Octopus Overlords

I have the ISP modem. I shut off the wireless signal from that, and sent ethernet to my wireless router, and used that instead. Its been working. But I was trying to set up a second wireless network in the house, using a second router.
I connected it to the ISP modem, made sure to set the DHCP base addresses to a different set of IP's.
The network map says its getting internet. computers I connect to it are receiving IP addresses, but none of them can receive web pages.

Am I just trying to do something impossible, will the ISP modem just not allow this sort of configuration?

I doubt your ISP modem is really allowing assignment of 2 public IP addresses, despite your DHCP settings. You probably need to have a switch between the modem and the routers.

Jaymon wrote: ↑Sun Aug 29, 2021 4:50 pm I have the ISP modem. I shut off the wireless signal from that, and sent ethernet to my wireless router, and used that instead. Its been working. But I was trying to set up a second wireless network in the house, using a second router.
I connected it to the ISP modem, made sure to set the DHCP base addresses to a different set of IP's.
The network map says its getting internet. computers I connect to it are receiving IP addresses, but none of them can receive web pages.

Am I just trying to do something impossible, will the ISP modem just not allow this sort of configuration?

It is possible. Maybe if you share more detail information, we can help figure out what is wrong.

Also what is the goal of setting up 2nd wireless network? To separate wifi devices? Or to extend the wifi coverage?

Yup, certainly ought to be doable. Here are some wikiHows that may help, as they walk you through the correct set-up process:

• How to Connect One Router to Another to Expand a Network
• How to Connect Two Routers

Here is the story, about a man named jaymon, who is not as smart as he presumed.

What I wanted to do, was extend my wireless network via mesh, so I could get more bars in more parts of my house. I only get half bars on 5g when setting in my easy chair, and that bugs me. Also, my tv has is sometimes skipping a little bit.
I wanted to do this without disrupting the existing wireless, so I purchased 2 routers. My plan was to set up a second network, so I could test out mesh, without disrupting the household on the existing wireless.

I got one set up, broadcasting a new ssid, hooked up to the ISP modem, but could not get internet through it. investigation showed dhcp conflict. me, in my foolish wisdom, turned off dhcp on the router, which effectively locked me out of it.

So I set up the second router, got it broadcasting a new SSID, hooked up to the ISP modem. This time, I was smarter, and went into the new router and specified the dhcp range so it would not be in conflict. Now the router says its getting internet from the ISP modem, but the connected computers still cannot get to web pages.

Then I spent some time on google. I realized a big mistake. the routers I bought are not mesh compatible. they can do repeater mode, and stuff, but not mesh. so I am super bummed. I was able to sort out the router that I switched off dhcp, and get it reset.

well anyways, in a little while I will post a couple of nearly brand new routers over in the bargains thread, maybe somebody wants to take them off my hands.

If you just want to extend the wifi, you don't need to have separate network with their own DHCP to work. You just need to use access points or turn routers into access points then use the DHCP from your existing router to assign the IP. So the new routers will use your existing subnet, it'll just passthrough the dhcp request to your existing dhcp provider. That'll be easier to manage than to have a separate DHCP provider assigning a separate ip range.

Only use separate ip subnet with their own DHCP if you want to separate the networks so devices on different subnet don't communicate with each other but can access internet. Kinda like setting up a guest network that can't access your home devices.

Likely you can buy the same router and make it an access point. I did that in my mother's house and it wasn't very complicated to setup. I think it's been like that for years and they have never complained.

I set up a repeater, but that created a new separately named network.
access point would have required me to run a cable to it.

but I ended up getting a newer AIMesh compatible router, and thats working now. So I am good, except for this pair of almost brand new, not aimesh compatible routers I have hanging about.

well, at least they don't start to smell bad when they get too old for use.