Setting up home network

Question

I live in Belgium and we are obligated to have a router from our ISP, but from the 4 routers in my house that's the one that doesn't work as I want it to (or somethimes doesn't work at all). So i'm thinking to change some things in the network.

Now my knowledge of networks is a bit rusty so I need a little help.

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Current setup:

So the internet comes in via that router from our ISP ( where I can configure olmost nothing) then it's gets dispached to 3 (via cables in the LAN ports) other routers that just broadcast the same wifi SSID (on same channel and such), so they act more as repeater then rotuer.

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Next setup:

So for my new setup I would like to have the following flow:

ISP router => main router => child routers => devices

so the ISP router will have the wifi disabled, so it won't interfere with the other routers.

Main router

This is a Netgear WNR3500v2 that I would like to have as DHCP server. But I would think I have to have a route to my ISP router? If So, what would the configuration of that be?

Child Routers

How would you configure the child routers? act as LAN hubs that broadcast the same Wifi SSID? have them have their own subnet? any suggestions on that are welcom

Answer 1

Post please the router model that your ISP gave you, probably there is a way to alter the settings / get into the admin aprt ( routerpwn.com ). The main router - ISP - is the one with the DHCP server so if you put another one after that in Gateway mode it will take IP from the -ISP- router ( let's say 192.168.1.xxx ) and NAT the traffic thru there, so just use a patch cable from LAN port on -ISP- router to WAN port on your MAIN router, on MAIN your settings for WAN can be dynamic DHCP and it will work or you can set them static in the sub net that -ISP- is giving you, if DHCP is enabled in MAIN then it need to be another sub net ( if ISP is 192.168.1.xxx then main you should set 192.168.2.xxx ) the CHILD devices will have that IP for WAN or if you use them only as AP ( for wireless ) then you can use a patch directly in the LAN ports and do not use them as routers and just as switch with wireless ( IP will be in the sub net of MAIN ) anyway on CHILD devices disable DHCP. 2. You can setup MAIN as router only - no NAT, then all NAT is done by ISP gateway and the following devices just deliver traffic, disable DHCP on all devices after ISP router.

in other owrds on the Netgear set WAN as Dynamic DHCP and connect the Netgear WAN port to one of the LAN ports of the ISP router, in the LAN settings set sub net that is different from ISP router ( if ISP is 192.168.1.xxx then you set 192.168.2.xxx in the NETGEAR for LAN - remember it so you can access it later ). connect CHILD devices to Netgear as you see fit, but it's best to connect LAN from Netgear to LAN on the AP ( wireless router ) then just set Wireless settings on AP and leave WAN unset, disbale DHCP on child devices. You will have Wireless on the same sub net as Netgear.

Answer 2

What I would do is to let the ISP router as it is, without altering its configuration and then run the three Ethernet cables from each port of the ISP router to every single router BUT connecting the cable to a switch port -not to the WAN port, of each router. On each router (not the ISP) I would deactivate the DCHP server. With this scenario you are to get the ISP router acting as DCHP server on your LAN and so all devices on the same LAN IP subnet distributed by the ISP router.

The second option: You should have one DHCP server on your network otherwise things would get complicated. If you can turn the DHCP server on the ISP router off then you could set the DCHP server on the Netgear. If you would like to turn the Wi-Fi on the ISP router off you could turn on the Wi-Fi on the Netgear. Please note that the Wi-Fi on the ISP router is irrelevant since you could set other SSID on your Netgear and children. One important point about Wi-Fi channels: you should not configure the same Wi-Fi channel on two router in your network unless they cannot "see" each other. The recommended channels are 1, 6 and 11; this is due to overlapping. You could set same SSID on different routers but always on different channels. This apply to all your routers, ISP, main and child. For simplification, I would also keep one IP network only and all routers -ISP, main and children- being hosts of it.