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I have 3 different routers. One of the older ones is the main router which has the incoming connection from my internet provider. My question is if I want to connect the newest router (cisco) and the oldest (dlink) to my verizon router (from which I get the incoming service from my internet provider) so that the LAN wired ports can be used on all the routers as well as the WiFi on each of them (each with different SSIDs), how should they specifically be set up to work properly??
Is there anything specific that needs to be configured, what should I look out for??

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  • Why use different SSIDs? That will make roaming work much worse. Can you wire all three routers to each other LAN-to-LAN? Or do you need to connect them wirelessly? Do they all support WDS? Can/do they run aftermarket firmware? Jun 30, 2014 at 4:27
  • I can connect routers together with networking cable. One SSID wireless network uses MAC authentication- to make it more secure; how does the roaming you mention benefit me? Sorry I'm still a novice in all this. How would you use all 3 routers for a wireless connection?
    – user338768
    Jun 30, 2014 at 14:48
  • Roaming benefits you because devices can switch access points to maintain a signal without significant interruptions. Jun 30, 2014 at 15:24

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Set up front (Verizon) router a NAT and DHCP device, put others behind it setting it to swtch/AP role (= no NAT on it) - that's it.

Or you'll end up with pretty messy scheme which you may not want to maintain.

As an alternative, consider set up Verizon router as a bridge (which will efectively disable wifi on it), then use Cisco as NAT device and put 3rd router behind it as AP and switch device only.

P.S. Beware of NAT performance, "good old" Cisco soho devices not so good in it, so compare NAT performance to choose the fastest one.

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  • How do I set up the router a NAT? What does that mean? Sorry I'm still a novice in all this.
    – user338768
    Jun 30, 2014 at 14:49
  • NAT = network address translation. Ok, your ISP (Verizon in the case) assign you an IP address - only one IP (also called "public IP", or publicly ), but in your network there are more that one device to use internet. So you'll put a router that will a) assign separate IP addresses to all of your devices (using DHCP protocol) from so-called "private IP range", b) translate your requests so it "hide" all of your local network behind that only IP that was assigned by ISP.
    – Alexander
    Jun 30, 2014 at 19:32
  • False start :) Ok, your ISP (Verizon in the case) assign you an IP address - only one IP (also called "public IP"), but in your network there are more that one device to use internet. So you'll put a router that will a) assign separate IP addresses to all of your devices (using DHCP protocol) from so-called "private IP range", b) translate your requests so it "hide" all of your local network behind that only IP that was assigned by ISP. I'd recommend you to read more on NAT, say, here: tldp.org/HOWTO/IP-Masquerade-HOWTO/ipmasq-background2.5.html
    – Alexander
    Jun 30, 2014 at 19:37

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