I am with TalkTalk for broadband and I have just renewed my contract with them.
Received my new router in the post yesterday , and I thought OOHH, I will run the old one downstairs to boost the signal. But NO, they cancel each other out.
Is there a way to get round this problem.
Brad.

http://www.ehow.com/how_6830480_convert-range-booster-new-router.html

Thanks for that.
Brad.

If that doesn't work ^ i bought a TP-link TL-WA730RE as a range extender. works perfectly. was about £25 from amazon.
take a tiny bit of computer knowlege to get it working right, first thing to do is update the firmware.

2 routers on 1 line doesn't work. its like having 3 people on the phone (2 routers 1 server, thats not like 2 girls 1 cup btw)
2 of these people are shouting down the phone line, no way the 3rd is going to understand anything

If only it was that easy as turning off dhcp At the very least they have to on the same ip range!! However give a few routers now have Repeater mode which will do the trick, so log into either of the routers and see if either of them mention repeater mode if so use that one downstream of the main router.

That said most routers that are sent out by telco companies have custom firmware that have all the sexy bits removed

Cheers

R

Hmmmmm.... interestingly it does work in my house! I've got the Virgin standard issue router in the living room which provides one wireless network (that doesn't reach the garage) and it also has 4 Cat5 cables plugged into it which lead to various different rooms in the house. In one of these rooms upstairs I have a basic D-Link router plugged into the socket and it provides another wireless network which does reach the garage. I just turned the d-link on and there it was, no messing about with dhcp or any of the other indecipherable stuff associated with wireless networks!

Obviously it doesn't 'boost' the signal as such it just extends the range but there is no difference in speed etc etc if the d-link is plugged in or not. I must admit I was surprised it worked so easily but it did

Edited to say: having re read the original post I'm possibly not doing quite the same thing you're trying but it might be an option



[Edited on 24/2/12 by D Beddows]

The correct route is an external wireless access point, and the TP-Link range are very good, amazing at the price even.

These routers are build down to a very low price and are full of compromises - and talk-talk were at the bottom of that. Going for a seperate access point and turning off the wireless access point in the router is the right way ahead.

A good analogy is hi-fi seperates - use a dedicated box for the appropriate task. In doing this, you are also taking the load of the CPU in the router, so you will see a small shift in performance as a result.

A router's job is to work out which traffic needs to go where, and how to get it there, as well as provide rudimentary defence at the border for you. So, when you print to your printer or stream to your telly, it knows (logically) where each device is and sends the traffic there but not onto the internet. Similarly, when you turn your browser onto private in order to buy your significant other a present, it knows to send that traffic out to the internet, and to direct the response back to your laptop.

Two routers on the same network will cause chaos - if they both have DHCP turned on (which is the protocol to hand out IP addresses to those that ask for them) you could find multiple devices being assigned the same IP address (one from each router) and then neither will work. It could be that both routers come configured with the same IP address, and they will squabble and could be that both don't work.

I recently upgraded my MIL and sister in saw's networks with TP-Link devices and the changes were dramatic. My SIL went from coverage in only 3 rooms downstairs to being able to stream video all round the house.

£25. You know it makes sense.

I have two of these wireless BT Homehub ones do you think it may work with these?

In the past I have run a 2x normal netgear wireles modem routers (with only one connected to the broadband) connected both together with a simple cat5e ethernet cable. the 2nd one with just switched the DHCP off.

I had to have both with different wireless SSID's but your devices should be capable of being setup for both then it picks the strongest signal.

Whenever i've used a router as a repeater, i've gone in there and disabled the router function - most will allow you to do this - it's not good practice to have two competing devices on the same network.

If your home-hubs have ethernet ports then that's all you need to plug the wireless access point in. The TP-Link devices will also run with power-over-IP, so you can power it down the ethernet cable (check when purchasing). I doubt the home-hub can provide the power - it's not normal for a domestic device, but there are devices to inject the power, as it were. It means you can site your access point in the best place for the signal and not have to worry about routing power to it.

If you can find out if the home-hub can have the router function disabled then you could use it as an access point (cabled together). Two access points will present two separate networks, whereas a repeater only presents one network. Not much of a difference for home use but when managing a corporate estate, you only want one visible network with one set of credentials to manage it.

I hope that helps, rather than confuses. Saying that, if you cable it all together and have a go, there's not much you can damage. You can always unplug it and factory-reset (noting your adsl credentials first).

Both the routers probably have the same '192.168.1.1' value, I have a TP link 841blahblahblah in my room connected via ethernet to a virgin media superhub downstairs, the superhub is 192.168.0.1 and my tp is 192.168.1.1 so it works.