Change wireless network to wired LAN plus wireless

[jhsiv]

In addition to the above model, I also have a wn2500rp (repeater) and an N600 WNDR 3700v3 (previous base, not currently in use, but operable).

The situation: the Nighthawk is my base router (in my office), and wirelessly connects to the repeater. My house is 145 years old with plaster walls and ceilings -- about 60 feet to the front door from the Nighthawk. We added rooms upstairs about 2 years ago. The wireless network works fairly well as it is. However, my wife has set up an office for her studying upstairs, and the university is requiring a wired connection for online graduate courses. I will be running cat6 wire from the Nighthawk up to her office, which should take care of this.

First question:

Can I run the Cat6 to the WNDR 3700v3, and then run another cat6 to her computer while remaining a wired connection? I assume this to be the case, and I'll know soon enough, but thoughts?

Second question:

Can I then run a wireless network off each router (one from the Nighthawk for downstairs and one from the WNDR for upstairs? This should help improve the reception, especially in the far reach of upstairs where the waves must go though a couple of plaster walls and a plaster ceiling. (I purchased the Nighthawk for improved reach -- it helped some.)

Third question:

What changes do I have to make to settings? The firmware is up-to-date.One computer is 64 bit Windows 7, while the other is 64 bit Windows 10.

Thanks for any help!

[William10a · Accepted solution]

To answer the other two question yes you can two wireless networks but not the same ssid's and you need update your firmware on the router's if new firmware download able as the computers the goes the wireless one's needs to be set to the ssid's and passphrase's of the routers and as well the other wireless devices have to set too. The wired connections to your computers should be ok as the standard windows setup is asigned it's ip address by the router through the network.

[jhsiv]

The Nighthawk is an R7000 AC1900...since the post required the model number, I thought it would show.

[William10a]

If I understand your plan your going to have  Netgear r7000 downstairs and a wndr3700v3 upstairs connected via cat 6 cable. The r7000 has giga bit lan ports I not sure the port on a wndr3700v3 if they are only10/100 mbit your upstairs will go about 90 + a few mbits either way if a giga bit ported router you may up 900 mbit + few mbits either way feed to the top router. the r7000 will have to handle dhcp routing and the wndr3700v3 will become a access point. You never said speed of the internet service you have and the type of speed your hoping to get.

[William10a · Accepted solution]

To answer the other two question yes you can two wireless networks but not the same ssid's and you need update your firmware on the router's if new firmware download able as the computers the goes the wireless one's needs to be set to the ssid's and passphrase's of the routers and as well the other wireless devices have to set too. The wired connections to your computers should be ok as the standard windows setup is asigned it's ip address by the router through the network.

[jhsiv]

Thanks for your replies. I just checked my speed through the Nighthawk...14ms ping, 90.15 mbps download, 12,22 mbps upload for the location Ookla selected, The WNDR 3700v3 was my primary router before I purchased the R7000 -- its speeds were not as good, but still well above 60 mbps on the download (wired). It looks as if I can run the cat 6 from a LAN port of the R7000 to the WAN port of the WNDR 3700v3 upstairs, then another cat6 to the computer in that room. The cat6 is probably overkill as the speed will slow down anyway, but I think i can use the upstairs router and the repeater on the other end of the house.

I'm using the cat 6 cable as it's very little more now and will work until I forget about the trouble to run it!