[Pegasus]

Alright, here's the situation I have right now: When I moved into this house as a roommate I bought an Airport Extreme Base Station, the older flying saucer model, which has worked very nicely during the two years I've had it. While my landlady has her iMac (older, with no airport) connected via ethernet cable, I have all my devices connected through wi-fi and my other roommate is doing the same with her lappy. The thing is, my other roommate is moving out within the next month, and the next person moving in insists on having his connection run via landline since he is doing a fair share of online business (frankly, I'm baffled about his worry about wireless connection, especially since we are located at a rather remote point of town). Problem is the old AEBS has only one ethernet port for an outgoing line to which my landlady is hooked up already.

So, the new roommates suggested getting another router to hook up in between the cable modem and my AEBS. As far as I have read up on things daisy-chaining routers like that could possibly lead to complications. So, the question is: how much would that really affect our network? I'm particularly concerned about my end of things since I'd be the only one in the house using the wireless access (and the daisy-chained Airport). Would it be okay to hook the Base Station directly into our cable modem and then just connect his router to the Airport and have my roommate and landlady running their lines into his router? What possible negative effects could that have on them?

I'm still weighing my options here. Sure, if adding an inexpensive router to the mix would work just fine I would have no problem with it, but it would be nice to find out about possible complications beforehand. Yes, I have also considered simply acquiring the newest version of the AEBS, which would completely resolve the situation, yet I'm not sure I want to spend $180 if the same goal can be achieved for much less.

I just want to know how feasible it would be to a run a two-router network without complications. If it is feasible what router would you suggest? Any help would be much appreciated.

[teflon]

you can just run their cables straight into the modem, and thatll be fine.
I dont think theyll be part of the airport network in any sense, so not visible in the finder, but should you need you, you should be able to find them using their DHCP assigned IP addresses. Thats pretty much the only negative. So long as your modem is fairly secure (though nothing really is) and thyve got firewalls and ports stealthed etc. etc. they should be fine for internet security, and you dont have to spend on a pointless piece of equipment.

his fear of wireless is a bit weird though. all you need to do is add WPA and MAC address filtering, even turn off SSID and nothings getting through unless hes being specifically targeted. And being wired isnt going to help him one jot if hes being singled out...

[bobbob]

Pegasus, on March 31st 2009, 12:09 AM, said:

daisy-chaining routers like that could possibly lead to complications

The outer one should run like usual, the inner one should have DHCP and NAT turned off. Basically, you could put a switch there instead.

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Would it be okay to hook the Base Station directly into our cable modem and then just connect his router to the Airport and have my roommate and landlady running their lines into his router?

Turn off DHCP on his router, hook all the ethernet cables to the LAN-side of his router, and you might get away without turning off NAT. It should act as a switch for the LAN-side traffic. If his router has enough ports you could hook yours into his, too, either way should work.

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What possible negative effects could that have on them?

You're wasting wireless! It's a travesty.

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I just want to know how feasible it would be to a run a two-router network without complications. If it is feasible what router would you suggest? Any help would be much appreciated.

Usually people asking about that are talking about something more complicated. For example, I have two routers that blanket my place with one wireless network, myself. I have the cable modem and network printer on one, desktop on another, laptops anywhere in between.

teflon, on March 31st 2009, 03:19 AM, said:

you can just run their cables straight into the modem, and thatll be fine.

My modem has only one ethernet jack, and most providers limit the addresses they'll hand out to known equipment. It's probably easier to hook everything up (somehow) to one router.

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all you need to do is add WPA and MAC address filtering, even turn off SSID and nothings getting through

Fixed that for you.

[teflon]

bobbob, on March 31st 2009, 06:32 PM, said:

My modem has only one ethernet jack, and most providers limit the addresses they'll hand out to known equipment. It's probably easier to hook everything up (somehow) to one router.

oh yeah, I got a non-existent implied built in router for Pegasus' modem...
Silly me.

Anyway, I dont see any problems with having a second router daisy chained. The only thing youve got to look out for is IP addresses. Most routers tend to use 192.168.1.1 or 10.0.1.1, and a couple 192.168.0.1 and then distribute IP addresses to clients by switching the last number. Im not sure, cos Ive never tried it out, but youd probably want to make sure that each stage of the chain has got a distinct IP address which cant possibly conflict with the other.

Am I just confusing things?

[Pegasus]

I actually went downtown to the local Mac store here, since their employees are fairly tech-savvy. What I was told is pretty much what bobbob has mentioned, to turn the other router into a switchbox by turning off DHCP and NAT. As far as I know, my new roommate has already acquired his router. I just hope I won't run into any complications, regardless.

Thank you for the input, though. I am a bit inexperienced with home networks since I never had to bother with one until I moved into this house.

[bobbob]

teflon, on March 31st 2009, 03:19 PM, said:

Im not sure, cos Ive never tried it out, but youd probably want to make sure that each stage of the chain has got a distinct IP address which cant possibly conflict with the other.

Am I just confusing things?

Oh, yeah. I forgot about that. Also make sure the subnets match.

[PeopleLikeFrank]

If you set one router to bridge mode, it won't try to assign a different IP structure, and unique IPs shouldn't be a problem. I did this with an AE base-station with someone who got a modem that does the DHCP itself.

But I'm a bit confused as to why he'd want another router to do the job? All you need is a switch connected to the AEBS, to expand the number of available ports (which, as mentioned above, is what another router would effectively become in bridge mode).

[bobbob]

nobody, on April 1st 2009, 12:51 PM, said:

I'm a bit confused as to why he'd want another router to do the job?

If he's got one already it's kind of a waste to buy a bridge. I know a cheap router isn't much more than a switch, and would serve much better if I ever move out and need a router. Or, maybe, he wants a VPN or something.

[Greg Gant]

Pegasus, on March 31st 2009, 08:37 PM, said:

I actually went downtown to the local Mac store here, since their employees are fairly tech-savvy. What I was told is pretty much what bobbob has mentioned, to turn the other router into a switchbox by turning off DHCP and NAT. As far as I know, my new roommate has already acquired his router. I just hope I won't run into any complications, regardless.

Thank you for the input, though. I am a bit inexperienced with home networks since I never had to bother with one until I moved into this house.

Yup, Its pretty easy to add a WAP to an existing network with a functioning DHCP server and router, but maybe I skipped over this but the Airport has one port out? Why not just get a switch (just make sure it has an uplink port or port detection). If I recall right you live in the same town, the Mac Store is a bit pricy for network gear, and with only Best Buy, the usual office stores, just order a switch on newegg. Something like this should do you fine...

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16833122005