How to Uplink a Router to an Existing One to Create an Access Point

Not too long ago, the average computer user might have never even heard of a router, but now it's likely they own at least one. With cheaper computers and faster Internet, more people than ever have their own home network. Sometimes adding a second router can help alleviate network traffic or might be needed when adding more computers to your network. Adding a second router can be tricky. Here are the basic steps in how to add a router to your home network.

Things You'll Need

• 2 routers
• Ethernet cable

Instructions

How to Add a Second Router to your Home Network

1. Connect a PC to the secondary router. Press the "reset" button on the router and hold for thirty seconds. This will take restore the factory settings to the secondary router. Boot up the PC so that you can connect to the router.

2. Open up a website browser on the computer and type in the IP address of the secondary router. It should be 192.168.1.1. If this doesn't work, then check the documentation for your router.

3. Type in the default admin user name and password for the secondary router. You may want to consult your manual since this information varies by brand.

4. Configure the secondary router. Change the IP address, or local (DHCP) address for the secondary router since right now it most likely has the same IP address as the primary router. Look for a tab or page marked "settings" to change this. You can change the address to something like 192.168.1.2. Just change the last number of the local address. Next you will need to disable DHCP on your secondary router since the primary router will the one to assign IP addresses to all computers.

5. Take the Ethernet cable and connect the two routers together as well as any other computers on your network. For good measure, restart both routers so that they can be sure to 'find' each other. Test each computer to see if it sees the other ones on the network.

Tips & Warnings

• If your routers do not 'see' each other, try unplugging for a few minutes. If routers still do not see each other, try repeating all of the steps again and read through your router documentation.

• It's very important when adding a second router to change the IP address because if you don't, then the devices on the secondary router will be shut out of the home network.

• Change the default password to your router and keep it in a safe place. If you should forget, then you can set the router back to the manufacturer's settings. Just remember to redo any changes you have made to the configuration.