Daisy chain wireless routers

Is it possible?

I am going to start work soon in a home office. However the business is
moving to an outbuilding on the same premises. Both the house and
outbuilding need broadband. Is it possible to set up BT Homehub in the
house, then run cat5 out to the other building and plug another wireless
router in? The distance between the two should be no more than 50metres. I
ask as we currently have that hardware available.

tia

In message <uVMVi.711$(E-Mail Removed)>, Cullen Skink
<(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>Is it possible?
>
>I am going to start work soon in a home office. However the business is
>moving to an outbuilding on the same premises. Both the house and
>outbuilding need broadband. Is it possible to set up BT Homehub in the
>house, then run cat5 out to the other building and plug another wireless
>router in? The distance between the two should be no more than 50metres. I
>ask as we currently have that hardware available.
>
What you'd need at the far end is a wireless access point rather than
another router. ie
<http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=255033>
which you could alternatively try using in its range extender mode to
extend your network rather than create another centre of signal.

--
dave @ stejonda

dave @ stejonda wrote:
> In message <uVMVi.711$(E-Mail Removed)>, Cullen Skink
> <(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>> Is it possible?
>>
>> I am going to start work soon in a home office. However the
>> business is moving to an outbuilding on the same premises. Both
>> the house and outbuilding need broadband. Is it possible to set
>> up BT Homehub in the house, then run cat5 out to the other
>> building and plug another wireless router in? The distance
>> between the two should be no more than 50metres. I ask as we
>> currently have that hardware available.
> What you'd need at the far end is a wireless access point rather
> than another router. ie
> <http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=255033>
> which you could alternatively try using in its range extender mode
> to extend your network rather than create another centre of signal.

Doesn't even need to do that, if the outbuilding is on the same phase,
just get a couple of networking over mains units, plug them in & away
you go.

If the OPs buildings are not on the same phase running the Cat5 is
asking for trouble anyway.

"Cullen Skink" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:uVMVi.711$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Is it possible?
>
> I am going to start work soon in a home office. However the business is
> moving to an outbuilding on the same premises. Both the house and
> outbuilding need broadband. Is it possible to set up BT Homehub in the
> house, then run cat5 out to the other building and plug another wireless
> router in? The distance between the two should be no more than 50metres.
> I ask as we currently have that hardware available.
>
> tia
>

You can probably use the router as just a switch with nothing on the ISP
port.

"dave @ stejonda" <no$spam!delete&abuse%(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
message news:4qfca3Cj+(E-Mail Removed)...
> In message <uVMVi.711$(E-Mail Removed)>, Cullen Skink
> <(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>>Is it possible?
>>
>>I am going to start work soon in a home office. However the business is
>>moving to an outbuilding on the same premises. Both the house and
>>outbuilding need broadband. Is it possible to set up BT Homehub in the
>>house, then run cat5 out to the other building and plug another wireless
>>router in? The distance between the two should be no more than 50metres.
>>I
>>ask as we currently have that hardware available.
>>
> What you'd need at the far end is a wireless access point rather than
> another router.

Would a second router actually not work. I realise that it would be
superfluous, but could it be used simply as an access point?

I have a customer who has two BT HomeHubs (somehow!). One of them is set up
as a wireless router and serves a wired PC and a wireless notebook in that
part of the house.

He also wants wireless coverage in a second wing of the house, well out of
wireless range of the first router. He doesn't need coverage inbetween. He
was planning to either run a long LAN cable or use HomePlug devices to
bridge the gap to the remote part of the house, and then plug the Ethernet
cable into the second HomeHub, broadcasting its signal. This HomeHub would
not be plugged into ADSL and its NAT status is probably irrelevant since it
wouldn;t be talking out of its WAN ADSL socket.

Would this work? He wants to use teh equipment that he already has, if it
will be suitable.

Given that the two wireless LANs will probably not overlap, is there any
advantage or disadvantage to giving both LANs the same SSID and WPA key. I'd
probably put them on different channels to prevent bands of constructive and
destuctive interference between the two if the router was used in the
intermediate area between the two routers.

"kráftéé" <kraftee@b&e-cottee.me.uk> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...

> Doesn't even need to do that, if the outbuilding is on the same phase,
> just get a couple of networking over mains units, plug them in & away you
> go.

As long as they are fed from a common electricity meter. HomePlug signals
don't pass through electricity meters.

> If the OPs buildings are not on the same phase running the Cat5 is asking
> for trouble anyway.

Good point!!!

Where I used to work some years ago, they spent a lot of money ripping out
the lab areas and rebuilding and rewiring it from scratch. For some reason,
they decided to wire every bench to a different mains phase, so no two
adjacent benches were on the same phase. This caused horrendous logistical
problems for us because we weren't allowed to connect equipment between the
benches. I presume Infrastructure Services had to use opto-isolators for the
LAN cables to the network switch that was common to the whole lab. If we
even needed to set up a private LAN (separate from the building-wide LAN) we
had to physically move the equipment so it could all be powered from the
same bench - but, come to think of it, even without this restriction, I
suppose Health and Safety would have frowned at cables trailed across a
floor.

"dave @ stejonda" <no$spam!delete&abuse%(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
message news:4qfca3Cj+(E-Mail Removed)...
> In message <uVMVi.711$(E-Mail Removed)>, Cullen Skink
> <(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>>Is it possible?
>>
>>I am going to start work soon in a home office. However the business is
>>moving to an outbuilding on the same premises. Both the house and
>>outbuilding need broadband. Is it possible to set up BT Homehub in the
>>house, then run cat5 out to the other building and plug another wireless
>>router in? The distance between the two should be no more than 50metres.
>>I
>>ask as we currently have that hardware available.
>>
> What you'd need at the far end is a wireless access point rather than
> another router. ie
> <http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=255033>
> which you could alternatively try using in its range extender mode to
> extend your network rather than create another centre of signal.

You can usually force a router to behave as an access point by disabling its
DHCP service. However I have found that this sometimes only works for the
wired connections, the DHCP service is still active for wireless.

In the outbuilding you could use a simple network switch (from £10) instead,
you might me less worried about network cables being visible.

--
Graham J

Mortimer wrote :
> "dave @ stejonda" <no$spam!delete&abuse%(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
> message news:4qfca3Cj+(E-Mail Removed)...
>> In message <uVMVi.711$(E-Mail Removed)>, Cullen Skink
>> <(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>>>Is it possible?
>>>
>>>I am going to start work soon in a home office. However the business is
>>>moving to an outbuilding on the same premises. Both the house and
>>>outbuilding need broadband. Is it possible to set up BT Homehub in the
>>>house, then run cat5 out to the other building and plug another wireless
>>>router in? The distance between the two should be no more than 50metres. I
>>>ask as we currently have that hardware available.
>>>
>> What you'd need at the far end is a wireless access point rather than
>> another router.
>
> Would a second router actually not work. I realise that it would be
> superfluous, but could it be used simply as an access point?
>
> I have a customer who has two BT HomeHubs (somehow!). One of them is set up
> as a wireless router and serves a wired PC and a wireless notebook in that
> part of the house.
>
> He also wants wireless coverage in a second wing of the house, well out of
> wireless range of the first router. He doesn't need coverage inbetween. He
> was planning to either run a long LAN cable or use HomePlug devices to bridge
> the gap to the remote part of the house, and then plug the Ethernet cable
> into the second HomeHub, broadcasting its signal. This HomeHub would not be
> plugged into ADSL and its NAT status is probably irrelevant since it wouldn;t
> be talking out of its WAN ADSL socket.
>
> Would this work? He wants to use teh equipment that he already has, if it
> will be suitable.
>
> Given that the two wireless LANs will probably not overlap, is there any
> advantage or disadvantage to giving both LANs the same SSID and WPA key. I'd
> probably put them on different channels to prevent bands of constructive and
> destuctive interference between the two if the router was used in the
> intermediate area between the two routers.

Yes it will work.

Choose one of the routers as a DHCP server. Give the 2nd a static
address etc in the correct range for the first. Plug 2nd into 1st
(using a LAN port) and away you go.

On Tue, 30 Oct 2007 21:51:45 -0000, "Mortimer" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>"kráftéé" <kraftee@b&e-cottee.me.uk> wrote in message
>news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>
>> Doesn't even need to do that, if the outbuilding is on the same phase,
>> just get a couple of networking over mains units, plug them in & away you
>> go.
>
>As long as they are fed from a common electricity meter. HomePlug signals
>don't pass through electricity meters.
>
>> If the OPs buildings are not on the same phase running the Cat5 is asking
>> for trouble anyway.
>
>Good point!!!
>
>Where I used to work some years ago, they spent a lot of money ripping out
>the lab areas and rebuilding and rewiring it from scratch. For some reason,
>they decided to wire every bench to a different mains phase, so no two
>adjacent benches were on the same phase.

I thought you weren't allowed to mix phases in the same room!! Surely
that was illegal?This caused horrendous logistical
--
Cheers

Peter

dave @ stejonda wrote:

> In message <uVMVi.711$(E-Mail Removed)>, Cullen Skink
> <(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>>Is it possible?
>>
>>I am going to start work soon in a home office. However the business is
>>moving to an outbuilding on the same premises. Both the house and
>>outbuilding need broadband. Is it possible to set up BT Homehub in the
>>house, then run cat5 out to the other building and plug another wireless
>>router in? The distance between the two should be no more than 50metres.
>>I ask as we currently have that hardware available.
>>
> What you'd need at the far end is a wireless access point rather than
> another router. ie
> <http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=255033>
> which you could alternatively try using in its range extender mode to
> extend your network rather than create another centre of signal.

Most routers [whether they've got ethernet or DSL WAN ports] bridge their
wireless interfaces with their LAN switch, effectively making them access
points anyway. So the only difference between access points and wireless
routers is the name.

--
<http://ale.cx/> (AIM:troffasky) ((E-Mail Removed))
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