Recently, I decided to upgrade my router at home.  My old router's range didn't cover a portion of my home.  The new router works great and while the wifi range is much improved, it doesn't reach all the way to my office located in the back of my house.

I do have an ethernet line which runs from the main router (located in my wife's work from home office) to my office.  I'm wondering if it would be possible to extend the range of my wifi by connecting the long ethernet cable currently connected to the PC in my office from the new router to old router.  Then, I could add my computer to the older router directly.  While I realize this would create a separate wi-fi network, I'm fine with that because there are only two devices that would ever use it (my work laptop and my PlayStation). 

Is there any reason this wouldn't work?

I used range extenders with my previous router.  I must have had some bad ones because everytime we lost power, they needed to  be reprogrammed.  PIA.

My thought was connecting this router to the hard line on my side of the house would provide me with a separate strong wi-fi network on that side of the house (BTW, my current work computer and PlayStation are still configured to the wifi network set up on that router).  And, it would give me flexability to add my printer directly to the router for Sheri to use over the network.

Thanks, that's a good point!

From what I've been able to find using my Goggle skills, this is possible. 

However, given how I want to use it, do I do a LAN to WAN connection or a LAN to LAN?

I believe I'll connect my old router to my new one via a LAN out to a WAN in.  Then, I'll connect my PC directly to the old router via LAN.

You can have 2 routers in a LAN segment but, unless they are extenders, they need different IP addresses.

What I have now is this.

Cable modem - Gigabit Ethernet Switch - to 8 things.

1. 4 port router with DHCP enabled but no WiFi (static IP address on LAN)
2. Ethernet printer
3. Desktop PC
4. Ethernet run to a room to a central place in the house
5. Gigabit Ethernet switch #2 in home entertainment center in living room
6-8 open

4 is a run to a router set up as a WiFi Access Point. DHCP disabled. It points to Router #1 for it's addressing. Static IP address on LAN.

Router #1 gets WAN addressing and connectivity from ISP.
Router #2 gets it's LAN info from Router #1.

Hardwired items get info for LAN from Router #1 (and bypasses the router for PtP traffic inside the LAN because of the switching, so the router only loads up for LAN/WAN routing and DHCP management).

WiFi items get info from Router #2 which then passes LAN traffic through the switch(es) or through Router #1 for WAN traffic.

You can have overlapping WiFi zones on the same LAN segment with range extenders or by setting up each WiFi with a different LAN IP address (last octet) and different SSID. If you're mobile while connecting and moving between zones, you could lose/acquire connectivity while moving between zones (handoff) but the devices' ability to reacquire connections will be dependent on the device and if you have auto-connect enabled to known networks. The disadvantage of this is the gap in connectivity while moving between zones. The advantage is that standard, low-cost WiFi routers can be used. For better, since SSID/IP/WiFi connections, range extenders would be the way to go in spite of their (usual) higher cost and lack of flexibility for use in other configurations (backups for main router, etc.).

There are some VERY neat solutions that include POE (power over Ethernet) and multi-zone WiFi coverage.

http://geekbeat.tv/unifi-wireless-system-review/

http://geekbeat.tv/editors-choice-open-mesh-wifi-network-for-large-homes-and-small-businesses/

I'm doing something a little different:

The Fios router is just the point where Internet and Fios comes in.  It is Etherneted to an Apple Airport Extreme.  The Airport extreme has a different address.  One is 168.192.0.1 the other 168.192.1.1.  All Wifi goes through the Airport extreme.   I have server backup etherneted to the Airport extreme.  Upstairs, I have an older Netgear range extender as a repeater and then another newer Netgear range extender in the detached workshop exercise room.  I run internet (for movies) through the wifi via 2 range extenders.  It is nearly flawless (sometimes the older range extender needs reboot, but not reconfiguration).

Printer is Wifi.  2 computers, ipads and Nexus tablets via wifi.

I can access internet via the 2nd range extender, the first range extender or the base Airport Extreme router, depending on signal strength.

Move the router.   

Move the router.   

Easier said than done.  The way our house is wired, we use the existing RG6 cable for DirecTV and whole-home DVR.  We only have one outlet in the house connected to Time Warner where we get our internet and phone and that's in Sheri's office. 

Adding my old router on the other side of the house to run my work laptop and PlayStation is cheap and easy.  (and already working). 


In addition, I forgot that I had to go through corporate security in order to get my home wifi approved.  That was done on my current old router with the network I had set up on it.  So, this will also save me a ton of paperwork to get my work laptop approved to work with my new wifi router. 

Go WAN (ISP) to router.

Router to iMac (wired) and WiFi other stuff (don't use the iMac as a gateway).

Have the WiFi protected with WPA (it isolates different devices from each other on the LAN for security reasons).

ISP (WAN)
Router
Home (LAN with DHCP enabled)
Ethernet.........................WiFi (WPA2 security password)
iMac...............................Phone(s)
Printer, etc......................Tablet, eReader, Netbook (except for big downloads, then plug it in)

Done and working.  Thanks!

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kenja is my old router and mallard2.5 and mallard5 is my new router. 

kenja will only run my work laptop and PlayStation.

I set up my new router as a WiFi AP. Turned off the wired ports completely. Turned off WiFi on the other router. Use the AP for WiFi and the original router for Ethernet only. Since the AP is in the center of the house, it has a stronger signal all around compared to the original one that was at the demark on one end of the house.

I didn't mention it because he seemed to want the coverage of 2 zones.