Two routers on my home network

I'm trying to configure my home network with the recent addition of a wireless router fro NetGear. The current situation is a linksys router coming out of the cable modem that feeds into three computers. We want to add the wireless router so that we can also have the wireless going on, but we need to keep the wired computers going because we like the faster connection speeds and because we don't get great reception all over the house from the wireless broadcaster. In fact, we definitely cannot just replace the wired linksys router with the NetGear wireless router because the reception is very poor in some rooms. (I think because there is stucco attached to metal on the walls; but thats just what they tell me...)

Here are my questions:

Is it possible to have two routers working well together and be able to share files across computers underneath both routers? Thats the whole point of this exercise, actually... We don't currently have a domain, but we've had success sharing files through a common workgroup previously under the single linksys wired router.

I think the trick is to get the subnets setup correctly and this is where I'm having the most difficulty mostly because I'm very confused by the whole subnet thang. I'm pretty technical but not the most technical, but ultimately I'm SO frustrated because I can't figure this out. Under my current configuration the computers under the wireless router seem to be able to connect to the net sometimes and the ones directly out of the wired router sometimes, but never all of them all the time. And I read somewhere that it was impossible to share files under different routers, but I wanted to get a second opinion.

Very sorry this is so wordy. All help is HUGELY appreciated. Thanks for reading this far if you made it through... Billy

 

Clarify!

Is it really a wireless router or access port!

Sounds to me like you have a Router/switch hooked up now. So the proper way to do it is wireless access points not another router.

But yes, 2 routers will coexist, if they wouldn't corporate america would be up the creek and we would have no internet as it is today.

Basicly they need to be introduced to each other by giving each the others IP number and a couple of other settings.

Give more details as to what you have now (names model numbers, free ports) etc.

Mike

 

Return the Netgear and get this . They are on sale at radio shack for 89.00 plus a 10.00 rebate from linksys.
Take your old Linksys and sell it.

 

Thanks, mflynn and ssmith-

It really is a wireless router. It comes from NetGear and the model is MR814. The Linksys router is the BEFSR41 v2.

The Cable Modem plugs into the Linksys' WAN connection. I have three wires coming out of that device. Two go to computers downstairs (one running XP and one running Win2000) and the third wire wends its way upstairs (through the basement and then outside the house) where it is currently plugged into the computer in my room. We'd like to have it plug directly into the Netgear MR814, and then have my computer directly connect to one of the MR814's four connections. Additionally there is a laptop with a wireless receiver that we'd like to be able to move around the house. The laptop is running '98 to keep things interesting [and because its very old with only 32megs RAM ]

I'm not doing anything fancy right now as far as port forwarding goes, but it would be nice to. We absolutely need to be able to share files and printers across the computers across the routers as well...

Our internet service provider is Comcast. The IP is lamentably DHCP delivered. I'm thinking it will make sense to have the Linksys NOT run DHCP, but that it would be OK for the MR814 wireless router to run DHCP.

I did look around on the net for answers before posting, and I'm genuinely interested in learning how all of this works but everything I've seen so far has been very confusing. Any suggested reading for the TCP/IP novice?

Sflynn - I don't think that I can just sell the old linksys router because I need to be broadcasting from a particular room in the house that is far away from the cable modem's wire. Maybe I could put a switch between the cable modem's line and all the other lines but then the router wouldn't come into the picture until way later and it seems like the router has to come between the cable modem and all of the connections underneath the routers network... (maybe not true? )


Again - huge thanks for the help.

 

I just looked at the Netgear product you have. It will simply replace your BSFR41. The Netgear has 4 wired ports plus wireless.
The Netgear can hand out IP addresses to 254 nodes with that box so you don't need 2 routers in your home.
If you need more than 4 wired ports just get a cheap switch to give you more ports.

If you think the Netgear antenna will be too far away from where you want to use wireless service then we will need to re think this.

Oh, and one more thing,
An Access point would hook to one of your wires of your choosing and then deliver wireless service to your PC.

I feel strongly that 2 home based routers in one network may be beyond the capability of those routers. It's not a Sisco.


Mike, jump in here if you want to.

 

wnoto - in your original post you said, "And I read somewhere that it was impossible to share files under different routers, but I wanted to get a second opinion. ".

This isn't an opinion. It's a fact. You can for sure share files using a large number of routers if you are set up correctly.

The trick is that routers route. So PCs connected via a router MUST be on different networks and the routers must know details.

But for your situation as I understand it, you should limit yourself to a single router that will pass network traffic from your ISP to your internal network and from your network to the ISP. Trying to set your LAN up with multiple networks using the SOHO router/switch devices is just needless aggravation.

But if you really want to try it, the simplest would be to use a couple of private networks in the 192.168.x.x range with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0. If you do that than any change in the 3rd octet will be a different network. For instance, 192.168.0.x (where x is any number from 1 to 253) and 192.168.1.x will do the job and you can have up to 253 PCs on each of your networks.

 

Thanks for all the help everyone. Following your collective wisdom I'm going to return the netgear router, get an access point and simple switch and call it a day.

I really appreciate the help and the time.

Thanks!