Double router set up

[#1]

Hi there, here's the situation. I have my main plusnet hub one router in the living room connected to ps4, xbox etc with ethernet. The problem: My PCs are upstairs and I want to connect them via ethernet without running cat5 all over the house. I bought a secondary router, a refurbished home hub r4, that apparently works with other isps. I want to connect the secondary bt router in the upstairs game room and connect my PCs to it via ethernet, effectively having 1 router downstairs, 1 router upstairs.

I have changed the dhcp ranges on the bt router, so that it wasn't conflicting with the plusnet router, I have set up a new connection profile on the bt router for plusnet, username password etc, however when I press connect nothing happens. On the connection tab it appears to have saved the profile and plusnet connection information but remains as 'disconnected'.

I'm assuming the 2 routers are conflicting somewhere and I can't for the life of me find where or why. 

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated, thank you for your time!

[#2 · Accepted solution]

You cannot connect 2 routers to the same phone line. You would need to run an ethernet cable (or use powerline adapters) to connect the 2nd router. DHCP should be disabled on the 2nd router.

[#3]

Hey @fluviaflamingo,

@MisterW is correct, you wouldn't be able to connect a second router onto the phone-line. You'd either need to get a longer length of Ethernet to reach from where your router currently is, or get a new line installed into your room upstairs.

Thanks.

***edit***

added a word or two

[#4]

@Mads

I think there's a not missing there...

[#5]

One of your  options would be powerline adaptors, sometimes called homeplugs ( saves on running messy ethernet cables)

You can get a kit, with two adaptors that plug into your mains socket and use your household wiring to transmit data.

Its possible to get them with a pass through, this means that the adaptor has a mains outlet built in, so it doesn't use up your power socket, you can also get them with built in wifi, and multiple ethernet outputs

Adaptor 1 typically has just one ethernet input, you plug it in near your router, and connect to your router with an ethernet cable.

 Adaptor 2 can have multiple ethernet outputs the example linked below has three as well as Wifi, this would go in the second room, where you want ethernet ( or extra wifi ) they just plug into a spare socket.

This is an example of one https://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-TL-WPA8630PKIT-V2-Passthrough-Powerline/dp/B07349P1TX/ref=sr_1_13?k...

If you dont want/need a passthrough and you dont mind if it uses a power outlet then you can save money by buying one without, likewise if you dont need to extend your wifi, or create a new wifi hotspot you can some a little more

[#6]

Thanks for the info on the powerline adapters. I have heard of them before but it was years ago and they were fairly poor in terms of signal quality, stability, ping times etc. Is this still the case or has the hardware improved these days? 

Also, i only have 1 socket in the pc room, which i run a 12 socket adapter tower off, if I used a powerline adaptor, will it work being plugged into the extension tower or does it have to be plugged in directly to the wall?

Thanks again for your time!

[#7]

Thanks for the reply, if I can ask, why is it that you cannot use 2 routers on the same line? I had assumed as long as the details and numbers didn't clash or conflict that they both together would have just acted as a single router. But now I think a bit more about it, i'm guessing the line itself doesn't know how to switch or differentiate between 2 routers to share the signal?

Thanks again for your time!

[#8]

@Fluvialflamingo 

 Before buying  powerline devices it might be worth reading this  https://community.plus.net/t5/Tech-Help-Software-Hardware-etc/Powerline-Unit-Performance/m-p/1607450...

[#9]

Thanks for getting back to us @Fluivalflamingo.

As you've said there's only one signal coming down the line so only one router can make use of it. It's possible to use the second router in a setup that's called bridge mode where it just acts as a router and not as a modem as per the advice @MisterW has given above.