I need help setting up 2 home wireless networks, both G and N, with multiple ethernet access points.?

Question

I want 2 home wireless networks--G for kids and N for me. I have 9 devices needing ethernet access points--Tivo, PS3, Vonage, etc. Will the following work?

I connect a basic switch to my cable modem, attach a G-wireless router to one of the switch's ports and N-wireless router to another. With the wired ethernet access points on the switch and two routers, I should have enough to connect all of my devices.

My kids will only be set up to use the G network and share files on it. My computer will be set up with access to the G and N networks and able to access files/fully monitor both.

Would this work? Is there something better? Could you attach the N to the cable modem and then the G and a switch to the N ports? Or could I just use an N and larger switch, and limit the kids access to my computer/files through software/network setup?

I need to buy a switch and N router--any recommendations on good ones from a local CC, BB, etc?

Thanks for any help you can provide!

If two routers is too complicated, I can just have an N router connected to my cable modem. The problem is I don't have enough wired ethernet access points on the N router. Can I plug a switch into one of the router's ports to gain more access points? And any recommendations on the best N router and switch I could buy at a local large electronics store?

Answer 1

It looks to me like what you are trying to do is set up a DMZ.
This isn't too tricky, but you need to get a couple of simple things straight. You can have only one gateway.
if you want to have separate parameters for the two types of wireless, you need to have a separate interface controlling it.

What I think you really need is a firewall capable of delivering a DMZ function. Then you go. Modem --> Firewall < both wireless systems.

If you want to go that route, you can download IPCop, dig up that old Pentium 2, slap a few network cards in it, and do it that way, or you can buy an off the shelf firewall witha DMZ interface.

by far the easiest way to do what you need to do is just to secure your computer and let everybody on the N. You should probably do that anyway. You being able to see their files without them being able to see yours is a fairly basic principal in networking. Just make sure they don;t have admin rights even on their own computers, and then set-up some shares, lock down some folders, set a few verbal rules, and ENABLE remote desktop on the machines. That way you can in fact poke around inside.
To be fair, you need to tell them straight up that's what you will be doing.

Answer 2

Your setup is totally wrong. You can only connect one router to the internet connection. From there you can use a switch to connect multiple wired machines, and use the wireless router, or add a wireless access point to connect the wireless machines. If you use an N router or access point, any machine with an N card should run on N standard, as long as it is within sensible range, any machine with a G or B card will run the appropriate standard. Using 2 routers often causes conflict, will slow or even disrupt the connection.

Answer 3

That is a very complicated network and you're likely to run in to conflicts. Right off the bat, the switch isn't going to work with a cable modem unless you purchase an aditional ip address from your cable ISP. It would be much simpler to use one router for all your devices and monitor the kids computer at the software level not the network level. If you do get an aditional IP address from your ISP your setup will work. But your ISP tech support reps will hate you, if you call for help, lol.