Tips for Connecting Two Wireless Routers on a Home Network

henry aria
4 min readOct 3, 2018

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In this modern world, it is possible to configure two wireless routers on a home network. Connecting a new router with the existing one gives you a high speed of internet to access everywhere in the house. It may interest you to know that you can use a new (second) router as the range extender. So, if you have a Linksys WiFi range extender, you can configure it as an ‘extender Linksys’ for the strongest signals ever.

Many home routers include WDS or Wireless Distributed Services in order to create multiple Access Points on a home network with a particular name.

Similarly, most home network computers use only a single router, adding a second router makes sense in few situations:

  • Upgrading a wired network supports numerous wireless devices.
  • Extending the wireless range to even those areas that are declared as dead zones.
  • Networking a secured wired device that is far away from the original WiFi router.
  • Creating a separate sub network within the home in order to stream videos on WiFi devices without buffering or signal breakage.

Connect two wireless routers with just few simple steps.

1. Locating a Second Router

Remember, when setting up a new router, consider placing it near a Windows PC or another computer that can be used for initial setup and configuration. On the other hand, both wired and wireless routers are best configured from a computer that is connected via Ethernet cable. You can move the router to its intended location after the process of installation and configuration.

2. Connecting the Second Wired Router

A new router (second) that doesn’t have wireless capability is supposed to be connected with the existing (first) router through an Ethernet cable. Now, what you have to do is plug one end of the cable into the new router’s WAN or internet port and then plug the other end into any free port on the existing router other than its uplink (WAN) port.

3. Connecting the Second Wireless Router

Home networking routers can be connected to each other with an Ethernet cable same as ‘wired routers’. Well, connecting two home routers (wireless) is also possible, but in most configurations steps, the second one will only be able to function as a wireless access point. Remember that the second router must be set up in client mode to utilize its full routing functionality, a mode that various home routers do not support. To know more about your device and its configuration, call our tech support team on toll-free number 1–844–726–2255.

If you failed to configure both the routers with each other, consider trying the Linksys router WPS button process.

Now, what you have to do press and hold the WPS button. Remember that you can also access the router’s setup page (web-based) and easily configure WPS by just clicking on the same WPS button. In order to access the web-based setup page of the router, open an internet browser and in the address bar, type the default IP address of your existing WiFi router. After that, you will be prompted to enter username and password into the required fields. Once done, click ok. Now, click the WPS button of the new device and client device that you want to connect.

4.WiFi Channel Settings for Home Networking Routers (Wireless)

In case your existing and new router are wireless, then their WiFi signals can easily interfere with each other which results in causing unpredictable network slowdowns and dropped connections. Remember that each wireless router utilizes a certain WiFi frequency range known as channels. Signal interference occurs when two wireless routers in the same house have the same wireless channel number.

Note: WiFi routers use different WiFi channels by default depending on the model, but these settings can be changed via router’s console administration page. In order to avoid signal interference between two routers, consider setting both of the routers to different channel numbers.

5. IP Address Configuration of a New Router

Home networking routers have default IP address settings depending on their make and model. However, the default IP settings of a second router do not require any changes until and unless it is to be configured as an access point or network switch.

6. Using the Second Router as an Access Point

The above process enables an additional router to support a ‘subnetwork’ within the range of home WiFi network. This is valuable and useful to maintain an extra level of control over certain devices such as placing extra restrictions on the internet access.

Note: A second router (new) can be configured as an access point (if wireless). This allows devices connected to the second router as normal but is not capable of creating a subnetwork. Also, remember that for the above-mentioned process, you should have the Linksys cloud account.

Advantages of Having a Linksys Cloud Account

The smart WiFi Linksys is a free service which provides a security layer to home or office routers. This will allow you to configure the settings of your router remotely over the home networking system (internet). Once you have set up router, you can create a Linksys cloud account that you will need to activate with WiFi router. It may also interest you to know that the Linksys smart WiFi allows you to access the router remotely in order to view your home network. If you have any queries, you are free to call our tech support team at any time.

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