Two Wireless Routers?

Here's how I would like to set up my laptop and my desktop with respect to a
wirless connection to my cable modem:

The laptop is old - P2-266Mhz with Windows 98 (now that's old!). I have an
older Trendnet wireless PC card (TEW-226PC) installed in one of the PCMCIA
slots and a matching Trendnet 802.11b wireless router (TEW-231BRP). These
only support WEP security.

My desktop is new and I am utilizing a D-Link DWL-G122 USB network adapter
and a Hawking HWR54G 802.11g wireless router, which supports WPA-PSK security.

All the 802.11g wireless network adapters require prerequisites which exceed
my laptop's specifications, so I can't connect it to the Hawking router if I
want to continue using WPA-PSK security on that router. Therefore, I would
like to operate two wireless routers - one for the desktop and one for the
laptop (which I plan to use for basic surfing i.e. no need for WPA-PSK
security).

Is this feasible? If so, what's the best approach - get a "splitter" so I
can attach two RJ-45 cables from the cable modem (one to each router) OR
connect the 802.11b router to the cable modem and then the 802.11g router to
the 802.11b router OR some other configuration? Do I have to worry about
interference between the two wireless routers or can that be solved by
setting each to use a different channel? I would really like to be able to
keep using the laptop, so any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Per Chico:
>Therefore, I would
>like to operate two wireless routers - one for the desktop and one for the
>laptop (which I plan to use for basic surfing i.e. no need for WPA-PSK
>security).

According to the book I'm on my third read of ("Jeff Duntemann's Wi-Fi Guide -
2nd Edition", a significant exposure when running unsecured Wi-Fi is to the
wrath of your ISP if/when somebody decides to funnel a load of spam up your
connection.
--
PeteCresswell

Basically, as long as you have yoru connection secured, that is the main
thing. WPA is allegedly better than WEP, but both wil stop all but the most
determinedatatcak, so long as they're setup NOT to advertise the
encryption-key or SSID.

The two wireless adaptors need to be on different channels. If so they
shouldn't interfere, with the possible exception of 105MHz wireless, which
uses more than one channel.

There are two ways you can retain the old router;

You can set it up as a simple LAN-to-Wireless passthrough link, by
connecting one of its LAN ports to the new router (which provides the cable
link) In this case turn off its Cable/DSL, DHCP and NAT functions. The old
laptop will probably be able to get an IP from the new router's DHCP by
straight passthrough -or since it's the only host of its kind, just give it a
static one.

Or, you can connect the WAN port of one router to a LAN port of the other.
This is known as a 'double NAT' setup, and provides further isolation between
the two groups of wireless users. In this arrangement, the the two routers
will use a different IP network-numbering scheme, say 192.168.1.x on one, and
192.168.2.x on the other. The machines on both routers will be able to browse
the net, but those on the 'downstream' router will effectively be isolated
from those on the 'upstream' router.

Hi

There is No reason that the old laptop with Win98 and the 802.11b would not
be able to connect to the Hawking.

802.11g is downward compatible with 802.11b.

You cannot connect two Routers to one Broadband connection.

You can connect the 802.11b Router as an Access Point with a Switch to the
first Router; this is the way to do it.

http://www.ezlan.net/router_AP.html

Beware that some of the 802.11g Wireless might under perform in at presence
of 802.11b Wireless Router.

Jack (MVP-Networking).



"Ian" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:191CA323-2673-466B-8685-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Basically, as long as you have yoru connection secured, that is the main
> thing. WPA is allegedly better than WEP, but both wil stop all but the
> most
> determinedatatcak, so long as they're setup NOT to advertise the
> encryption-key or SSID.
>
> The two wireless adaptors need to be on different channels. If so they
> shouldn't interfere, with the possible exception of 105MHz wireless, which
> uses more than one channel.
>
> There are two ways you can retain the old router;
>
> You can set it up as a simple LAN-to-Wireless passthrough link, by
> connecting one of its LAN ports to the new router (which provides the
> cable
> link) In this case turn off its Cable/DSL, DHCP and NAT functions. The
> old
> laptop will probably be able to get an IP from the new router's DHCP by
> straight passthrough -or since it's the only host of its kind, just give
> it a
> static one.
>
> Or, you can connect the WAN port of one router to a LAN port of the other.
> This is known as a 'double NAT' setup, and provides further isolation
> between
> the two groups of wireless users. In this arrangement, the the two routers
> will use a different IP network-numbering scheme, say 192.168.1.x on one,
> and
> 192.168.2.x on the other. The machines on both routers will be able to
> browse
> the net, but those on the 'downstream' router will effectively be isolated
> from those on the 'upstream' router.
>
>
>