Router as repeater

[lordbaal]

Here's my setup. A PC downstairs, hard wired to a wifi modem/router.
I got a new PC for upstairs.
The main router is a actiontech m1424wr rev 1.
The usb adaptor for the PC upstairs is a netgear n150 wna1100.

A Netgear n150 wnr1000 is going to be the repeater.
Instead of running 50 feet of cable, I decided to do it wireless.

The new PC is getting 65Mbps. My tablet, when I use it upstairs. I get anywhere between 5-65 Mbps. When I use the tablet downstairs, I get 65Mbps.

For me 65Mbps is good enough for HD video on the desktop. I don't notice any difference from the PC downstairs, which is getting 100Mbps.

But on the tablet, I get lots of signal dropping when I'm upstairs. But not downstairs.

Why is the tablet getting a weaker signal then the PC?

If I do decide to run wire. I just plug it form the lan on the main router, and plug that into the lan or wan on the repeater?
Then from the repeater I'll just use a cable from the lan, to my PC. Then
Do I just replicate the ssid and wpa from the main router, to the repeater?

In case anything happens, I want to switch seemlessly beteween them.

I'm with Verizon fios. Fios faq, and support is crap. The only thing they talk about how to extend the network, is with MOCA.
But I don't want to do that. According to them, I would lose ondemand, and the channel guide.

 

[QuietDad]

I have a FIOS Actiontech downstairs with a PC hardwired into it. Upstairs I had a wireless laptop and desktop and it was "ok" but slow. I needed to get 2 more desktops running upstairs and didn't want to spend money on wireless network adaptors. I took an old Linksys WRT54G wireless router I had, upgraded the bios with DD-WRT (from http://www.dd-wrt.com/ ) and made a wireless bridge between the routers. By making the SSIDs and WPA2 keys the same on both routers the same, laptops and phones easily jump to the closest router and I now have 4 desktops upstairs hooked into the Linksys via their ethernet ports. Speeds on my original desktop went from 7-10mbs to 15-20 with this.

 

[lordbaal]

I have a FIOS Actiontech downstairs with a PC hardwired into it. Upstairs I had a wireless laptop and desktop and it was "ok" but slow. I needed to get 2 more desktops running upstairs and didn't want to spend money on wireless network adaptors. I took an old Linksys WRT54G wireless router I had, upgraded the bios with DD-WRT (from http://www.dd-wrt.com/ ) and made a wireless bridge between the routers. By making the SSIDs and WPA2 keys the same on both routers the same, laptops and phones easily jump to the closest router and I now have 4 desktops upstairs hooked into the Linksys via their ethernet ports. Speeds on my original desktop went from 7-10mbs to 15-20 with this.

The Netgear is and old one. I bought it 2 months ag, when I had Comcast. But fios give a modem/wifi router in one.

I don't need to put on ddwrt. This router already have a repeater function built in.
I know I have to make the SSID, and WPA2 the same on both.
But I need step by step directions.

Or maybe I have to do a hard reset on it. I had the netgear unplugged for the last couple weeks. That still has the old settings. So it switched itself to a 10.0.0.1 It used to be 192.168.1.1
Even if I change the Ip on the netgear, it says IP address conflicts with the WAN IP subnet.
I don't know what that means.
I have 2 computers, a tablet, and 5 fios boxes.
I put the IP of 192.168.1.200 I can use .1-.254 And nothing above .106 is assigned.

 

[QuietDad]

On the netgear, you also want to disable DNS or things get really confused. I have it set up here that the FIOS modem is pretty much default and the linksys set as a bridge with DHCP turend off. I have EACH PC set up for static IP addresses so I can keep track easier with everything. Each PC also points to the FIOS modem as the gateway. It's really not that difficult.

 

[lordbaal]

I know that. The netgear, I won't even configure that. I just leave that blank.
The thing I don't understand is, I keep getting a message IP address conflicts with the WAN IP subnet.
I don't know what that means.
I put the netgear in 192.168.1.150 Nothing else is using that IP.
I keep it on the same subnet of 255.255.255.0

 

[QuietDad]

Make sure the Netgear has DNS turned off and points to the Actiontech as the DNS router and gateway. What model is the Netgear?

 

[lordbaal]

It's a Netgear n150 wnr1000 . I know how to do what yo're saying.
But my problem, no matter what I do, the netgear keep saying, IP address conflicts with the WAN IP subnet.

 

[QuietDad]

Where is the confict message appearing? On the PC(s)? On the configuration screen of the router? Im not sure how you have it set up. If I remember, the WMN100 bios doesn;t haave wireless bridging. Take a look at http://vpncasestudy.com/download/usefuldoc/how_to_access_point.pdf and see if that halps.

 

[lordbaal]

I get that message on the router, when I click apply.

 

[QuietDad]

I'm assuming you are hard wired into the routers as you configure them. Changing the IP address while connected wirelessly may cause problem you don't need. Where the routers here, I would:
1: DISCONNECT EVERYTHING from the network.
2: Reset the Actiontec and Netgear to defaults.
3: PLUG a laptop or PC into the netgear and enter the Configuration screen (Should be 192.168.1.1 as a default.)
3:a Turn off DHCP on the netgear
3:b Set the netgear IP address to 192.168.1.100
3:c set the gateway address on the netgear to the IP address of the Actiontec (should be 192.168.1.1)
4: Turn on the Actiontech
5: Connect the Netgear to the Actiontech


YOu now have both routers with IP addresses and there should be no conflicts. Now start connection everything making sure everything is on the same subnet AND they all point to 192.168.1.1 as the gateway regardless off which router they are actually connected to.

 

[lordbaal]

I'm assuming you are hard wired into the routers as you configure them. Changing the IP address while connected wirelessly may cause problem you don't need. Where the routers here, I would:
1: DISCONNECT EVERYTHING from the network.
2: Reset the Actiontec and Netgear to defaults.
3: PLUG a laptop or PC into the netgear and enter the Configuration screen (Should be 192.168.1.1 as a default.)
3:a Turn off DHCP on the netgear
3:b Set the netgear IP address to 192.168.1.100
3:c set the gateway address on the netgear to the IP address of the Actiontec (should be 192.168.1.1)
4: Turn on the Actiontech
5: Connect the Netgear to the Actiontech


YOu now have both routers with IP addresses and there should be no conflicts. Now start connection everything making sure everything is on the same subnet AND they all point to 192.168.1.1 as the gateway regardless off which router they are actually connected to.

I did exactly that, it did not work. And now, I cant even log into the netgear.
They should make a damn easier.

The router actiontech ip is 192.168.1.1
I changed the netgear to 192.168.1.50
I turn off DHCP.
In order to set the gateway. I had to use a static ip. So I used 192.168.1.50, that would be the netgear new ip anyway.
Then I had to set the subnet. So I did 255.255.255.0, the same as the router.
Then I did the gateway. The same as the actiontech 192.168.1.1
Then I had to manually tut in the DNS settings. It wouldn't automatically get it.

Why can't they make it easier to do. These companies know that people have wifi, and they want to do the same thing.

Also, being that you can't use wpa. I couldn't even use wep(I know it's insecure), but the netgear doesn't give you an option. It's either wpa, wpa2, or none.
So why did they make it where anyone can use my wifi?

 

[QuietDad]

I have no idea what your trying to do. There is no static IP on a router. If your setting your laptop/PC to the same IP address as your router, there's your conflict right there. Make the computer static at 193.168.1.51. Hardwire the PC to the Netgear and I bet you you get a whole lot further.

 

[lordbaal]

This isn't mine, it's someone else's that I've found.

So in order to set the gateway, I had to use a static IP.

 

[QuietDad]

Use a static IP of 192.168.1.50 under internet address. Subnet would be 255.255.255.0 and gateway address of 192.168.1.1 ip of Actiontec router. Under the DNS server section point that at your actiontec, too (192.168.1.1). I still don't see how the netgear is connecting to the Actiontec, but I'm assuming that's under control.

 

[QuietDad]

Oh wait. I'm so confused. The internet address is NOT the netgear address. It's where to find the internet. Enter 192.168.1.1 there.

 

[lordbaal]

It's still halfway not working.
I have two different ssid. I just did it like that, so I can easily see if it's on the network and working. It is on the network.
I can connect to it. My desktop is getting 150, it just won't get internet.
I put the internet as the netgear's IP.

I had it with this thing today. I'll try it tomorrow.

But, wpa can't be used on the netgear? right. Only on the actiontech?
So that would mean the netgear would be insecured then. Then my whole network will then be insecured.

 

[lordbaal]

That does not work.
Everything I've read, nothing works.

 

[QuietDad]

I think I now know why. How is the Netgear attached to the actiontec? Your netgear router does not have a BIOS that supports wireless bridging. Setting the Netgear to point at the Actiontec is just the beginning. If you take everything you've tried and run an ethernet cable from a port on the Actiontec to the INTERNET port on the Netgear it will work. There is NO WAY to connect those two routers wirelessly without modding one of the BIOSs.

 

[lordbaal]

I don't know why it won't work.
I'm just going to run a cable from downstairs to upstairs. Yesterday I was downloading about 50 videos, 26GB total. It toke almost 3 hours.

So then, the only settings I would have to change it the netgear ip, and turn off dns on the netgear. And just use the same SSID's.
Or do I have to do something else?


Since last week, in the actiontech, I've disabled the WMM Pover save.
But I kept the Wireless QoS (WMM) enabled. And my tablet haven't lost connection.

What is WMM power save?
I don't need to save power. It's not like I'm saving a dollar or more a day.
The router probably only costs like a couple dollars a month to run.
I know what it's is, but they say it improves battery life by 15-40%. Is that really true?

 

[QuietDad]

Set your Netgear as in post #14. Wire out of an Actiontec port into the Internet/Wide Area Network (WAN) Ethernet port on the Netgear and you should be good to go. Set it up with the routers next to each other before you pull the cord upstairs to make sure it works before you waste a day pulling the cord.

In checking with dd-wrt, the netgear is not yet supported so thats not an option, but I'd keep an eye open just because.

WMM Powersave is a wireless feature on newer routers connecting to newer devices that run on batteries that only turns on the phone/tablet/laptop when a packet is actually being sent. Doesn't affect anything on or off. It MAY increase battery life on certain devices. The jury is still out.

 

[lordbaal]

I don't think 40%. I haven't noticed a difference on my tablet, in terms of battery life.
I know those are the "ideal" conditions, in a test lab. Not under particle conditions in the real world.

They probably tested it in a lab, with screens on low.
Only just probably playing a video. Not switching apps.
Basically, not doing what normal people would do.

Does the Wireless QoS (WMM), does that really work, the way they say it does?

 

[jon4t2]

I found this thread via Google while working out how to configure a Netgear WNR1000v3 router to serve as a wireless access point (WAP). While my WNR1000v3 (V1.0.2.62_60.0.87) can be configured as a wireless repeater, I won't try to solve lordbaal's problem. I'll just describe my problem and how I solved it, in the hope that it will help others.

I encountered the error message "IP address conflicts with the WAN IP subnet" while I was trying to set a static IP address for the router's LAN ports. It was generated by the router because I had already set a static IP address for the WAN port, and both IP addresses belonged to the same subnet. This, of course, is a no-no.

Once I realized what the problem was, I reconfigured the WAN port to automatically obtain an IP address from a DHCP server. This fix works in this case because the router, serving as a WAP, is connected to the wired network by one of its LAN ports. The WAN port is not used, no IP address is obtained, and no conflict occurs.

I'm using my WNR1000v3 as a WAP on an IPCop Blue subnet. Other than turning off the router's LAN DHCP service, no other changes were made to the router.