We’ve been slowly getting everything back to where it needs to be in our new place. Right now the second bedroom is setup with my computer stuff and Liz has her computer out in the living room. This kinda of made things a little complicated with networking, but I thought I had it figured out. The modem was in between the two, in a closet, so I had this grand idea…
My router would be in the closet with the modem with a wire going to Liz’s computer. Another wire would then go into the second bedroom and I would have another router* in there so I could have multiple devices back there.
So I went online looking for another router* and saw that wireless routers were not that much more than a regular old router. So I made my purchase from NewEgg** and hooked everything up today. What I failed to think about was that you can’t really plug one router into another router. There’s IP conflicts due to two devices trying to act as DHCP servers. I should have just bought a switch for half the price.
So I finally got things hooked up and working. I’m still using the two routers, but one of them has DHCP turned off. Even though I knew you couldn’t plug two routers into each other, I got it a little confused in my head because most routers you buy these days have built-in switches.
If you really want wireless and you have an existing router you don’t want to get rid of, you need to by a WAP (Wireless Access Point). Those do not have built in switches. The other option would just be to buy a wireless router and be done with it. I won’t even be using the wireless on a regular basis, I just thought it would be handy to have and it would definitely be nice in the future.
* I was thinking “switch” in my head
** NewEgg is one of the best places to buy parts and you can quote me on that
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