connecting two routers (1 Viewer)

ShiftZZ

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Ive found some spare BT routers, the main router at home isnt strong enough to cover the whole house tried pass-through but some plugs are on different mains rings

Has anyone liked two/thee BT routers together using wifi?
 

GJH

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I've never done it but there are one or two articles on the Internet about how to do it.
Is there a need though? Don't BT guarantee whole house coverage with a Mesh system under their contract?
There are several of Mesh systems on the market. We have had a Tenda MW3 system installed for about 18 months or so and it works fine with our VM network.
 
R

Robert Clark

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We use BT home hub mesh Wi-Fi disks
Only one needs a connection to the router and one password works on all of them.

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Boris7

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Assuming you cannot run an eithernet cable between the two it will come down to the actual router models.

You may be better looking to move the existing router to a better spot, and make sure the 2.4 channel is turned on, or you could take out a new BT contract and get complete broadband, which in theory makes it BT’s headache (GJH, no such guarantee on existing contracts)

Or swop to a better router, I’m installing Draytek vigors at the moment and they seem to have a good range through thick walls.

Your best bet is Ubiquiti but you’ll need deep pockets.

We use BT home hub mesh Wi-Fi disks
Only one needs a connection to the router and one password works on all of them.

On any router you can set the network name and password so use the same on multi routers and your devises will just connect we have the same network name and passwords in both our houses, the office, the barn and the Motorhome so if you buy a new devise you only need to tell it once
 
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The routers need to be put into access point (AP) mode then wireless bridge mode I believe. As above, lots on Google and YouTube. Search for your specific router model though.

Alternatively, there are plugin wifi boosters around that might offer a simpler way to replicate what you want to do with your old routers.
 
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We just use a WiFi extender to get the WiFi out to the summer house it works well

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Generally the method is as Andacami says above, but it is dependent upon the specific router, if they can be connected by Ethernet rather than wireless then much easier and better.

We used to do this as WiFi was useless round the house but found it unsatisfactory also tried powerline with WiFi 🤔. The issue was switching access points as we moved round the house just not seemless and there were always weak spots, ended up putting in more Ethernet cable but this was always tricky and a bit messy.

Eventually just bought the BT WiFi Premium mesh boxes, 3 of them, absolutely excellent solid WiFi with seemless access throughout house. Supports alot of connected devices.
 

andy63

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Ive found some spare BT routers, the main router at home isnt strong enough to cover the whole house tried pass-through but some plugs are on different mains rings

Has anyone liked two/thee BT routers together using wifi?
Hi dave ..I know I'm not actually answering your question..I did look into connecting a couple routers together to extend coverage in the house but in the end went for what I thought was a much simpler solution ..
I bought a wifi extender..its powered from a socket and connected to the main router wireless.. used the wps function so very easy to set up..
Plugged in on the upstairs landing and I now get coverage upstairs where before it often dropped out..
20201029_072150.jpg
 

sallylillian

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Just faced the same dilemma and ordered an ASUS AX mesh package rather than try to make and do with old routers or even new ones for that matter. I am fortunate to have had some CAT6 cabling installed over the 3 storeys of our house some time back which has supported a dual router system in AP mode but I have had enough of the drop outs.

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kevenh

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It’s harder with two routers than a router and bridge/extender

Maybe one of your devices can operate as a bridge/extender

And in the setup you’d only want the main router to have the dhcp ip address creator role enabled. Disabled on thebridge/extender role device.

That’s a high level summary of what I did.
Err! More on the internet search engine 😳

edit. Missed an auto correct on ip to up!
 
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tonka

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Another vote for using a mesh system. We have the Tenda.
Used mains extenders, wifi extenders and even BT routers set to Access points in the past. And the Mesh has been the best and easiest,
 

AndyPK

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It is possible, but can be a real pain to set up, and not worth the saving over installing a Mesh system, IMHO.
Do you know if the ‘spare’ routers work, and what Wi-fi version they are too? :unsure:

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We have a long house, and were on bt and couldn't get a very good signal in some parts no matter how many extenders we used, well long story short, my son came to live with us and wanted sky, so ok you pay for it, no problem, well I don't know exactly what contract he is on but we now have sky TV and broadband and phone all through them, no bt bill at all, it works faultlessly all through the house and it's £20 cheaper than bt was.
Well it's about £70 cheaper for me as son is paying for it (y) (y)(y):Smile:
 

SuperMike

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I use one of these, plugged into the back room of the house, I can happily use an iPad in my Worksop at the bottom of the garden. A bargain. :gum:

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eddie

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The best thing I ever did was to dump broadband being delivered by cable. Traditionally phone lines were brought into houses at the closest point to the road. In our house that meant that the router was in the Dining room, a room that has been used about five times in 24 years!

Parts of our house date back to 1764 so the walls are thick, very thick, once cool it stays cool in the Summer and once warm, it stays warm in the Winter: It also kills broadband!

Once I changed to EE (originally Three) we enjoy fantastic broadband, and, most importantly by being able to simply dump the router in the main hall, we get a good signal everywhere.

The other advantage is we we go away it simply gets chucked in the "last minute" bag along with iPads, Kindles and phones so we have a "mirrored" broadband network in the van for things like Firestick, Smart TV's and CCTV

As for "Mesh" systems, we use at work BT infinity with 4G "Assure" which in a cable supplied system with 4G GSM backup. I have spent loads on various boosters etc and find that the Google WiFi units are superb, easy to set up from the Google App, fully controllable, and works faultlessly

100% recommend them

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