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I have a fios router in my basement with wires that connect to it running all throughout my house. At the ends of each of these wires are ethernet outlets (not sure if that's the technical term, but I mean this) where I can plug in an ethernet cable and then connect my computer. I want to set up a second router (Linksys ea3500) as a wireless access point. Meaning I want the network to look something like this:

===cable===[fios box]~~~~[ethernet outlet]~~~ethernet cable~~~>[linksys] <))) wifi

I hope that ascii diagram was clear enough. Anyway, I started by connecting my linksys router with my laptop, and at this point neither were connected to the internet. I opened up the linksys router settings at 192.168.1.1 and selected Bridge Mode. Just after that I was booted off the page and it said that I can access the router settings via its network IP (presumably the one the fios router will give it). Fine. Then I connect my linksys router to my ethernet outlet and pop open the Fios router page 192.168.1.1 and view my network. I see that my linksys router has been given the IP 192.168.1.9 but it is offline and ping does not work. I tried connecting the ethernet cable both to the WAN port on my Linksys and to the first LAN port. Nothing seemed to help to bring it online.

So my two questions:

  1. What am I missing here / how can I bring it online?

  2. I understand that in a simple one-router setup the WAN port is for the cable bringing internet into the house and then the other devices connect on the LAN ports. What about for this second Linksys router? Should the ethernet cable connected to the outlet that is connected to Fios be plugged in to the WAN port on the Linksys or a LAN port on the Linksys? I would like a clear explanation on this, but for the purposes of the first question, neither worked.

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  • i have a suggestion, if you want linksys router for only as a access point, can you try inserting ethernet cable to one of the ethernet port in linksys router, port should be other than the one marked as internet.
    – Renju Chandran chingath
    Commented Jul 19, 2013 at 5:54
  • I found the following link to be of assistance: Linksys:Cascading Router to Router
    – Allan
    Commented Apr 29, 2014 at 18:39

2 Answers 2

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Bridge your linksys and connect the two routers using the LAN interface on each device. The WAN port serves as a NAT interface - connecting two different networks. Ie, an external ip address from your isp and your internal network.

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  • Ok, that answers my second question. Bridging isn't working though (read above for details).
    – Kvass
    Commented Jul 19, 2013 at 3:34
  • also not sure if this is relevant, but no green light or anything shows up when I connect to the first LAN port (and by the power cord there is a rapidly blinking green light).
    – Kvass
    Commented Jul 19, 2013 at 3:35
  • Doesn't sound like normal behavior. Try power cycling or resetting it
    – Scandalist
    Commented Jul 19, 2013 at 3:41
  • In this diagram they are plugging into the WAN. Can you explain why? kb.linksys.com/Linksys/…
    – Kvass
    Commented Jul 19, 2013 at 5:00
  • In theory, this should still work. I assume by putting the linksys in bridge mode the firmware converts the nat interface into a basic lan interface. Shouldn't matter where you plug in the cable. Try this: put your router back in normal mode and only disable dhcp. Then, connect the two lan to lan like I mentioned above.
    – Scandalist
    Commented Jul 19, 2013 at 5:29
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Suggestion:

Ensure that NAT (network address translation) is turned OFF on the 2nd router

Ensure that your 'wireless' devices can conntect with your 2nd router (SSID, password - if you use one, all devices in same workgroup, etc.)

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