old router as range extender?

thingemajib · 19 Feb 2010 at 18:49

We have quite a longish house, that has a belkin N+ router at one end, and a living room, where we'd like to use the laptop, with no signal (can pickup at door, but move it away and nada...)

a). the laptop only has intel b/g wificard (dell studio 17). would getting an n card potentially solve problems?

b). the main question. as we have two old routers sitting around (one phillips, the other some generic huaewi **** that talk talk gave us). Ive noticed if i plug a second router into a phoneline, then both routers cant connect to internet. is there a way of configuring one of the old routers as a range extender?

btw, we only have phone sockets at either end of the house, and the router is hardwired into a desktop anyways :/

Mel_P · 21 Feb 2010 at 11:01

Powerline adapters?

thingemajib · 21 Feb 2010 at 12:03

the idea was i could resuse an old router instead of splashing out on yet more pricey kit

Bones · 22 Feb 2010 at 09:36

You wont be able to plug the 2nd router into a phone socket, only the main router can do that.

some options:

1. Run a CAT5 cable and plug in your 2nd router (disable DHCP)
2. Powerline adapters and plug in 2nd router same as option1
3. Wireless bridge possibly
4. Build a directional antenna and point it towards the area with bad signal. (google Cantenna or wokfi)

good luck

baldzone · 22 Feb 2010 at 09:38

^^^^

I did option 1 with 2 netgear dg834gt's. Works a treat! Good wireless signal all round the house now

thingemajib · 22 Feb 2010 at 10:48

ill have a go at option 1. does it matter if they're different routers?

also, is there anyway of doing potion 1 wirelessly?

Bones · 22 Feb 2010 at 12:42

It wont matter if they are different makes of router, as long as it has the option to disable DHCP. Start by returning the 2nd router to factory settings using the reset button. Then plug the 2nd router directly into your laptop (turn off your laptops wireless to stop it getting confused) using a normal network cable. then access the control panel (usually 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.1.1) Disable anything to do with ADSL, DHCP or anything that assigns an ip, also perhaps you might want to set it up with a static ip, such as 192.168.1.2 so it doesn't clash with your main router. Once you do that you should be able to plug it into you existing router and it shouldn't mess anything up.

You could do it via a wireless bridge but to be honest that is more hassle than its worth.