I recently purchased the faster router for my how setup. That means that I now have everything connected to my new, faster, WiFi from the new router, plus I have the old router sitting around. Can I connect the old router to make a second, independent, WiFi network with Internet access? This would allow me to have a second WiFi connection for my guests without allowing them to see my main network and any of the devices on my home network (such as my backup drives).
If this can be done, how? Do I have to use the coax connector (which means adding a splitter before one of my cable boxes) or can I use one of the Ethernet ports on the router?
What you are proposing will give you a very secure and isolated guest network.
What you need to do is double NAT the old router which will put it in its own subnet.
ON the old router:
1. Assign the old router a static WAN IP in the subnet of the new router. If new router is 192.168.1.1 make the WAN IP of the old router 192.168.1.2 (or any other address not in the DHCP pool of the new router.
2. Change the radio channel to one not being used on the new router.
3. Set up the SSIDs and security for the guest network.
4. Change the WAN IP to a new subnet. 192.168.2.1 would work.
5. Change the DHCP range to something in the new subnet 192.168.2.100 -119 would work.
Run an Ethernet cable from a LAN port on the new router to the WAN/Internet port on the old router.
Reboot/powercycle both routers and you should be good to go.
If it is set up correctly Double NATed routers work fine. I have several routers Double NATed behind my Actiontec and I have not problems. Port forwarding is more complex in a double NAT but you don't need to do this to set up a guest network.
Thanks for the suggestion - full of things I think I understand, but will have to see if I really do. I'll have to give it a try.
I just looked at the channel setting on the router and it is set to Automatic. Can I have both set to automatic or must I set each one individually? If I do set them individually, anything I should watch out for (other than making sure that they are different from each other)?
Doesnt sound very secure. Home networks are safe because the IPs on them are not routable. The gateway router on the verizon network cannot do anything with a 192.168.1.xxx ip.
In this setup the old will hand out its own IP's (192.168.2.xx) and the new router will do the same (192.168.1.xx). The old router is a network inside the new router. When the old router get a route for anything not in it dhcp 192.168.1.3 range it it is forwarded the wan port. The new router is the same network as the wan port. new router know how to route that IP!!. It will go to whatever computer is on the new network with that IP. If you run your network off the new router they can access you computers from the guest network. For the same reason' the main network cannot access the guest network
If your guest network is inside your main network they can still access you computers. You would want your setup reversed. Your main network needs to be inside the guest network for security based on how the router routes IP's.
The security of setting up a guest network on its own subnet behind the primary network is that people using the Guest network will not have acess to resources on your primary network connected to the LAN (printers, NAS, shared folders, etc.). Using a seperate router also so gives you additional control that many routers that host both private and guest networks can't handle. It also divides the WiFi between two APs on two seperate channels.
As to security from the WAN the primary network has no more or less security than if it was the only network. If someone wants their non guest network to have additional security they could install the router controlling this network behind the first router, but in the case of the OP this probably isn't an optimal setup as why would they want to have an older, less powerful router infront of a newer and probably more powerful router?
My concern is that if my daughter's friends come over to our house and want to use our WiFi to access the Internet, there is a risk that they can access files on my NAS units, and more importantly that any virus on their computer could propogate over my network and attack our computers/drives. As I now have to Verizon routers, it would be great if I could let guests access the Internet through our WiFi but not see any of our devices - this means I may have to put an old printer on the secondary network, but that would be OK.
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