Can I create 2 Wireless Networks off of a FIOS Router?
cgcmgr
Enthusiast - Level 2

Hi,

I expect to be getting Verizon FIOS within the next month. I will be splitting it with my brother as we live in a two family house, me one one side and him and his family on the other. We will have Internet, TV and Phone. We are looking to split the Internet and TV throughout the house to his side and my side. We already have Verizon as our phone carrier so we will be keeping our phonenumbers. Splitting the TV shouldn't be hard as we just need to connect my current cable line and his current cable line to the Splitter Verizon will be providing us.

The question I have is in regards to the Internet. Since we will be having TV I'm sure I need a coax connection from the ONT to the FIOS Router. What we would like to do is one of the following scenarios if possible, starting with what we really want first.  Note that all scenarios will include us disabling wireless on the FIS Router as we want out routers to provide the wireless.

1. We would like to connect 2 wireless routers to the FIOS Router to create 2 different wired/wireless networks based on the one FIOS Internet connection. Each connection will have its own SSID broadcast name (one for my side of the home and one for his side of the home). Is this as simple as connecting both routers' WAN ports via Cat-6 cable to seperate LAN ports on the FIOS Router? I would then disable wireless on the FIOS Router. I read somewhere that in order to do this, FIOS must offer 2 dynamic IP addresses. I was told this can be done with Time Warner Cable since it allows for 2 Dynamic IP Addresses. I would just have to connect a switch to the cable modem first. So, does FIOS offer 1 or 2 dynamic IP addresses? Regardless if FIOS offers 1 or 2 dynamic IP addresses, can I do what I want to do? If so, how? How would I set up the two routers? I imagine I would have to change the LAN IP addresses of the routers to something like 192.168.0.1 and 192.168.2.1 (since the FIOS Router is 192.168.1.1).  Anything else need to be done? Do I disable DHCP in the FIOS Router? Any help with this set up would be greatly appreciated.

2. If the above scenario cannot be achieved I was thinking of connecting my 1st wireless router to the FIOS Router via the WAN port on my 1st wirelsss router to a LAN port on the FIOS Router. Then I would connect my 2nd wireless router's WAN port to a LAN port  on the 1st wireless router.  I would then disable wireless on the FIOS Router.  Do I disable DHCP in the FIOS Router?  The settings would be below:

1st router:
-WAN/Uplink/Internet port plugged into FIOS Router
-LAN port/wireless as follows
Internal IP: 192.168.0.1
subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
DHCP pool: 192.168.0.50 to .254

2nd router:
-Wan uplink port into LAN port of 1st router
-LAN port/wireless as follows
Interla IP: 192.168.2.1
subnet mask 255.255.255.0
DHCP pool: 192.168.1.50 to .254


This way  the subnets are different and I have 2 different networks.  I can set up 2 different SSIDs.  I believe this set up will result in double-NAT however.  Would this be an issue? 

3. Lastly, if none of the above scenarios can be achieved, I was thinking of just using 1 SSID for the whole house.  I would connect my 1st wireless router's WAN port to a LAN port on the FIOS Router.  I would then connect a LAN port from the 2nd wireless router to a LAN port on the 1st wireless router.  Then I would disable DHCP on the 2nd wireless router so that is acts as a wireless access point.  I would change the LAN IP address of my 1st router to 192.168.1.2 and the 2nd router to 192.168.1.3 (since the FIOS Router is 192.168.1.1).  I would set up wireless and security the same on both routers.    I would then disable wireless on the FIOS Router.  Do I disable DHCP in the FIOS Router?  With this setup, will the 2nd router (wireless access point) only be a wireless access point or can I also connect devices to the router's LAN ports?

I know I may not have everything correct in the scenarios.  Will any of these scenarios work?  If not, what can I do to achieve my goal?  If so, then what must I change in a scenario to make it work properly? 

I will need to do Port Forwarding for a Slingbox and 5 IP cameras, so how difficult would that be with the best scenarios?

Sorry for the long drawn out post, but I figured I give as much info as I could.

Thanks for the help in advance,

Chris

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Re: Can I create 2 Wireless Networks off of a FIOS Router?
Anti-Phish1
Master - Level 1

cgcmgr wrote:

Since you suggest option number 2, can you tel lme  exactly how to set things up? 


Simply connect a cat5 cable from a LAN port on the Actiontec to the WAN port on each of the secondary rotuers.

No special settings in the Actiontec.  You will need to change the two secondary LAN subnets to 192.168.0.x and 192.168.2.x as you've indicated.


So no disabling of DHCP in any router correct? 


Correct.


since the FIOS router has a gateway of 192.168.1.1 and i'm setting my routers up as 192.168.0.1 and 192.168.2.1 I would essentially have 3 networks?  One for the set top boxes, one for my side of the house and one for my brother's side of the house? 


Correct.


Since the routers are connected together, does the security settings have to be the same? 

I can use different SSIDs for each router? 


No.  Yes.


How would I port forward something connected to say my router which in my case would be router #2, the one connected to the 1st router?  Do I have to do settings in all three rouetrs?   


You would set up the port forwards you need in both the Actiontec and your router.  You would not duplicate the port forwards in the third router.   A slingbox will normally attempt to use UPNP to set up port forwards on the router it's connected to.  You would still need to setup the port forwarding in the Actiontec.

Actiontec:

external port: ANY

Destination port: The outside (WAN) port you want to open to the internet.

Destination IP:  The WAN side IP address of your router (192.168.1.2)

Port to forward to:  5001 (or whatever)

Your router:

Check your router's documentation for port forwarding instructions.

Here's a FAQ for port forwarding the Actiontec.
http://www.dslreports.com/faq/16968

Here's a good article on port forwarding a slingbox with multiple routers:

http://support.slingbox.com/get/KB-1000154.html

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Re: Can I create 2 Wireless Networks off of a FIOS Router?
gs0b
Community Leader
Community Leader

@cgcmgr wrote:

1. We would like to connect 2 wireless routers to the FIOS Router to create 2 different wired/wireless networks based on the one FIOS Internet connection. Each connection will have its own SSID broadcast name (one for my side of the home and one for his side of the home). Is this as simple as connecting both routers' WAN ports via Cat-6 cable to seperate LAN ports on the FIOS Router? I would then disable wireless on the FIOS Router. I read somewhere that in order to do this, FIOS must offer 2 dynamic IP addresses. I was told this can be done with Time Warner Cable since it allows for 2 Dynamic IP Addresses.


Yup, this is the easiest way to create two separate networks. There is no need for more than one IP address from Verizon as long each router runs in NAT mode.  NAT mode will also keep each network completely separate - no sharing of resources will occur between them.  Double NAT is not a problem in most cases.

Have Fun

Re: Can I create 2 Wireless Networks off of a FIOS Router?
Anti-Phish1
Master - Level 1

1)  FIOS provides only one WAN IP address.  You can have only one router with a WAN connection. 

2)  You can certainly put two wireless routers behind the FIOS router.

You do not want to disable DHCP in the FIOS router.  You will need that for the STBs which will be on the FIOS router's LAN.

Yes, this configuration results in double NAT.  That is only an issue if you need to do port forwards.  You will need to do port forwards in both routers.

3)  Since #2 seems like your best option, I don't see why you would consider #3.  This assumes that you want to kepp the two wired and wireless networks separate.

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Re: Can I create 2 Wireless Networks off of a FIOS Router?
cgcmgr
Enthusiast - Level 2

Anti-Phish wrote:

2)  You can certainly put two wireless routers behind the FIOS router.

You do not want to disable DHCP in the FIOS router.  You will need that for the STBs which will be on the FIOS router's LAN.

Yes, this configuration results in double NAT.  That is only an issue if you need to do port forwards.  You will need to do port forwards in both routers.

Since you suggest option number 2, can you tel lme  exactly how to set things up?  You say not to disable DHCP in the FIOS Router for the set top boxes (I forgot about that).  So no disabling of DHCP in any router correct?  Also, since the FIOS router has a gateway of 192.168.1.1 and i'm setting my routers up as 192.168.0.1 and 192.168.2.1 I would essentially have 3 networks?  One for the set top boxes, one for my side of the house and one for my brother's side of the house?  Since the routers are connected together, does the security settings have to be the same?  I can use different SSIDs for each router?

How would I port forward something connected to say my router which in my case would be router #2, the one connected to the 1st router?  Do I have to do settings in all three rouetrs?  Anyway you can give me some sort of step by step instructions?

Thanks,

Chris

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Re: Can I create 2 Wireless Networks off of a FIOS Router?
Anti-Phish1
Master - Level 1

cgcmgr wrote:

Since you suggest option number 2, can you tel lme  exactly how to set things up? 


Simply connect a cat5 cable from a LAN port on the Actiontec to the WAN port on each of the secondary rotuers.

No special settings in the Actiontec.  You will need to change the two secondary LAN subnets to 192.168.0.x and 192.168.2.x as you've indicated.


So no disabling of DHCP in any router correct? 


Correct.


since the FIOS router has a gateway of 192.168.1.1 and i'm setting my routers up as 192.168.0.1 and 192.168.2.1 I would essentially have 3 networks?  One for the set top boxes, one for my side of the house and one for my brother's side of the house? 


Correct.


Since the routers are connected together, does the security settings have to be the same? 

I can use different SSIDs for each router? 


No.  Yes.


How would I port forward something connected to say my router which in my case would be router #2, the one connected to the 1st router?  Do I have to do settings in all three rouetrs?   


You would set up the port forwards you need in both the Actiontec and your router.  You would not duplicate the port forwards in the third router.   A slingbox will normally attempt to use UPNP to set up port forwards on the router it's connected to.  You would still need to setup the port forwarding in the Actiontec.

Actiontec:

external port: ANY

Destination port: The outside (WAN) port you want to open to the internet.

Destination IP:  The WAN side IP address of your router (192.168.1.2)

Port to forward to:  5001 (or whatever)

Your router:

Check your router's documentation for port forwarding instructions.

Here's a FAQ for port forwarding the Actiontec.
http://www.dslreports.com/faq/16968

Here's a good article on port forwarding a slingbox with multiple routers:

http://support.slingbox.com/get/KB-1000154.html

Re: Can I create 2 Wireless Networks off of a FIOS Router?
cgcmgr
Enthusiast - Level 2

Thanks a lot.  Very helpful.  I'll give it a shot and see what happens

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Re: Can I create 2 Wireless Networks off of a FIOS Router?
TomH121
Community Leader
Community Leader
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Re: Can I create 2 Wireless Networks off of a FIOS Router?
cgcmgr
Enthusiast - Level 2

Hope this can be of help to you

http://www.actiontec.com/products/product.php?pid=189

Thanks for the link.

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Re: Can I create 2 Wireless Networks off of a FIOS Router?
cgcmgr
Enthusiast - Level 2

Thanks for all the responses.  However, my brother now wants to use the Verizon wireless router in his portion of the house.  So we will only be using the FIOS router (for him) and a D-Link Dir-655 for me. 

So instead of connecting 2 wireless routers to the FIOS router and turning off wireless on the FIOS router, there will only be 1 router connected to it.  However, instead of disabling wireless on the FIOS router, this time it will be enabled.  So is there anything different I would have to do to make this work or is still as simple as connecting my D-Link to the FIOS router?

Again the purpose is to have 2 networks in a 2-family house.  One network the FIOS router will handle and the other the D-Link will handle.  Is this possible?  What needs to be done to make this work?

Thanks,

Chris

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Re: Can I create 2 Wireless Networks off of a FIOS Router?
tns2
Community Leader
Community Leader

Not sure what Verizon policy is on two family houses.  Probably not very favoriable.  Two wireless networks are possible with two routers, but not total security between the networks.

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