Multiple Routers connected to one fiber line - eviltoast

Hi All

I have done my own network setup at our family guesthouse property which was working perfectly fine for over a year and now started giving trouble.

The reason being the property is quite large and due to the age the walls are quite thick with a corrugated iron roof. Makes any wifi extender / antennas useless.

Here is my setup

- 200mb/s Fiber line from ISP

- Connected directly to the Fiber line is the TOTOLINK Router (AC1200) provided by the ISP. (MAIN ROUTER)

- From the Router I have a network cable that runs to the second router (TP Link Archer AX1500) (ROUTER 1) This router is setup as a router (not a Access point) With a dynamic IP. No other settings changed on the router.

- From Router 1 I have a network cable that runs to another TP Link Archer Ax20 (ROUTER 2)

- Router 2 is setup as a router (not access point) with dynamic IP. No other settings changed on the router.

Frim Router 2 I followed the same setup as above and in total I have 7 routers connected via network cable from one to the other. All routers are TP Link either Archer Ax20 or Archer AX1500)

All routers are setup as Routers (not Access points) All IPs dynamic. No other settings changed on the router.

I also have about 6 x TP Link Deco devices that are connected to one of the routers offering increased wifi signal in that section of the property. I did not change any of the advanced settings on the Deco devices.

I am getting a lot of dropped connections. The Speed tests fine at around 180 / 190 mb/s and then the connection drops.

Is there a way to alter the settings on the routers installed to try to prevent IP conflicts / wifi conflicts which i believe is resulting in the dropped connections.

I have done firmware upgrades on all routers and the ISP was at the property to test the fiber line but could not find any faults.

I would greatly appreciate any help / advice.

Thanks!

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  • Exotic-Grape8743@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Apart from the main router you need to set them all up as access points. Such a string of routers all doing NAT and firewalling is the cause of your issue. You should also all use the same WiFi ssid name and password. This will allow your devices to automatically roam between them and you will have one flat network. Also make sure there are no Ethernet cable issues anywhere in this crazy linkage. This could also cause drops in speed or complete internet drops so make sure each link is connecting at gigabit speeds (the routers’ setup pages should tell you their link speeds). Much better would be to use actual access points and switches and a vlan aware router so you can do guest networks that are segregated but that takes a bit more advanced networking knowledge.