trying to use a second router to connect printer to main router
 

[sorry for the garbled heading, but I'm finding it hard to explain what I'm trying to do, which is making a google search for help useless].

In the old house, I had our main router which was connected to fibre broadband in the office, so I was able to plug an old desktop and a non-wireless printer straight into the LAN ports on the back ... instant network, and I could print wirelessly from my laptop.

In the new house, there is no phone jack in the office, so the router is under the bed (don't ask!). I have a spare Belkin router from a while ago, that I'd like somehow to connect up wirelessly to the main router, and then put that in the office next to the old desktop and printer and have everything the way it was before.

Is this possible? I think certainly yes, but is it possible for a layperson to get it to work? From my googling, I came upon things like flashing DD-WRT updates to the router, which I think that I could probably do, if all the instructions weren't written for people who already know what they're doing...

If it makes a difference, the laptop and desktop are both running W7 Pro, and the Belkin router is an 'n wireless modem router'.

Any help appreciated, before I go and buy a cheap wireless card for the desktop and a wireless module for the printer (maybe $75 for the pair).

Thanks

You'll have to be careful here. It sounds like your second router is meant to link your home network to your modem. If so that means it has network address translation capability and will act as a DHCP host, assigning IP addresses to the devices on your network.

In the context you are attempting to use it this is utterly unacceptable, the results will be erratic and hard to troubleshoot. You must never have two DHCP devices on your network and having two NAT devices on your network is something for experts only.

If you can turn off these capabilities and simply use it as a pure router what you are trying to do should work. I have no idea whether your particular unit can. Unfortunately, there's a lot less demand for simple bridges so they tend to cost more than routers that have every bit of their capability.

That's great, thanks guys. Just telling me that i'm trying to make a 'wireless bridge' helps in googling to try and get a simple 'how to'. Loren, I had read somewhere that I needed to turn off the DHCP function on the second router, so now I know that I also need to turn off the NAT function as well.

I'll have a go at this next week and report back how I get on.

If you find yourself unable to make your existing second router work (or decide it isn't fun to learn networking and would just like to have your printer up and running), I would recommend buying a WiFi Extender like the one below for $26 that also does wireless bridging and has full customer support to get it configured. You will also extend your wireless network in the process!

Okay, I hadn't thought of that option, thanks. I need two wired ports (printer and desktop), so that one you linked wouldn't work (and I need a UK plug). Can anyone help out with the difference between a LAN jack and a WAN jack? Amazon locally has this which looks like it would do the trick but its two wired ports are 1 x LAN and 1 x WAN....can i use them both for local dumb devices?

LAN is for your local devices which can connect without internet access. WAN will be for your internet connection. The top portion of the third image shows the WAN being used.

Thanks TGarza - so if I'm wanting to connect this router/access point wirelessly to my main router (which is connected to the fibre broadband), and plug both a printer and a desktop into it, I need 2 x LAN ports... so would something work ?

Is the new house, um, new? (Like in the last 20 years.) If so, then powerline ethernet is also an option. Not sure of your printing demands, but investing in new wireless printers would also solve the problem. :)

Or just buy the NetGear switch in the suggested pairing to use with your existing device. I am no network expert but I have run a cable and used a similar NetGear switch. You could use the switch with the powerline ethernet option suggested above.

I have a powerline ethernet + switch (actually just an old wireless router with the wireless turned off) solution in my basement for the XBox, blu-ray player, and Roku. It's finicky, but I think I need better powerline equipment.

I'd do this:
Ethernet over your power lines:

One at the router, one where the printer is. EDIT TO CLARIFY: You don't need two kits. One kit comes with two modules. One module goes by the printer, the other by the router.

Then, to get your 2nd port at the place where your printer is (one for the PC, one for the printer) use a switch:

You'll use one port on the switch to hook up to your powerline adapter, and then have four remaining. Two to use, and two spare in case you need them. You can go with an 8 port switch for not much more money if you need more future-proofing.

You could use your Belkin router in place of the switch, but you'll have to make sure you turn the DHCP server off and only use the LAN ports.

There's also the option of running a cable instead of using the power line adapter... Ehternet is good for up to 100m. But that might involve drilling holes and/or having a cable snaking around which you might not find acceptable.

As to your question - WAN is Wide Area Network, or the Internet. LAN is Local Area Network, or your house. Residential 'routers' are actually a Wireless Access Point (WAP), a firewall with Network Address Translation (NAT) capabilities, a DHCP server, an Ethernet switch, a router, and sometimes a traffic-shaping quality-of-service (QoS) appliance all in one box. The LAN to WAN layer passes through the firewall. Usually the firewall will reject unsolicited outside traffic coming in on the WAN port, and keep track of what is talking on the WAN side. Since it's tracking what requests are made from the WAN side, it can send expected traffic coming in from the WAN side to the correct LAN port when it arrives. So if you're using a router as a local device, this could wind up acting like a one-way valve in your network, so the printer can talk to devices but not the other way around, or vice-versa. That can cause some frustrating and weird problems if you're not sure how the network is set up and/or why it's acting funny. Things on LAN ports don't need to go through the firewall when they're talking to each other

It is often the case that the WAN port gets configured as a LAN port in Wireless bridge mode (since the "WAN" is now over wireless). Though I could not find a user guide for this device, reviewer MS on the Amazon page seems to indicate that this is in fact what is happening and he has two wired devices successfully connected.

Hi

You will not be able to use the WAN connection : that is only to connect to the Internet.

Check if your router can be setup in client mode. This way you can simply connect your printer and other devices on the lan outputs. You should disable the DHCP server to avoid any conflict on the network.

If you are unable to setup your current router in Client mode you can look at travel routers. All of them are able to do so. If you need one with 2 lan ports you can refer to this model :

I used an older Netgear router. Turned off DHCP (and any other router type functions I could find, though I don't recall if there were any). I connected an ethernet cable from the main router to one of the output jacks (don't use the jack that connects to the modem when you're using it as a router). The thing just acts like a switch, but of course it has wireless capability.

I set it up for channel 11 (the main router uses channel 6) and a different ID (forget what it's called, and I don't know if it's necessary. It also has its' own static ip address).

Since most routers also have 4 ethernet connections, I have 3 left over for printers, etc.

I see no reason why it can't be used to connect wirelessly to your existing router, but if you had a good signal where your printers are, you wouldn't need this in the first place.

I have a box full of old routers - if I had to buy something, I'd most likely get one of the devices specifically designed for this purpose, as mentioned upthread