Easy way to extend your range when adding a second router connect via Ethernet

antinode

Guru

Feb 19, 2021

> I didn't have any luck using the built in Bridge mode [...]

Bridge mode on these routers is not useful for extending
wireless-network coverage.

> [...] so I just ended up using some common sense [...]

For some people, "common sense" begins with reading the product
documentation.

> [...] change the router IP to match the main less the last number.
> [...]

At this point, you might have done better to follow the instructions
in the R7000 User Manual:

Visit http://netgear.com/support , put in your model number, and look
for Documentation. Get the User Manual (at least). Read. Look for
"Set Up the Router as a WiFi Access Point".

> [...] Once it's rebooted you will no longer be able to log into it,
> [...]

I doubt that. I'd expect that to work, but you might need to specify
the new LAN IP address of the R7000-as-WAP in the web browser.

> Finally, my IP range on the main is [...]

Do you mean the IP address range of the DhCP pool on the main router?
What happened to this?:

> [...] Need to do nothing with your main router other than know it's IP
> address and IP range, [...]

Also:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Protocol
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_address

> [...] other than know it's IP address [...]

"its". Compare: "Once it's rebooted".

antinode
Guru
Feb 20, 2021
> [...] you are obviosly [sic] superior to all here, in every way. [...]

I have read the relevant sections of the R7000 User Manual, and I do
know the purpose of "bridge mode" on an R7000, which apparently puts me
ahead of some of the "contributors" here.
michaelkenward
Guru - Experienced User
Feb 20, 2021
Builder2961 wrote:

Please go to the business forms as you are obviosly superior to all here, in every way. The bridge mode didnt work for me this did, period.

The problem is that the "bridge mode" label is used in different ways for different bits of kit.

The usage that crops up most often in web searches is to turn a modem/router into a plain modem, without the router bit.

Then there is the case that you probably had in mind, which is as a wireless "bridge" between one router and another.

There are other "bridges" in there too.

It is made more complicated by the fact that not all routers (the R7800 for example) and modems (many that ISPs supply) can do bridge mode.

In other words, some router cannot play ball in wireless (repeater) bridge mode. And some modem/routers cant do "modem only" bridge mode.So sometimes we have to break bad news to people who turn up here with a device that won't cooperate.

Some of us try to put ourselves in the shoes of the person trying to solve a problem. It isn't what you know that helps to solve problems, although that helps, it is how you explain what you know. I'm sure that your earlier explanation will help someone. There is rarely a "one size fits all" answer to a problem.

My aversion to bridge mode is such that I avoid it and use Powerline Ethernet to connect a remote router that I then put into wireless access point mode. Less likely to fall over and easier to set up.
- antinode
  Guru
  Feb 20, 2021
  > Some of us try to put ourselves in the shoes of the person trying to
  > solve a problem. [...]
  
     Some of us even read a posing carefully enough to grasp that "bridge
  mode" is not what's involved here. Which might explain why he "didn't
  have any luck using the built in Bridge mode".
  
  > [...] It isn't what you know that helps to solve problems, although
  > that helps, [...]
  
     Huh? Come again?
  
  > [...] I'm sure that your earlier explanation will help someone. [...]
  
     As an example of what not to do when you want a wireless access
  point? Or as an overly complicated way to configure a wireless access
  point which may not work as well as the method which is documented in
  the User Manual? I'm less sure.

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Easy way to extend your range when adding a second router connect via Ethernet