TRYING TO CONNECT TWO ACTION ROUTERS ----having hard time... .
anddy127
Enthusiast - Level 2

Hi,

I have two Actiontec routers.   The first one is the main router that is connected to Verizon and is giving me 5 Static PUBLIC IP's.  

It serves the rest of the devices with DHCP ips.    Since Verizon has only a few ports on the back of the router, I needed to attach around 6 more PC's wired .   I have a second Actiontec router . .. same exact router ..  (i wanted to use this since i already have it, instead of dishing out $20-$50 bucks for a switch)

I am trying to get the second router to have same set of IP's to serve the additional PC's connecting to the network .  But my problem is that the second router keeps defaulting to  192.168.1.1 and serving ip's from 192.168.1.x --

My first router is setup to serve ip's  like :  10.20.30.2 ----- to---- >  10.20.30.50

I set the second router to BRIDGE mode and it doesn't work.  The internet light keeps going orange .. and even though I manually change the ip to make the second router a static : 10.20.30.5  and then serve IP's range from 10.20.30.50 to  10.20.30.100  I still get no internet . .and no green light. . .

How can I do this?? ?

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Re: TRYING TO CONNECT TWO ACTION ROUTERS ----having hard time... .
Anti-Phish1
Master - Level 1

Not clear what you mean by "bridge" mode.

How are you connecting the routers together?

LAN-to-LAN?

LAN-to-WAN?
Coax?

Iif you want the primary router to serve DHCP addressesto devices connected to both routers, you must turn off the DHCP server in the secondary router and must be connected LAN-to-LAN or via coax. 

My suggestion is to connect them via coax (MOCA).  Thar will give you the most ports (8).  LAN-to-LAN will eat up one port on each router.

Instructions for the coax configuration are in part 2 of this FAQ: 

Can I get an ethernet connection in a room with only coax?

With the coax configuration it is normal for the internet light to remain orange.  This is a LAN bridge.  You're not using the WAN portion of the secondary router.

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Re: TRYING TO CONNECT TWO ACTION ROUTERS ----having hard time... .
anddy127
Enthusiast - Level 2

Hi,

I'm connecting via ethernet LAN-LAN via cat5e cables.    I don't have a large enough coax cable  from one router to the other but i do have a 50 ft cat5e cable that i use so that i can use the router in the other room with all the pcs.  With the two routers, i am able to use all the ports i need for all the pcs i have.

The bridge mode is the option in the router.  I was searching google and someone had mentioned to put it in bridge mode...but i think that is when people want to extend their wireless range.  I don't want to extend the wireless range because the wireless networking is turned off.  I'm not too concerned about wireless.

So i thought i had to use the bridge option in the router to do what i want to do but not sure exactly if i'm doing this right.

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Re: TRYING TO CONNECT TWO ACTION ROUTERS ----having hard time... .
anddy127
Enthusiast - Level 2

i'm going to try turning off the dhcp and see if that works. . Will post back with update.

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Re: TRYING TO CONNECT TWO ACTION ROUTERS ----having hard time... .
viafax999
Community Leader
Community Leader

@andyd127 wrote:

 

I set the second router to BRIDGE mode and it doesn't work.  The internet light keeps going orange .. and even though I manually change the ip to make the second router a static : 10.20.30.5  and then serve IP's range from 10.20.30.50 to  10.20.30.100  I still get no internet . .and no green light. . .

How can I do this?? ?


You need to turn off the dhcp server on the second router, you can only have one dhcp server on one subnet.

Also you need to define the 2nd router as a static address address on whatever subnet the 1st router is handing out dhcp address on.  To get the 2nd router into bridge mode connect a lan port from router 1 to a lan port on router or 2 or put a splitter on the coax cable to router 1 and connect 1 side of splitter to router 1 and the other to router 2 or if router 1 is connected to your inhouse coax network connect router 2 to any other coax port - in either of the last 2 scenarios you need to disable the moca (broadband) connection.  The wan light will show orange as you are nonly bridging the lan side of router 1 to router 2. 

Cheaper to save the grief and get a switch.

Actually from your description it would appear that you do not have tv service so you don't need the fios router at all.  Could just have VZ set your ont connection to cat5 and use your own Gbit wireless-n router.  That would allow all your in house hardware to connect between themselves at 1gb speed rather 100mb

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