Why Would You Want To Connect Two Routers Together?
Often when you buy a wireless router you will find that your wireless signal does not stretch throughout your house, or that when too far away from the router your connection becomes too weak to use properly.
This can be a huge problem especially if you have multiple people or devices needing to use your connection throughout your home.
There are many ways to fix this problem, including buying a router with extended range or buying a Wi-Fi range extender.
Another option to solve this problem is to daisy chain two routers together. This means to connect two routers together using a wired connection.
By doing this you will be able to connect to the same network using two different routers which therefore increases the signal strength throughout your house. This is especially useful if you have an old router or two lying about the house as it means it doesn’t cost anything extra.
In the rest of this article we will explain a little more on daisy-chaining.
How to Daisy Chain Two Wireless Routers Using Wires
What Do You Need?
- A router (Wi-Fi optional)
- A second router (Wi-Fi optional)
- Ethernet cable
You don’t need much equipment to daisy chain your router, if you ever have to upgrade your router it is worth keeping your old one around just in case you ever want to use your old one in a daisy chain.
Step By Step Instructions To Daisy Chain Your Routers
Daisy chaining your routers together is a relatively simple process.
How To Daisy Chain Routers
This guide assumes you have a wireless network setup already (router one) and you want to connect another wireless router (router two) to this network via wired Ethernet.
Router 2 will be the router that you are using to extend your network.
It might be a good idea to reset router 2 if you don't know its settings.
1. Firstly connect your computer to router two.
2. Then log into router 2 and configure its settings. To do this follow the instructions that come with your router, or simply type your router's IP address into your web browser.
It might be a good idea to reset router 2 if you don't know its settings!
3. You then need to disable DHCP on router 2. DHCP stands for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol and it is the protocol that assigns all the devices on your network an IP address. This needs to be disabled on your second router as your first router is the one that will assign IP addresses to the devices on your network (using DHCP).
You might even need to do this before connecting router 1 & 2 together
Disabling DHCP on router 2 is a very important step. If you don't there is a very good chance your local network will have issues!
4. Next you need to go to the first router and find out the subnet it uses and the range of IP addresses that it assigns within DHCP. For example, 192.168.0.100 thru 192.168.0.254 or 10.0.0.100 thru 10.0.0.254
Most home routers use 192.168.0.0 255.255.255.0 as a subnet. Router 1 will likely be 192.168.0.1, but it may be different.
This guide can help you to find out your router's internal IP.
5. Once you know this, you can assign your second router a static IP address out of this range, but within router 1's subnet. This is usually done in the LAN settings tab of your second router.
Make sure both routers use the same network mask. This is usually 255.255.255.0 or /24
So for example, if router 1 uses 192.168.0.1 as its internal IP, it might be a good idea to use 192.168.0.2 as the LAN IP for router 2. Just make sure no other devices on your network use this address.
You can do this by opening up a Command Prompt (by typing CMD in the Start Menu) and typing 'ping 192.168.0.2' - making sure that it returns 'Request times out' 4 times.
6. Now you simply need to connect router 2 to a LAN port on router 1.
Nice one! Now you should be able to plug in network devices into router 2. They should pick up any setting up from router 1 via DHCP.
You can also enable wifi on the second router. Just make sure the wifi is on a non-overlapping channel if you know router 1 & router 2 wifi networks are going to cross over each other.
Also make sure they have the same WLAN SSID (wireless network name) and security settings.
Our guide on channel bandwidths might help you with this
7. If you need to log into router 2 for any reason, just open a web browser and type in the IP address that you assigned to the router in step 5. This should allow you to connect to the router.
8. Now you are connected to your router you just need to assign the router a password as you would do for any other router. Here you can also adjust any of your settings if needed.
A Pretty In-Depth Video On Connecting 2 Wifi Routers
And that is the end for our guide on how to daisy chain two wireless routers. It is a fairly simple and very useful way to extend the range of your wireless network.
You can also download our guide on how to set up a wireless router and home network for free here.
If you have found this guide useful please click the share buttons!
For new users, please note on Step 6 it says “Any LAN port” as in DO NOT TRY TO USE YOUR PREVIOUS ‘Internet’ PORT or it won’t work. You can put a piece of tape over that port as it will no longer be needed
Thanks Chris. Yes, that’s certainly an option!
So if router one’s IP is 192.168.0.1 and I set up router to to be 192.168.0.2 with DHCP turned off on it, what DHCP IP range shout be set for router 1? This is the bit the confuses me, and no guide on the internet makes it clear.
Is it necessary to make sure that the DHCP IP range of router 1 does or does not include router 2’s IP address in its range e.g., if router 2 has an IP 192.168.0.2, should router 1’s DHCP range be 192.168.0.3 – 192.168.100 or should it be 192.168.0.2 – 192.168.100?
Someone should write a guide that shows exactly how one has both routers set up exactly, including all IPs etc. so there is no question of any misunderstanding.
Hi Dom,
Thanks for asking.
You were correct with the former statement – “should router 1’s DHCP range be 192.168.0.3 – 192.168.100”
I would recommend applying the DHCP range as 192.168.0.10 thru 192.168.0.254 for example. Basically, your two routers SHOULD NOT be in the DHCP range.
Hope this helps!
Very nicely explained.
The only thing i feel might need clarifying, is the physical connection between the 2 modems.
If the second modem has a WAN port, i assume it should be this port that should be connected to one of the ethernet ports on modem 1 using a standard patch lead ?
If however the second modem does not have a WAN port, i presume you can connect between any port on modem 2 and any ethernet port on modem 1, but using a “Crossover” lead instead ?
Hi George,
No, you connect to router two using one of the LAN ports (there are usually four). If you connect to the WAN port, you’ll run into NATing issues. You don’t want to go there!
how much more range does this add,any rough estimate
Would depend on a few different factors…
Position within the house (the signal can reflect along some walls)
The shape and direction of the antennas and the bandwith.
For example usually the faster the signal speed the less “punch through” on materials it has.
Other wave generating technology can also interfere with your local wifi such as the microwave if its too close to the source or in between the modem and the end user machine.
Router 3 now setup. Ethernet to Router 2. All works but I’m trying to change the SID name and can not figure out how to get to the settings again. Lan port to lan port on modem. internet off. 192.168.1.219 (new IP on #3). No joy.
Excellent guide – very complete and very clearly presented. Thank you. One question: When you enter the network name(s) – I think you had something like “FamilyNetworkDadG” and “FamilyNeworkDadN” – when configuring the access point, are those different from the network names assigned when configuring the primary router? I suppose the question could be asked from the point of view of connecting devices in different areas of the house – if I’m closer to the primary router would I use its name and when closer to the access point use its (different) name?
Hi, is it possible to have router 2 with a different SID? so i can have 2 wifi networks work & play but have 1 broadband connection. Or is that a whole new ball game?
Excuse my ignorance, but I’m after some extra wired ports from my router.
I assume connecting an old router to my current one, as described above, will allow me to use the remaining LAN ports on the 2nd router?
I dont need to extend the wifi range, so would probably diable that on the 2nd router.
Great explanation, thanks. Can you still use the LAN pots on the slave router? I need more lan ports rather than wireless rang extension. Many thanks.
Yes, shouldn’t be a problem
So the WLAN will be changed to the same for both routers – will each device on the network jump to the one with the best signal?
Doesn’t work. Never got the email.
This is the best guide so far, but still has huge holes in it.
This is the best guide so far, but still has huge holes in it.
1. My router1 is 192.168.1.1
What should I assign to router2?
2. How do I know the address range of router1? I have many IPs in use. When I query with ipconfig, it only tells me MY IP. Using a network utility app, they seem to range 192.168.1.XXX. It’s using 255.255.255.0
3. I reset router2. Got into setup. It’s asking for DNS. What’s that?
It’s asking for internet IP. What’s that?
So I’m stuck there. I can’t save any settings to the router2 due to missing data.
Oh, and what’s IPv4?
v) Connect Together
Connect the two routers via an Ethernet cable (all the way through, or to Powerline adapters) using one of the LAN ports. Do not use the WAN port. The only WAN port that should be used is the one on the Primary router – which you will be using to connect to the Internet.
v) Connect Together
Connect the two routers via an Ethernet cable (all the way through, or to Powerline adapters) using one of the LAN ports. Do not use the WAN port. The only WAN port that should be used is the one on the Primary router – which you will be using to connect to the Internet.
So, router1 LAN port to router2 LAN port? I thought it was router2 WAN (internet) port.
So, I reset and configured router2.
I’m connected hard wire via patch cord.
router1 is 192.168.1.1 I made router2 192.168.1.2.
I disabled DHCP and saved. It worked! I logged out and in a couple times.
20 minutes later I attempted to get back in to set the channel (router1 is 153) and I can’t access router2
browser says; unable to reach site
windows says; Ethernet Doesn’t Have A Valid IP Configuration.
I guess I’ll have to reset and try again.
Question:
Router2 asks; internet connection type.
I have it set to Auto DHCP. This worked(able to save), but now I’m locked out.
I HAD it set to Static(which I read was correct), but kept getting error that WAN and LAN IPs were the same. NO TWO items on the screen were the same!
To configure static, I need internet IP, subnet mask, gateway and DNS.
(the sub is 255.255.255.0)
Under Network, I have it set to 192.168.1.2 and 255.255.255.0
What do you do if your default gateway is blank
These instructions gave me trouble.
What you’re doing is creating a New IP Address for the Access Point Router.
I got confused by the term “static IP address.” Ignore the items in router setup with that designation. What you’re changing is the Access Point’s IP Address, which on my LinkSys router setup page is right at the top.
I also had a problem with identifying the acceptable IP address range of my Primary Router, which you have to know in order to select the new IP address you’re going to give the Access Point. Online instructions (like CNET article on converting an old router to access point) were wrong for my TP-Link Primary Router.
I formed an IP address from the Address Range stated by my Primary Router itself in one of its setup screens available via browser. From that range, you select a new IP Address and you give that address to the Access Point.