Wireless internet just using an ethernet port into a wireless router?

Question

Hello everyone,

I am currently staying in a hospital in the UK. The wifi on the ward is very poor and doesn't reach one end of the ward. To solve this problem I purchased a TP Link travel router from PC World. Also, to get the wifi to the end of the ward that doesn't normally have it we have to use two wifi extenders. However, recently the internet has been dropping out as well as very laggy. In an attempt (that has seemed to work despite the problems above) to fix the lag issues I changed the wireless channel to channel 6 from automatic in the TP Link travel routers online control page. Unfortunately the only available means of making a connection to the internet is a single Ethernet port, no modem connections.

I purchased an ASUS RT-N66U router off Amazon.co.uk. However when I was setting the ASUS up it kept asking to be connected to a modem when connecting via one of four Ethernet ports. It still persisted with this (if I recall correctly) when I connected it via the cable/DSL modem port as it would since no modem is available. However, it did eventually just work with the Ethernet cable plugged into the cable/DSL modem port but kept dropping wifi so I had to revert back to the TP Link travel router.

Basically I was wondering if I need to get a wifi router with built in modem to solve my problems? and if not I need help on solving the ASUS routers wifi internet drop-outs and requests for a modem when there cannot be one.

Many thanks for any assistance,

Thomas

Answer 1

This sounds like a very unstable setup. Their is lag to be expected even if the connection was good. This is due to how wifi extenders work someone else explained it but you are essentially getting 1/4th the speed and 4 times the ping time.

If you have access to an ethernet port coming from the system, one of their access points or routers. You may try a set of powerline adapters. The stability and speed of these I would rate between wifi and ethernet. The only question to whether or not they will work is the electrical grid in the hospital. These devices are ment for homes but the hospital's grid will be more complex. At the end of the powerline adapter you can install your own router. Turning off DHCP as Starrysky suggests.

Answer 2

you can daisy chain routers together. the one you are adding usually has 5 lan ports one labelled WAN that usually connects to a modem. it provides a way of internet passthrough as it does not need to connect to the ISP as the modem bit does that. so you put a 100metre lan cable into the modem, you put the other end in the WAN socket of the daisy chained, then you can set the wifi of that one to whatever you like. you cna then get another 100metre lan cable from THAT and put another router on it, and so on as many as you like. each router just needs its own IP starting range. eg main router is 192.168.1.xxx, 2nd one is 192.168.2.xxx, 3rd 192.168.3.xxxx. they all have their own wifi signal names but all have a gateway f the original one 192.168.1.1(usually) thename for this type of router is a CABLE router eg a netgear wgr614 shown here see page 4 where it shows 4 lan ports and one COLOR coded WAN port usually connected to a cable modem, but just as easily connected to a 2nd an wgr614 and so on. http://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/WGR614V9/WGR614v9_SM_26Oct07.pdf

Answer 3

Okay so I should convert the TP Link travel router into a wireless access point? Also, there are multiple bedrooms for us patients at the end of the ward with no Wi-Fi without the extenders - the wireless signal has to cover not just one room but quite a distance hence the use of two Wi-Fi extenders to get Wi-Fi signal and connection to the TP Link travel router.



Thank you for your help so far.