From the article: Can Two Routers Be Used on the Same Home Network?
Using two routers on a home network can be a good idea for a few reasons including increased security and performance. Some people may need a second router if their first one doesn't support a certain type of connection or home gadget. Some may even like to keep a second router on their network as a fallback option in case one router fails. What's your story? Share Your Reason
Wi-Fi doesn't reach the whole house
- I have spent today trying to persuade my old D-Link 2740B router to work on the same network as my newer Thomson router, provided by Zen, my Internet provider. Reading the posts already on this site I can see I have opened a can of worms. [I am wanting to] alter the third digit on one of the modems, as this sounds like something I could try.
- —Guest Sheila
Two different IP settings for 2 routers
- Philip mcmullin wrote "I found it easier to change my first modem to 192.168.2.1 and the second in line stayed default 192.168.1.1" I had been using that arrangement for about a year, but, just as Scott pointed out, I had problems connecting directly between two computers on the two different subnets. Either use his method, which I recommend, or change your subnet for all the computers to include both groups of addresses. For example, you could change all the subnet masks from the usual 255.255.255.0 to 255.255.252.0, so as to include 192.168.1.x as well as 192.168.2.x. If that sounds crazy, you can think of each part of the IP address in binary. 255.255.255.0 = 11111111111111111111111100000000, while 255.255.252.0 = 11111111111111111111110000000000. Computers set to a given submask will see the whole range of addresses "masked out" by the zero bits as local... .
- —ralphdratman
Crucial setup information (a thank you)
- The following sentence taught me something I have been trying to learn for YEARS. "You can buy a second router and set it up as an access point by disabling DHCP and using 1 of the 4 network ports. Do not use the WAN port as this will not work. " That is a trick I had never figured out or heard of. Thank you so much for including it!
- —Guest Ralph Dratman
For a faster home network
- My ISP only connects to the Internet if I use their router with 100base ports and Wifi (which I turned off). I already have a 1000base+Wifi non-WAN router that I wish to keep for all of my home connections. I would like the ISP's router to be nothing more than a bridge. Turning off DHCP also prevents using spare ISP router ports without manually setting IPs. I am unsure if setting up a subnet would always allow all home devices to get to the Internet - tell the home router the ISP router is the gateway to the internet?. The ISP router has a static IP already. I can set the IP ranges for the two routers to not overlap. There are many router settings and very little explanation on what they do.
- —Guest Rene
Not 2 routers - 2 access points
- There is a difference between running 2 routers and running 2 access points. It's bad practice to have 2 DHCP routers on the same network it can cause IP conflict issues. You can buy a second router and set it up as an access point by disabling DHCP and using 1 of the 4 network ports. Do not use the WAN port as this will not work. If you attach 2 routers to the network you can segregate a section of your network, but it will cause issues and you won't be able to connect to shares/etc on the non-segregated part. You can put a switch, hub, or an access point in, but a second router is generally a bad idea. If you want to have a "guest" network for people who connect to your home network that you do not want accessing your personal data you can buy a router that is capable of broadcasting multiple networks. Setup a guest network and keep the rest of your personal stuff on the same one.
- —Guest Scott
To save cabling
- My "operations center" is my upstairs bedroom - modem, telephony, router, and server/PC all there, connecting to PCs in downstairs dining room, kids room, and to XBOX in living room already... Still have wired connections to make to Playstation and DLP TV (Toshiba with THINC file sharing) so a 2nd router in the living room is a real no-brainer.... wasn't sure it would work till now + just got bonded dsl and am taking advantage of hpna over cable coax soon :) As an added advantage I'll have a better wireless signal for folks with smart phones sitting at the bar!!
- —Guest Gearhead
Avoids moving equipment into the garage
- My new ActionTEC R1000h FOIS router was installed by my ISP in my garage. I don't want to have my network printer or NAS hard drive in the garage with it. My existing E4200 [wireless] router handled the NAS and printer before and so I'd like to keep those three devices in the home office AND still have LAN access to them... .
- —Guest John Stein
1 for Internet network, 1 for Roku
- I already have a wireless router that I use to get and share the Internet on in my home. I'm looking to add a switch or wired router to another phone line in my home to provide Internet access to wired devices. I have a phone line in my living room that is in use by my Dish receiver... wanting to use a line splitter so I can leave my dish receiver connected and then hook an Ethernet switch or wired router into to have a wired internet connection for a Roku.
- —Guest Dan
To Hook Up MagicJack
- I used a 2nd router to hook up a MagicJack [Internet Phone] system. I don't have my computer near my phone jack so need the 2nd router for MagicJack.
- —Guest willis jones
Wiring for Web hosting from home
- I want the first router to be with only 3 connections. one is the WAN, the second is the UpLink and the third is a connection to a server. The UpLink will connect to my second router which will feed all my normal network needs. The server mentioned above will be for my domain website which I want isolated and secured as much as possible from the rest of my network.
- —Guest sailor10
For wireless home security cameras
- I want to add a second wireless router to link into my home security cameras... don't want to run an Ethernet cable from the location of my WAP router.
- —Guest arltxishm
5 routers on one home network (so far)
- I have five routers on my home network, purely for the amount of connections I need and to distribute the Internet and network around my home. It cuts down on the amount of cabling needed to get network access everywhere, and all the routers are ones that I have got from previous ISPs - seemed pointless buying new ones when I had old ones hanging around doing nothing. Bought a decent router to replace the cheap one my current ISP provided and also to get N wireless. This router connects to the wan through my ISP, provides my wireless network and connects to the other routers. I have the other routers in other rooms. All my LAN IPs are static, I set up the IPs on all other routers as if they were computers and tell them the gateway is the IP of the wan connected router. They are simply connected together by an ethernet cable from ethernet port to ethernet port. Totally ignore any other ports on the secondary routers.
- —Guest Broddr
To get longer range
- Plugging in the secondary router using a normal lan port instead of a wan port works great. Then setting the router to use a different range of IPs makes sure DHCP causes no conflicts. Works great.
- —Guest Eric
Reducing wireless signals for the kids
- I have three small children in my two level house. I'm not positive that wireless poses health concerns in children, but I'm going to fault on the side of caution. So I have my main modem and router upstairs. I'm running a Mac and Apple TV downstairs on Trendnet powerline network adapters, but with the wireless router upstairs the signal is weak downstairs as well it is closer to the bed rooms. So I would like to run my wireless router downstairs from one more powerline adapter. I know this complicates things, but it should be possible.
- —Guest Islander
Needed to disable DHCP and use a cable
- I tried it the way philip mcmullin wrote, but it doesn't work. I needed to connect the wireless router with a LAN connection to the first router (with DHCP) and switch off DHCP in the wireless router. Now the wireless one is a switch with antennas. As long as the wireless router is using its WAN connector it does not work for me.
- —Guest DeMus
1-15 of 64Next
