Can You Daisy Chain Verizon Actiontec MI424WR Routers???
jann66
Newbie

I currently have an Actiontec MI424WR router which is a wireless G router.  Since I have some Tivo HD units in the house (they use wireless G)  that I'm looking to upgrade to Tivo Premiere (they use wireless N), I'd like to upgrade my wireless network to wireless N (I would be able to transfer HD shows between Tivo units ALOT faster over a wireless N network as the G network I have now is very slow).  I also will be buying my son an Xbox and the faster network would help with all the online gaming.

Since Verizon doesn't yet offer a wireless N router, I'm trying to come up with a solution and I think I might have one.

I'm sort of a newbie with networking but here is what I'm looking to do:

I'd want to buy a second router that has wireless N capabilities (I'm looking at the Netgear WNDR3700 Rangemax Dual Band Wireless N).  Then I will go into the Verizon Actiontec router and turn off the wireless function.  Next I will connect the new router to my PC and turn on the wireless function, disable the DHCP and assing the new router a different IP address.  Then I will connect the two routers using an ethernet cable from the Actiontec LAN port the the Netgear's LAN port.  Essentially, what I want to do is have the Actiontec router still bring in all the information in from the ONT but have the Netgear router send it out via it's wireless N signal.

I think in theory this should work but I wanted to pass it by the forum to see what details I'm missing here.  Any assistance would be greatly appreciated, including any details as I quickly glossed over my idea in the paragraph above.

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Re: Can You Daisy Chain Verizon Actiontec MI424WR Routers???
fccsonline2
Enthusiast - Level 3

Your options are to either buy a Wireless N router, DISABLE DHCP on it, and then plug them together (the internal / ethernet side, do NOT use the WAN port on the new router in this scenario.)  That would make you effectively use it as a wireless access point instead of a router.  You do not want to get into daisy chaining routers, it'd doable, but not a complication  you need in your scenario.

Honestly if I were you I'd just get a wireless N access point.  http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4468240&CatId=372

Re: Can You Daisy Chain Verizon Actiontec MI424WR Routers???
viafax999
Community Leader
Community Leader

@FCCSonline wrote:

Your options are to either buy a Wireless N router, DISABLE DHCP on it, and then plug them together (the internal / ethernet side, do NOT use the WAN port on the new router in this scenario.)  That would make you effectively use it as a wireless access point instead of a router.  You do not want to get into daisy chaining routers, it'd doable, but not a complication  you need in your scenario.

Honestly if I were you I'd just get a wireless N access point.  http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4468240&CatId=372


What's so complicated about connecting a lan port of the VZ router to the wan port of the second router after having configured it as a different subnet and a static ip address on the vz subnet.  No need to turn off dhcp then, I wouldn't bother turning off wireless on the vz router either.

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Re: Can You Daisy Chain Verizon Actiontec MI424WR Routers???
jann66
Newbie

If I keep the wireless turned "on" on the Verizon G router, shouldn't I change the channel I use on the wireless N router?

Another scenario someone else suggested was to keep the wireless turrned "on" on the Verizon G router, and use a different netowrk name for the wireless N router (and a different channel) such that I could have devices dedicated to the N router, others dedicated to the G router.  So for example, gaming, video streaming and Tivo Premieres could use the N router network while stuff like I-touches and smaller laptops could use the G router network.

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Re: Can You Daisy Chain Verizon Actiontec MI424WR Routers???
lasagna
Community Leader
Community Leader

You can leave the wireless on, but if so, you should definitely place it on a different channel (1, 6, and 11 are the three non-overlapping channels in the US).

If the wireless access points are on different subnets, then you MUST place them on different SSID's.

If the access points are on the same subnet, then the SSID can be the same (expanded coverage and your clients will float between the access points depending on which is giving a better signal to their location) or a different SSID (isolated bandwidth allowing you to configure some clients one SSID and others on a different one which, if the access points are on different channels, can result in better throughput).

Re: Can You Daisy Chain Verizon Actiontec MI424WR Routers???
Anti-Phish1
Master - Level 1

@viafax999 wrote:

What's so complicated about connecting a lan port of the VZ router to the wan port of the second router after having configured it as a different subnet and a static ip address on the vz subnet. 


If all you are doing is browsing, it's fine.

Anything more complicated, and you run in to lots of issues. 

  • Double NAT. 
  • Port forwarding has do be done on both routers.
  • UPNP won't work to open ports on the Actiontec from devices on the second router.
  • PCs on the Actiontec won't see PC's on the second router without creating static routes.
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Re: Can You Daisy Chain Verizon Actiontec MI424WR Routers???
viafax999
Community Leader
Community Leader

@Anti-Phish wrote:

Anything more complicated, and you run in to lots of issues. 

  • Double NAT. 
  • Port forwarding has do be done on both routers.
  • UPNP won't work to open ports on the Actiontec from devices on the second router.
  • PCs on the Actiontec won't see PC's on the second router without creating static routes.

Can you point me to some documentation on defining a static route in such a scenario? or can you explain how to define one?

I have a need to do exactly this for somebody in the UK.

Re: Can You Daisy Chain Verizon Actiontec MI424WR Routers???
jann66
Newbie

Since I want to daisy chain the Netgear WNDR 3700 Wireless N router which is a dual band router, theoretically couldn't I have three seprate networks:

Network A: From the Verizon Actiontec Wireless G Router

  • Wireless: Turned ON (Channel 1)
  • DHCP: Turned ON
  • IP Address: Unchanged
  • Subnet: unchanged
  • Different SSID than Network B or C

Network B: From the Netgear Wireless N Router

  • Wireless: Turned ON (Channel 6) via 2.4 Ghz band
  • DHCP: Turned OFF
  • IP Address: Different from Verizon Actiontec router
  • Subnet: same as Verizon Actiontec router
  • Different SSID than Network A or C

Network C: From the Netgear Wireless N Router

  • Wireless; Turned ON (Channel 11) via 5.0 Ghz band
  • DHCO: Turned OFF (Same as Network B)
  • IP Address Different from Actiontec router (same as Network B)
  • Subnet: same as Verizon Actiontec Router
  • Different SSID than Network A or B.

If this works, I could have certain devices dedicated to certain networks in the house as each netowk have a different name (ie. a different SSIP name).

At worst, I should be able to run two networks, one off of the Verizon Actiontec G router and one off off the Netgear N router if I couldn't distinguish the dual bands on the Netgear router.

Anyone have any thoughts on this setup?

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Re: Can You Daisy Chain Verizon Actiontec MI424WR Routers???
viafax999
Community Leader
Community Leader

what do you mean by this?

  • IP Address Different from Actiontec router (same as Network B)
  • you can't have two devices with the same ip address.

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    Re: Can You Daisy Chain Verizon Actiontec MI424WR Routers???
    jann66
    Newbie

    The Actiontec router and the Netgear rounter would have different IP addresses.

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