Wireless Access Point setup

Naf

Hi,
I'm currently a Be broadband customer, which means I'm using their 'BeBox' (Thomson TG585 v7). I'm getting a bit fed up with it, though, as I get disconnected quite frequently (I think due to using BBC iPlayer and similar alongside uTorrent keeps overloading the router's maximum concurrent connections.), it doesn't support Gigabit networking or wireless N standard. So I plan to get one of these instead. Handy as it'll also host my VPN instead of using VPN pass-through to my PC.

Now what I want to know;
I have heard that using the wireless in mixed B/G/N mode reduces the effectiveness of the 'N', so I want to be able to use the 'BeBox' as an access point for B/G and the new one solely for N.
Can I do this? How and what do I need.
And is it worth it?

robmar0se

Your idea may work, but your disconnect issue may be subject to reasons other than the class of service you may be using. I am going to assume that you are aware of other issues than can affect speeds, line drops etc, and that you have undertaken speed tests etc.

Even at a max of 24mbps ADSL will be 4 times slower at best than a 100Mpbs ethernet connection can handle, gigabit nics are really only useful in a server environment where several (many) PCs are accessing servers sumiltaneuously. Gigabit nics are unlikely in the foreseeable future to have any impact on the internet.

If however you do want to assess the impact of using an old reouter as an access point (switch), the consider the following:


If you were to connect the LAN interface of the spare router to the LAN interface of the main router you would achieve what you are after, but there are precautions that must be taken.

You need to ensure that the web management interfaces of the two routers are not using the same IP address BEFORE connecting them together. You would also want to disable the DHCP server on the spare router. You may or may not need a crossover cable to connect the two routers via their LAN interfaces depending on their capabilities. (do not use the WAN interface on the spare router). I would also suggest that you give the link between the two rourers a static IP address.

Naf

I'm pretty certain the dropouts are being caused by my computers (collectively) overloading the router's maximum concurrent connection limit.
My desire for Gigabit is purely for my internal network, I wish Internet would catch up though :-P
Everything on my network has specified static IPs anyway.
So would I basically adjust all the settings on the old one so that it treats the new one as if it's the ISP's equipment at the exchange? Give it a local IP, the new router as it's gateway, keeping the same DNS servers? (I'm on a static IP package so I enter all these details manually)
As to crossover, what does it depend on? As far as I was aware, Gigabit devices automatically adjust to either UTP or crossover, or does that only apply to PC network adapters?

robmar0se

1. You do not use the wan socket on your old router.
2. You connect the two routers via cable to LAN sockets on both - some routers will automatically detect the cable - it is not dependent on whether it is a gigabit connection, although most modern routers have auto-detect - can't you check whether your old router spec has auto-detect?
3. remove any dns settings on your old router as well - it is in effect a switch/hub - (you are not using your old router as a router)