Use a Second Router as an Access Point

Lets call our routers OBAMA (the router that you are already using with your wireless home network) and PALIN (the second router that you want to add to increase your wireless range).

A: Note the Settings of the Main Router

Step 1: First we need to determine the IP address of OBAMA (our existing router). Copy-paste the following command in the Windows Run box and note the value of Default Gateway. That your routers IP address.
cmd /k ipconfig

Lets assume the routers IP address is 192.168.30.1. Also make note of the Subnet Mask value which is usually 255.255.255.0. Step 2: Open your web browser and type the routers IP address, that you determined earlier, into the address bar. If you are using IE, you might want to add http:// to the address else IE may throw an error. Youll now have to provide a password for accessing the router settings. This will vary depending on your routers manufacturer just Google for <brand name> default router password or try the standard combinations like admin/admin, admin/password and admin/<blank> (no password). Step 3: Once you are in the settings of OBAMA router, switch to >wireless settings and make a note of the Wireless mode, the SSID and the channel. If you have protected your Wi-Fi with a password, also note down the security mode used (WPA, WEP or WPA2) and your secret passphrase.

B: Configure the Second Router

Step 4: Next we need to configure PALIN, our second router. First reset the router PALIN to factory defaults by hard-pressing the reset button for about 10 seconds. Now connect PALIN to your computer using the Ethernet cable. Put one end of the cable in any of the LAN ports available on the router and the other end to your computers Ethernet port. Make sure the router is powered on. Step 5: Open the browser and type 192.168.1.1 the default internet IP address of your PALIN router. If you are not using a Linksys router, try 192.168.0.1 which is the default for Netgear and DLink routers. Once you are in, you need to change the values of the default SSID, Wireless mode, the channel, the security mode and the passphrase such that they match with your OBAMA router.

Then go to Setup > Advanced routing and change the current mode from Gateway to Router. Next disable DHCP Server since our primary OBAMA router will handle the task of assigning IP addresses to devices connecting to the wireless network. Finally, change the IP address of the PALIN router to any free address in your LAN. For instance, if the IP address of OBAMA router is 192.168.30.1, you can safely assign 192.168.30.2 to PALIN. Also make sure that the Subnet mask is the same as determined in Step 1. Save settings.

C: Connect the Two Routers

Now that we have configured the routers, its time to connect them with wires. Your existing OBAMA Router probably has five (1+4) ports the WAN port here (or the Internet port) should be connected to the ISP provide modem as before. Pick any of the available LAN ports on the router and connect it to any of the LAN ports on the PALIN router using an Ethernet cable. Thats it.

Now that everything is setup, you can connect your computer and mobile devices to the second router using either a wired connection (the three ports are still free) or over Wi-Fi. Since we have assigned the same SSID and security settings to the second router, you dont have to configure anything on your laptop as you move around the house*. Also, as we are just expanding the reach of an existing wireless network and not creating a new one, all your shared folders, music libraries, photos, and other files will be accessible from all computers and mobile devices that are connected to the home network. [*] You may also split your existing wireless network by connecting a router. This method will create an additional wireless network and the two wont be able to see or talk to each other.