Second Router

What do you want the second router to do? If you just want your wired network to work effectively, a switch might be the most effective solution. It's also small, cheap, and requires no configuration. If you're looking for something to take over WiFi duties from your Sky Hub, obviously you need an additional router (or 2?)

Thanks Chris. I would like to leave the Sky Hub just for Internet acess. And have the second router for improved wifi and to connect to and for switching my network.

thanks Philip

I trust you don't really mean using two routers, as that will involve a fair degree of complication and the possible need of routing protocols. I guess you mean run one device as a broadband modem (ISP provided devices are optimum for this) and  then connect most likely  using PPP over Ethernet on its own seperate connection to your actual router, as long as that router can support WAN PPP connections.

Simon

Yes Simon the Sky Hub would in fact be the modem with the second router dealing with my network.

This I assume is what Phil describes as connecting a router 'inside' the ISP router In his post 'Upnp discovery issues' . The reason I was asking my original question was that on reading various router manuals in my search for a second router I came across ' connecting outside'  'bridge mode' and  'connecting inside' which I find confusing. What I am trying to achieve is exactly what Phil mentions in his post to improve wifi and network operation.

Thanks 

Philip

I had similar problems with my naim Muso and my virgin media superhub2. Following Phil Harris's advice I switched my virgin media superhub to modem only mode and connected a new router in my case a Linksys ea6300 to my superhub via Ethernet cable and use the Linksys to perform wifi duties.

This resolved my upnp discovery issues.

Philip, a network bridge is a specific function, and it essentially means the device is acting as a type of switch connecting two segments together on the same network... usually the same inside netowork, or concievably the same outside network.

Inside and outside usually refers to your edge router, with inside being your LAN and the outside your WAN. The thing to look out for are the protocols supported on your outside. If this is point to point protocol, ie PPP, it can normally connect to your broadband via a modem. Your modem might also convert the link protocol of the PPP, converting for example PPP over ATM for the physical broadband link to PPP over Ethernet, which may be used to connect your modem to your outside router connection.

i hope this gives some insight.

Simon

Philip, I am using a setup at home that I think is just what you mean.

My ISP's home hub / router is in place; it functions as a router and performs DHCP duties, assigning IP addresses.  I have wifi turned off, as its wifi is not the best.  I run an ethernet patch cable from it to one device -- a 16 port Netgear unmanaged switch.  Everything else is plugged into that switch, including an Apple Airport Extreme that I use to provide wifi.  The Airport Extreme is in 'bridge mode' which means that it's not functioning as a router at all.

You could certainly substitute any other good router/wifi access point device for the Airport Extreme and do the same thing.  Put it in 'bridge mode' or whatever they call it.  And put a decent, unmanaged switch between the home hub router and it.

My home system is running perfectly as I've described.  I pay for 80 MPS down and up from my broadband provider, and speedtest running on my iPhone shows the full 80MPS is achieved in all corners of my home.  Could not be better.

Hi

Thanks for all your replies. I have now bought a Netgear Nighthawk Router to connect to my Sky Hub.

However I  have soon run into a problem. According to some instruction I have obtained I neet to get into the Nighthawk configuration system and change some settings. To do this the instructions are to connect the NH to my PC with an Ethernet cable.The PC has to be connected to the internet, in this case via the Sky Hub which is connected to thePC by Ethernet. As there is only one Ethernet socket on the PC I have used an Ethernet switch to enable me to to connect both NH and SH to my PC. The problem is that I cannot access the NH login page which I need to configure the NH. The only thing I can find in the NH manual about this problem is the following. ''Make sure the IP address of your computer is on the same subnet as the router.''  The IP address of my PC is 192.168.0.9  The IP address for the NH I assume is 192.168.1.1 as that is the IP you enter in the browser to get the login page. I have tried turning off my firewall but this makes no difference. I have also tried using WiFi but again no help.

I could change the Sky Hub IP address to 192.168.1.1 which would the change  the PC IP address but I am not sure about. Sky is always 0 not 1. Can anyone please help.

Thanks

Philip

Philip I took a look online at an installation guide for one Nighthawk router.  It says:

6. Log in to the router. Launch a web browser. NETGEAR genie displays. If you do not see genie, enter www.routerlogin.net in the address field of the web browser. When prompted, enter admin for the user name and password for the password. Follow the genie steps to connect to the Internet.

Have you tried this approach?  Now-a-days, one usually need not browse directly to the ip address of the router; there are installation tools such as this to make it easier.  I went online to look for such, and found the above.  You need not know the ip address of the NH I surmised.

Thanks Bart

The problem is that putting routerlogin.net or .com does not take me to the login page. It perhaps indicates that the NH is not connected to my PC. The ethernet light for port one on the NH is on indicating connection. That's the problem.

Philip

Not entirely sure why the PC would need to be attached to the internet to change config settings... 

I would try connecting only the PC to the netgear and see if that helps

Thanks Ian

Already tried that still no logon screen. I have now established that there is a connection between computer and NH. It does not appear on the home network but does appear on network map

Philip

Philip, make sure you connect the router, modem, power cable & ethernet in the correct order, as described in the manual. If you have a problem, disconnect the power and wait 30 secs. Please follow connection order on page 2 of the Hawk manual.

Thanks for all your replies. Problem solved. It turned out to be a faulty ethernet cable. Replaced it and all is well. Annoying but simply fixed

philip

Glad you got it sorted. Here's a suggestion that might have been useful if I'd mentioned it earlier - thought I'd post it anyway in case anyone finds a use for it at some stage: My Netgear router has a facility called 'Cable Test', which claims to be able to detect faults in cables up to 5 metres from the switch, and tell you how far away the fault is. I've never tried it, but if it works, I can see that it might be a handy tool.