Using ADSL Modem/Router and another Router

[Vipersan]

I run my CAT6 cable from inside my man-cave (where the primary router is) through the loft, outside and into the living room. WiFi is OK for phones and stuff but it doesn't cut the mustard at all for more demanding applications.

I can go one better Alex..
I have a single run of Cat5e between my loft ..
Primary router ..to my shop 3 doors down ...
under the guttering that spans 3 houses in the terrace ..
I had to get permission of course from neighbours ..
but it does mean I dont have to pay for 2 x ISP ..
Sure I have some yorkshireman genes in the pool ..
lol

 

[PaulR]

Gosh, how long is that cable run? Must be close to the theoretical limit I would have thought. Possibly over - it is theoretical after all!

 

[archive10]

I assume the TV has an RJ-45 ethernet.
That would require only one ethernet cable to the tv, the STB would continue with Wifi.

But if cables are not an option, then there is the alternative that VS points to of getting a wifi bridge.
These are relatively rare as most devices have wifi built-in these days.
but you can get them on ebay from china.

Something like this:

MINI300 802.11 b/g/n 300Mbps Wifi Repeater Router Wifi Bridge USB Powered VDNS

About GBP 9 w. free shipping.

You will have to configure the device first using a pc with a lan cable, then move the bridge go connect to tv.

I have one here - it works ok.
Nothing mind-blowing, but works.
We considered selling one to the customers of one of our old STBs, which suffered from the same problem as you tv - no WiFi.
The makers of the chipset in the dongle simply stopped making the chip, and we couldn't get drivers for something else as the contract was terminated.
So we looked into the wifi bridge, and Vonets was the only real low-cost alternative usable.
In the end we dropped the plan - we introduced a new STB that has built-in wifi

 

[Vipersan]

Well Paul ..the buildings are roughly 6 mtrs wide ...
So 2 full houses ..and 2 half houses ..
So a rough estimate would be 20 mtrs plus the section which intrudes into each loft ..
another 3 mtrs -ish ..
total between router and shop switch 25 mtrs approx..
Then of course there are down cables from the shop switch (also in the loft) ..to the rooms ..
The longest is probably to my dads living room ...Cant confirm actual speeds ..but I can say my dad can watch an HD movie on his media player streamed from my server ..without pauses or interuption.

Not just about paying for 2 x ISP ...but also means I have 'contained' access to my servers..
rgds
VS

 

[Archive7]

I assume the TV has an RJ-45 ethernet.
That would require only one ethernet cable to the tv, the STB would continue with Wifi.

I want to free the USB connector on the VU+ for other uses so I will use the Ethernet connector there.
This is the main reason for doing all this.

 

[Archive7]

Something like this:

The VONET is interesting. Thanks for mentioning it.
As I will need more than one, then the TL-WR841N still gives me the best cost effective options.
Need to test it of course.

 

[pgh13]

It will not look good running four 10 meters LAN cables in a sitting room.
Women don't like cables in general. Need I say more?

"Is all that wire necessary?"

"Yes! There's wires to the LNBs, Wires to the TV. Wires to enable the internet. Anyway, it's all behind the unit so you can't see it."

But I know it's there!!!! :mad:

 

[Archive7]

"Is all that wire necessary?"

"Yes! There's wires to the LNBs, Wires to the TV. Wires to enable the internet. Anyway, it's all behind the unit so you can't see it."

But I know it's there!!!! :mad:

Lady judge: "Mrs. Watson, what is your reason for asking to divorce Mr. Watson?
Mrs. Watson: " Your honour, my husband has caused me a great deal of mental and emotional distress.
Would you believe it, he actually brought into our living room a monstrous looking piece of black rope that he called it a cable. He said this will make me enjoy television so much better than WiFi.
Lady Judge: " Oh no, not a category 6 cable I hope. Cheeky bu**er"
Mr. Watson: " I couldn't bear the shame of inviting my friends to come over and see this hideous looking rope.
If only it was in pink, to go with our wall paint, then I might not have been so distressed.
Lady Judge: " Mr. Watson, what have you got to say for yourself?
Mr. Watson: "Your Honour, I only did it because Mrs. Watson kept nagging me about how bad EastEnders keeps freezing".
Lady Judge: "Typical. Blame it on the victim."
Lady Judge: " Mrs. Watson, divorce is granted effective immediately".
Lady Judge: " Mr. Watson, I herby sentence you to death by hanging.
Rope is too good for you. The hangman will be instructed to use Category 6 cable. This is the only use cables are good for".

 

[Terryl]

No need to run 4 individual CAT 6 cables, just run one CAT 6 and use a 4 port (or larger) LAN switch at the end point, this will work fine.

I have one setup that gives me 200 connections (commercial building) from a single modem running into a 4 port router feeding several other routers (different departments) and switches, as long as your not going over 255 connections on the first router your set to go.

It would look something like this, 192.168.1.2 to 192.168.1.255 as far as the first ports go to any switch or PC/MAC, connecting other routers you can go 192.168.2.2 to 192.168.2.255 on the second router then each additional router you just change the third set of number to the next step up, you will also have to change the "Subnet Mask" to 255.255.254.0 to add a separate router/system, this would give you an additional 256 IP addresses for a total of 1024.

Changing the subnet mask to 240.0.0.0 would give you 240 million + IP address to work with

 

[Archive7]

No need to run 4 individual CAT 6 cables, just run one CAT 6 and use a 4 port (or larger) LAN switch at the end point, this will work fine.

Thanks for the suggestion, but I am trying to save my relative paying for the switch and as the ADSL Modem/Router has already 4 LAN ports (need only 2 ports), this is a cheaper solution.
But as already mentioned, using a LAN cable of about 8m is not an acceptable option by my relative.
Will order and test the TL-WR841N as it is available locally.

 

[Archive7]

I finally had the time to buy the TL-WR841N and to set it up in bridge mode.
It works really great at my relative, and I am very pleased that in the end I didn't need to use long LAN cables.

Few tips that might help if someone needs to do this.
Login in to http://192.168.0.1 user admin, p/w admin
1 - Have DHCP Disabled
2 - After selecting the modem/router that needs to be bridged from the Survey list, change the LAN IP to the same IP values,
otherwise you will not be able to login to the router menu again.
For example, the TL-WR841N default IP is 192.168.0.1 and the ADSL modem/router IP is 10.0.0.138
So the final step before rebooting was I changed the LAN IP to 10.0.0.150
After booting, I was able to login using user: admin p/w: admin
and then changed the user and p/w to new values for security reasons.
There is a newer model TL-WR940N which is almost 150% the price, but has better range.
Thanks to everyone for your help.