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Forum Discussion
Setting up my router as an access point the "easy way"
Reading through some instructions online is enough to make your head spin. I have 20 years in IT and I still cant make heads or tails of it.
But....are these the steps?
Find out the IP range of your current router.
Hook up your "old/other" router via ethernet cable and assign it an IP address in that range?
Then access that IP in a browser?
Then make sure it's using AP mode?
Then disconnect the "old" router (the one being used as the "new" AP) and move that to another location in the house?
I apologize if this comes off confusing or potentially that I am frustrated. So do the routers need to stay connected? If so, why? My thought is if the other router is an AP, you move it to another part of the house and voila you get a better signal.
But again, do i hope up the 450 to my laptop and do the work there? Or do I assign it an IP using the router that actually carries the internet to my house? I wish it was that straightforward, but everything online jumps from one thing to the next.
3 Replies
> But....are these the steps? [...]
Probably not. For a start, some basic information might be helpful.
What is "your current router"? What is 'your "old/other" router'?
> Model: N450|N450 WiFi Cable Modem Router
Is that accurate? Which gizmo is that to be, "your current router"
or 'your "old/other" router'?
For a Netgear gizmo, visit http://netgear.com/support , put in your
model number, and look for Documentation. Get the User Manual. Read.
Look for "access point". (You may or may not find much, depending on
the gizmo. Without actual model numbers, I can't easily guess what
you'll find.)
> Hook up your "old/other" router via ethernet cable [...]
That conveys almost no useful information. A cable has two ends.
All these gizmos have multiple Ethernet ports, some of which are not
equivalent.
> Then make sure it's using AP mode?
Which "it" is that? Does your "it" _have_ an AP-mode feature? (It's
not required, but it simplifies things.)
> [...] So do the routers need to stay connected? If so, why? My thought
> is if the other router is an AP, you move it to another part of the
> house and voila you get a better signal.
You should get a better radio signal when you're near the AP, but theAP still needs to communicate with the main router, and that's normally
done using an Ethernet connection. (If you expect to use a wireless
connection between your main router and your added gizmo, then the added
gizmo is normally called a "wireless extender", not a "wireless access
point". Generally, any-old router can be used as a WAP, but not every
router can be used as a wireless extender.)
> But again, do i hope up the 450 to my laptop and do the work there?
> [...]
Eh? "hook up"? See "no useful information", above.
> [...] I wish it was that straightforward, but everything online jumps
> from one thing to the next.
There are many things "online", some clearer than others.- Fair enough :)
My old router is the NP450 (I thought I selected that but I understand that , as you mentioned, it's not clear which is the one I had in a box and which one the cable company gave me. The one in the box that I want to set up as an AP is the one mentioned above
Then again, the wireless extender sounds much more appealing. Which begs the question, whats the point of an access point then?
The new one (provided by the cable company and has the internet from the outside") is a touchstone tg2472.> [...] it's not clear [...]
Not improving very quickly, either. My current guess is that you
have an [ARRIS] TG2472 (that's the way to bury the lead, by the way)
cable modem+router which "the cable company gave" you, and which you
intend to use as your modem+router, and a CG3000Dv2 ("N450" -- What's an
"NP450"?), which you might like to use as a WAP.
> [...] The one in the box that I want to set up as an AP is the one
> mentioned above [...]
Re: Clarity -- Which of the two that you mentioned above is "the one
mentioned above"? But I digress...
> Then again, the wireless extender sounds much more appealing.
Ok. Then get one of those. I don't believe that the CG3000Dv2 can
do that job.
> [...] Which begs the question, [...]
No, it doesn't. It may lead to or invite a question:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begging_the_question
> [...] whats the point of an access point then?
It provides wireless access at a point some distance from the main
router. Hence the name. Using a wired connection to the main router
means that the WAP's wireless capacity is not divided between talking to
nearby client devices and talking to the main router.
So, as I read this, you may want to use the CG3000Dv2 as a WAP, with
the TG2472 as the main (modem+)router.
The CG3000Dv2 lacks a simple, one-step WAP option (at least partly
because it lacks a WAN/Internet Ethernet port), but almost any router
can be configured (stupified) to function as a WAP. For a step-by-step
on how to do this with almost any router, see:
https://community.netgear.com/t5/x/x/m-p/1463500
That's written for a C6300, but the steps are about the same for any
other router (any make/model) which lacks a one-step WAP option,
including yours.
One correction:
> [...] This means that the name "routerlogin.net" (and its friends)
> will no longer work. [...]
Those names might still work, but only on devices which are connected
to the C6300-as-WAP itself, not on devices which are connected to "The
AT&T router". The new LAN IP address of the C6300-as-WAP
("192.168.X.250", or whatever) should work from anywhere on the LAN.
The critical fact about a WAP is that it acts as a simple network
switch, but with wireless capability. The WAP is all-LAN. It has no
router functions (NAT, DHCP server, ...); those are all handled by the
main router. So, its (LAN) IP address is on the same subnet as
everything else on your LAN, and it has no active WAN stuff of any kind.