Connecting a Wifi ADSL router to a combined router/adsl modem

I know it probably sounds weird, but I've been using a BT Voyager 2100
wifi/modem/router (succesfully), and have just bought a TP-Link ADSL wifi
router to see if it had a better WiFi range. It does, giving out a much
stronger signal.

When I bought it, I didn't notice that it didn't have an ADSL modem built in
(that'll teach me). As well as the 4 ethernet sockets, it has another
labelled 'wan', which is intended for an ethernet modem. I was thinking of
buying a secondhand Voyager 205, (because it has ethernet and usb sockets).

In the meantime though, I was hoping to link it to my Voyager 2100 to get
internet access, but I'm not sure how to set it up.

I've tried connecting the WAN socket of the TP_Link to one of the voyager's
LAN sockets, should I have used a crossover cable ?

How should I set the Wan access on the TP_Link ?

Thanks in advance for any help, (such an interesting forum !)

Paul

"Paul" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
news:43fd9c26$(E-Mail Removed):

> In the meantime though, I was hoping to link it to my Voyager 2100 to
> get internet access, but I'm not sure how to set it up.

On the TP_Link, give it a static IP address, disable DHCP and NAT.
Connect it up to one of the BT Voyager's LAN ports using one of the
TP_Link's LAN ports, NOT the WAN port. That'll configure the router as an
access point rather than a router.

You might want to disable the wireless on the BT Voyager too.

--
Phil
http://www.philipchung.co.uk/

On Thu, 23 Feb 2006, Paul wrote (twice, for some reason):

[...]
> When I bought it, I didn't notice that it didn't have an ADSL modem
> built in (that'll teach me). As well as the 4 ethernet sockets, it
> has another labelled 'wan', which is intended for an ethernet modem.

The box that you are describing is intended for connecting to a
dedicated cable modem with an ethernet port. There would be a NAT
router function between its "WAN" port and the rest of the box.

> I was thinking of buying a secondhand Voyager 205, (because it has
> ethernet and usb sockets).

FWIW, that's pretty much what I'm using, with the '205 on the ADSL
line, and the wifi box (with its "WAN" port disused) linked to the
'205.

My wifi box isn't a TP-Link, but I'm assuming it's functionally
equivalent. At least I *knew* what it was when I bought it ;-)

> In the meantime though, I was hoping to link it to my Voyager 2100
> to get internet access, but I'm not sure how to set it up.
>
> I've tried connecting the WAN socket of the TP_Link to one of the
> voyager's LAN sockets,

I'd recommend that you ignore the WAN socket (otherwise you're going
to have two NAT gateways in series, one in each box).

What I did was first to connect a PC standalone to the wifi box, and
configure it via its web interface to be a fixed-address host on my
existing LAN (let's say 192.168.1.99 or whatever), turn its own DHCP
server off[1], and set up its wireless security (WPA-PSK in my
case).[2]

Then link one of the wifi box's LAN ports to the ethernet on my ADSL
box (the '205).

> should I have used a crossover cable ?

Don't know - look at the pretty lights to see if it's working? Most
kit today seems to be auto as far as crossover is concerned, it's been
some time since I needed to worry about that.

> How should I set the Wan access on the TP_Link ?

Ignore it, I'd say.

I wouldn't recommend this solution if starting from scratch today
(it's simpler to buy a single box which does everything); but if
you've got the kit anyway, I suppose you might as well give it a try.

good luck


[1] or if you prefer, at least make sure its DHCP server is allocated
a range of DHCP addresses which don't overlap with the ones being
leased by your ADSL box.

[2] After you've got it basically working, you might also want to
configure it with any other security features it offers, for example
MAC security. Take care not to "saw off the branch that you're
sitting on", of course (i.e add your own MAC address to the
permissions list before enabling the MAC filter). And don't forget to
add the MAC address of your ADSL router's ethernet interface to the
permissions list also!

Excellent ! thank you for the very rapid and detailed replies, Phil & Alan.

I've now set the TP_link's address as 194.168.1.101 ,

plugged the (straight) ethernet lead from LAN socket 1 of the voyager to LAN
socket 1 of the TP_link,

switched off the DHCP server in the TP_link,

and opened up all of my zone alarms to have a trusted IP range of
194.168.1.1 to 194.168.1.254 (I did have them screwed down to 1 - 9, just in
case !)

and it's all working well !

I never thought of ignoring the WAN socket, and as you say, the patch lead
seems to have been auto-sensed.

Yes, I think I will turn off the wifi on the Voyager now, (It was never very
powerful), but at least I've got it ready to hand if I want to try any
experiments, without affecting the main Wifi. (They've both got hidden
SSIDs and WEP set).

my grateful thanks again,
Paul