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Forum Discussion

swaasje's avatar
swaasje
Aspirant
Oct 16, 2020
Solved

Can I use wifi router as a switch?

Can i disable the wifi and the DHCP table to use the router as a switch?
  • antinode's avatar
    antinode
    Oct 18, 2020

    > All done. [...]

     

       _What_, exactly?

     

    > I am worried that the status says DHCP ON

     

       I'd guess that that's accurate only if the router is acting as a
    router, not when it's configured as a WAP.

     

    > The Genie offered to use the Netgear as an AP

     

       After a settings reset, if it sees a private address on its
    WAN/Internet interface, then it might draw the correct conclusion
    automatically.

     

    > I kept SSID broadcast on recommendation. [...]

     

       That doesn't matter much if the radio is disabled.  The point was
    that "Enable SSID Broadcast" and "Enable Wireless Router Radio" do
    different things.


    > So DHCP organises the different ports? [...]

     

       I'd say "connected devices", not "ports".

     

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_Host_Configuration_Protocol

     

    > I had problems in the past with WAP acting like a router and
    > distributing weird IP addresses on our network.

     

       Generally, you want one DHCP server per LAN.  Multiple uncoordinated
    DHCP servers can cause many problems.  Which is why the one-step WAP
    mode option disables the DHCP server.  (And, why you would need to
    disable it explictitly, if you don't use the one-step WAP mode option.)

     

       So, it works as expected now?  (What could go wrong?)

     

       Possibly interesting:

     

          https://kb.netgear.com/26765