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I'm wanting to cascade 2 routers, one is a Linksys E3000 Router, the other is a wireless Cable Modem/Router made by Arris.

As of now their cascaded via WAN to LAN, in other words, the internet port on the second router is plugged into an ethernet port on first router, everything works just fine.

With this setup there are 2 problems I'm trying to address and could use some help:

The most important thing is I need to switch over to LAN to LAN from WAN to LAN because I want open communication over the entire network and not have the 2 routers isolated on different subnets. The main problem with this is I still need DHCP on both routers and all the articles I've read have it disabled on the second router. I don't know why but If its a problem with DHCP fighting over addresses can't I have the second router assign addresses on ip 100 and up and the first ip 99 and below or something of the like?

The second issue is I'd like both routers, which also provide wireless, to have a shared SSID so that moving from one part of the house to the other doesnt mean having to switch SSID's or devices flipping back and fourth on different SSID's.

Any help would be much appreciated, thanks in advance.

**** EDIT Sorry for being vague above,

I'm wanting to have 2 routers in a large house so that the whole house can be covered with both wireless and wired internet. I'm wanting the routers to be linked via ethernet so I can try and maintain maximum speed and help prevent any speed loss.

In the future I may add more routers to further expand wireless coverage, for example in the basement where wireless has trouble getting to, and also provide wired options for maximum speed so it needs to be expandable.

If possible I would like the 2 routers I have now, and future routers I may add later on to be all on the same subnet so it'll all be open and I won't have to worry about certain computers, devices, cell phones, etc in certain areas not being able to communicate with the others because their own different subnets as it is now.

Also it would simplify things as I may host a game server or website for the internet and I wouldn't have to worry with different subnet issues in getting to the outside world.

So I'm trying to get everything on the same subnet.

Since this in in a house, I cold have several guests over so it wont be very user-friendly if they have to give their devices a satic ip, especially since they may not even know what an ip is. Thats why its important to try and keep DHCP on all routers.

As for the SSID, I'm afraid to set all the routers, now and in the future, to the same SSID because they will overlap some and as of now are completely in their own world so I imagine it will just create confusion and choas for the router and device but I could be wrong.

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    "I still need DHCP on both routers." Why? You don't explain what your issue is.
    – David Schwartz
    Jun 15, 2015 at 22:41
  • "The second issue is I'd like both routers, which also provide wireless, to have a shared SSID so that moving from one part of the house to the other doesnt mean having to switch SSID's or devices flipping back and fourth on different SSID's." Why is that an "issue"? If you want them to have the same SSID, just set the same SSID on them both. What's the issue exactly?
    – David Schwartz
    Jun 15, 2015 at 22:42
  • Sorry about the vague description, re-editied to be more clear, hope that helps
    – 黒い雪
    Jun 15, 2015 at 23:49
  • "Since this in in a house, I cold have several guests over so it wont be very user-friendly if they have to give their devices a satic ip, especially since they may not even know what an ip is. Thats why its important to try and keep DHCP on all routers." That makes absolutely no sense. It's one LAN.
    – David Schwartz
    Jun 15, 2015 at 23:58

1 Answer 1

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Once you make a LAN-to-LAN connection, it's all one LAN. You only want one DHCP server, and for convenience, that should be on the router with the Internet connection. If you want both routers on the same SSID, configure them that way, with the same SSID and security settings. Use different channels, if possible.

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  • Thats good to hear, but if I disable the DHCP on all but one router because its all ultimately one LAN, will this also still work for wireless, or will wireless have to be a static ip.
    – 黒い雪
    Jun 16, 2015 at 0:46
  • It's all one LAN. The DHCP server will serve the LAN. You're using the routers as bridges, they don't care whether the traffic they're bridging is DHCP or not.
    – David Schwartz
    Jun 16, 2015 at 4:32
  • Thank you, that worked perfectly, I finally got a chance to configure and test it out. The whole thing worked flawlessly, including SSID and other stuff. Sorry for such a basic question but thanks a lot for the answer.
    – 黒い雪
    Jun 16, 2015 at 16:06

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