Connecting 2 wireless routers to the same network

[Jondoe98]

I need help connecting 2 routers together on the same network. The problem is that the house is a big house and I cant run a Ethernet cable outside to the guest house. I'm assuming I could get a 2nd wireless router (or 2 new wireless routers) so they can talk to each other. The computers in the guest house don't have wireless cards installed and need to be hard wired. Ideally, I could get an additional router and connect the machines in the guest house to it. Then, all the machines will be able to see and talk with each other (as opposed to running a cable). How can I set this up and which routers would you recommend that have a pretty long range?

Also, is there a brand and model number of a router that you would recommend for this setup?

I would like it to have the same functionality as if it were connected directly to the main wireless router.

Thanks in advance

[NAG - Wesley]

I had to do a setup for a client with the same size requirements you've got (operating over a large plot/guesthouse). I used two earlier versions of D-Link's DIR-815 router and replaced the bundled antennae with four of these puppies.

I used the 5Ghz channel to connect the two routers on a hidden network so as to avoid confusion with other networks nearby. I set the second router as a client for the hidden wireless network and set it to forward all DNS queries to the main router in the house. I then set up the same SSID and password on the 2.4Ghz band on both routers but had different channels for them (channel 6 and channel 10).

Basically this meant that if a guest took his/her laptop from the guest rooms at the bottom of the plot and moved into the main house, the network card would switch to the nearest router with the better signal because they're on separate channels, allowing the network card the option to switch between the two.

If this sounded like gibberish to you I did do the install over a year ago, but with the hardware in front of me I could replicate it again in a flash.

[chrisc4290]

Edimax make a wireless extender that you park near the edge of the range of the router. It rebroadcasts on a different channel. Cost about R 450 odd, easy to set up and use. You get wired ones and wireless ones