Home Network in an Apartment

[Kingjim9]

Hey guys I'm looking for some assistance in setting up my home network when I move into an apartment.

Currently everything works fine and I can share files and what not between computers and I print wireless over the network just fine as well. I have it all set up through a Netgear 42 router.

My question / concern is: When moving to the new apartment, the internet is provided through the apartment and its all wireless. Therefore there would be no way for me to just plug and Ethernet cable from the wall jack to the input part on my router to just keep picking up and resuming like normal.

Is it possible to maintain the currently functionality of my network after the move? If so could you describe how please. I'm pretty sure as long as the router would be plugged in the network functionality would be there but there wouldn't be any internet it would broadcast. So if I wanted internet I'd have to join the apartment's network on my computer, and If I wanted file sharing I'd have to switch back to my network.

Is there a way to have them both on the same network, by getting the apartments internet to come through my router somehow or some other means to basically keep the network just how it is?

Any help / advice will be appreciated!

Thanks in advance!!

 

[PP Mguire]

You can't just get your own internet?

If your current router has a wireless repeating function you'll have to use that. Take note, depending on how the apartment has their network setup any and all info being sent through their network can be seen by anybody else using their internet. That means, your computers you connect, your printer, ect since you obviously have sharing and discovery enabled.

Another option would be to buy a wireless repeater and hook that up wirelessly to their internet if your current router doesn't have repeating function. Same applies though.

 

[Kingjim9]

My current router Netgear WNDR3400v2 does have a repeater function.

Is there any kind of tutorial I might be able to follow to get the repeater set up? I'm attaching an image as to what I see in the menu when I click on 'Wireless Repeating' Under the advance category.

As far as security goes, what about restricting it to only allow approved MAC addresses in addition to the password? Would that make it more secure? The main thing I'm concerned about is printing the file sharing isn't necessarily needed though it is nice at times.

In case the picture doesn't attach correctly, here's a link: http://i44.tinypic.com/2rwqjns.jpg

 

[PP Mguire]

The guide for your router should tell you how to do it once you get there.

Sure, protecting your own network is one thing, but just remember that anything sent out to reach the internet is fair game on the apartment network. That's why I asked if you could just get your own connection because that is a much more secure route.

 

[Kingjim9]

Yeah I'll also have to look into getting my own internet plan as well.

I was looking in the router manual...when it refers to setting up the repeating function it talks about entering the MAC address from the base router. How would I be able to complete this information? Is it possible to just get it to "log on" to the wireless?

 

[PP Mguire]

Nope, you'll need that MAC.

 

[Kingjim9]

alright I think I pulled the MAC address by connecting my laptop to the apartment's wireless then running IP config /all

Also when you connect to the network it brings up this "Meraki Local Status" page which lists the MAC address of the access point and it matches what I found in the command prompt on my PC.

The question then becomes is this a static MAC or not? I put an email in to the network company at the apartment but haven't heard anything as of yet.

Realistically I just want to be able to continue printing wireless without having to switch back and forth between networks.

I suppose if this MAC I found is a static one then there really shouldn't be any issues but to plug it in and go. What are your thoughts?

 

[I am confused2]

kingjim you only have wireless avaiable in the new apartment?

Connect to the complex's network, go to your network connections, right click, then click status, and get the IP that is assigned to the computer. (ex-10.0.2.x)

The easyer way to do your own internal network work, is get a stand alone access device like an Engenius 3280 and set it for bridge mode to the complex's wireless system.

Once you have that link, connect it to the WAN port on YOUR router, now cable connect to a computer and you should be able to get on the internet.

Once you verfiy that you have internet, then change your internal IP settings to some other IP range that is NOT like the complex range, (ex complex 10.0.2.x---yours 12.0.0.x)

Once you do this then all your computers, printers etc will be in a stand alone system and be able to talk to each other but other people in the complex will not be able to direct access your system and you will still be able to access the internet.

Very simple, no big changes and you have security for file sharing.

 

[Kingjim9]

confused: I'll have to try doing something like you mentioned even if it means having to buy a Engenius 3280 or other equivalent device. That might be the only way to make it safe to continue the home network.

Also I can't seem to find anything on this 3280 model Is all I'm really looking for is a bridge? If so from Engenius's website I found a model ERB300H. Is that a similar product?

On a side note I tried to enabling wireless repeating on my router yesterday... I had it connecting right. On the network center on my computer it showed my PC connecting to my router, then the router to the apartments gateway, then the internet.

The only big issues I saw was that it couldn't connect to the printer, and I lost access to my router's configuration page. Even when I did ipconfig and got the ip to my router and typed it in, all I got was this page cannot be displayed. I had to completely reset the router to get it back to being able to access the router configuration settings. Oh and in order to enable wireless repeating I had to disable the security.

 

[I am confused2]

My fault on the Engenius 3280. Should have been EOC 3220 or EOC 2611.

As I stated in my other post, forget about connecting to your complex's network.
Setup your own network and get every thing working and the connect the engenius and set it up as a BRIDGE to the apartment network.

Now you have your own internal network but access to the net.

And unless you tell the neighbor how to connect to your net work, no one will be able to get into your devices.

Go to wlanparts.com for the Engenius.