Ethernet to wireless?

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ArtMcsmart

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Dec 28, 2013
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Hi, Sorry if this has been covered before, I am new!

I have wifi set up in one part of the house. It connects to an ethernet socket which then feeds to a second ethernet in another part of the house. However, I would like a device that can connect to the second ethernet and make that room wifi too!

I did buy a Netgear-WN3000RP but this only plugs into the power outlet and does not take advantage of the fact that I HAVE an ethernet socket. The signal from this is weak and my smart TV usually cannot connect.

I know there is an obvious solution for what I need to buy ie a wifi bridge?? I'm a networking noob

Please if someone could send a link to a suitable 'ethernet-wifi' device (preferably max £40) .

Thankyou!!
 
Solution
RealBeast
Here is the essence of the setup, copied from one of my other posts:

The second router will work fine if you configure it as an access point -- turn off DHCP, give it a static address that is in the network range but outside the main router DHCP assignable range, and connect LAN to LAN -- do not connect to the AP WAN port unless you want a subnet, which you don't.

Remember to also enter that static IP address in the main router static device table (you should need the AP MAC address to do that).

Use a different wireless channel on the AP (selecting from the three non-overlapping channels 1, 6, and 11), but the same SSID, security type, and passphrase unless you want a different wireless name (SSID) so that you can control where you...
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RealBeast

RealBeast

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Nope, that Ethernet port on that unit is for local devices only (computers, etc) it will not work to connect to the primary router to create an AP from the device. Very poor design IMO.

 
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bill001g

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Aug 9, 2012
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Like most people you got conned by the marketing that makes it seem you can just throw in some magic box called a "extender" and all your problems are solved.

What you need is called a AP. They make dedicated AP but it will likely be cheaper to just use a inexpensive router. All you do is plug the router LAN port into the wall jack that connects to the other router. You also need to disable the DHCP on new router, set its ip to something that does not conflict with the main router. You also should exclude this IP from the DHCP scope on the main router so it does not give it out to a PC.

Which router you select is up to you. Most the expensive ones have VPN and NAS and all kinds of features than mostly will be disabled when you run as a AP. I would look for a dual band 802.11n router. The basic ones tend to be fairly inexpensive. You could go only single band (ie 2.4g) if money is a big issue but the prices are very close.
 
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ArtMcsmart

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Dec 28, 2013
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Is it that simple? I read that you can't have two wireless routers, but if it works then I shall try it! thanks.
 
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ArtMcsmart

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Dec 28, 2013
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True, it is only an output ethernet port, I suspected that when I bought it but also thought that the wifi signal would magically be super strong and work fine.. I guess not. Thanks for the help, I shall buy a cheap router and try and figure it out from there.. :O
 
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RealBeast

RealBeast

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You don't have two routers -- you have your main router, and the second is converted to an access point by turning off its DHCP and giving it a static address. You can add many APs to a router in the right circumstances.

I've used more than a dozen of that particular router as APs connected to routers through powerline adapters, which is far less desirable than using an Ethernet cable like you have, but they still all worked very well. The model I linked is 2.4GHz only, and as bill001g says, if your budget allows and you want 5GHz also, consider a concurrent dual band router to use as your AP.

 
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noidea_77

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Jul 28, 2012
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It works with a different ssid and different wifi channels. Another chance is to use the extender you already have, but to plug in somewhere in the middle between the room and the router. RealBeast is absolut right, the ehternet port doesn't work the way i thought and that is at least strange.
 
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RealBeast

RealBeast

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"It works with a different ssid and different wifi channels. Another chance is to use the extender you already have, but to plug in somewhere in the middle between the room and the router. RealBeast is absolut right, the ehternet port doesn't work the way i thought and that is at least strange."

We've had a couple other posters get burned on that issue over the past few weeks with the exact same device. It is annoying because the companies make extenders sound so great, which they are not, and then on top of that add a fairly useless Ethernet port that could easily have been engineered to allow its use as an WAP.
 
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noidea_77

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Beside that, we have a number of different solutions now: use the extender and place it in the middle, buy a cheap router and use it as an access point to extend the wifi net or use it as a router for a second wifi net (what doubles the bandwidth, but you can not move from one room to the other)
 
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ArtMcsmart

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Dec 28, 2013
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Cool, thanks Yes I think I get it now. Strange how something doesn't just work 'out of the box' but still needs settings tweaked.
 
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RealBeast

RealBeast

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Sep 13, 2010
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Here is the essence of the setup, copied from one of my other posts:

The second router will work fine if you configure it as an access point -- turn off DHCP, give it a static address that is in the network range but outside the main router DHCP assignable range, and connect LAN to LAN -- do not connect to the AP WAN port unless you want a subnet, which you don't.

Remember to also enter that static IP address in the main router static device table (you should need the AP MAC address to do that).

Use a different wireless channel on the AP (selecting from the three non-overlapping channels 1, 6, and 11), but the same SSID, security type, and passphrase unless you want a different wireless name (SSID) so that you can control where you connect.

If you decide that you want dual band, THIS router works well as an AP and I've used quite a few of them without issues.
 
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