made sure the DHCP range on the primary excluded them. In the meantime we've just decided we only really need one extender and two switches, so we've bought a standalone switch to keep things simple and replace one of the secondary routers

[@DevOdyssey]

@@Corboy6 You're welcome! Thanks for sharing the details. Given what you have mentioned, it sounds like its correct, to the t. Sounds like there was some connection being carried, but not sure where it went wrong. The IP config for the secondary routers sounds correct to me as well, as that option should work or static assignments, but I can't remember if the secondary routers will request an IP if DHCP is off (aka only act as a DHCP client and not DHCP server). You have certainly caught my curiosity with this strange behavior. Nonetheless, glad you were able to get a standalone switch to replace that secondary router (one of them). Keep it simple is what I've always been told, but inevitably, I find ways to overcomplicate things 😊

[@RockyKarthik]

Hello Dev, can I use Netgear Orbi RBR20 (2 additional Satelites) and TP Link Deco BE63 (1 additional Satellite) together if I follow your instructions?

[@DevOdyssey]

Thanks for watching @RockyKarthik! So technically, the setup in this video should work for any router, primary or secondary. Therefore your setup should work too. Though in your case though, you can set up the TP Link Deco with not only the primary Orbi, but also any of the satellites. The satellites just act as access points, but they're connected wirelessly (i.e. mesh). With the TP Link Deco, you cannot wirelessly connect it to the Orbi's due to proprietary reasons. Maybe if you flash open source firmware on them all (OpenWrt), you could do it, but its more complicated. You will have to connect the TP Link Deco to any of the Orbis using an ethernet cable. As long as you configure the TP Link to be in access point mode, which should be easy, you'll be good to go.

[@khxor]

My new primary combined modem/router does not have a USB port, if I connect my old Nighthawk as a secondary router (LAN to LAN), will it's Readyshare show up to all other devices or just ones that are connected directly to the Nighthawk?

[@DevOdyssey]

Thanks for watching khxor! Thats a good question. I can't say I'm acutely familiar with Readyshare, but from my understanding, its just an SMB share to access data storage across the network. That said, the Nighthawk basically acts as a file sharing server. So to my understanding, as long as it's accessible on the network, then any device should be able to see the Readyshare, so long as they are on the same network. The Nighthawk acts as a Wireless Access Point, and a network switch. Turning ReadyShare on makes it a file server too. So when your devices try to access the file share, and you put in the IP address of the Nighthawk, it should communicate with it over Layer 2 networking, as they are on the same LAN. So it's worth a shot, give it a try and let me know if it works!

[@khxor]

@@DevOdyssey I ended up connecting 2 routers to my router/modem, seperate networks from each other. The Readyshare is seen by everything on the Nighthawks network only, exactly how I want it. Thanks for the reply!

[@DevOdyssey]

@@khxor Ah, thanks for letting me know! In that scenario (using separate networks), then what you are seeing is what I would expect as well, only the devices connected to the Netgear Nighthawk should only see the Readyshare since those network. You're welcome! Glad you could set it up the way you wanted.

[@mauritswierenga3753]

Great vid man! Is it possible to add a second accespoint to the network just like you did setup the first one?

[@DevOdyssey]

Thanks for watching @Maurits Wierenga! Yep! you can add as many access points to your network as you want. You can even connect the second access point to the first access point using the exact same setup (if you're looking to use another router as an access point) or if you want to buy a dedicated access point, you can do that as well and plug it into you main router or first access point, and it'll work as expected.

[@jdrodd1]

Nice video, step by step was just awesome. Thanks

[@DevOdyssey]

Thanks for compliment jdrodd1! 😊

[@mr_greendevil]

What's the difference between connecting the two routers in AP mode and in LAN (DHCP off and Router's IP different than primary router), in both the cases the routers are connected via ethernet cable. Is AP mode better than LAN or other way around?

[@DevOdyssey]

Thanks for watching Punit! Great question. So there isn't really too much of a difference. When routers have AP more, they basically do the heavy lifting for you and maybe some optimizations, including shutting off DHCP, and only leaving options available that relate to using the router as an access point. Router AP mode could also change the functionality of the WAN port, but that really depends on the router and software. Thats probably the biggest difference. Otherwise, there really isn't much of a difference. AP mode is just convenient in that it automatically does those changes for you, that you'd otherwise do manually (aka shutting off DHCP mode). If you have AP mode on your router, I would use that over doing it manually. And yes you still need an ethernet cable for both modes as the router relies on that to connect to your main network, in order to act as a wireless access point / network switch.

[@mr_greendevil]

@@DevOdyssey Thanks for answering. Also really nice informative video 👍

[@DevOdyssey]

@@mr_greendevil You're welcome! Thank you for the compliment 😊

[@fastmaker9091]

Nice video! Will this work if the primary router is WiFi 5 802.11ac standard and the secondary router/access point is WiFi 4 802.11n standard?

[@DevOdyssey]

Thank you @Fast Maker! That’s a good question. So the networking aspect should work for sure, meaning it will “extend” your network in terms of IP Addresses and act as a network switch for you. However I’m not certain how well the WiFi aspect of it will work. Things like Fast Roaming might not work where your device will automatically switch to the stronger WiFi signal, but everything else, in terms of being able to connect to the WiFi using the same name and password should work fine, but it might need to be a more manual effort where you disconnect and reconnect to the WiFi and then it forces a connection to the strongest signal. If you do try this out, let me know how it works.

[@fastmaker9091]

@@DevOdyssey I tried it and it works! My primary router is a Wi-Fi 5 frontier fiOS modem router and I am using a Wi-Fi 4 linksys wrt160n as an access point. I changed the wireless security on the Linksys to WPA2 to match the wireless security settings on the FiOS router. It is pretty cool to see the Wi-Fi roaming and handoff in play. I assume this functions similar to a high priced mesh system with wired backhaul

[@DevOdyssey]

Awesome @Fast Maker glad to hear it worked! It is pretty cool to see it come together and handoff with ease when roaming. Yup, this basically would act as a wired backhauled mesh system, thats a very good way of putting it. This is certainly a cheaper way of doing it with likely better throughput since you are doing a wired backhaul. Thanks for watching! 😊

[@TheGweedMan]

I would really hurt to have the Wi-Fi signal to go direct from the primary to the secondary router without using the power line adapters. Is that possible?

[@DevOdyssey]

Thanks for watching @TheGweedMan. Now that is ideal for most home networks setups, as most people don't want to punch ethernet through walls, or deal with the powerline adapters that do reduce speed. However, there is no way to connect two routers wirelessly, unless they are capable of mesh. Thats usually whats referred to with tri-band routers. Now it _may_ be possible if you put OpenWrt on both the routers, and use something called batman, which is a software that lets you do mesh networks. The hardware needs to be capable of doing mesh, and if so, then you could mesh routers of different brands too (TP Link, Netgear, etc). I haven't tried this so I'm not 100% sure it would work, I'm just speculating thats its a possibility given my current understanding of it. This is something I would like to try, I just can't verify it at the moment. But definitely with stock firmware, it wouldn't be possible with either of the routers I used in this video, and likely other routers with stock firmware, that aren't mesh to begin with.

[@anantjot]

HI, I have Eero mesh and google mesh, can I use both on single modem/spectrum?

[@DevOdyssey]

Thanks for watching Anantjot! By single modem, I assume you mean single cable modem, or more specifically, how you get your internet connection from your ISP. In that case, then yes it definitely is possible. It will just come down to how you want your network to be structured. Both the Eero and google mesh can act as full blown routers. In that sense, you can create two separate networks, but doing so in this case you'd be double NATed. Not that its bad, but something things don't play nicely. If you really want to be on one network, you can have one of them act as your router, and then the other act as an access point, so that all it does is broadcast a WiFi signal for devices to get onto the network with. I can't say which would be better, but I imagine both should suffice. Lastly, you won't be able to get Eero and Google to mesh, so you won't get the benefits offered there, but you can still certainly use them on the same network.

[@noneya3204]

Good video in my case I don't have bridge mode I gotta manually change the 2nd router ip addresse

[@DevOdyssey]

Thanks for watching None Ya! While it is a convenience to have bridge mode or AP mode, it's also easily done manually, and set to a static IP, and then easily accessible when the setup is complete.

[@cheokkm83]

Great video! I have a question. My ISP issues an optical network router which cannot be configured into bridge mode nor disable DHCP. I've tried setting the router to DMZ to my 2nd router(Asus) which I am trying to use as my main but periodically, my entire house loses network connection. I am suspecting that the DMZ doesn't work properly. Is there anything else i can do or am i only left with setting the Asus to AP mode instead of router to manage my connections.

[@DevOdyssey]

Thanks for watching Cheok Kong Ming! So you do have another option. If you don't care that you are double NATed, you can have your Asus act as your main router, that handles DHCP for devices on your network, let alone, creating the network for them to connect to. You can manage most of your internet settings on the Asus, however, you will also have to be mindful of the settings on the optical network router, since the Asus will forward all internet traffic to the optical network router. Double NATted setups are generally okay, minus some niche use cases where it can cause problems, but for most general users, it should not be a problem at all, and this is what I'd suggest for you. In this scenario, you don't have to change anything about router (from default). Just take your ethernet cable from the LAN port on your optical network router, and plug it into the Asus router's WAN port. Then connect all your devices to the WiFi on the Asus router and you should be good to go.

[@cliffprovidencejr6417]

How do I gain access to the second router to make the AP changes when I have to be on the internet to pull up the ip address? I have a Netgear R8000 as the primary & R7000 as the secondary

[@DevOdyssey]

Thanks for watching @cliffprovidencejr6417! I believe you may have a misunderstanding. You don't (shouldn't) have to "be on the internet to pull up the ip address" of the second router. That just doesn't make sense, unless theres something about the R7000 I don't know. But to make changes, you'd access it the same way your would any regular router, such as connecting to its web interface while on the inside of the network, such as {router-private-ip} But as I type this out, I believe I know what you're thinking. Newer routers make it so you manage the router over an Android or iPhone application, and you use that vendor's cloud to access your router settings. In effect, the router companies designed their routers so they communicate with their systems, and open it up for you to access it over the internet. That to me is not something I prefer at all, but its the way many routers are going. In this case, if they prevent you from accessing the web interface locally via the browser, there isn't too much you can do. Really you'd need a way to change the router to access point mode or bridge mode, so if there was a way to do that over the app while not connected to the internet, thats great. If you had to connect to the internet, then you can first just plug in the secondary router to the primary without making any changes, then it should connect to the internet, and when it does the app should be available for you to see the router settings, and then there might be a place to change it's configuration to bridge mode. But one can only hope. Otherwise you'd need to use a different router.

[@SirWillyMx]

Hi I hope you can help. i made all the setting you do for a lan to lan conection. and it worked. the problem its that second router at 1 hour later stops comunicating with first router.but first router still can comunicate with second router.

[@DevOdyssey]

Thanks for watching @pokomoro9461! Thats very strange, can you elaborate more on what that means? Are your devices on the second router not able to get to the internet? Have you tried to directly use the second router to communicate with the first? Have you repeated this and is it always that after 1 hour it "stops communicating"? How are you doing this testing to observe that the second router stops communicating with the first router? Some more context should help, but if the first router can still communicate with the second router, then it makes me wonder what the real issue is.

[@ramonoesamuel1506]

To connect 2Routers on the same my home wi-fi network what i understand router is the communication between internet and network .Can i connect 2routers one computer or 2routers on many computers to server different purpose as far as top-level-domain is concern

[@DevOdyssey]

Thanks for watching ramonoe! For your first question, the primary router handles communication between the home network and the internet. This acts just like your regular router at home (even without a second router). You can theoretically connect two routers to one computer, but that really depends on what you are trying to accomplish, which is out of scope for this video. Generally you would do that to multi home a computer on different networks. You can also connect two routers to many computers as well, so long as there are enough physical ethernet ports for them, or your routers can both emit different WiFi networks over 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. But again, relative to this video, that wouldn't make a different since these two routers are on the same network, meant to provide easier access to the network. In regards to a top level domain, I don't see how this relates, as thats on your public side of the internet, where your public IP gets the domain name, and hence provides a way into your home network if you allow it. Could be any domain, not necessarily a top level domain either.

[@mattyg0]

Adjusting the channel of the primary and secondary router should they be different or the same?

[@DevOdyssey]

Thanks for watching Matthew! This set up is kinda like a "poor man's" mesh system, and generally mesh systems do utilize the same channels between their access points. However, in terms of understanding radio waves, thats not necessarily the best to have, since you're likely to create interference. Theoretically speaking, choosing a different channels would be better, and this is where I'd recommend analyzing the radio waves in your immediate area to see what channel is the least used, and I'd go with that one. I haven't done much personal testing of this, so feel free to share your results.

[@andrewmoore2597]

Great presentation. I just subscribed,

[@DevOdyssey]

Thanks for the compliment and the sub! 😊 @Andrew Moore

[@am33x]

Would it be better to have 2 routers or router+WAP? Purpose being better coverage.

[@DevOdyssey]

Thanks for watching Mike P! Thats a good questions. Effectively, it shouldn't matter, as they would both be the same. Since most home routers are multiple devices in one (Firewall / router, access point, switch), the second router would already act as an access point, and should have roughly equal coverage. (assuming equal performing hardware) However, this will vary, depending on the tech behind the router or the access point. The the point of view of ease, an access point would probably be easier, because the menu would have less settings to get confused over, and it would really just focus on how to set up the access point with your current home network. I personally prefer to add on access points to my home network, but if you had a router laying around, you could turn it into an access point as well. Chances are though if it's laying around, it's likely using older hardware and won't perform better than a newer access point you could purchase. So shouldn't matter, but I personally prefer just using access points.

[@markush3386]

Thank you for the video! I have successfuly set this scenerio up and it is pushing my main network ssid through the 2nd router and the mesh satallites attached. However, when i create the vlans on the main router, the SSIDs are not getting pushed to the satallites.. what am i missing? Thanks in advance!

[@DevOdyssey]

You're welcome, thanks for watching @markush3386! Glad you hear you got it working successfully following my video. Interesting observation, as when I set this up, I did not go to the extent of testing VLANs. Given these routers I used aren't VLAN aware, I wouldn't really be able to test it. Anyway, to get the VLANs to your access points as SSIDs, you need ensure that your access points are VLAN aware. If they are not VLAN aware, then you'd need to ensure your VLANs are untagged on the ethernet port that you connect the access point to. Then from there, simply setting up the SSID should get your VLAN network available over WiFi.

[@markush3386]

​@@DevOdyssey ..awesome, i will give that a try! Thanks for getting back to me so quickly.. appreciate the help!

[@DevOdyssey]

You’re welcome! Happy to help 😊 let me know how it goes!

[@sm7085]

Great video, helped a lot with my setup. Just one question, should I have both routers on the same, different, or auto channel for both 2.4ghz and 5ghz?

[@DevOdyssey]

Thanks for watching S M, I really appreciate the compliment, and glad the video helped 😊 That's a good question, you could chose any of the three options really. For the same of speed, I'd go with 5ghz, but you'll take a hit in coverage. For better coverage, you can go with 2.4ghz, but you'll take a hit in speed. So depending on the size of physical location where this is deployed, you may want to consider your options. In general, 5ghz is the way to go. Now to address the channel, this is a little different. If you're on the same channel for both, you may run into collisions, where the signals from both of the routers cancel each other out, and you could have WiFi connectivity issues. Generally speaking, auto should be fine, as the routers should detect the best channel for your area. However, If you seem to be noticing connectivity issues to the WiFi, you can manually set the channels on each router to be different, say one channel off from each other, so that you know for sure the channels aren't colliding with each other.

[@sm7085]

@@DevOdyssey thanks for the info. I’ve actually tried playing around with the settings and decided to manually set them on different channels. Haven’t had issues on the same channel but that might be because there aren’t many devices connected. Anyways, thank you for your help. The video tutorial has been invaluable and saved me some money as I was thinking of buying a mesh system 😁

[@DevOdyssey]

@@sm7085 You're welcome! Interesting, thats good to note. I haven't played around too much with it, but know a bit of this from theory. But nonetheless, glad the setup you did is working for you with different channels manually. Glad I can help and save you some money! This video was the perfect video for you and the exact person I was targeting for this demonstration. You might even get better performance with your set up over a mesh system, depending on how its all connected. Anyway, best of luck with your new set up 😊

[@yvesbaumes]

Very good video. (I just found it lacks drawings a little bit)

[@DevOdyssey]

Thanks for the compliment @yves baumes! A drawing would've added some good value and understanding for anyone watching. Thats something I actually explored after this video, and I found a great way of integrating drawings into my videos while still being present on screen. If you're interested, check out my newer videos to see how I've done my drawings, and let me know what you think 😊

[@RavSingh-ju8eh]

Will try today and let you know

[@DevOdyssey]

Thanks for watching @RavSingh-ju8eh! Good luck with your setup.

[@miyahdanielson8701]

I have a question. I have two separate Internet providers, one used just for security cameras (because the fiber company wifi router provided doesn’t connect to my camera system.) Could I add my security camera router to my fiber router in this same manner but without resetting any router settings? Believe me I’ve tried only setting the frequency to 2ghz so it would connect but it still wouldn’t work. I’m just tired of paying for two isp a month.

[@DevOdyssey]

Thanks for watching @miyahdanielson8701! Without knowing more details about your security cameras, I'll only be able to provide a limited answer. Nonetheless, I have not heard of any security camera system that cannot connect to a standard network router. I am not sure what your fiber company offered in terms of a WiFi router, but they should provide you the fiber modem that uses ONT, and then an ethernet cable would run from that modem to the actual router. I have yet to see a fiber modem / router combo, but maybe that does exist. Nonetheless, your router from your fiber provider should have ethernet ports and WiFi. With that, wireless security cameras connect in two ways that I know, via WiFi or a base station. If its via WiFi, then each camera should be able to individually connect to the WiFi network. If its via a base station, then each camera connects to the base station and then usually that base station is connected to the router via a ethernet cable. Now if you are using wired cameras, that would be ethernet, which can directly connect to a network switch, or using coaxial cable, which would use a base station that then connects to the router, just in the same way the non WiFi cameras work. So given all that, I'm not sure what camera system you have, but from the systems I'm aware of, you should be able to connect them to the router one way or another, and not have to pay for another internet provider.

[@sankalpakumarnath9679]

How far i can set up my secondary router? I mean what is the maximum distance fro connecting two router as wifi repeater.

[@DevOdyssey]

Hi @sankalpa kumarnath, Thanks for watching! So this video goes more into detail around connecting two routers using an ethernet / LAN cable. In this setup, there really isn't a maximum distance, but depending on the cable, max bandwidth is limited to the length of the cable (for example, CAT5E has a max length of roughly 328 feet for 1 Gb/s at 100 MHz). For different cables the speed and length vary. As for using a WiFi repeater, this really does depend on your situation. For example, how many WiFi networks are around you, other radio emitting devices (like a microwave), the types of walls you have (drywall, wood, or metal), and if you're going onto different floors. With all that into consideration, I wouldn't place it that far from the WiFi router (like 30-40 feet). This should be enough to get to another side of the room / house where you need a stronger connection. I'd place it on the edge of where your WiFi drops off, where you expect that WiFi repeater to give you the most coverage. Lastly, If you can, I recommend going with a mesh system, as that provides the latest technology , best coverage, and easiest of setups.

[@PrometheusAndBob]

Hey I'm trying to figure out if I have my My settings correct I have two TP-Link routers one of them has access point mode and right now it just sets a dynamic AP do I need to do anything besides the IP reservation for not to cause interference recently my modems didn't restarting. My router has separate tab DHCP server and I just left it alone having it on on the address pool there's two boxes side by side the first box has the IP reservation address from the secondary router and the second one is up by .99

[@DevOdyssey]

Hi Prometheus, So with your second TP-link router in access point mode, you won't have to do anything else, as the rest will all be taken care of for you, automatically. No need for IP reservation, unless you have other reasons for it. Simply plug in the 2nd router in access point mode to the primary router, and it should get assigned an IP address dynamically and be good to go. You shouldn't have to mess with the DHCP server settings on the primary router, nor the secondary router. That address pool is simply a range of IP addresses your DHCP server will assign out to devices that connect tot he network. This applies more when you don't have AP / Bridge mode, and you need to do manual DHCP configuration on the primary router (such as setting up DHCP reservation), and secondary router (shutting off DHCP on this devices). You can also use a static IP on the second router if you don't want to use a DHCP reservation, where that static IP is outside the pool / range of assignable IP addresses on the primary router.

[@fotiskanellopoulos]

Hi. If I add a PC on the 2nd router (bridge) with ethernet cable and I want it to have a static ip, on which of the 2 routers should the ip binding be done ? I would say on the first since the 2nd has DHCP disabled but I tried that and that PC stills gets an ip different of what I set up on the primary router. Thanks

[@DevOdyssey]

Hi @fotis kanellopolous, Thanks for watching! Good question. Yes, that should be the way that it's done. You'd provide your MAC address of your PC to to your router and it should assign your PC the same IP address. I'm not sure exactly why that wouldn't work, but there can be a few reasons. The static IP address for the PC should be an IP address that not within the range of dynamic IP addresses. For example, if 192.168.1.10 - 192.168.1.254 is the dynamic range, then you can only assign static IP addresses in the range of 192.168.1.1 - 192.168.1.10. Assigning a static IP address outside of that range would fail or the router wouldn't let you attempt it. If you're not able to find a solution to this problem, I might suggest just assigning a static IP address on your PC's network interface (ethernet) itself. Instead of using DHCP there, just provide the static IP address, the router / gateway IP address, and the netmask (likely its 255.255.255.0), and then you should always have that same IP address for your PC. But doing it this way, your router won't actually see your PC in its DHCP, because your PC isn't sending and DHCP requests to the router. It's similar to how in the video, when not using bridge mode, and shutting off DHCP, the primary router doesn't actually see the secondary router, and thats because I assigned it a static IP within outside of that DHCP dynamic range on the primary router. So doing it this way should work as well, but you'll have to manage the IP address on your PC, and not on the router. Hope this helps!

[@fotiskanellopoulos]

@@DevOdyssey thanks. It worked. I found out why it happened. I use giving an IP that was already in use by another pc using also ethernet cable. My mistake. Thanks again for your help. 🙂

[@DevOdyssey]

Awesome! Glad to hear you got it working. Yea IP conflicts will certainly get in the way, not always easy to see. Thanks again for watching and happy to help 🙂

[@inverse_of_zero]

Hey mate, I really appreciate you answering all these questions in the comments! My question which I haven't seen addressed elsewhere is the following: Consider your "scenario 1" (i.e. secondary router in bridge mode). You said to connect the WAN of secondary router to the LAN of the primary router. Is it possible to get this working by connecting the WAN of the secondary router to the WAN of the primary router? The reason why I ask this is because my primary router does not have a modem it is not an internet source only a router. But my secondary router IS an internet source in fact it is a 4G modem. This would have the added benefit of freeing up another LAN port ☺ Thank you in advance 🙏

[@DevOdyssey]

Thanks for watching @inverse_of_zero! You have an interesting question. So generally speaking, the WAN port on the primary router is normally already in use for a connection to the modem. However, in your case, if your modem is also a router, you can sometimes have a free WAN port if it exists for reasons on using that modem also as a router. Anyway, using a WAN port on a secondary router connected to the WAN port of a primary router will not work. That is because the WAN port on most consumer grade routers is software controlled to only work as a WAN port and nothing else. So while you could configure your WAN port manually on the router admin page, it won’t actually connect to an existing network from the primary router. Would be nice if that was possible to free up a port, but this would be the scenario where you’d need a network switch to expand the number of available ports. However you did say your secondary router has an internet source as a 4G modem. Do you intend to use that as your internet source? If so, that router will be your primary router then, and the other router will be your secondary one. Best of luck!

[@inverse_of_zero]

@@DevOdyssey thanks so much for the detailed and quick reply! "It's complicated". The reason why my "main" (router only, no modem) is treated as the main is because of the following reasons: * It is in a cabinet, close to all my devices, connected via ethernet * It contains the most ports (4 LAN + 1 WAN) * I don't want to make my 4G modem my "main" as it only has 2 LAN ports, BUT one of the ports is a dual LAN/WAN port so in reality if I connect it to the main via WAN it only has 1 LAN port * I would prefer to not have the 4G modem in the cabinet with all my gear as it's behind a solid wall, but rather out in an open space In any case you've answered my question: I can't connect WAN to WAN. I'll need to rethink my network topology, maybe getting a better router with more ports or stronger signal strength. Thanks for the help!

[@DevOdyssey]

You’re welcome @inverse_of_zero! Glad to help. Thanks for the extra detail as I can better assess your network topology / hardware setup. So given this, my first question is, what’s providing internet to your “main” router in the cabinet. I ask because when I say main router, what I really mean is the router providing your internet connection and managing IP addresses (DHCP). Is there a way to connect the 4G modem to your router in your cabinet via an Ethernet cable? If so, then it sounds like you can have an ideal setup, as you can place the 4G modem anywhere you want, it can handle your DHCP for you as well (or your router in your cabinet can handle DHCP if you want, If there’s no need for the 4G modem/router to handle it). By chance, what is your 4G modem, is it a Netgear? I have a Netgear LM1200 myself and that WAN port they have is supposed to be activated sometime this year to use as a secondary WAN connection, which to me is awesome. Regardless, I think we can talk this out and come up with a solution. Definitely keep the 4G modem outside of the cabinet for the best connection to cellular, you could even buy antennas for it to improve the signal catching. And I agree with your router setup on the cabinet. It all comes down to how the cabinet router gets an internet connection, and what device is managing the IP addresses via DHCP (the 4G modem/router or the cabinet router). Let me know what you think of all this. But overall to me, sounds you can let the cabinet router do your DHCP, and shut that feature off on the 4G modem and let it handle the incoming internet connection.

[@inverse_of_zero]

@@DevOdyssey thanks again for the reply. My internet setup has completely changed as I had to get rid of the 4G and get a refund on the 2nd router, so just the main now. Maybe in future I'll come back to this project if I need to!

[@DevOdyssey]

You're welcome @inverse_of_zero. Ah well no worries. As long as you can get your refund. Maybe when you have another router you can try this out again. Hopefully you are getting the network coverage you need. Though the 4G modem /router is a nice backup. Thanks for watching! 😊

[@tecrontec2316]

Is it possible to connect the TELUS T3200M as secondary router(access point) with the TELUS Wifi Hub(White) which being Primary Router?

[@DevOdyssey]

Thanks for watching Tecron Tec! From my research, it looks like this should be possible. While I’m not sure of all of its software capabilities, you should only have to disable the DHCP server on the TELUS T3200M, or enable bridge mode or access point mode on it, to make it a secondary router. The configure the WiFi to match the WiFi on the TELUS WiFi Hub as your primary router, as I did in the video, and that should do it.

[@tecrontec2316]

@@DevOdyssey Thank You Dev Odyssey

[@DevOdyssey]

@@tecrontec2316 You're welcome! 😊

[@zadekeys2194]

Nice video. You are basically turning the Layer3+L2 modem router combo (aka router 2) into a smart switch (L2) with WiFi, which is equal to a WiFi AP. My 2 cents - Router 2 - set dhcp. Dns 1= router 1 Lan IP. Dns2=1.1.1.2 Router 1 set static IP of Router 2. Whitelist dns servers 1.1.1.2 / 1.0.0.2 & blacklist 8.8.*.* / etc. This helps if you can't find the IP of router 2, as you can plug it into a other network running its own dhcp server, so that you can troubleshoot. (another router, smart switch, access point etc)

[@DevOdyssey]

@Zade Keys thanks for watching! 😊 Thats pretty much exactly what I am doing. While I am not using a modem + router device itself, its pretty much the same. It's almost a smart / managed switch on Layer 3, only if the second switch supported VLANs. Plus adding in the WiFi makes it a pretty capable switch + access point combination. Those are really good suggestions, thanks for adding them. I like your notes on using Cloudflare's DNS servers, as I do use them and prefer them over google DNS. Though, I do use google DNS for my guest network, for sake of guest user experience. Having DHCP run on both router does have a great advantage for troubleshooting, especially if one of the routers has any failures. This also has the benefit of working like a DMZ (for the network on the first router with DHCP). However, the only downside to this is your devices to make another network hop when leaving your home network. But thats mostly insignificant. Also, if you didnt want to set up DHCP on the first router, you could just manually set up your device (latptop, smart phone, etc) when connecting to the first router network (IP address, Subnet Mask, Router/Gateway, and DNS), and then do any troubleshooting from there. Thanks again for watching and for your 2 cents!

[@hiracheta555]

I'm going to try this. Would it be possible to add a third router to the second one with this same process? Thanks in advance.

[@DevOdyssey]

Hi @Niners4Life69, Thanks for watching! Yep, it should be possible. You could connect a third router, acting as an access point in this case, to the primary router or second router. You’ll just have to configure it properly depending on the features available, using the same process in the video, but it should work just fine, and expand your network coverage even more.

[@miltonburmann7794]

I have done this with 3 other routers daisy chained to the main router, works just fine, they all just act as a passthrough to the next one

[@DevOdyssey]

Exactly! This would be my ideal set up if I could run CAT6 ethernet in the walls. Not that I couldn't but thats a bit of drywall work I don't want to do just yet haha. I appreciate you chiming in @Milton Burmann!

[@bev4645]

Hi , do I need to run wires for this ? I really need something so that my signal can be better. Thanks.

[@miltonburmann7794]

@@bev4645 you could use powerline adapters like he showed in the video. Just plug them in regular outlets then sync them and it should work. Alternatively, it is possible to use wds bridging, but the quality of the signal suffers significant losses.

[@MACFANTASTICKYPESS]

I have second router "tp link tl wr941nd". I googled default IP and its 192. 168. 1. 1 but nothing shows up. I can connect only to my primary modem+router device........ When I open settings of primary modem+router and check connected devices - the IP of my second router there is "192. 168. 0. 95/24". But when i type this in address nothing happens aswell.. just loading a minute and then nothing. And on the back side of my second router is written "Default access"tplinklogin . But when I go there i cant do anything its just a website, cant login there, nothing helps me. So What now??

[@MACFANTASTICKYPESS]

i hope this one wont get deleted.. i hate youtube

[@DevOdyssey]

Thanks for watching @McHarambeface! Sorry to hear about youtube deleting your comment, not sure why that’s happening buttons not my doing. Anyway, I did some research on the your router model you shared. Looks like the default range is 192. 168. 0. 1/24. So to log in, use the IP 192. 168. 0. 1 (or tplinkwifi. net ) in your web browser. Now the way I would recommend connecting to this router first is by directly connecting to this router (over WiFi but preferably Ethernet), and not having this second router connected to the first router. If you need to, reset the second router (tp link) to start off fresh. Then connect and login with default credentials (then change them too). Then you can follow along in this video for “configuring the secondary router” as I did in the beginning of it. For more info, you can follow along in this video I found from TP link. It talks about address reservation but nonetheless, relates to logging into the router. Hopefully it helps. www.tp-link.com/us/support/download/tl-wr941nd/ Let me know if this works and if not, what you end up running in to.

[@MACFANTASTICKYPESS]

@@DevOdyssey Thanks a lot for answer. Okay I somehow managed to log in. Thank you

[@DevOdyssey]

@@MACFANTASTICKYPESS You're welcome! Glad you were able to figure it out. Just be sure when you configure the second router you disconnect from all other networks, otherwise you might end up connecting to the primary router, or not be able to connect in general. Then if this router has access point mode, you can turn that on, then connect it to the primary router. Then from there you should see the IP address of the second router in the admin interface of the primary router, and then you can use that IP Address to log in to the second router you just configured for access point mode. Otherwise if access point mode is not available, you'll have to do this manually by disabling DHCP on the second router. 6:29 for AP mode configuration and 12:56 for configuration without AP mode. That is really strange. I'm genuinely surprised to hear that. Are you able to change the SSID on the tp link to the same name as the first (primary) router? When I look at the manual for your router in the link I sent in the prior comment, I see a field to specify the SSID / WiFi password (on page 33), so I'm not too sure what you are seeing. Maybe you need to update the firmware on that router? I can't be sure whats going on with out seeing it. Once you do get this done (changing SSID and password to match that of the primary router), you might have to disconnect and reconnect the lights, so they forcibly connect to the wireless signal closest to them (that being the tp link you are setting up) but once that is done, you shouldn't have to do it again.

[@MACFANTASTICKYPESS]

I cant be connected just to the second router because my primary modem+router is all in one device where is connected koaxial cable.

[@ramonoesamuel1506]

Reasons to connect A 2nd Router if you plan on home wireless network, password,security mode only people you choose can access the network in a way to secure your router to find that attackers scans for open ports to gain access to a network this can prevent or block other devices

[@DevOdyssey]

Those are good reasons! While you don't need to connect a second router on your network to do that, you can do that simply with one router and some out of the box features like MAC Address filtering to restrict wireless clients (though thats not exactly secure anyway). But it can also give you different options for securing your network by using different wireless security modes like WPA2 (or even WPA3 if your second router is a WiFi 6 ready, but then that should probably be your primary router). This won't exactly block port scans, since thats done externally usually (or internal once you're on the network), but the general routers should have effectively all ports closed by default unless you open ports using port forwarding. Nonetheless from a port standpoint it's usually pretty secure, except for many port 443 or port 80 for https / http access to the admin console. But there may be other security settings that you can use to block as well such as blacklisting IP addresses in the router, helping you prevent scanning as well. And for blocking devices you could also do this via MAC address filtering as mentioned above.

[@josesosa1628]

I installed second router with power line it did not work i tried Lan and them Wan in second router it dropped speed by hal. Second router was set up as ap should i use it as router instead?

[@DevOdyssey]

Hi @Jose Sosa, Thanks for the update. Now just so I can get a better understanding, you first tried a LAN port on the second router, which did not work. Then you tried a WAN port on the second router, and it did work? Are you sure the second router was in AP mode? You may have just created a second network if you weren't in AP mode. Make sure the IP Addresses of the routers are within the same network (192.168.1.1-192.168.1.254). Yes, the second router is supposed to be in AP mode, and not router mode. Using AP mode gives you the benefit that your devices are on the same network. So if it did work using the WAN port on the second router, and the speed dropped by half, that my be just a limitation of powerline adapter. Sadly, there are so many factors that can affect the speed when using powerline adapters, such as the wiring in your home, that you can't really do much about, and can result in significant speed reductions. This was is just a convenient form to move the second router / AP into another room without an ethernet cable everywhere, but comes at the cost of speed. How much has it slowed down?

[@AABB-sm7mi]

Everytime I change the IO address on the secondary router without bridgemode it crashes and won’t load up the page. Just says site can’t be reached

[@DevOdyssey]

Thanks for watching @AABB77 ! 😊 That’s odd behavior. Changing the IP address on the secondary router with bridge mode off (dhcp off) should not crash the router. How do you confirm the crash? Do you see the router lights turn off or some other indication of a crash? Does the router turn back on? This is something difficult to troubleshoot, but shouldn’t be that unstable with simple changes to IP address. Do you have to reset the router to get it working? Hopefully there’s some information that points to the exact problem.

[@christyyardleysibi3519]

Can i use my earth 1010 modem from genexis to extend my wifi?

[@DevOdyssey]

Thanks for watching Christy! I’m not familiar with this modem but when I googled it, it looks like it’s actually a router, unless I am mistaken. When googling I found a software specification sheet, and in there I didn’t not see any mentioned of Access Point mode or Bridge Point mode. So overall yes you should be able to use it to extend your WiFi. However, you have to do this without access point or bridge point mode, which I configure at 12:56. Follow the steps there and it should work.

[@b3myself]

Hi, I want to use the MAC Address filter/parental control feature on second router with this setup, but unable to do it because the internet connection is managed by first/main router. The first router does not have parental control feature. Please advise how to resolve this. Thanks.

[@DevOdyssey]

Hi @b3myself, Thanks for watching and great question. Sadly, with your configuration, you won't be able to actively use the parental controls, as the secondary router is meant to solely act as a Wireless Access Point (and switch), but cannot do more than that, in the way its set up here. Ideally, you want the primary router to be the one with better settings / settings you want to use. My recommendation would be to switch the routers, make the primary the secondary, and the secondary the primary. In doing that, you'll be able to use the parental controls as you desire. While there are other ways to achieve this, it would likely require different equipment / software that can create multiple networks and VLANs. So your easiest and best bet is to just switch them around. This video should be able to help in switching the routers as well.

[@b3myself]

@@DevOdyssey Thanks for your prompt response. Unfortunately the primary router is ISP-provided router which is cannot be replaced/switched with any routers. Like you said, other way to achieve this is creating different network (setup secondary router as an router) but it would be complicated for home network.

[@DevOdyssey]

You're welcome. Sorry to hear about that set back, as that does make it more complicated. With this, you can't really do much else. But, if the parental control features are important enough, you can set up your own secondary network that everyone connects to. All you'd need to make sure is the following. 1. The primary ISP modem / router has WiFi shut off (if it has it), so that your wireless clients connect to the WiFi coming off the secondary router. 2. The secondary router uses a different IP range than the primary router. (ex. Primary: 192.168.0.1 - 192.168.0.254 -> Secondary: 192.168.1.1 - 192.168.1.254) 3. You plug the secondary router into the primary router via secondary router WAN port, to primary router LAN port. With this, you'll have something called a double NAT setup. This is something I have set up before and used for extended periods of time (years), and not seen network issues as a result of it. So if you're up to it, you'll just have to do the above, and is should work fine.

[@b3myself]

@@DevOdyssey Thanks for your detailed advice. I have tried the setup as per your suggestion, but retain the primary ISP router's WIFI ON only for wireless printer sharing using different SSID and channel with secondary router's WIFI. It works as I expected. Really appreciate for your help.

[@DevOdyssey]

You're welcome @b3myself! So long as your setup makes sense for our use cases, thats what matters. Glad I can help 😀

[@russellowens3527]

Hi Dev. I have Cox Communications and I have their whole home WiFi. I also have an Arris 7400AC2. I am a little confused. Should I plug the Arris 7400AC2 in my Cox modem/WiFi via ethernet or just completely plug the Coax into the Arris and connect to it that way? Sorry for the confusion. I usually am pretty good with tech. Can you assist?

[@DevOdyssey]

Hi Russell, thanks for watching. No worries, happy to help! So your Cox whole home WiFi acts as the following: Modem and Wireless Router (WiFi). Because this is the modem, you would not unplug the coax cable from the Cox Modem / Router, as this is how Cox is providing you internet. I imagine Cox provided you with a device, correct? And you already owned the Arris 7400AC2. If my understanding is correct, then you'd do the first scenario, and that is plug in the Arris 7400AC2 into the Cox All in one device, using Ethernet cables and LAN ports. Then you'd just have to set up the WiFi on the Arris 7400AC2, the same way that it is set up on the Cox device. Granted, you'd want to put this Arris 7400AC2 in another room that doesn't get as good of WiFi to expand your WiFi coverage.

[@russellowens3527]

@@DevOdyssey I did the ipconfig and the Default Gateway came up with the same IP. Should I unplug it now? Sorry. Just a little confused as to why I can't seem to get this. LOL!

[@DevOdyssey]

@@russellowens3527 So you did the ipconfig on your windows machine, I'm sure. Can you elaborate on what your connection was during that ipconfig? Such as were you connected via ethernet to the second router, which was connected to the first router? (laptop -> arris -> cox?). Technically your gateway should be the Cox router IP. I'm not sure exactly where you are in your configuration, but I'd need more context on why you want to unplug it. Are you talking about unplugging the Arris from the Cox? If so you can't do that, and thats because the Arris won't be connected to the network anymore, and it therefore won't act as a network switch or an access point that you want it to be. They have to be wired together in this configuration, and they do not connect wirelessly (like in a mesh set up).

[@moneydontbuyclass]

Very helpful! Thanks a lot. A question for you or anyone. Do you think this is possible using a Linksys Wrt1900AC as the main router and Google home mesh system as the secondary to expand the wifi coverage?

[@DevOdyssey]

You’re welcome @Javad Ali! Yes the setup you mentioned should be possible with a Linksys WRT1900AC and Google home mesh. In this setup, I assume your Linksys router will act as your DHCP server and hand out IPs. You can leave that part as is. Next, I’d shut off wireless on your Linksys router, that’s because we’ll let Google Home Mesh handle the wireless. Then on your Google Home Mesh, connect one of them to the router, and when you have access to the Google Home Mesh admin interface, turn on Bridge Mode, so it only acts as a wireless access point. But since it’s mesh, it will still have meshing capabilities. Then you can place the other nodes around your home and connect them to the main Google Home Mesh node to get the best WiFi coverage in your home. I’ve actually done a setup similar to this and it works well. Hope it does for you too!

[@jpfla1]

HI Dev, I have a gateway from Cox which needs to stay in my bedroom. I need to get a better signal in my garage for my tailwinds garage door system. I have a another router it is a Netgear AC1600 model R6260 that I want to put in my garage to act as a access point. I also have tp link powerline adaptors so I dont have to run 60 feet of ethernet cable. How do I make this work

[@jpfla1]

Also is there anything I would have to do differently since my main is from my ISP which is a gateway (modem/router combo) Technicolor CGM4981COM. And is it possible to have the ssid's on my secondary netgear router different names and passwords

[@DevOdyssey]

@@jpfla1 Thanks for watching! So sounds like you have everything you need to make this work. Without knowing the user interface of the Cox gateway, I wouldn't know the exact steps you need to follow. However, the steps this video show the general concepts of what you need to do, which should work for your Cox modem/router and Netgear router. In particular, your Cox modem/router would be the primary router, and the Netgear router would be the secondary router. Following this setup, you shouldn't have to do much on the Cox modem/router. All you'd need to do is ensure they are connected over ethernet. Using the powerline adapters would do that fine, just make sure you follow the instructions with the powerline adapters to set up the connection between both ends of the powerline adapters. Should be fairly easy and is a matter of clicking a button on each adapter. Once that is confirmed to be working, then you can set up the Netgear router as your secondary router following this videos' steps. If the Netgear router has Access Point / Bridge mode, it should be as easy and turning on that feature, saving it, and plugging in the ethernet cable to the WAN or LAN port (can't say which because it varies between routers, but I'd try the WAN port on the Netgear router first). On the opposite end of that cable, on the Cox modem/router side, that would be plugged into a LAN port always (of course the connection goes through the powerline adapter, but from that powerline adapter, it should be connected to a LAN port on the Cox Modem). So it should look like this. Cox Modem (LAN Port) -> Powerline adapter 1 -> (Ethernet over powerline) -> Powerline adapter 2 -> Netgear router (WAN or LAN port). Then once youve connected it and set it up, it should work as expected. As for using different SSIDs and passwords on the Netgear router, that shouldn't be a problem. Set them up with the SSID name and password as you please, and it shouldn't interfere with this setup. That way, you can set up your tailwinds garage door system to the different SSID of the Netgear router. I'd start at 09:04 with your setup. If Access Point Mode or Bridge Mode is not available on the Netgear router, follow along at 12:56. Doing it this way shuts off DHCP on the Netgear router, and forces it to act as an Access Point / Bridge.

[@jpfla1]

@@DevOdyssey Hi Dev , I wanted to thank you to for making this easy to follow informative video, and replying back. I got everything setup and working and used the setup using ap mode. One question I have is when I log into the access point router(Netgear) it shows dhcp and all of my devices from that are on my gateway(Cox), I take it is a communication process, Thanx again

[@DevOdyssey]

@@jpfla1 you’re welcome, I enjoyed making the video and seeing how many people, like yourself, it’s helped out. I’m glad to hear you got it working. As for your question, I can’t realty say why you see dhcp on for your access point (Netgear) as technically that would be handled by the Cox router when the Netgear one is acting only as an access point. You will, however, still see any devices that attempt to connect to the Netgear access point in the Netgear admin panel because that is part of the WiFi connection process, as the device makes itself visible during any connection attempts.

[@malikgarrett2036]

Which jack do I hook the main router to back of 2nd router

[@DevOdyssey]

Hi @malik garret, Thanks for watching! So this depends on the 2nd router you are using and the features turned on. In my experience, when using Bridge / Access Point mode on my 2nd router, I had to plug into the WAN port / jack on the 2nd router. When not using Bridge / Access Point mode on my 2nd router, and turning off DHCP on the 2nd router, I had to plug into the LAN port / jack on the 2nd router. This may depend on your 2nd router / software you use, but in general should work. The only thing that might change is the first scenario, using Bridge / Access Point mode. You might have to try a LAN port / jack there if the WAN port doesn't work.

[@inverse_of_zero]

What about the (remaining) LAN ports on the secondary router? Are they functional? (In either 1st case bridge mode or 2nd case DHCP manually disabled?) In other words, can you connect a device to a LAN port on the secondary router to connect to the home network? Or you can only use WiFi to connect to the secondary router? This info wasn't raised in your video, so I thought I'd ask in case others were wondering/searching. Thanks again for the informative video, and congrats on the 1k subs!

[@DevOdyssey]

@inverse_of_zero thanks for the congrats and compliment! Also great question too, something I overlooked in this video. In either scenario, the LAN ports on the secondary router (and primary for that matter) should be functional. That’s because the DHCP requests from the clients (devices connecting to the secondary router) should be forwarded to the primary router, which would then send the DHCP response back to the client through the secondary router, and configure it accordingly (IP Address, Gateway, and DNS). Regardless if you’re connecting over WiFi or physically over LAN ports, DHCP should work to connect devices onto the same network defined by the primary router. In this setup, the secondary router acts as a network switch. I will say I didn’t test this out exactly in the video, as I was hardwired into the primary router during the setup. However at 14:15 in the video, I do mention that the primary router should handle DHCP and take care of it for any device connecting to the network from the primary or secondary router. The pings I do at 17:17 do verify connectivity, so at least in theory, DHCP should pass through to the secondary router via LAN ports or WiFi. If you’re curious, this should work because the routers are on the same Layer 2 connection (acting as a Layer 2 switch). But if you’d like to test this out, let me know the results you see and if it matches what I’m saying / expectations. I’m glad you asked so others who watch this video can reference this comment if this thought crosses their minds. Thanks for being a loyal subscriber 😊

[@inverse_of_zero]

@@DevOdyssey wow that's incredible. So, it's not just "use your old spare router to increase your Wi-Fi range" but also "use your old spare router as a network switch" 😁

[@DevOdyssey]

@inverse_of_zero Yup exactly! A router is a lot more than just a router 😊. I don’t like the throw away my old tech if I can repurpose it, and if not, then I’ll try to sell it where someone could have a good use for it. So if I can’t get an old router to be a network switch and access point, we’ll why not do it then.

[@saramaher5937]

I dont have netgear router i have linksys mr9000 mesh dual band and i got lost i didnt know how to connect the first router two the second when i write the secound router ip adrees it shows linksys smart wifi

[@DevOdyssey]

Hi @sara maher, Thanks for watching 😊. Let me see if I understand what you're working with. So you have a Linksys MR9000 mesh dual band router. 1. Are you using this router as a primary router? 2. What is the second (or other) router you are using? 3. Are you trying to connect the routers you have in a mesh? If this is the case, this video is more so targeted for those who aren't using mesh routers. Mesh routers have their own way of connecting wirelessly, this demo uses a wired connection between the first router and second router. I'd need a bit more detail in from those questions above so I can understand what / how you are trying to accomplish for your network. With that, I can provide my best guidance.

[@freemangordon9021]

if i may ask, is there any way to make all this wirelessly? i mean to turn the 2nd router as a middle-man so that i can connect to the 1st through the 2nd all of this wirelessly?

[@DevOdyssey]

Thanks for watching Freeman! So technically yes it's possibly to make this all wirelessly, which would be a mesh system, but it would be dependent on the hardware and software you're using. In particular, you'd need routers capable of mesh, usually a tri-band router, and you'd want to use software like OpenWrt where you can use open source mesh protocols as opposed to any proprietary, in particular, BATMAN, to wireless connect them. www.open-mesh.org/projects/open-mesh/wiki Given how much additional complexity is involved in this, it's easier to use a wired set up, as shown in this video with the addition of Ethernet Powerline adatpers, or MoCa adapters (coaxial cables) to separate the routers / access points in different rooms. But if you're up to the challenge, you can do this wirelessly with the right hardware. This is something I'l actually exploring with Raspberry Pi's. Carlos Gomes does a great write up on this if you are curious. cgomesu.com/blog/Mesh-networking-openwrt-batman/

[@freemangordon9021]

@@DevOdyssey thx this was just want i need, it is helpful

[@DevOdyssey]

@@freemangordon9021 You're welcome! Glad I could share exactly what you needed 😊

[@Jimdish2555]

Would it make sense to assign separate wireless channels for the 2 routers or just use one at 2.4 and the other at 5g?

[@DevOdyssey]

Thanks for watching @Jimdish2555! You can do that, say if want the farthest WiFi access. For example, the second router have 2.4 Ghz, and the first router use 5 GHz, so the closer you are the to the first router, the faster your speeds will be. As for the second router, the 2.4 GHz has a farther range so you can stay connected to the network at farther distances, but with slower speeds. However, its not necessary to set it up this way. You can just turn on 2.4 and 5 GHz for both the primary and secondary routers with the same WiFi name (SSID). You can let them automatically choose their own channel within those bands to reduce the amount of collisions, or can set them manually. If you want to reduce the radio noise in your home, then your suggestions is an option, but not necessary.

[@Jimdish2555]

There may be a situation where I do not have access to the config of the main router. In that case I would use an app to see what channel it is using and then assign a different bradcast channel to the repeater which I have access to. Does that make sense? @@DevOdyssey

[@houstonlatham3679]

Thanks, really easy to follow.

[@DevOdyssey]

Thanks so much @Houston Latham for the compliment. I’m glad you were able to follow it easily 😊

[@Cruzmissle8]

Hi there, I have a question for you. what should do when the ip addresses are different from each other. meaning if I have in on router an IP address that is 192.168.0.1 and in the other one I have a 192.168.1.1. just keep in mind that my main router is the one that has the 192.168.0.1 and I would like to use the second router with the IP address that is 192.168.1.1. how do you config that.

[@DevOdyssey]

Hi @Jocruz41, thanks for watching! For your question, first, its good that the IP addresses (and ranges) are different to start, so they don't conflict, but we will want to change that so they are in the same range so your devices are on the same network. Since your main router is 192 . 168 . 0 . 1, and you want to use use the second router with the IP address and range of 192 . 168 . 1 . 1 to 192 . 168 . 1 . 254 we can use change the range of the main router (192 . 168 . 0 . 1 - 192 . 168 . 0 . 254) to 192 . 168 . 1 . 1 to 192 . 168 . 1 .254. Not knowing what routers you are using, I will speak generally on how to achieve this. First you want to change the range of the main router to 192 . 168 . 1 . 10 - 192 . 168 . 1 . 254, as I do at part 15:24 in the video. This will be your new network in your main router once you have done that. Next, in your secondary router, connect to it separately, meaning disconnect from the main router and only connect to the second router with a ethernet cable. Then log in to the second router. If you have Access Point mode or Bridge Mode, just turn that on in your secondary router, and plug in an ethernet cable from the main to the second router (LAN port on main router, and LAN or WAN on second router depending on how your router works). I demonstrate this at 6:30 in the video. In this case, your second router will be assigned an IP address from the main router, on the same network, and you will be done. If you don't have Access Point mode or Bridge Mode on the second router, you will need to access the second router separately as mentioned above. Then log in to the second router, shut off DHCP Server, then set a static IP address for the second router, say 192 . 168 . 1 . 2, as I do at 13:40 in the video. Then plug in an ethernet cable from the main to the second router (LAN port on main router, and LAN on second router). After that you are done.

[@Cruzmissle8]

@@DevOdyssey I thank you so much for answering to my question and my comment in such a fashionably matter. you are the best. I will let you know how everything goes, once I am done... once again thank you

[@DevOdyssey]

@Jocruz41 You're welcome! Thank you for the kind words. Please, let me know how it goes. I'm hoping to hear it works well.

[@Cruzmissle8]

@@DevOdyssey hi, I just wanted to thank you once again. I got everything working really good... Thanks you are the best...

[@DevOdyssey]

Thanks for coming back to let me know you got it working. I'm glad you were able to. And thanks for the kind words, I sincerely appreciate them 😊.

[@josesosa1628]

On second power line u connect to lan or wan port? And on second router lam or wan??

[@DevOdyssey]

Hi @Jose Sosa, Thanks for watching and great question! The powerline adapters should be connected the same way as if you were connecting the two routers directly. The powerline adapter to the primary router should be connected to its LAN port. If the secondary router is in bridge mode, the powerline adapter to the secondary router should be connected to its WAN port. If the secondary router in not in bridge mode, the powerline adapter to the secondary router should be connected to its LAN port. Now this may vary depending on the software used in the secondary router. For mine, when its in bridge mode, it expects a connection on its WAN port. This may not be the same with all routers. Otherwise, if the WAN port doesn't work, use the LAN port.

[@davisfearon4225]

Thanks for the awesome well explained video

[@DevOdyssey]

You’re welcome! Thanks for watching @davis fearon, glad you enjoyed it.

[@sunhyho8899]

Hi, Is it ok to use differrent SSID on second router?

[@DevOdyssey]

Hi @Suhny Ho, Thanks for watching! :) Yes, its definitely okay to use a different SSID on the second router. The main reason to use the same SSID is to automatically connect to the second router when you are closer to it (and when the signal is stronger), instead of manually doing. However using a different SSID just means you'll have to manually connect to it when you want to, or if you get too far from the first router and the connection drops out, your device will automatically connect to the second router, so long as its providing a stronger signal (likely closer to it), and that you have your device set to automatically connect to that SSID.

[@BabbarSHERR]

Will my device connect and disconnect between two routers? Is there any setting to have it act as a mesh? And not get disconnected while moving aroud

[@DevOdyssey]

Hi @Utkarsh Babbar, Thanks for watching! Yes your device can disconnect and connect between the two routers. Ideally it shouldn't be too noticeable with the same WiFi name and password, but it can still happen. You want something called fast roaming, and if both of your routers support that (802.11r), then you shouldn't see any drops really and transitioning between routers would work seamlessly. Chances are, it should. When using older equipment, you aren't going to find features that make it act like a mesh with another router, especially if they are different brands. When setting up routers this way, it somewhat acts like its own mesh to begin with. The difference here is network access is being provided to the access point(s) using an ethernet cable. With Mesh WiFi, the network access is provided by radio waves that create a mesh network, and connect all the routers together in a wireless mesh. When using wired with access points, you will actually have better network access with more reliability. Again, what will really determine how well your connection moves between WiFi radio waves is support for 802.11r protocol for fast roaming, or other mesh oriented protocols, on the actual WiFi chip, that are usually found in newer routers.

[@BabbarSHERR]

@@DevOdyssey Thank you so much!🙌

[@DevOdyssey]

You’re welcome @Utkarsh Babbar! Glad I can help 😊

[@WezzLee11]

When I try doing this mid way through my WiFi disconnects will I need to start the process again?

[@DevOdyssey]

Hi @wezz_playzz, thanks for watching! What step are you at when you the WiFi disconnects? It may be due to a configuration change that results in you disconnecting and that your router is restarting for the changes to take affect. If that’s the case, you shouldn’t need to restart the process over again, and can continue from there.

[@WezzLee11]

@@DevOdyssey thanks for replying I think I solved the problem I switched my main router talk talk to a new channel which auto switches my to tp link extenders to same channel. With the extenders should 1 be connected to talk talk router and other to the tp link extender?

[@DevOdyssey]

You’re welcome! Sounds like you were able to solve it. As for the extenders, are these powerline adapters with an Ethernet cable or are they wireless WiFi extenders? If it’s a wireless extender (WiFi), you should connect to the router that the extender is closest to. If you’re talking about powerline adapters, one will need to connect to the extender; and the other to the main router, your talk talk router. While in this case it doesn’t matter, it’s just better to connect to the main router to reduce the amount of connections in the chain for your personal devices to go through to get to the internet. Let me know if this makes sense!

[@WezzLee11]

@@DevOdyssey.thank you its an extender I connected talk talk via ehterbet cable to 1 tp link then other tp link far in my house would you recommend this?

[@DevOdyssey]

@wezz_playzz If you chain 3 devices via Ethernet (using powerline adapters or extenders) that should be okay. Though powerline adapters are not the fastest or most secure connection, but it does work and I’ve used it before. So if you need a connection to work this will do it. But there are always other options. Mesh WiFi comes to mind and would be more secure and just as fast most likely, though more expensive. Just so that I’m sure I understand, how are the two tp links connected? Sounds like it’s Ethernet, so my earlier comment should apply to your scenario.

[@natarajana.v4262]

Sir , awsome video. Please do a video on Mesh

[@DevOdyssey]

Thanks for watching Natarajan 😊 I've been looking to do a video on mesh, thought so far I plan for it to be a bit more manual with a set up that requires tinkering and assembly. I still haven't gotten to it yet, but I hope to soon. However, for a mesh video using consumer grade equipment, I could make a video around that once I get the equipment. So many to chose from, I'll have to decide which to chose as they all basically "mesh" in the same way, but may have different features as well. In the mean time, if you have any questions around mesh, I'd be happy to answer them.

[@PrometheusAndBob]

I have a spectrum router and the settings are very limited to what I can do the spectrum router is Wi-Fi 6 and the secondary router is Wi-Fi 5 tp link. This router works through the app only it says connected devices and it shows the tp-link sec router but can't set up a static IP address or not sure it's if it's set

[@DevOdyssey]

Thanks for watching John! For clarity, are you using the app to connect to the Spectrum WiFi 6 router? It sounds like you are, but i wanted to make sure. In addition, I also assume this router is the one directly connected to the internet, and the TP Link WiFi 5 router is your secondary router. So for the static IP, you can do it one of two ways. First, I would imagine the Spectrum router still has a way to access it over a web browser. I wouldn't imagine that has gone away, and the apps are made out of convenience for consumers. If you know your router's IP address, you can try connecting to it via the browser, login, and find the place where you can set static IP addresses, for connected devices using their MAC address. If the above is not possible, then I would log into the TP Link router, and set the static IP address there. Depending on your router, this would be the WAN IP address or LAN IP that you are setting as static (again, this is the secondary router, not the first one). More likely thank not, you'll be using the WAN port. In this scenario, you can set it as a static no problem, however, you could possibly run into IP conflicts if the first router hands out this static IP to another device. So if possible, log into the first router, the Spectrum, and assign an IP range that is outside of the IP Address that you used for your static IP (say 192 . 168 . 1 . 10 - 192 . 168 . 10 . 254) where your static IP address for the second router is 192 . 168 . 1 . 2. This would ensure that you don't run into IP collisions / conflicts. This is all whats basically covered in 12:58 of the video, and beyond.

[@PrometheusAndBob]

Ac2300 main ac1200 sec ended up getting these two routers I just retried your method today I was getting slow speeds but I realize I didn't unplug the modem and now everything is working pretty good with Mi mumo activated on both routers. Is that something recommended? I listen to music through my Alexa devices so sometimes the one in the bathroom which is why I have the second router tends to fumble

[@PrometheusAndBob]

But I want to thank you again for this great video have a good one

[@DevOdyssey]

@@PrometheusAndBob Thanks for the additional detail. I'm honestly not sure what you mean when you say you unplugged the modem. From which router did you unplug the modem, and which router is it now plugged into? I imagine it must be plugged into whatever your primary router is since that provides you internet access. As for MIMO being activated on both routers, I havent personally tested that out, but in theory, that is something that you would want on, as MIMO is a technology for improving wireless communications (speed, handling, etc) when you have multiple devices connected to the router, via WiFi. This means it can handle multiple communications for multiple devices, simultaneously, as opposed to "one by one". If they are connected well, it shouldn't really fumble (I imagine they are hardwired), but there are other reasons / or causes that could be leading you to those sporadic issues. You're welcome! Thanks again for watching and coming back. Glad to be of service 😊

[@RockstaR-kz2fj]

Brother, expecting your reply ASAP, i ran into a problem. After connecting my 2nd router with 1st router (1st router's Lan to 2nd router's Lan)(also disabled 2nd router's DHCP) Everything works fine, i can surf the internet But im not able to see devices(clients) connected to 1st router from my 2nd router's interface (bcoz i want control the bandwidth of clients connected to my network) (because 1st router don't have bandwidth control feature, only my 2nd router has it) But 1st router can see list of Devices connected to 2nd router, strange (only 2nd router cant see 1st router's clients) i didn't expect this problem As both routers share the same network, then why cant 2nd router see 1st router's connected clients? Thank you so much in advance. a great tutorial brother. subbed.

[@DevOdyssey]

Thank you very much RockstaR! Thanks for your kind words, and for the sub! I appreciate you explaining the detail in your configurations (and what parts of the video you followed), since that helps me better understand your scenario and provide a good answer. Sounds like you are in a pretty unique situation. However, technically speaking, what you are seeing, is expected (to my understanding). Thats because of disabling DHCP (on the second router). Routers use DHCP not only for "connecting devices to the network" but also for device tracking / identification. Since the 1st router has DHCP Server on, it gets to see any devices that connect to the network, even if devices are connecting through the second router (since eventually they reach the 1st router anyway, and the network deployed by the first router). I wouldn't say that both routers share the same network, as that may sound confusing. Rather the first router, creates / defines the network, and the second routers assists your personal devices in connecting to that network, via expanding WiFi signal, or adding more ethernet ports. In this sense, it acts as an "Access Point" and a "Network switch". Because it's acting that way, it doesn't have visibility you might expect into what devices connect to the network made by the first router. This is really a software limitation of general router software (since devices could be picked up on a layer 2 connection, but thats another topic I won't get into) Anyway, the best way to solve your problem is change up your routers (make the first router the second router (aka access point or network switch), and the second router as the first router)

[@mr.cowwie1016]

i have a question, i’m wondering, if i buy a new router, for ethernet, and plug it into my pc, will the wifi bills rise, or does it increase?

[@DevOdyssey]

Thanks for watching Mr. Cowwie 101. I'm not sure I understand your question, but I'll do my best to answer. If you buy a new router, and plug it in for your PC to use, to get access to the internet (or other devices on the local network), this should not change your "bill" whatsoever, or your "wifi bill". I am not sure how your internet plan is with your ISP, but generally you are not charged by your WiFi, but rather you are charged in a couple ways that I know of. 1. You have a predetermined internet speed that you pay for (such as 100MBps download speed) (could also be for upload speed but thats another topic) 2. You have a predetermined amount of data you can use for the month (such at 25 Gb), before you lose internet access, or the speed is throttled. The first situation is common among Internet Service Providers (ISPs). The second is more common with cellular carriers. Neither of those involve being charged by your WiFi. It doesn't matter if you are using the internet plugged in, or from WiFi, you should be charged the same. Now, you can get charged from your ISP for WiFi setup, because you rent out the equipment for from them, and they set it up for you, but usually this is a flat rate per month. So short answer, is no, this should not change your bill from your ISP.

[@Kingkhan0440]

I have a router that starts with a 10 is that fine?

[@DevOdyssey]

Thanks for watching Kingkhan0440! So that shouldn't really matter. Almost all router should be able to work with this set up. The major differences will be in finding the settings to enable, disable or change. Just so I have a little more clarity, what is the router model that you are using? That way I can look into it a little more.

[@Kingkhan0440]

@@DevOdyssey I have an xfinity xfi router as my primary I’m planning to get a second router so that I can get more coverage but it’s super confusing and I still am confused

[@Kingkhan0440]

@@DevOdyssey what secondary router would you recommend for gaming cause I game A LOT and I need a consistent good connection

[@DevOdyssey]

@@Kingkhan0440 Ah thanks I letting me know. So since you don't have additional hardware (router) yet, you can explore some options. The first option would be to follow this video. You would have to purchase another router, (doesn't have to be expensive, like the R6080 I am using www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-AC1000-Router-Ethernet-R6080/dp/B071J24FNY ). Then, if you keep your Xfinity xfi router as your primary (main) router, you'd end up plugging in this second router (Netgear R6080) into the primary router via an ethernet cable. You'd basically follow the steps starting at 2:23 for configuring the second router, and would configure it as an Access Point (Bridge Mode). There are some limitations in this set up, as it requires the secondary router to be plugged in to the primary router. Ideally you'd want to place this secondary router in a location away from your first router, so you can increase WiFi coverage to different parts of your home. This is where you can use the TP Link Powerline Adapters ( www.amazon.com/TP-Link-AV600-Powerline-Ethernet-Adapter/dp/B00AWRUICG ), where this enables you to get networking over your power lines in your home. This way, you don't have to deal with ethernet cables being stretched across your home, though you will take a hit in network speeds. You could also use MoCa adapter for the same concept, where you send networking over your co axial cables, and that has some benefits too, but it depends on the set up you have. If you'd like to explore this option, let me know. Otherwise, what may be easier is to set up a Mesh WiFi network, where you don't have to deal with running cables, or using those adapters I mentioned before. This is generally an easier process, though it may not be as fast as using a wired connection. However, what this will do is increase your network coverage, and you'll improve reliability of your WiFi in your home. In this set up, you'd basically stop using the WiFi from your xfi router, and the Mesh WiFi system would take care of it for you. Let me know which would be a better scenario for you.

[@Kingkhan0440]

@@DevOdyssey so wait I need both a router and power line adapter just to have my second router have wifi?

[@brayentuyau9189]

I wish to have the same network at my place. I have installed wavlink routers and it has different settings such as Router mode, AC mode, and repeater mode. Now, the only issue is that i get conflict in between my routers. They do not seem to be working on the same network and specially happens when i cast from one place with closer to one router network and when i move it would change and stop. I have configured them in AC mode with both connected to my main service provider (huawei).

[@DevOdyssey]

Thanks for watching Brayen! From my understanding of your network, sounds like you should only need to enable repeater mode on the wavlink routers. This mode should "repeat" the signal that comes from the main router you have, which I assume is huawei. I also assume repeater mode on the wavlink means the wavlink routers would act as wireless repeaters / extenders / wireless bridges. This video in particular focuses on connecting two routers physically using an ethernet cable between the primary and the secondary router, where the secondary router effectively acts as an access point. How did you connect the wavlink routers to the main router (huawei)? Did you connect them with an ethernet cable? If I can get a little more detail on your setup that should help with the troubleshooting. Overall, the problem likely seems due to both of your routers in AC mode are running DHCP servers and their IP address assignments are conflicting (at least thats what I think when I hear conflict), and if this is the the case, you'd need to shut off the DHCP servers on those wavlink routers.

[@brayentuyau9189]

@@DevOdyssey repeater mode is still not fixing the issue. Because it is still considered as two different networks! And also the router is quite far from the main wavlink, so by cabling i can i have internet

[@DevOdyssey]

@@brayentuyau9189 hm, I am not sure then what repeater mode exactly does / shows. Doing a quick search, it seems like that repeater mode for wavlink routers should function as expected, where it connects to an existing WiFi signal, and rebroadcast it. Just to be clear, is this what you are trying to accomplish? Repeater mode should not establish its own new (but same IP range) network, and if so, thats a faulty on the device / firmware. From the sound of it, when you say the router is far from the main wavlink router, it sounds like you are trying to set up repeater mode (or have the wavlink routers act as WiFi extenders), but I am only assuming that based on your statement. If you have and specific error messages you can share, that might be helpful in troubleshooting when searching the internet for why those errors are occurring.

[@mikeythebossgaming6338]

Great video I have a few questions. Say my main router is wifi 5 and my extender router is wifi 6 will it still work? Also if I wire the routers together will it effect speed at all?

[@DevOdyssey]

Thanks for watching Mikey! I appreciate the compliment 😊 Yes this should still work as to my knowledge, WiFi 6 is backwards compatible with WiFi 5. So really the only difference you should hypothetically see is potential difference in speeds based on which router you are connected to at given point in time. Either way it should expand coverage nonetheless, but you'll be limited by WiFi 5 speeds if you happened to be connected to the WiFi 5 router. When connected to the WiFi 6 router, you should in theory be faster (ignoring all other factors).

[@KronosGreek]

I'm trying to use an att BGW210-700 as a secondary router to be connected to my cox gigablast router, dunno the model number. But I'm having an issue getting to do anything bride wise. Know how to do this? I keep getting caught on the cox router side of things

[@DevOdyssey]

Thanks for watching @Kronos Greek. So I am not familiar with that router, but doing a quick google search, looks like it uses a broadband connection, as opposed to a WAN connection. Since you are using this as a secondary router, as a bridge, that shouldn't matter. The important part here is if you can access the admin interface, and shut off the DHCP Server. If you can do that, then you can have it act as a bridge, since your Cox Gigablast router acts as your DHCP Server. You shouldn't have to do anything with the Cox Gigblast router. Then once you shut of the DHCP Server on your BGW210-700, all you'll need to do is set up the WiFi to have the same name and security setting as the Cox Gigablast router (assuming that emits WiFi) and then you should be good to go.

[@KronosGreek]

@@DevOdyssey ill let you know how it goes, thank you

[@DevOdyssey]

@Kronos Greek Definitely let me know! Once you do the above, and you connect the routers together using a Ethernet cable, it should work as expected. To get an idea of what you’re looking for, check of the part 13:26 of the video.

[@KronosGreek]

@@DevOdyssey is there an email address I can send images to you with? To show you what I have as my settings for the secondary router? I'm still having issues with this working

[@DevOdyssey]

@Kronos Greek If you check my channel's "About" page, you can find my email there.

[@musicfan3594]

Can you do a video where DHCP is turned on on both devices?

[@DevOdyssey]

Thanks for watching Harex! For a set up like this, its actually even easier. Basically all you'd do is skip the part of turning off DHCP on the second router (skip this 13:00 ), and all you'd do differently here is change the IP Address, Range, and Maximum Number of Devices (depending on how the settings look in your secondary router). Then, you'd plug in the primary router, to the secondary router, using an ethernet cable, and plug into the WAN port of the secondary router, from a LAN port on the primary router. And thats all there is to it. Is there a specific reason why you'd like DHCP on for both routers? In this case, you'd be setting up two different networks, which does have its benefits (like for an IoT network), but just curious to know why and see if there's other helpful information I can provide around your use case.

[@musicfan3594]

Also thank you for replying to me. You got a subscribe from me.

[@DevOdyssey]

@@musicfan3594 You're welcome! I really do appreciate it, and I try to help our everyone I can 😊. I'm not sure if you had another comment / question here, but if you did, it doesn't look like its available anymore. Let me know if you have another comment or question and I'll share my thoughts. Otherwise, I'm happy to have you as a subscriber!

[@zyghom]

when you set up both wifi networks with the same SSID the clients don't check for the signal strength - rather "FIFO" mode - so I don't think this is good for any kind of "extend my wifi coverage" - the client can still be hooked to the weaker signal although both routers provide coverage. That is my thinking however I might be wront

[@DevOdyssey]

Thanks for watching Zygfryd! From my understanding fast roaming, or 802.11r, should allow the clients to migrate seamlessly between the two access points. Given they have the same WiFi name and password, it should simplify the process, though technically speaking, I don't think it's necessary for the "WiFi Names'" (SSIDs) to be the same, though they're connected be on the same network. Below is a pretty good quick description of 802.11r. www.networkcomputing.com/wireless-infrastructure/wifi-fast-roaming-simplified Now what criteria makes a client migrate from different access points is another topic. My understanding is if a client disconnects from an access point due to range, or if a connection is weak due to range, but I'm not sure exactly what is considered "weak" before an a client chooses to migrate to another access point. I haven't extensively tested this, or let alone tested this with logging to see exactly how the behavior occurs for fast roaming, and that is logging on both APs, and logging on the client as well. That would be a considerable effort to prove fast roaming is going on. The protocol has been around for quite some time so I'd believe most access points and clients made at least within the last 5 years would support this protocol. However, in verifying if it actually works this way through observed behavior, I can't speak to that, but rather this is how I understand how fast roaming works, and hence the reason for more than one access point for deployments that make sense (such as large spaces, horizontal or vertical). Guess there really is only one way to find out 😊

[@CourteousOutlaw]

This is old af but I tried this and can’t get DHCP giving ips on the secondary router

[@DevOdyssey]

Thanks for watching @CourteousOutlaw! While it's old, the concepts remain the same, though its easier to use mesh networking at this point for similar performance. Anyway, thats strange. Does the second router get an IP address after you plug it in to the first one? If so, then its an example of DHCP working (assuming you are using Bridge Mode, and set the static IP on the DHCP Server on the primary router). Are you using bridge mode / access point mode or not? And just to ask, how are you testing this? It's possible that your testing doesn't match the right expectations.

[@mazterz631]

Hello sir, thank you for this. But i would like to ask a question. How about wireless bridge? Will it work? Because i have a lot of accesspoints. I have CF EW75 comfast which have a bridgemode wireless. Thank you sir

[@DevOdyssey]

Hi @Raymond Jay Berin, thanks for watching! Just so I understand, by wireless bridge, a wired bridge that emits a wifi signal, or a wireless access point? If so, then yes, this will definitely work, assuming the software on your secondary router can support it. If the secondary router is CF EW75 and has this bridgemode wireless, then I don't see how you'll have any trouble. All you'll need to do is connect this CF EW75 router to your main router with an ethernet cable, and then you can use it as a wireless bridge. Now, by wireless bridge, if you mean that the bridge / access points connect to each other wirelessly, (like tri band mesh routers), then no this will not work. This type of technology is typically found in mesh routers, and the routers I use as an example do not support a wireless mesh. However, if you have wireless mesh routers / nodes, and you can plug them in with an ethernet cable, then I'd highly recommend doing that, as it will improve your wireless network speeds.

[@TheNpcNoob]

Way longer then it needs to be, but great video

[@DevOdyssey]

Thanks for watching @TPXP RFT It certainly is a long video, which is probably because I addressed both use cases, with bridge mode / AP mode, and without it. That way anyone can use any router they have to do with regardless if AP mode exists on their router. I appreciate the compliment! 😊

[@TheNpcNoob]

@@DevOdyssey Agreed, video is informative and perfect for the someone who isn’t technically inclined. I do like the way you spoke, nice and calm. In future videos if you would show the plugging in of cables etc, I’d think it’ll be helpful to the viewers.

[@DevOdyssey]

@TRXP RFT I’m glad you noticed that 😊 as I was focusing on non technical explanations so anyone could set up a second router on their network. I had to do a number of takes time make sure my voice, and words, came out in a slow, calm and understandable manner haha. It takes a patience to not get frustrated, so I do appreciate the compliment. I agree, that’s something I considered when making this video, but personally struggled with getting the right camera angles to show it effectively, so I decided to heavily rely on explanation and labeling of LAN and WAN ports, and describing the process of plugging in and unplugging Ethernet cables. However, showing the plugging / unplugging on camera would’ve been the cherry on top. As I’ve made a few more videos after this one, I’ve really focused on creating quality videos with clear demonstrations in my process. That being said, I’m looking to add that type of B Roll of physical actions into my future videos to make things more clear and increase production value. It does help that I got another camera and tripod. Thanks again and I hope my future videos are just as helpful!

[@TheNpcNoob]

@@DevOdyssey no problem, i can understand how hard it is to make sure you get the perfect angle, might I suggest an eagle eye view? You could show the cable and the corresponding port and then a close up from behind of the device and the cable being inserted into the port in question. I would also love it if you could cover some raspberry pi videos? I’m not sure if you have already but I believe with your style of presentation it could be really helpful for those who are trying to learn and do certain projects where not a lot of documentation/tutorials are available. Maybe even some videos on how to repurpose old tech into useful items, a smart mirror perhaps.

[@DevOdyssey]

@TRXP RFT Definitely, its become a labor of love. Thats a great suggestion! I have thought about that, but haven't got around to it. I'll have to find a good camera mount for an eagle eye view. Eagle eye view would be perfect for showing corresponding ports I'm using on the router. Funny you say that, I've really been exploring more Raspberry Pi projects. One I'm interesting in right now is creating a Raspberry Pi home router using OpenWrt. I've found a couple ways I could put it together, however, none of them include wireless (WiFi) that well, (the regular WiFi chip on the Raspberry Pi 4 isn't strong enough). I am actually awaiting a project from Jeff Gerling (if you're interested in Raspberry Pi projects, I suggest following him here: kzbin.info) with Gigabit network speeds and WiFi 6 using a Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4. So once thats complete I may do my own complimentary router video. The suggestion is well taken, along with the compliment of my style of presentation and the projects that would work well with it. I'm definitely about repurposing old tech, and creating value where others see "trash". Thats the premise behind the router videos I've been making. I've also wanted to explore a smart mirror and think that would be really cool. Maybe in the future. Nonetheless, while I still plan to focus on software applications and tutorials around the set up of that, getting more into the physical aspect will get increasingly important as the channel grows and as I get into different projects and applications where software meets hardware. Thanks for the great talking points and conversations. Your interest is certainly motivating. You'll be sure to see some of those improvements in my videos over time 😊

[@peternoveron7460]

Does it need to be connected to the internet?

[@DevOdyssey]

Thanks for watching Peter! The second router does not need to be directly connected to the internet. You'd just want the first router to be directly connected to the internet (for obvious reasons), and the second connects to the first to expand the ways you can connect to the network (larger WiFi coverage and more ethernet ports). But from the second router, you would be able to get internet, along with anything else connected to the second router.

[@jimmycrackcorn1783]

Helpful bro

[@DevOdyssey]

Thanks JJ! I appreciate that. Hope all is well with you!

[@ephantusmwangi192]

i like it need to know more

[@DevOdyssey]

Hi @Ephantus Mwangi, Thanks for watching! 😊 What more would you like to learn?

[@ephantusmwangi192]

@@DevOdyssey i hava a router but in some rooms its not accessible can i buy a second router and us the same network without buying another sim card

[@DevOdyssey]

Hi @Ephantus Mwangi, So you can do a couple of things. If you don't want to replace your existing router, you can buy a second router to connect to the first router using an ethernet cable. Then you can bridge these routers together so they are on the same network. If you follow along in this video, you should be able to achieve what you're looking to do. This would not require any need for a SIM card. Another option is to buy a mesh WiFi router with 2 nodes. This option will be easier, but might cost more since you'd have to buy a new router, and a WiFi node. Though, this will be more convenient as you won't have to connect the two nodes together using an ethernet cable, they will connect to each other wirelessly.

[@jothain]

Thanks for the vid. I did pretty much identical but was having huge struggles. I set the IP on new router, but I did dumbass thing and forgot to set it static in old router, which acts as DHCP server. Everything began to work immediately when I binded new device MAC-address to old router and set that same static IP there.

[@DevOdyssey]

You're welcome jothain! Thanks for watching 😊 I'm glad you were able to get past your struggles! I've found through my experience in networking, time and time again, that the small things get you, and you spend hours trying to figure out whats wrong, and eventually you figure it out. Then you feel stupid after spending all that time for one very tiny detail. 😅 If anything, you learned (the hard way) to check DHCP any time you you make changes. Even then, there is always something that escapes you. Just means you're learning new things 😊

[@jothain]

@@DevOdyssey I fully agree 🙂 Hours of struggling is nerve recking, but gotta try to keep in mind, that I'll likely remember to check this thing out when I encounter problems next time. It's just unfortunate that learning many times feel like a battle 😅

[@DevOdyssey]

@jothain well spoken I just say! Learning is definitely a battle. It does feels unfortunate that learning is this way when you’re “going through battle”, but once you are done, and you’ve fought and won the battle, the glory is all yours to take. And that is a great feeling coming out from the the other side of it, armed with new knowledge 😊 Thanks for the inspirational thought, that led me to this comparison! It’s something I’ll keep in mind with what I’m learning next!

[@indnlvgirl]

Great video!! I have a question I hope you or anyone could help me with. I have a Casita in my backyard that is about 100 ft. Away from from my router. The wifi is very unstable over there. What is the best possible solution to get a stronger signal in the Casita? Would a 2nd router help?

[@DevOdyssey]

@Kate Walker Thanks for watching! At that distance, it’s certainly difficult to get a good WiFi signal. So if you really want the best possible solution, you could do what someone I know did. They bought a long Ethernet cable, connected it to the router, buried it, and then connected it to a mesh access point in their casita. That would honestly be the best solution, because you’re using a wired connection, and then the mesh access point is providing WiFi coverage there. Now you don’t have to use a mesh access point, you could use a second router like in this video setup. But nonetheless your best possible solution is to get a wired connection out there. Anything else that’s available might be a little more complicated than it’s worth. You could try using a mesh WiFi system as well, but 100 feet between two mesh access points is still kinda far, and likely won’t resolve in a better connection out there. Let me know what you think!

[@indnlvgirl]

@@DevOdyssey Thank you! This helped me so much!

[@DevOdyssey]

@Kate Walker You're welcome! 😊 Glad I can help. Let me know what you decide to do and if there's any other advice I have, I'll be glad to share it.

[@DevOdyssey]

@@indnlvgirl If you're still exploring other solutions, you can use a wireless Point to Point Bridge. That is one of the more complicated setups, but, I did find this article on my feed that seems to do a decent job of showing how to set this up, including good enough equipment that should yield you decent speeds in your Casita. arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/08/point-to-point-wi-fi-bridging-between-buildings-the-cheap-and-easy-way/?amp=1 This would be a bit easier than burying an ethernet cable, if you decided not to go that route. Best of luck!

[@BSSR1REF]

plenty of info, however weeding out the details is like keeping ahead of dandelions

[@DevOdyssey]

Thanks for watching @Bert Sheppard! An interesting analogy. In all transparency, I did my best to parse the video out to easily go to the appropriate section anyone needs to configure their router accordingly, and to use the outline in the description as a guide. This could be split into maybe 2 videos, but that adds another step for anyone configuring their router from start to finish. There is no perfect solution, but I’m open to suggestions for making the details easier to consume and sort out in future videos. Thanks for the feedback! 😊

[@mr.r1178]

Now my xbox won't connect to the dns server of the second router

[@DevOdyssey]

Hi YourGrandma, thanks for watching! I'm sorry to hear your issue. If the second router is set up correctly, the traffic should pass through it, just like it does for a switch or access point, and hit the DNS server on the primary router (which forwards DNS requests anyway to your ISP or specific DNS server). So really, I wouldn't expect your xbox to hit the DNS server of the second router, but rather the primary router thats connected directly to the internet, and should still be enabling internet access for all your devices.

[@mr.r1178]

@@DevOdyssey I found out the reason why my xbox didn't hook up to the dns servers, it was due to me not changing the third number of the secondary router, the only problem I have now is that my extra ethernet ports don't work on my secondary router and my phone doesn't switch between internets, it connects to my primary router without internet

[@DevOdyssey]

@@mr.r1178 I'm not sure what you mean by "third number of the secondary router" but I'm glad that you got it to work. The secondary router should act as an access point and as a switch, so to hear the other ethernets ports not working is surprising to me. When you say your phone doesn't switch between internets, do you mean it doesn't switch between WiFi connections? It should roam between the networks of which is the stronger connection, but that also depends on the wireless capabilities of the phone itself. If following this setup, the primary router should have internet, so I'm not exactly sure the setup you have implemented.

[@mr.r1178]

@@DevOdyssey oh when I said 3rd number I mean 3rd octet 😂, now the thing about the phones is that when someone gets close enough to the secondary router it causes them to connect sometimes (which this router is upstairs) and when they do they can't connect back to the downstairs router which has a stronger connection, it just says that the phone is connected without internet and when I try to use the ethernet ports it says that (whatever I've plugged the ethernet cable into) it is connected without internet..

[@DevOdyssey]

@@mr.r1178 Ohh okay I gotcha, thanks for clearing that up! For the WiFi side of it, sounds like it isn't roaming properly. This is not always the easier to accomplish, since there are a few factors that need to be taken into account, such as hardware support. At worst, if the phone has connected to both routers at least once, shutting off the WiFi on the phone, and turning it back on, should force the phone to connect to the stronger signal, which I'd imagine would be the "downstairs router". Not the most elegant solution but it should work. As for when it connects (over WiFi or ethernet ports) and says you do not have internet, thats a should not happen. I have an idea of what may be going on. Usually, you see that message when your device fails to get assigned an IP address, or self assigns a non routable IP address. Then the "friendly" way these devices tell you of a problem is by saying "no internet access". Kind of misleading, and not direct. Nonetheless, I suspect that DHCP from the primary router, is not making it to the secondary router, to pass along to your devices. Can you verify if your devices are getting assigned IP addresses? If not, can you log in to your secondary router and make sure DHCP Server is off? (We want that off because we only need one DHCP server, and that is on the primary router). Lastly, can you check if the IP Network ranges are the same? the first three octets need to be the same to indicate its on the same class C network, along with the same subnet mask. Lastly, if you do have an IP address, you can try to ping the primary router, when connected to the secondary router, to make sure they are connected. If so, then thats one less problem. Sounds like a configuration issue, and hopefully it's one of these scenarios above.

[@ganeryhyperion8386]

four 100 megabit and one wan 100 megabit ...... seem like that is old old old old spec, when i look up the model of that router it was capable of 1000 mega bit or 1 gigabit on all ports that AC1000 netrear router

[@DevOdyssey]

Thanks for watching Ganery Hyperion! So this router does seem like an older spec'd version of theirs that I happened to pick up at Best Buy for this testing purposes (initially for OpenWrt setup actually). I'm not sure the model that you are referring to, but when I looking the product documentation, I found that all the ethernet ports were 10/100 Mbps, as documented here, on page 5, under Standards. www.netgear.com/images/datasheet/networking/wifirouter/R6080.pdf Now the cumulative WiFi speeds are 1000 Mbps (also why its called AC 1000, AC being the wireless standard 802.1ac, or WiFi 5), but thats WiFi speeds, and not the ethernet ports. The 1000 Mbps comes from the additive of the 2.4 Ghz and 5 Ghz bands it emits (300 Mbps + 700 Mbps, as seen in the pdf above). You won't see these speeds realistically, but it's based on the theoretical speeds of those bands. Internal network traffic would be faster (over WiFi, assuming best case scenario), but not internet traffic, since that is capped by that 100 Mbps limit on the WAN port. Hope this information clears things up!

[@walkaway6212]

Most wifi and modems are one unit no and no way to remove the primary wifi so you can connect only the old wifi. if you have a wifi and modem together. This is usless to you.

[@DevOdyssey]

Thanks for watching walkaway! There are plenty of routers or "home networking devices" that come as a combined modem and router. However, I'd say most come with WiFi and the ability to turn off the WiFi. That would be very poor design if this was the majority of cases and those devices should not be used. With a modem router device, this video can still be useful for those who have a secondary router, and want to rebroadcast their WiFi with a second router. A modem / router combo device wouldn't make the steps in this video not work, unless there were manufacturer software limitations. Otherwise that is very unlikely the case, and this can be done the same way as a traditional separate modem and separate router network setup.

[@suman.jr.1669]

Wasted my time ,not connecting them wireless.

[@DevOdyssey]

Hi @Murat Sumanji, I’m sorry to hear you're experiencing difficulties. In this video I connect two routers using a wired connection (Ethernet) so that they can share the broadcast the same network, and increase WiFi coverage. I’m not sure where you’re experiencing trouble, if it’s connecting the routers or connecting your wireless devices to the network after connecting the routers, but if you can share with me the issue you’re experiencing, I can try to help.

[@ChristianIstKeinCO2Schwurbler]

I would like to use a router (for example a Linksys WRT54GL with dd-wrt) as a repeater for two or more different wlan modems (SSIDs) using their own internet connection. Is that possible? Let me explain the situation: We have several teams in our warehouse. Each team uses its own lte modem for mobile internet access. Of course they have different SSIDs. Unfortunately we don't have a good bandwidth while using the lte modems inside the warehouse. So the idea was to install the router on a higher position at the inner side of the wall. Every work mate should be able to connect his own notebook then to the team's mobile modem (which is located outside in the service car) via the router (that is mounted at the wall inside the building). Is there a possibility to resolve this problem with dd-wrt or another router firmware/software? Or do I need another hardware solution in general? Any help would be appreciated very much. Kind regards from Germany Christian

[@DevOdyssey]

Hi Christian, Thanks for watching and greetings from the US! I appreciate you explaining your situation well but I have a little bit of confusion. So as of now, each team has their own LTE modem for internet, and it also emits a WiFi signal with its own name (SSID). Now as for your goal, is it to connect another router as a repeater to the LTE modem? If so, then yes you can use any router to this based on the instructions in the video (with DDWRT or other router firmware, though it may be easier to manage with DDWRT and other non stock firmware). As for placing the router (repeater) high in the building, that should help with coverage. In addition, you can add more repeaters to get optimal coverage. However, these will all need to be connected together with ethernet cables, unless you use a mesh router. Now, if you want to use multiple LTE modems with multiple routers as repeaters, that is fine as well. However, if you have two (or more) LTE modems, and you want to connect a repeater that connects to both of the LTE modems, you can't do that with this kind of setup. Thats because each of the LTE modems will create their own network, and the repeaters won't be able to connect between the two different networks, according to the instructions in this video. But, to mention again, if you have separate LTE modems with separate repeaters, that will work fine. Hopefully this helps you you. If I misunderstood your question, let me know. Best, Orest

[@ChristianIstKeinCO2Schwurbler]

@@DevOdyssey Hi Orest, thanks for your fast response. The main thing is: we do have that poor net/cell phone coverage in the warehouse building, so we usually leave the LTE modems in our service cars in order to get a minimum coverage nearby the parking area of the cars. And the idea was to use my old router (Linksys WRT54GR) as a quick an unexpesive workaround. Let me give you a further explanation: my team colleague an I we use our own LTE modem for example SSID "ServiceCar1" and we would like to connect to this via the Linksys router from inside. And so should the other team be able to do, connecting to their own LTE modem (let's say SSID "ServiceCar2") via the one and only (Linksys) router inside the building. It's not urgently necessary for both teams at the same time to connect strictly to their own LTE modems. When both teams occasionally come together in the warehouse it is also possible for Team A to use the LTE internet connection of Team B and vice versa as all four workers know the wlan passwords of both LTE modems. When I first logged in into the dd-wrt configuration interface I was literally overstrained of the huge amount of possibilities to setup the router. So I'm still wondering if I can use one of the dd-wrt working modes to manage the described situation. Anyway, I have to learn the detailed differences between ap, router, bridge and repeater. Until now I only used routers for my own simple home network connecting some computers and a network printer. 😇 Greetings, Christian

[@DevOdyssey]

@Christian Skywatcher, you're welcome! Thanks for providing more context to your use case. To address the first two paragraphs, you cannot connect LTE Modem 1 (with SSID of ServiceCar1) and LTE Modem 2 (with SSID of ServiceCar2) to the same router (Linksys WRT54GR). This is because both will set up their own different networks. If you want to utilize the second LTE Modem, I would recommend getting another router and setting it up with the second LTE Modem (with SSID of ServiceCar2). However, since its not an urgent necessity, you can just utilize the first LTE modem for your needs. Yes DDWRT has plenty of configuration and customization options, it can be strenuous to look at. You can use the DDWRT as an access point for your LTE Modem 1 network (and not LTE Modem 2 at the same time). The instructions in this video should apply in the same way as if it were stock router firmware. This article may help you out with configuration, from DDWRT Wiki: wiki.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Wireless_access_point As you do more research into networking, you start to learn the differences with AP, router, bridge, repeater etc. A home router setup is usually easier than the one you'd set up at a warehouse 😊. But once you learn this, it sticks with you. Let me know if you have any other questions. Best, Orest

[@ChristianIstKeinCO2Schwurbler]

​@@DevOdyssey Thank you very much for your help, Orest. So I will try to configure at least one router for our own LTE modem first. And if it works for me I can suggest my colleages from the other service car to to the same for their network. 😉 Indeed I still have a lot of question marks in my head concerning the differences between the router modes. But I don't want to steal your time. So I'll take a look at your router/network videos and explanations from other sources first. Kind regards, Christian

[@DevOdyssey]

@Christian Skywatcher you're welcome! 😊 Sounds like a good plan to me. It is a lot to understand what everything that a router does, and don't worry you aren't stealing my time. I'm glad to help. I do my best to explain in the videos but sometimes it takes some repetition to understand. For your scenario, all you really need to understand is that a router creates a network for you, and is done by the protocol DHCP, where the router manages IP addresses. Since your LTE Modem also has DHCP enabled on it, it creates its own network. So the problem is you don't want them both running DHCP, when you want the devices on the same network. Shutting off DHCP on the Linksys Router allows the router (and any devices you connect to it) to be on the same network. And when you set the static IP address information correctly, and the Wifi Name and password, it then can act like an access point for you (and just to be clear, and access point is as it sounds, it provides you access to a network, generally over WiFi). I hope this explanations clears it up for you! Best, Orest