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can i use an old dsl router to expand my wireless access point?

$tinkle

$tinkle

Expert on blowing
Feb 12, 2003
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the problem is: all my comm is in the upper corner of the house, and the ducting/walls obstructs the signal to the lower corner of the house (in fact, no signal at all). so i dug up an old actiontec router in the hopes i can 'chain' it w/ ethernet from my main n-router & use it as an alternate access point for the basement. i have a 25' ethernet line i can fish through the basement's upper joists.

can it be done? i'm not too encouraged, as it *appears* the dsl router gets fed from a line in, and not ethernet, which could possibly be used for broadcast only.
 
syadasti

syadasti

i heart mac
Apr 15, 2002
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Depends on the firmware. Are you saying its RJ11 rather than RJ45? If you throw an RJ45 connector on to a telephone cable you can do 10 Mb ethernet over 2 pair phone lines.
 
$tinkle

$tinkle

Expert on blowing
Feb 12, 2003
14,591
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would like to plug in dsl router into one of the main house service n-router's lan ports. don't think rj11 can be part of this equation, unless i'm missing something (my current service is comcast/xfinity, and actiontec is from when i used to be a qwest/century link customer)

so it's like this: arris tm602g -> rj45 into cradlepoint mbr1000 (main broadcast) -> rj45 into actiontec for additional/redundant broadcast?

both routers also have usb ports, but not sure if that's helpful here either
 
syadasti

syadasti

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Apr 15, 2002
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Its easy if it has a LAN port. Did you try teh google

RJ11 is an option if you have existing wiring and don't have Internet much faster than 10 Mb/s anyways (besides the fact its an old POS free router).
 
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$tinkle

$tinkle

Expert on blowing
Feb 12, 2003
14,591
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here's the issue w/ turning off dhcp on router #2/slave: i can't log onto it. i changed the ip for the master to 192.168.0.2 (to deconflict), but still can't connect to 192.168.0.1 (slave), and all lights are green, whether it's connected to the master or just powered up & not connected to anything. i've even tried to direct connect my laptop via ethernet to the slave, but it's having none of that (presuming my local machine can't figure out how to route *.1)

i think if i reset slave to factory settings, it will try & talk to the mothership for auth when i log back in (or is that burned into the firmware/eprom/bios?)

i think i still have a whitelist enabled, but shouldn't matter on this laptop, as it's on the whitelist. also, i turned off SSID broadcast, so i'm guessing at its name from what it should be (e.g., foo1 or foo2). same for passwd ("bar1" or "bar2")

so bottom line, is the slave router even reachable in its current state?
 
syadasti

syadasti

i heart mac
Apr 15, 2002
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You have to configure all the LAN settings on the DSL router manually.

IP: 192.168.0.1 (your DSL router IP)
subnetmask: 255.255.255.0 (or whatever yours is)
Default Gateway: 192.168.0.2 (your master IP - also make sure the DHCP range doesn't include 192.168.0.1)

DHCP off
DNS can be left blank on APs

Also release and renew your IP config on the client machine if you have changed the configuration of your primary router.
 
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$tinkle

$tinkle

Expert on blowing
Feb 12, 2003
14,591
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right, but i can't log onto it from my current efforts. assume i should try ethernet from laptop, and make sure laptop is NOT connected to master. the slave has a usb port, but this also won't allow me to log onto it thus far.

to be clear, my DSL router is the slave
 
syadasti

syadasti

i heart mac
Apr 15, 2002
12,690
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Yes I get that. Just make sure you release and renew the client and if you forgot to manually configure something or mistyped it when you setup the DSL router as an AP, you will have to reset it and try reconfiguring it via ethernet again before you connect it to your network.
 
$tinkle

$tinkle

Expert on blowing
Feb 12, 2003
14,591
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now it's getting really weird. w/ rj45 i'm connected from my laptop to the DSL router/slave (windows confirms this), but it still won't route 192.168.0.1.

i don't think router is fubar'd, so maybe i have to tweak some windows IP settings? why won't it see the router's logon screen?

afk to clear my head...
 
syadasti

syadasti

i heart mac
Apr 15, 2002
12,690
290
VT
$tinkle said:
now it's getting really weird. w/ rj45 i'm connected from my laptop to the DSL router/slave (windows confirms this), but it still won't route 192.168.0.1.

i don't think router is fubar'd, so maybe i have to tweak some windows IP settings? why won't it see the router's logon screen?

afk to clear my head...
Click to expand...
I would try a different IP for the router just put it outside the range distributed by your router or just well above the number of devices you are likely to have. Don't use 1.
 
$tinkle

$tinkle

Expert on blowing
Feb 12, 2003
14,591
6
syadasti said:
I would try a different IP for the router just put it outside the range distributed by your router or just well above the number of devices you are likely to have. Don't use 1.
Click to expand...
how do you suppose i do that if i cannot log into it?

i was also thinking if i connect directly to the router, it should DHCP an address for me in the subnet. if DHCP is not working, i could manually configure my laptop to be an IP and subnet mask that is in the router's subnet, and it should be able to communicate. then maybe set the GW to 192.168.0.1, that should at least get me on the router by 192.168.0.1...possibly...?
 
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syadasti

syadasti

i heart mac
Apr 15, 2002
12,690
290
VT
Yes you can manually change the network IP configuration on your laptop when DHCP is turned off but if you made a mistake manually configuring the router you would not be able to connect to the router.

You reset routers typically by holding the reset button for 30 seconds or so.
 
$tinkle

$tinkle

Expert on blowing
Feb 12, 2003
14,591
6
no, b/c i bricked my POS router, which is fine, b/c i just found another one i had stashed away - a pk5000. so, i'm starting over w /this one.

changes so far:
- turn off mac authentication
- turn on ssid broadcast
- turn off dhcp

after those changes (but not rebooting the router) i have it now chained to my n-router via one of the available lan ports & so far it seems to be sufficient when testing from my vista laptop.

i have a feeling when i ever have to power cycle the 'main' router i may have to log onto the 'slave' router & assign an ip & dick around w/ the mask.

maybe i'll get lucky & this will 'just work'
 
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