Configuring two wireless routers with one SSID (network name) at home for free roaming

 

This setup is for people who want more wireless coverage in they house. Using the standard admin interface to boost the power of the wireless router does not work. Some people have tried replacing the standard antenna with a aftermarket external antenna for the router which helps a  little. Some do try to make a second wireless network. We can setup the router easily with another SSID (service set identifier - a wireless network name) but that would be cheesy and my devices wouldn't roam smoothly between networks.

Here's the trick, which I have come across after doing a little research.

In the below example we are using a standard Verizon (ActionTec) router with the IP of 192.168.1.1. That's a static (non-changing) address. The router has DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) turned on, which means that this router hands out IP Addresses to my devices. It hands out those addresses in a certain range, specifically 192.168.1.2 through 192.168.1.254. 

Your router will likely vary, but on this one you navigate to My Network, My Network Connections, then click on the Edit icon on the main network interface. You'll end up here:

 

 

Notice the Start IP Address and End IP Address. You'll want to change this to 192.168.1.3 because we're going to use 192.168.1.2 as a static address for the second router when we set it up.

Next, turn off your first (primary) wireless router completely. Routers aren't expecting folks to do what we're doing, so when you turn on the second router it will also default to 192.168.1.1. You're turning off the first so the second can be changed.

Turn on the second router and set its static IP address to 192.168.1.2. Under IP Address Distribution, set it to "disabled." It's important that you don't have TWO devices on your network passing out IP Addresses. This second router will only be bridging the wireless and wired world at your house. It has no responsibilities around IP addresses.

Here's an unnecessary diagram:

 

 

Make sure the wireless settings of the second router is the same as the first router. Same SSID, same security type, same password. The only difference will be thechannel. Moreover, we'll want to make sure the channels are sufficiently far apart.

Of course, if you're rich and famous and have a  HUGE area to cover, you can add a third wireless access point and just make sure that third AP uses a channel that's sufficiently far away from the other two. Try to make the second router be 5 away from the first router's channel. The guidance is channels 1, 6 and 11 are a good guideline. I used 11 for the first and 6 for the second.

Here's a great chart showing the channel spread from Wikipedia. I used channels 11 and 6 for my two routers.

Of course, you'll need an Ethernet run going from a LAN port on your first router to a LAN port on your second router. In my case, each room has Ethernet in the wall going to a gigabit switch. I plugged the second router into the wall from its LAN port and it worked.

Reboot everything, plug them all in and there you go.

Just thirty minutes later and I'm happily streaming video to my wireless portable devices in parts of my house that were previously useless.

 

Technical Summary

• First Router
  • 192.168.1.1
  • DHCP to use the range 192.168.1.3-192.168.1.254
  • A wireless channel like 11
• Second Router
  • 192.168.1.2
  • DHCP is disabled
  • Identical wireless security setup as First Router
    • Except the wireless Channel. Try channel 6 if the first is 11.
  • Plug hard-wire into the LAN port, not the WAN port.