DGN3500 wifi stops

[MarkNier]

Last resort:

Does anyone have an idea what setting could cause the wifi from my ancient DGN3500 (which is configured as an access point) to stop working as soon as new wifi clients start using it? Where to begin?

Thanks again for any help offered here.

[michaelkenward]

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@MarkNier wrote:
Last resort:

Does anyone have an idea what setting could cause the wifi from my ancient DGN3500 (which is configured as an access point) to stop working as soon as new wifi clients start using it? Where to begin?

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Ancient is right. Dates from 2009, which means that it doesn't have the usual simple "AP mode" setting.

Is this how you set it up?

How to turn an old Wi-Fi router into an access point - CNET

[MarkNier]

Pretty much.

Set the thing’s ip to fall within the range of primary router and turned off DHCP.

Ethernet connections continue to work at all times but the wifi blows out usually when more devices start using it at the same time…

[michaelkenward]

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@MarkNier wrote:

Set the thing’s ip to fall within the range of primary router and turned off DHCP.

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Might not be good enough to achieve genuine AP mode. Or maybe something else on the network is interfering.

But it seems to have worked in the past for modems.

Those workarounds can be tricky, especially with ancient devices, especially modem/routers, that were not designed for the purpose. The link I included was for routers. Google is silent on that added complication.

Have you investigated "WDS" mode as described in the manual?

[MarkNier]

I did look at WDS mode, but ruled it out because the way I read it, that setup is appropriate when the connection to the primary router is wireless.

In my setup, there's a cable from my primary router to the DGN3500. The whole reason for my setup is to deal with the limited range of my ground floor primary router to have good wireless on the second floor.

Was I right in my assumption, or do you think I can use WDS mode to set the thing up as a "wired repeater" as well?

[michaelkenward]

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@MarkNier wrote:

Was I right in my assumption, or do you think I can use WDS mode to set the thing up as a "wired repeater" as well?

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I was thinking that this might be an experiment worth doing to check that out.

Part of the problem is that the instructions you followed were intended for turning old routers into access points. In your case the DGN3500 is a modem/router. It may be simply impossible to use it as an access point. (Newer modem/routers have this option built in.)