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Router has to be in closet (seeking solutions)
So I have an interesting situation that I'd love to get some feedback on. I currently have a great Netgear Nighthawk AC4000 router. The way my house is built I have to put this router in a buried closet wall in the bowels of my house (only place ethernet comes in). Remarkably, the signal reaches the whole house but the speeds upstairs are terrible. What I would love to do is get that awesome router out of the closet into a more central location with a lan port (the closet has several wires that can be connected to lan ports that go to various places in the house). Can I just use another router with a gigabit ethernet port to plug my Nighthawk router into that more central location via the lan port? I've heard this may create IP address issues and something about "client mode." Open to any solutions. I'm reasonably technical but need a bit more specifics on how to configure the router in the app or online if that's part of the solution. Thank you!
You don't need a wireless router. But you can use one because sometimes its more handy/cheaper.
If you do have multiple ethernet drops in that room, if there's more than the router you buy can handle, a switch would be ideal to connect them. Just a cheap unmanaged switch.
And you don't need a fancy router but you need something new enough/capable enough to support your speeds and what features you plan on using on it.
What I mean is ap mode disables many features and lets the primary router host them. so if you plan on using parental controls/qos/etc and are running gigabit speeds from your provider, your needs are more than a basic gigabit router.
5 Replies
I've got a similar situation. My utility/coax/ethernet is all in the same room and its kind of a faraday cage.
So I setup an modem and RAX200 in the utility room with a switch. Then ran I can set another router in the rest of the house running in AP mode (access point). The R8000P has ap mode.
You wouldn't even need wireless in the device in the closet. Basically you could go modem-----gigabit router------r8000P in ap mode.
If you're not wanting wireless in the router connected to the modem, I've heard good things about the ubiquiti edgerouter.
- This is really helpful and sounds like my solution! Just to make sure I understand, when you refer to the gigabit router in the cage, are you talking about a router that can put out those kinds of speeds wirelessly or just through its lab ports? In other words, can I have a lower end router hooked up to the modem (with a gigabit lan ports) and then have my awesome router attached as an AP in the better location? I don’t need wireless from the router in my closet at all honestly. I’m really just using it as a way to get to the better router. And as far as a “switch” goes, do I need that in my situation? Not entirely clear what that means. My modem is in the garage and the Ethernet cable was run through the walls to that closet so I plug the router in there. Thanks again for the advice!
You don't need a wireless router. But you can use one because sometimes its more handy/cheaper.
If you do have multiple ethernet drops in that room, if there's more than the router you buy can handle, a switch would be ideal to connect them. Just a cheap unmanaged switch.
And you don't need a fancy router but you need something new enough/capable enough to support your speeds and what features you plan on using on it.
What I mean is ap mode disables many features and lets the primary router host them. so if you plan on using parental controls/qos/etc and are running gigabit speeds from your provider, your needs are more than a basic gigabit router.