2 wifi routers on same network?

Can i ask why you need a second router?

A managed switch would achieve what you want

I have Samsung TV's which do not allow VPN's installed directly on them.

I need a VPN for "certain" functions on the TV's, which is only a few hours per week.

I can install VPN firmware on the router but it causes some connection issues, so the majority of time I don't want to use a router with that firmware.

So I intend to use the stable router 90% of the time, then connect the TVs to the VPN router when needed.

Vpn on phone hotspot to tv from phone

@pk13 - That's not a bad idea! Never thought of that! Thanks.

I have 5G and unlimited data.

However, my newer TV doesn't seem to like phone hotspots, I tried to connect when my main connection was down.

It connects to the other no problem.

I'll give it another go.

In the past I've used smart DNS for stuff like TVs, and the faff of switching over and switching back again is a real, uh, faff. The short answer is you *can* use different routers at different times, but it'll be a right pain in the backside - DHCP would be enabled on each, so the local IP address for each device would change when you switch over, meaning things like Sonos might fall over (it doesn't need much excuse), and so on. 

I'm wondering instead about nesting them. So one router handles all/ most of the network assignment in your house, and the other handles the internet connection (or somesuch). 

Or perhaps more useable, your useful router is set up as normal; then between that and the TV you have the VPN router, just handling traffic to the TV? 

Or perhaps more useable, your useful router is set up as normal; then between that and the TV you have the VPN router, just handling traffic to the TV?

Do you mean ethernet to VPN router, wifi switched off and then ethernet to TV?

No, I was thinking (but hadn't thought it through very hard, tbf):

- modem to main (non-VPN) router. DHCP set up there, assigning addresses to all your devices

- Hardwired to that is the VPN router, which in turn is hardwired to the TV (and nothing else). When you're not using the VPN, just hardwire the TV direct to the main router. Good point about wifi though, you don't want conflicting Wifi networks. 

Is there not a device which can provide these certain functions natively rather than relying on the TV?  What we used to call a set-top box back when sets still had a top which could hold a box.

I have a Samsung TV, its implementation of an "app store" is garbage.

An easier solution would be to use a Firestick to do your dodgy streaming, and install the ExpressVPN app on it.

You can install VLC, Kodi etc on them no problem.

I'm wondering instead about nesting them. So one router handles all/ most of the network assignment in your house, and the other handles the internet connection (or somesuch). 

That was my first thought.  I don't VPN but do have all the 'things' in the house connected to some TPLink Powerline adapters, whilst phones and computers talk directly to the router(s).  Same on work sites, we'd plug our router into the site's network and it just worked and didn't need to re-configure all our IP addresses.

Just plug the VPN router into the normal one, and the normal one into the phone socket/ONT and it should work. 

Sod getting the VPN running on a separate router, that's a world of hurt, much easier to get it running on a separate device. Therefore options include;

- Run the VPN software on your phone - run IPTV app do whatever it is you want to do on your phone and screencast it to your TV

- Run the VPN software on a 'TV connected streaming device'* - run IPTV app do whatever it is you want to do on the device

*I use an Apple TV for this, but as mentioned above presumably Firesticks etc. can do it too.

Well for some reason, my newer and much more expensive Samsung TV, can't see a 5Ghz hotspot and can only use 2.4Ghz, where as the older, cheaper one can do both.

I have two routers on my network connect via lan cable or patch cable or whatever its called. Also have a raspberry pi running pi-hole which acts as a dhcp server. 

Posted by: gobuchul

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Or perhaps more useable, your useful router is set up as normal; then between that and the TV you have the VPN router, just handling traffic to the TV?

Do you mean ethernet to VPN router, wifi switched off and then ethernet to TV?

 

Ah jeez, I've just gone back and read your post properly. Yes, that's exactly what I was thinking, sorry for the confusion 🙄 

I have a relatively new Samsung TV and I use ExpressVPN but, as @multi21 said, it's installed on a Firestick. Dead easy to use - even Mrs Vlad can figure it out when she needs to stream something via a VPN foreign gateway....

(The other advantage of a Firestick is that you aren't reliant on Samsung for app updates)

Posted by: HoratioHufnagel

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Also have a raspberry pi running pi-hole which acts as a dhcp server. 

I think you mean DNS server.

Posted by: vlad_the_invader

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(The other advantage of a Firestick is that you aren't reliant on Samsung for app updates)

This.

Posted by: Cougar

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Posted by: HoratioHufnagel

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Also have a raspberry pi running pi-hole which acts as a dhcp server. 

I think you mean DNS server.

 

PiHole has a built in DHCP server because a lot of ISP supplied routers don't allow you to change the DNS server

There's an explanation here

https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/how-do-i-use-pi-holes-built-in-dhcp-server-and-why-would-i-want-to/3026

It works very well