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Need hard connection upstairs ... EX2700 or WN3000?
I need to provide a hard connection to the WAN and my LAN for computers and NASs (upstairs) to the primary wifi router (downstairs). I had this working at one time with a Asus router configured as a ...
Just thought I'd close this topic out with having solved this. Amazon.ca offered the EX2700 on sale for less than $25 (CAD!), so I figured I had little to lose by buying/trying it in place of the TPlink. All that was needed was the quick setup, and the configuration allowed for upstairs hardware obtaining the 192.168.2.x subnet that I needed. All is working great and the signal strength through the floor was 95%. I'm good!!
Holidays' Cheers!!
TheEther wrote:What's the model of your TP-Link extender? It's odd for it to establish its own subnet. Can you disable its DHCP server?
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The TPlinK is the TL-WR802N, and I thought is lack functonality was strange too, but I wasn't going to argue with TPlink support, with whom I'd been on the phone with for an hour.
Thanks for for the info regarding the WN3000RP. If it were confirmed to work by anyone here I'd buy it despite its price being twice the EX2700. I wish I understood what it was about the TPlink router that reduced its functionality in this regard-- I'd know what feature to shop for, leastwise knowledgeably ask about(?)
thanks again! :)
Ah, so you have one of their travel routers. I happen to have a TL-WR702N, which is a similar, albeit slightly slower, model. It's a nifty, little (literally) device.
The TP-Link travel routers are special by supporting 5(!) different modes of operation: wireless router, hotspot router, access point, range extender and client. I think it's a real challenge to explain the differences between all these mode to a lay person. Unfortunately, their instructions don't do a great job at this.
You probably have your TP-Link set to one of the two router modes, in which case it is going to establish its own subnet for LAN devices. You should, instead, be using either the range extender or client mode. Use range extender if you want to handle both wired and wireless devices. Use client if you have only wired devices. Either mode will use Wi-Fi to connect back to the primary router. Plus, there won't be a separate subnet. If you have multiple wired devices, you may be able to use an Ethernet switch.
Beware, once in range extender or client mode, it may be more difficult to log into the TP-Link. I don't recall if it uses DHCP to acquire an IP address in either of these modes. If it does, then you may want to set up your router to assign a reserved IP address. Or set up the TP-Link with a static IP address outside of the range of IP addresses managed by your primary router. Either way, write that IP address down! Of course, if you ever have trouble, you can always perform a factory reset and restore it's default 192.168.0.1 address.
The one downside of the TP-Link is that it doesn't have great range, so while the tips I have given you may help you avoid buying a new extender, an extender with external antennas may provide better performance.
- TheEther wrote:
Ah, so you have one of their travel routers. I happen to have a TL-WR702N, which is a similar, albeit slightly slower, model. It's a nifty, little (literally) device.
The TP-Link travel routers are special by supporting 5(!) different modes of operation: wireless router, hotspot router, access point, range extender and client. I think it's a real challenge to explain the differences between all these mode to a lay person. Unfortunately, their instructions don't do a great job at this.
You probably have your TP-Link set to one of the two router modes, in which case it is going to establish its own subnet for LAN devices. ...
Thanks theEther :)
The TPlink mode that I would've liked would've been its client mode that would simply connected to the existing wifi and provided a hard connection output (to a switch). I couldn't get it to work via the device's quick setup. TPlink support suggested I use the hotspot mode that also offers an independent wifi signal. TPlink support implied the hard connection would otherwise be the same...but I wonder if that's rally true.
I did did have problems with connecting to the TPlink GUI after configuring for client mode. The setup was straightforward but the hard connection simply didn't work ... Leaving me to reset and try again, or try something different. I should try to find the instructions for manually configuring for client mode so that I can try configuring for a static address like you suggest.
Range shouldn't be a problem ... There's only a floor and not much distance separating the TPlink from the primary wifi ...
thanks again!