Setting up a second vodafone router as an access point

[paulvg]

I have had major problems with my broadband speeds.

But also my wifi speeds.

So i bought another Vodafone router, hoping to put it into access point mode. Connected to the main router with an ethernet cable.

(BOTH ROUTERS ARE VODAFONE)

Router 1: 

Has the WAN cable plugged in. (connected to internet)

set ip: 192.168.1.1

DCHP: 192.168.1.10 - 192.168.1.99

Router 2:

set ip: 192.168.1.2

DCHP: 192.168.1.100 - 192.168.1.120

I've set DCHP off, and on. 

I can ping Router 1 from Router 2 using the routers web status test page.

And they both show on the NAT table / connected list to each other.

Sometimes i see a page, showing me to connect the WAN cable to router 2.. Surely it should recognise it comes from Router 1. Or did i miss a setting?

One thing i considered was setting a gateway? but there is no option for this.

I am technically able, but not familiar with setting up access points before.

Thanks for any help.

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Okay, it should work.

You need to connect the second router to the first using an ethernet cable from a LAN port on router 1 to a LAN port on router 2.  Think of Router 1 as being in charge of the network, and so turn off the DHCP on router 2, let router one do al the work.  Once you've done that the remaining LAN ports on the second router will just act like a network hub, and you can set up the WiFi!

Now you may have seen me ranting against "splitting the SSIDs" as being used by tech support as the answer to life the universe and everything.  The reason being that while the supplied router is an unmittigated disaster, it's actually not bad at automatically assigning clients to best WiFi band!  However, your access point is not going to automatically be handing over clients on the fly!  So pick a variant SSID for the Access Point (but no need to split the SSIDs by band on the Access Point IMHO).  If the devices you are using are stationary they may just log on to the strongest signal anyhow (so you could in that scenario just use a single SSID for everything).  Once it's all set up you can even do a bit of load balancing either using the per router SSIDs or if you go for just a single SSID by using MAC filtering.  If it's feasible you may even want to consider having one router set up for just "N" WiFi and the other as "B/G/N" on the 2.4GHz and one as "AC" and the other as "A/N" on the 5GHz.

[paulvg]

Thanks for the reply.

It's helpful that you confirmed dchp should be off as I wasn't sure.

router 2 is plugged in on ethernet port to router 1 already though. And when I connect to router 2 on my laptop I don't get internet. And it also flashes it's big light, as of something is wrong. If I connect on my phone it says, confirm connection, then takes me to some page saying (and showing a picture) to plug in the wan cable.

It just refuses to give me internet access. And my laptop can't ping router 1. Though it can be printed on router 2 status page.

I kept the ssids separate for now. So I know I am connecting to the second. But did intend to mimic the main one eventually. I like the idea of different channels and Mac addresses to ensure it connects to the right one.

Is there an advantage to turning off b and g? I only use N and AC I think.

[Anonymous]

I'm probably missing something blindingly obvious here, as this should work!  While I no longer connect via my VF router I can turn it on remotely to check things out, and even use it as an Access Point (it's on right now).  And I can connect to my VF router's WiFi and still browse the web.

Daft idea, but turn your computers WiFi off and then back on and try again!

[paulvg]

I think it is me that missed something completely obvious. Not you.

Its working a charm! THANKS!

I bought two vodafone routers, so that I would have 2 access points.

The second one arrived today, so i just set this one up instead.

I followed your instructions and kept it as simple as possible. (incase its helpful to anyone else, below is what i did)

Plugged it in.
Connected via wifi.

Went to ip 192.168.1.1

Logged in.

Swapped ip to 192.168.1.3

and turned of DCHP. Apply changes.

Gave it a while, then turned it off and back on.

NOTE: Main router needs DCHP set to a range that Excludes the IP address of the extra router.

Im not entirely sure how i messed up the other one.

But I will reset it and start again.

Some odd occurances. Typing in 192.168.1.3 on my laptop currently, brings up my own Laptop web page. As i was origionally assigned it when i connected to the router. I have confirmed the router is 192.168.1.3 but i cannot actually get onto its router page anymore. Im sure a pc restart would sort that. Maybe that had confused me on my origional setup, if i wasnt getting though to config pages.

The other thing, is i origionally tried to set it up over powerlines then moved to direct ethernet. This time i started with direct ethernet. Although moving it onto powerlines once setup, it still works

No more dodgy WIFI around the house! And a cheaper solution than buying lots of wifi powerlines, considering I have ethernet powerlines already. As well, these routers support AC etc, which only the really expensive powerlines can do.

Thanks so much for your help, advice and knowledge. I've learned a few things

[HappyNomad]

I tried to set up my VF modem as a wifi off dhcp server with a Brightbox 2 router connected to handle the wifi... the purpose was to see if the Brightbox 2 delivered the same consistently good wifi that it did with EE and thus proving to myself that the VF wifi router is a piece of junk.

For some reason I failed twice to get it all working so it is now back on the 'factory reset' VF router with split SSIDs, 2.4GHz ch1 and google as the DNS.

Its not a big deal in that two routers could never be a permanent solution.

[Ollymkwdt]

Hi Paulvg and others,

I am attempting to setup exactly what you described. I have followed your steps and used the same settings for my Router 1 and 2.

I can now access internet on my access point (Router 2) via cable, but not WiFi. Any suggestions / ideas?

[andyandjen111]

OK I'm trying to use an old Vodafone connect Router as a Access Point via the Virgin Hub 3, however ive read conflicting info. Some say it can be done others say it can't. So does anyone really know.
So far I've set the Voda router with an ip address of 192.168.0.200 so it doesn't clash with the virgin hub and turned off DHCP. I've then ran the ethernet cable from the Virgin hub Lan port to a ethernet switch in the room with the dead spot, and then an ethernet cable to the Voda Lan port, however although I can see the Voda router it's saying no Internet connection and you cannot connect to it.
What am I missing and is there a setting I need to change on the Voda GUI page, or is it right that the old Vodafone connect router cannot be used as an Access point.

[Ripshod]

If you connect two router's LAN to LAN you turn the second router into a switch (if you're lucky). So it will have the same IP range served from the first router and you won't be able to login to the admin gui of the second router. It also means that whatever the settings on the second router they will be ignored by connecting this way. WiFi on the second router will likely not be usable.

Even if you connect the first router' s lan to the vf router's WAN it won't work. It doesn't even have an access point function to use. 

[azimmeghji]

hello - if you follow this can you name the ssid on the second router the same as the first and your laptop only needs to connect to this one SSID?