1/2/2019 Configuring two wireless routers with one SSID (network name) at home for free roaming - Scott

ree roaming - Scott Hanselman

THE STARTING POINT

In my case, I had 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.

As an aside, you really should make sure your

wireless router is using WPA2 for wireless
security. If you're using WEP, it's about as
effective as tissue paper, so change it to WPA2
with a strong password or find a techie nephew
to do it for you.

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

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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 the channel. 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.

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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 goingn to a
gigabit switch. I pluged 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

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