# Use wireless router as range extender?



## tester101 (Feb 8, 2009)

This may sound like a stupid question, but can a wireless router be used as a range extender for a wireless network?

If say I have a wireless router in my office, but my network does not reach my living room, can I put a wireless router some where in the middle to extend the networks range? or do I have to spend the extra money for a range extender?


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## getsugatenso (Dec 20, 2008)

no, the router should act as a repeater or a switch/hub, so long as the extending router has a route from your original wireless router and a route to your living room it should be fine.

wireless router[1]<>wireless router[2]<>computer system

essentially, the extra router will have to be assigned an IP address, this could be static to make it easier


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## pvc_ (Feb 18, 2008)

I'm just curious, how would the second router connect to the network? Because as far as I know, routers only use their WAN port as the input for their internet connection. If that's not the case, then how would you go about connecting the second router to the first one wirelessly?


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## getsugatenso (Dec 20, 2008)

what you ought to do is setup a static route,l something like 192.168.0.2, this would mean then that your overall network can not use the 192.168.0.2 ip address. after that you set the lan IP [DHCP] to distribute IP addresses within the 192.168.0.3 to 192.168.0.254 range.

alternativly, using DHCP on the 1st router will automatically allocate the 1st available IP to the 1st network ready device: router, computer, network drive, any of these. for the wireless to work as an extender it needs a way to reach the computer and the computer needs a way to reach the internet

wireless is just another medium which data can travel through, just like the ethernet/serial WAN cables is all


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