Network Assistance

RubberDuckie · Post by **RubberDuckie** » Sun Mar 25, 2012 10:21 am

I have a situation I need a product for. I have my house wired and wireless. I have recently build a shop on my property. While in the shop I can not get my wifi from my house. I am running a single CAT5 cable to the shop to extend my network. What I would like is one wired connection for my security cameras and a wifi 'hotspot' in the shop. I would like for the shop to be on the same network and have access to all my drives and devices in the house on the main wireless-wired network.

I have spare hardware to get me going. Hub on the wire to the shop. CameraDVR to the hub and an old router on the Hub to provide wifi. However this setup is two devices and the wifi is not on the same network as the house because it is via a router.

Is there an all in one product that will give me a hotspot on the same network while still giving me at least one wired connection???

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Sun Mar 25, 2012 10:43 am

Yes, you have what you need, you just haven't configured the router properly. I am assuming that you have the WAN jack on the router connected to the "hub" (I assume it's actually a switch and not a hub since hubs are obsolete).

By connecting the router to the house network via the WAN jack, you are creating an isolated network for any device on the router. This is a what a router is supposed to do if you think about it - isolate your LAN from the WAN.

What you need to do is reconfigure the router as a wireless Access Point only. In this configuration you DO NOT connect anything to the WAN jack of the router (because you do not want to use the NAT router at all). You connect the router to your network via any of the 4 LAN ports. This may also eliminate the need for the switch/hub in the shop if the 3 remaining ports on the router are sufficient (less is best, and the more boxes you have connected just adds more points of failure).

Configuring the router as an access point is a bit tricky. Some fancy routers have a setting to do this automatically, but on most you have to do it yourself.

Procedure:

- Connect the router directly to a computer via one of the 4 LAN ports with NOTHING connected to the WAN port on the router (you must do this via a hard wire - NOT via wireless).

- Log into the router's control panel

- In the main setup menu disable the DHCP server on the router and click apply (we're doing this because you DO NOT want this router allocating IPs - you want the main router in the house doing that, and if there are two DHCP servers on the LAN they'll conflict).

- Change the IP address of the router to an IP on your existing network that is not in use AND is not in the range assigned by the main router's DHCP server. I personally like to make access points single digits on the network. So if your main router's IP is 192.168.1.1, make this access point router 192.168.1.2

- After you hit Apply you will probably lose connection to the router because the IP will have changed, and since DHCP is disabled your computer won't get assigned an IP. That's okay.

- Now connect the router to your main house network VIA ONE OF THE 4 LAN PORTS (do NOT use the WAN port! - just put a piece of tape over it).

- Disconnect your computer from the router and then reconnect it to force it to acquire DHCP. You should now be on the house network with all house shares visible whether you are on one of the LAN ports of the router, or connected via Wifi.

You can still log into the router's control panel via it's IP if you need to, as long as it's on the network so that your PC can acquire an IP via DHCP.

- If you want Wifi to work seamlessly between the house and the shop (carry a laptop or iPad from the house to the shop and have it stay connected without having to change Wifi networks) then use the same SSID name, the same encryption type, and the same Wifi passphrase on ALL your Wifi access points. Your Wifi devices will automatically switch between networks, without dropping if the networks overlap, just like your cell phone switches between cell towers

- Additionally, make sure you BURY that cable you ran from the house to the shop, at least 1 foot - 2 would be better. I would also HIGHLY recommend you install an RJ45 surge protector on one or both ends of the cable. That cable will act like an antenna for power surges from lightning. Not fun if it fries your whole network.

Some fancy power strips have RJ45 surge protectors built in or you can buy something like this:
http://www.amazon.com/QVS-Telco-DataLin ... B0050E0TFC

Hope this helps...

RubberDuckie · Post by **RubberDuckie** » Sun Mar 25, 2012 1:26 pm

Excellent. That is exactly what I was looking for. Now I can use the Router as a hub and hot spot in the shop. The CAT5 cable between the house and shop is buried and in conduit along with my cable adjacent to my power. They are not expose out side.

Thanks so much. I also did not know about having the same SSID and the devices pick up on the best signal automatically.....

Thanks again FP.

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Sun Mar 25, 2012 5:46 pm

When you use the same SSID & passphrase on all the Wifi networks then all the networks appear as one, and a device just automatically moves from one to the other depending on which has the strongest signal.

That's how large retail stores and corporate offices run their networks.

CaterpillarAssassin · Post by **CaterpillarAssassin** » Sun Mar 25, 2012 7:01 pm

FlyingPenguin wrote:When you use the same SSID & passphrase on all the Wifi networks then all the networks appear as one, and a device just automatically moves from one to the other depending on which has the strongest signal.

That's how large retail stores and corporate offices run their networks.

I didn't know that either. Thanks for that.

RubberDuckie · Post by **RubberDuckie** » Sun Mar 25, 2012 8:27 pm

It is up and working great. Thanks for the information.
Here is a photo of the shop - ManCave

Executioner · Post by **Executioner** » Sun Mar 25, 2012 8:58 pm

Damn duckie! That is a nice spread.