2 Routers, 1 network, error in connection

Andi Hawes

Andi Hawes

Andi Hawes

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Joined
13 Oct 2021
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Location
England
Dear Forum,

I have a house router and a studio router with studio being 100m down the garden. Both routers on same SSID, differeing IPs [192.168.1.254/252], House is Smart Hub 2, Studio is Home Hub 4 no DCHP, old Netgear Switch GS108 and Draka Patches

im no expert in this field but thought i knew enough to set this up. Some things work perfectly, others dont. Those that dont work seems sporadic

When things dont work, the item gives itself an IPv4 address ok in the house/router 1, but when moving to Studio/Router 2, it sometimes gives itself an IPv6 address and then doesnt connect to network.

The studio feed doesnt go through Patches but does go through Switch.

ive just moved in so the BT Smart Hub was supplied to me, and i had a Home Hub 4 lyijng around so used this for Studio Router. Should i use 2 similar products? a Friend has advise 2 of these:

*** no competitor linking ***

is something hinding my network to the Studio? Grateful for advice
 
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Have you got two internet connections one in the house one in the studio or have you ran a network cable down there?
 
Its not one network though is it? Your DG is going to be unreachable as you move into SSID2 and SSID is not longer visible from your device?
 
firestars said:
Its not one network though is it? Your DG is going to be unreachable as you move into SSID2 and SSID is not longer visible from your device?
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Both Routers have same SSID. Not sure what 'DG' you mention. Do both routers need to see each other in WIFI for single SSID between 2 to work?
 
So you’re using the home hub down the garden as an access point effectively. It should work if you’ve configured it properly.

Intermittent faults are difficult to diagnose. Do you have a wired device you can plug straight into the end of the cable in the garden? I’d try that first and see if it behaves as expected - that’s a long run of Ethernet so you want to be sure it’s ok. Take the home hub out of the equation. If that works then it’s likely to be the homehub. There’s numerous guides on the internet to repurpose a home hub as an access point. Check you’ve done everything as expected. It sounds like you have and to be honest I’d expect everything to work or nothing, not intermittently. If you get no joy then you’ll have to try a different access point in the garden. The distance is so great I expect devices to drop and reconnect rather than roam so leave the WiFi in the house well alone if it’s working there.
 
BigT said:
So you’re using the home hub down the garden as an access point effectively. It should work if you’ve configured it properly.

Intermittent faults are difficult to diagnose. Do you have a wired device you can plug straight into the end of the cable in the garden? I’d try that first and see if it behaves as expected - that’s a long run of Ethernet so you want to be sure it’s ok. Take the home hub out of the equation. If that works then it’s likely to be the homehub. There’s numerous guides on the internet to repurpose a home hub as an access point. Check you’ve done everything as expected. It sounds like you have and to be honest I’d expect everything to work or nothing, not intermittently. If you get no joy then you’ll have to try a different access point in the garden. The distance is so great I expect devices to drop and reconnect rather than roam so leave the WiFi in the house well alone if it’s working there.
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everythign which is wired down the Studio works, the 2 Sonos in there. Seems to just be the WIFI stuff.

i first had an old Sky Router SR105 in studio at first and that prompted some really strange behaviour, mostly that my LG TV which was hardwired in the house, intermintantly connected. Drove me insane as i knew TV worked in my old house, i tried different House Routers but as the Studio router was the SR105, must have driven this strange bahaviour. As soon as i removed SR105 for a Home Hub 4, as part of tryign to get wifi to work, the TV suddenly started working perfectly!
 
i read in places that Smart Set up can affect some things. Should i have this off/on, on 1/both routers?

What about 2.4/5ghz, both on, off, 1/both on?

Home Hub 4 doesnt appear ot be IPv6 compatible, does that matter, as i see a connection error when the Mac gets an IPv6 IP address, not IPv4? it gets an IPv4 ddress in the house, then sometimes a 4 in the Studio and sometimes a 6. why would that change from time to time?

Should i use 2 SSIDs seeing as the 2 are 100m away and one not handing off to other?

Would i matter under which router i initiate connection to network?

PS: thank you for adviuce so far
 
Glanza said:
Make sure the router you have in the studio is set in AP mode
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reading on this, videos seem to suggest on AP router:

no sync of 2.4 to 5ghz
WPS off
WPA security

Would you suggest this?

Also says connect LAN to LAN. how do i know which port on my Smart Hub 2 is LAN and my Home Hub 4 in LAN?
 
I tried using a BT hub as an access point before but it didn't perform very well.

Make sure on the studio one the cable going to the main house router, you're using the yellow ports. The blue port is WAN only (for a modem).

For the wireless since there's no seamless roaming between the two even though they use the same SSID/password, you'll want to fix the channels to non overlapping ones, eg house router on channel 1, studio router on channel 6. I found having both on the same channel without fast roaming supported on both APs can cause issues when moving between the two.
 
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Orcvader said:
I tried using a BT hub as an access point before but it didn't perform very well.

Make sure on the studio one the cable going to the main house router, you're using the yellow ports. The blue port is WAN only (for a modem).

I highly suggest

For the wireless since there's no seamless roaming between the two even though they use the same SSID/password, you'll want to fix the channels to non overlapping ones, eg house router on channel 1, studio router on channel 6. I found having both on the same channel without fast roaming supported on both APs can cause issues when moving between the two.
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any significane on Channel numbers on 2.4ghz and 5ghz?
 
Andi Hawes said:
any significane on Channel numbers on 2.4ghz and 5ghz?
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To make sure they don't interfere with each other, especially with the 2.4GHz band since it's often crowded. For 2.4GHz 1, 6 and 11 are usually used as they don't conflict with each other. For 5GHz there's more space, 36 and 48 should be the safest option to pick for both BT Hubs.
 
I see no reason why this should fix it but since they’re too far apart to roam between them I think I’d try a different channel and a different SSID on the garden access point. You’ve ruled out the cable and there’s not much left to try so I’d give it a go and see if you still get the same symptoms.
 
BigT said:
I see no reason why this should fix it but since they’re too far apart to roam between them I think I’d try a different channel and a different SSID on the garden access point. You’ve ruled out the cable and there’s not much left to try so I’d give it a go and see if you still get the same symptoms.
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Will try. with 2x SSIDs, should i set the Studio Router to hand out DHCP or stick to only 1 doing it?
 
Only 1 doing it - the one in the house. The router in the garden needs to be as “dumb” as possible.
 
If the studio router is configured as an AP then you need to stop thinking of it as a router. It shouldn't be providing anything to the network except wireless and maybe the use of its internal switch.

You're presumably trying to use equipment you have. Unfortunately, as mentioned above, a BT hub of any sort isn't the best choice for use as an AP. A dedicated AP or a third-party router with a selectable AP mode would be much easier.
 
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