fizicsfred's profile

Tutor

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10 Messages

Saturday, January 30th, 2016 11:12 PM

2nd router-behind-a-router connection dilemma ...

I currently have a TDL-3600 router connected to my 2WIRE 3801 RG through a DMZplus pinhole. Works fine, but I want to connect an additional router to the 2WIRE 3801 RG. I keep getting the following error: "A DMZplus PC is already configured. Remove this PC from DMZplus configuration and reboot it first." Is it correct then to assume from this error statement that only ONE DMZplus connection can be made at a time?

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Professor

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2.4K Messages

8 years ago

"

@fizicsfred

 

As far as I am aware, your DirecTV receivers only use wireless for access to certain things such as On Demand or TV apps like Pandora. There are the wireless genie receivers(that use wireless for streaming TV) but you didn't mention a DirecTV access point being used so I do not believe you're using that. You can change your receivers over to your TP-Link's wireless network. I *believe* the DirecTV receivers(at least the newer models) support 5 GHz. You can place them over on that network and leave your current devices on 2.4 GHz.

 

For your question, I am a little confused on what you're trying to do. Are you asking if you can just connect a 3rd devices to the existing TP-Link with a different LAN? Probably, but I can not recommend that. What you're trying to do just seems like you're setting yourself up for lots of problems and it just is too messy of a setup considering what I suggested you do in my previous post.

 

I still recommend you do the guest network method I suggested above:

1) Move your DirecTV receivers over to your TP-Link(to your 5 GHz network as I believe they support that), follow the instructions below:

https://support.directv.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/4069/~/directv-genie%26reg%3B-wifi-setup-%26-connection

(Choose manual setup and not WPS)

2) Disable the 2Wire's wireless radio.

3) Setup a guest network on the TP-Link's 2.4 GHz radio.

 

If you didn't already buy an additional router, you're better off saving/spending the money on a newer wireless AC1900 router to replace your current TP-Link when the time comes where you start acquiring more devices that can support 5 GHz networks/wireless-AC.

 

What you're trying to do seems like you're just making it harder on yourself along with the headaches you're going to have with the setup in the future.

 

"There is at least 8 neighbors who have wifi that read above -75dBs. Finding holes isn't easy."

If you keep adding networks then those other networks are just going to collide with your current networks and it isn't going to be pretty. Stick to 1,6,11 like you're currently doing and only use your one TP-Link for the best results.

 

I do believe the DirecTV receivers(at least the newer Genie receivers) support 5 GHz so and see if you can follow the instructions and connect it to your TP-Link's 5 GHz. I just cannot confirm since I have never had DirecTV in the past. I did see some posts indicating that they have connected their Genie DVR to their router's 5 GHz network. I think only the DVR  actually makes a wireless connection for additional features, so check out that receiver's settings. You should be even able to hook it up by Ethernet instead if that's an option for you.

 

Sorry for the long post, but I hope it at least helped in some ways.

 

 

 

Professor

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2.4K Messages

8 years ago

@fizicsfred

 

I believe so. I don't think what you're doing would work, I could be wrong though.

 

Did you mean to say TL-WDR3600?

 

Is there a specific reason why you want to add these additional devices as routers? If you're looking for more coverage, then you should set them up to act as access points without DMZ+ being used. If there's some specific LAN feature you wanted to use, then use the main one as it is with DMZ and branch off additionals as access points.

 

http://www.tp-link.com/en/FAQ-417.html

Tutor

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10 Messages

8 years ago

Darknessrise Thanks for your timely response. First, it is a TL-WDR3600. It runs my home network/server on a different IP from my 2WIRE network. It uses a DMZplus connection directly to the internet. It is very secure and only accessed by me. I use the 2WIRE network for "guest" wifi use, our tablets/cellphones and cat to my Vonage phone (voip). The problem arose when DirectTV hooked up our 3 TVs (they used to be Uverse). They all connect by wifi to the 2WIRE router. Wifi speed on the 2WIRE network dropped from 18 Mb/s to 2 Mb/s or less. Wifi speed on the TL-WDR3600 home network runs around 19-20 Mb/s (22Mb/s on cat). I want to connect a third router to handle the guest/cellphone wifi traffic that is separate from the 2WIRE router (and faster) but I don't want to open that traffic to my secure home network. I figured another separate router going through a DMZplus tunnel would do the job. But I guess that is not an option. Can I run the new router off of a LAN-to-WAN connection with the 2WIRE router, but with a separate IP? Basically, I need a 3rd wifi connection with a different IP from the other two. Any ideas will be greatly appreciated. Fred

Professor

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2.4K Messages

8 years ago

@fizicsfred

 

I'm trying to think about it, but I don't believe the new device will have access to those devices on the TL-WDR3600 due to the way it's setup. Do not quote me on that tough.

 

I'm a little curious of what made you decide not to use the guest network on your TL-WDR3600? As long as it's setup properly, I don't believe any of those devices would be able to access those on your main network.

 

I would try out the guest network on your TP-Link and see how that goes. Make sure you disable the wireless on your gateway. Also make sure your TP-Link's 2.4 GHz network is only using channels 1,6, or 11 along with channel width of 20 MHz for the best performance. Then check to see if 5 GHz is using a high channel such as 161 with 40 MHz width.

 

In the end, I would suggest that you just disable wireless and avoid the new router option and focus on getting the guest network on your TP-Link up and running. If you're worried about speed problems, you'll probably end up with less anyway since you're going to have so many different wireless networks floating around. You should set the guest network to 2.4 GHz only and try moving all of your devices over to 5 GHz if possible.

 

 

 

 

Tutor

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10 Messages

8 years ago

I'm a little curious of what made you decide not to use the guest network on your TL-WDR3600? As long as it's setup properly, I don't believe any of those devices would be able to access those on your main network.

At the time I initially setup this network, I wasn't familiar with TP-Link's "guest network" setup. I figured two completely separate networks with different IPs would keep my home network on the TL-WDR3600 completely isolated from the 2WIRE network. Plus the only 802.11n device I had was a laptop that I wanted to keep on my home network (our phones at the time were only 802.11g). That worked fine because the 2WIRE has only an 802.11g wifi, while the TL-WDR3600 is dual band 802.11n. I do a lot of large file movement on the home network, so 802.11n is almost a must. Not to mention the fact that the Ethernet on the 2WIRE is 10/100 Mb/s, while the TL-WDR3600 runs 10/100/1000 Mb/s. So the TL-WDR3600 had to be for my home network.

 

Make sure you disable the wireless on your gateway.

I cannot disable the 2WIRE wifi because DirecTV uses it. I really don't want DirecTV slowing down my home network!

 

If you're worried about speed problems, you'll probably end up with less anyway since you're going to have so many different wireless networks floating around. You should set the guest network to 2.4 GHz only and try moving all of your devices over to 5 GHz if possible.

I have NO devices that can run the 5GHz band. I DO have some phones and tablets that can run 802.11n though. BTW, the 2WIRE is at channel 1 and the TL-WDR3600 is at channel 11. Any new router would run at 6. We also live in a rather dense wifi area. There is at least 8 neighbors who have wifi that read above -75dBs. Finding holes isn't easy. I wish I had 5GHz devices because that band is almost empty!

 

In the end, I would suggest that you just disable wireless and avoid the new router option and focus on getting the guest network on your TP-Link up and running.

I will do some research on TP-Link guest networks to see if that might work. As an alternative, could I connect the 3rd router to the TL-WDR3600 through a DMZ tunnel in the TL-WDR3600 and run a 3rd IP for it, say 192.168.3.x and let the 3rd router have DHCP control over the 3rd network?

 

Yes or No on the last question will suffice and I'll mark the question solved.

Thanks for all your time.

Fred

Contributor

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2 Messages

6 years ago

Hi... I thought I was looking up questions and solutions about connecting routers to modems. Maybe I don't understand the original question either but, I'm tired of finding solutions to a service that is completely unrelated to the subject and issue.

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