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Seeking cost effective options for an access point - Wifi 6, wired with cat 6
I am using a CM700 cable modem and an AX1800 Wifi 6 router (RAX10) and they are working great for me. The router is setup with ODFMA and Smart Connect since that seemed to be recommended (though sinc...
KarlT0 wrote:
The language out on the netz is not always so consistent.
Oh so true.
There are for example mesh solutions, access points, and network extenders all available, wired or not wired, and on.For a Mesh extender to work, it usually has to connect to a router that also does Mesh.That's because the two devices have to talk to one another in the right way. A common approach to Mesh is to buy a bundle of router and satellites (extenders in another guise). Netgear's Orbi range sets out to do that in a simplified way.
I was surprised that Netgear says this can implement mesh with almost any router (not necessarily a "mesh" router). I didn't take advantage of that, but that looked interesting. And we do not need seamless roaming.A surprise indeed. But if you want to play around you should be able to recover some of those lost features by using the EAX20 as standard extender, with a wifi connection to the router rather than the wired AP connection.
KarlT0 wrote:
Are there any options highly recommended other than using a router in AP mode?
A wifi extender?
Try plugging your needs into the filters on the product pages:
WiFi Range Extenders: Boost Your WiFi Range | NETGEAR
and
Orbi: Whole Home WiFi System for Better WiFi Everywhere | NETGEAR
Then check back here for reports on the things you are considering, but remember that people turn up in this community with problems, not compliments. So look at reviews on Amazon, for example.
Many thanks for the quick reply. I am looking mostly for recommendations or hands on experience with those kinds of options because there has been a lot of innovation in recent years that are delivering interesting choices to the home market. Even if their product architecture is problematic for some reason I would still love to hear why community members chose it. But I'm keeping an eye on cost and my current needs are basic, though at some point I would likely add some storage to the network.
I did a lot of research before I posted that msg, including checking out those product pages The Netgear product page on range extenders.only lets me apply one criterion: "wifi 6", and it isn't much help. The lowest price on the Orbi product page is $250 for one satellite. Then there are issues that arise about how compatible my AX1800 would be with Orbi satellites, because I am not about to buy an Orbi router and I want more than 2 ethernet ports on my router. We are not doing intense gaming nor do we need that seamless transition feature on Orbi systems. On many interesting products the emphasis is on a wireless connection between router and a range extender or AP and I don't want that connection to be wireless so any possible cable option requires deeper reading. I've started diving into some user manuals on that point.
All that said, if there was some system that had so many new vital features it is looking like a "need to have" architecture in the home market, I would rebuild everything. So until then my core criteria:
1. will work with my current modem-router hardware (CM700 -> AX1800 RAX10)
2. max price point is $150-200
3. ethernet cable communication between current router and the extension device ("range extender"/"access point")
4. wifi 6
Thanks again, KT