Enabing Guest WIFI access . . .

[kamdard]

Hi,

I have a Verizon FIOS ActionTec router MI424WR Rev. I. I want to enable/set-up guest WIFI access so that I don't have to give my wifi password to guests.  After browsing and calling Verizon support, came to know current ActionTec (MI424WR) router does NOT have guest access (possibly due to firmware limitations).

I do have an old LinkSys Wireless-G WRT54GS (Ver. 6) lying around and do NOT want to upgrade to Verizon FIOS Quantum at the moment.

So was wondering if I can make use of that old router to allow guests access the Internet (via wifi) without me having to provide them  my password ?  I just want to keep my Verizon FIOS router as the main one since I have lot of my devices connected and configured.

I also skimmed thru' DD-WRT website and found that my old LinkSys router may face "challenges" since it is WRT54GS (Ver. 6) due to less RAM (meaning would have to run DD-WRT micro -- but still it's a hit or a miss).

So I am looking for how do I go about it ? Are there detailed steps that someone can, who has accomplished such things, describe here?

I did browse thru' this forum and did find a few posts, but still not sure how to achieve the guest-access feature :

So will appreciate some details here.

Thanks,

Dharmesh.

[gs0b]

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I do have an old LinkSys Wireless-G WRT54GS (Ver. 6) lying around and do NOT want to upgrade to Verizon FIOS Quantum at the moment.

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You don't have to upgrade to Quantum TV to use the Quantum router.  Quantum TV service and the Quantum router are two unrelated products that Verizon named the same.

Verizon has recently been known to offer free or discounted Quantum routers with upgrades to 75/75 internet.  You might want to check with them to see if you are eligible for this or other discounts on the router.

You can certainly plug another router into your Actiontec and let your guests connect to it.  If you creates it as a normal NAT router, it will create it's own network and devices attached to it won't have easy access to your main network.  It's not as elegant as a router with a true guest network, but it'll work.

The main thing to do is make sure the IP address range on your guest network is different than the IP address range on the Actiontec.

Good Luck.

[kamdard]

Hi,

Thanks for the quick response.

So based on your response, I have a few further queries ?

1)  Put an ethernet cable from  LAN_Port of LinkSys Router to a LAN_Port  of ActionTec rounter.

2 ) Do i need to make any changes in the setting of ActionTec router OR LinkSys router ?

3) Do I need to set any SSID on my LinkSys router ? Should it be different than my VZ Router SSID ?

This is the 1st time I am planning to do this sort of thing (conect 2 routers together) so if you can provide a few key steps, I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks,

Dharmesh.

[gs0b · Accepted solution]

Connect the WAN port of the LinkSys to a LAN port on the Actiontec.  This will create a separate network.  If you go LAN to LAN, the LinkSys will become an access point instead of a NAT router.  Any device connected to the LinkSys will be able to see all the devices on the Actiontec.

Configure the LinkSys's DHCP server to use a different IP address range than the Actiontec.  The Actiontec uses 192.168.1.x, unless you've changed it.  You could use 192.168.2.x, for example.  Check the LinkSys manual or help pages for the details. You don't need to change any settings on the Actiontec.

Since your goal is to have a separate guest network, you do want to use a different SSID.  That will make it easy to know which network is your primary and which is your guest.

Note that this approach does have some issues, such as the double NATed network for guests may interfere with some obscure/advanced network services and the potential for savvy users of the guest network to access the primary network.  If you want a truly separate, managed guest network you'll need to get a router with guest network support.  The Verizon Quantum router's guest network works well, although it is 2.4GHz only.

Good Luck.

[kamdard]

Hi gs0b,

You saved my day ! It worked like a charm as you described. I did change the IP of LinkSys to 192.168.2.x and changed it's DHCP range accordingly as well. Then power-cycled the router and plugged the ethernet cable from it's (liksys's) WAN port to the LAN_port of ActionTec router and voila !

Of course, I also created a new SSID on LinkSys to correspond to Guest N/W.

I am researching into the double-NAT issue as to what mishap it could cause.

But really appreciate your help. Thanks a bunch !!!

Regards,

Dharmesh.