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Please forgive me if my terms aren't correct, networking isn't really my forte.

My current setup is this (blue solid line is ethernet cable, orange dotted line is wifi connection): enter image description here

For historical and Wifi signal quality, my Wifi router is located in the bedroom. My cable modem is located in the living room, close to the point where the cable comes from the outside into my apartment. I have an ethernet cable running from the living room (cable modem) to the bedroom (wifi router). My PS4 connects wirelessly to the wifi router.

My desired setup looks like this: enter image description here

I have a WRT54G lying around and I was wondering if I could use it as a mere connector to plug my PS4 with an ethernet cable to my network. No need to even use the wifi capabilities, no need to extend wifi signal, nothing. I just want to connect my PS4 via cable to my network.

My cable modem has only one ethernet connector.

I want to avoid running more cables across the apartment (it's a rental, and wife hates cables), be them ethernet or coaxial. I want to avoid moving the wifi router as well, as it's currently at the optimal place for wifi strength across the house.

This is what I did so far:

  • Reset the WRT54G
  • Assigned 192.168.1.54 to the WRT54G (the wifi router is 192.168.1.1, I couldn't figure out the modem's IP yet EDIT: it's 192.168.100.1)
  • Disabled DHCP and wifi on the WRT54G.

Then I've tried different connection setups:

  • Plug the cable modem to the "Internet" port on the WRT54G, and plug the cable coming from the Wifi router to a regular port on the WRT54G.
  • Plug the cable modem to a regular port on the WRT54G, and plug the cable coming from the Wifi router to the "Internet" port on the WRT54G.
  • Plug the cable modem to a regular port on the WRT54G, and plug the cable coming from the Wifi router to a regular port on the WRT54G.

Nothing seems to work, so I guess I'm missing something here. Maybe some config to be done in the wifi router?

Thanks a lot for your help!

Daniel
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2 Answers2

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I think what is incorrect here is that the wifi router can not actually act as a router in this situation. If you look at the DHCP config released to your PS4 (or any other client) what is the gateway? My suspicion is that 192.168.1.1 is served as the gateway but that your wifi router is not able to route to your modem.

What I recommend you to do is to do the following:

  • Use the WRT as the router (actual gateway).
  • Run dhcp on the WRT.
  • Use 192.168.1.1 for the WRT (not necessary but will make it easier)
  • Make sure that 192.168.1.1 (or whatever you use for the WRT) is used in your dhcp config as the gateway!
  • Connect the wifi router & ps4 to any of the regular ports (switch ports) on both the WRT & the wifi router.
  • Plug the cable to the modem to the internet port of the WRT.
  • Optionally, turn off wifi on the WRT (if applicable)
jvda
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Most likely, what you're missing is that your "LAN" doesn't start at the cable modem; instead, it starts at your Wi-Fi router. The connection between the modem and the router still belongs to the "WAN" side.

Most ISPs only issue a single IP address per customer on the WAN side, expecting them to connect a NAT router and nothing else, and some of them even restrict that one address to a specific router's MAC address.

(If the 'cable modem' was also a router, then your 3rd option would have worked.)

So for this to work in your case, you'd need to swap the router and the bridge. (You don't need to swap the physical devices, only their functions.) That is, the cable coming out of your modem needs to go into a router's "Internet" or "WAN" port first, and only from there distributed across your house using bridges or switches or Wi-Fi APs.

Alternatives exist (using VLANs to carry both WAN and LAN networks on the same cable), but they require additional hardware and won't be very cheap.

grawity
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