my wifw and I both have our laptops set up with static IP's on our home wireless network. Our home wireless is a WAP connected to our base network. We both have work hotspots (DHCP) available, and would like the capability of simply choosing a different wireless connection rather than changing the properties of our static IP connection to be a DHCP one.

How do I set up a new separate DHCP wireless network connection and keep the static IP wireless connection available?

XP S2

thanks
ex

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Hey ex. It sounds like you've run into a problem that I've run into before. I never did find a solution (at least not a solution that worked the way I wanted it to). When hardwired connections were all that existed, there wasn't much need to allow systems to have multiple LAN configurations in order to handle switching networks on the fly. Unfortunately, this design concept seems to have stayed despite the fact that systems can hop WiFi spots numerous times a day. If I were designing the latest OS software, I would make a check box that lets the network connection accept DHCP settings if the static settings failed.

My suggestion would be to set your static home IP from the router rather than from the computer. This would allow you to set your machines to accept their IP settings from whatever wireless access point they encounter. I don't know what type of router you have, but all the ones that I've used allow you to set a computer's IP address by means of refering to the computer's MAC address.

Does this sound like a viable option for you? If it does, just let me know, and I can provide some more information on how to set it up.

thanks for your reply.
If you mean set up my router to supply my computer's their IP addresses via DHCP (the way hot spots do), I considered it. This would probably eliminate any problem because I could then just pick up my laptop and go; and it wouldnt care which dhcp server supplied the IP. But because of the way I have things set up and the number of computers I have (4) It just made things easier to have static IP addresses.
If you are talking about something diffferent, please tell me more

ex

Each LAN card has its own unique MAC address. You should be able to configure your router to assign specific IPs to specific MAC addresses. This means that you can give your computers the specific IPs that you want to use at home without having to set the IP on the machine itself.

I know that this setup works since I use it at home.

Please let me know what specific router you have so I can give you more specific details.

Hello,

ChrisBliss18 is talking about reserving addresses inside of DHCP, and that is the way to go for what you are trying to do.

Christian

ahh, ok I get it. So yeah, I guess any help you can give me would be great. My router is a Linksys BEFSR41 with two desktops (one XP one OS 9.2.2) as well as a Linksys WAP CAT-5'ed to it. The WAP provides wireless for 2 laptops (both XP)

thanks
ex

I just checked your router's documentation; unfortunately, it doesn't support that feature. If you are still interested in using this feature, I know that it is offered on most current routers (both wireless or wired). If you are interested in replacing your router so you can get this feature, I could make some recommendations.

thank you for your help

ex

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