I have been tasked with getting wifi to a separate office (/portacabin) at work, IT is not my forte and I'm having a few issues.

The original (working) setup, was a Vigor2860s located in the main office (1) (Connected to a ANT-2510 antenna) being received by a Vigor N65 usb wifi adapter directly into the single computer in the separate office (2). Which worked fine on both 2.4 and 5Ghz networks.

The new setup is a Vigor2830n connected to a ANT-2510 antenna in office 2, theoretically connecting to the wifi in the main office to use the 2830n as a repeater.

I have followed the 'How to use your Vigor router as a wireless repeater' guide, however I am now unable to;
a) Connect the computer in office 2 to the main office wifi (as was working beforehand) on the 2.4ghz network, but does work on the 5ghz network
b) Get the repeater in office 2 to have any internet connectivity (it is however 'talking' to the main router with successful ping tests)


I couldn't figure out how to change the IP address on the repeater router so it is the same as the main router, could this be the cause for both issues? I suspected this to be issue for the repeater internet issue, but not for the original setup loss of function..?

Thanks in advance,

Chris (IT Simpleton)

I couldn't figure out how to change the IP address on the repeater router

I think by this you mean that you could not see how to setup the LAN on the 2830. You would not config the two routers to the same ip address because that really would not work.

I would suspect that the pc in the remote office is getting DHCP from 2830 where it should be getting it from 2860. This would make the default route on the PC wrong (PC CMD prompt> ipconfig /all).

In the example on the FAQ https://www.draytek.com/en/faq/faq-wlan/wlan.wireless-lan/how-to-use-vigor-router-as-a-wireless-repeater/ , the main router (your 2860) is 192.168.1.1, which is the default, and the remote repeater (your 2830) is 192.168.1.2. The important thing here is that the 192.168.1 prefix is the same but they must have the last bit as unique. Equally important is that the DHCP on the 2830 remote router is turned OFF otherwise both router think that they are in charge of the LAN.

Lan setup on 2830 is under LAN >> General Setup then press "Details Page" against LAN1. Make sure that you set the IP address first 3 numbers the same, and 4th one different from the 2860. Disable the DHCP and leave the rest at default and that part at least should work.

On the client PC do ipconfig /all at the cmd prompt and make sure that the default gateway is the LAN address of the 2860 router, kind of like this (assuming default settings, and I have cut out all the extra output) : -

Code:

C:\>ipconfig /all Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection: IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.11.63(Preferred) Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0 Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1 DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1 DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1

Not that the PC does not have to interact with the IP of the 2830 at all, the repeater function is at another layer and does not involve IP. The reason for setting the IP is to not clash with the 2860, from then on it is only used for administration of the 2830.

Have I made anything clear? I do tent to ramble when I get going!

Thank you for the detailed reply!

I had had a bit more of a play, but seem to be falling at the first hurdle every time. Whenever I change the IP address for the 2830n to '192.168.1.2' rather than the default '192.168.1.1', I then cannot reconnect to the router, instead getting a 'ERROR_CONNECTION_REFUSED' in my browser. I have tried resetting the wireless adapter multiple times, in addition to resetting the router to default settings multiple times between attempts in case the repeater setup was causing an issue. I am turning off the DCHP setting each time too when I am trying to alter the IP address.

Am I missing something obvious..?

I'm sure you are missing something. Unfortunately I'm missing it too!

Qk, back to basics.

• 2830 at default.


• MAKE SURE that the PC is not connected to any network, WiFi or otherwise (other WiFi connections often overlooked)


• Plug into the 2830, get the UI in the browser, http://192.168.1.1


• Change the LAN address to 192.168.1.2, leave everything else including DHCP as default


• When router has rebooted, can you now get it using http://192.168.1.2

If the above worked,

• Set up the Wifi, repeater and everything else on the 2830


• Turn 2830 DHCP off


• If the repeater is talking to the 2860 correctly then the PC should be able to see the net.


• If the repeater is not talking to the 2860 correctly at this stage then to access the 2830 WITHOUT a reset you need to (temporarily) set up a static address on the PC's ethernet socket because you have no access to the DHCP.
  
  • Control Panel\Network and Internet\Network and Sharing Centre >> Local Area Connection >> Properties >> IPv4 >> Properties, make the address, say 192.168.1.234 (no good reason for the 234), subnet 255.255.255.0, default gateway 192.168.1.2

ping 8.8.8.8 to test the net without testing DNS

I do believe I am a step closer thanks to that! I have managed to setup the new IP address and link the router successfully to main one, however I'm still not getting internet access..? Would this be an issue with the 2860 settings as I can no longer get internet access through the 2860 going direct to the 2.4 network once I messed about setting the repeater settings up..?