Tackling a complicated network issue Find the root cause and streamline the process
Tackling a complicated network issue Find the root cause and streamline the process
Hello everyone, how are you today? I’ve been back with my parents for a while since finishing college, and I ran into what could be a pretty frustrating internet situation—one of those scary network configurations I’ve seen before. I reached out to the local ISP, and the connection has improved a bit. Now it’s time to upgrade the setup.
The building is small, with my dad’s shop on the ground floor, my uncle upstairs, me on the second floor, my dad and brother also there, and a terrace that’s not often used. The ISP cable connects to the store, where it meets a router. That router links to two more routers on each floor and a switch for the PCs in the shop. Each of the three routers uses a different Wi-Fi network.
If you have any ideas on how to optimize this network, I’d really appreciate your input. To simplify things, we should have two Wi-Fi networks: one for the store and another for the apartments. The apartment PCs shouldn’t be able to connect to the shop PCs’ network. Thanks for your time, and sorry for the rough English—I’m a Brazilian, so I’m still getting used to this!
If you hadn't specified this, I would have thought English was your primary language. You can configure all devices with identical SSIDs and passwords when setting up WiFi. As you switch between network tiers, it should prompt your gadgets to reconnect to other routers when you stray too far from the last one. To keep everything connected on the same network, especially if your home uses the WAN port at Uncle's house and your own, turn off DHCP on both devices and switch to a bridged setup. This will let your uncle's router and yours share the DHCP server from the lower level, making your IPs visible to the store router so you can monitor all computers across floors.
I'm using outdated D-link routers everywhere hahahaha. Upgrading to new equipment isn't impossible, and with a solid router I could likely cover both apartments with just one Wi-Fi signal. For most people except me, 2.4GHz should work just fine. Investing in a good switch for the ground floor to act as the main hub seems reasonable? Or won't it really make no difference? The advice is really assisting many guys!
Virtual networks connected via NAT to the wider internet instead of isolated VLANs.
Create a basic DMZ area on the initial router and another on the subsequent router. This approach is straightforward, requires no additional equipment and keeps configuration simple.