Setting up a wireless bridge with 2 NETGEAR N300 routers

ProGaminGranny

Reputable
May 16, 2014
19
0
4,510
Hi,
We have a main office in our house with our modem and one router set up there, however I would like to set up my desktop upstairs in a walk-in closet. This is an old house, so there aren't any ethernet outlets anywhere to use. I use my desktop for gaming, and I want a fast, reliable connection, so I thought maybe setting up my other router to catch the signal from the first router, then delivering it to my computer via ethernet cable would work better than wifi card or usb.

I don't have much experience setting up networking stuff, and I don't really know how to set up my other router as a wireless bridge. When I plugged my 2nd router into my desktop and went to 192.168.1.1, I found a wireless repeater function, which would serve my purposes. However, I don't know how to set it up. I think I filled in most of the settings correctly, except for the MAC address. I don't know what MAC address it is looking for, or how to find that.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks!
 
Solution
What you want to do may be accomplished with Powerline networking, it uses the power lines in your house to act as ethernet cables. TBH even perfect wifi kinda sucks for games. Just my opinion though.

Cable modem->Router->Ethernet cable->Powerline adapter->Powerline adapter in your gaming spot->ethernet cable->plug in to PC

To answer the original question, you set each router to their own IP, 192.168.1.1 and 192.168.1.2 Then you turn off DHCP on the 2nd one. You choose Wireless Client Bridge and enter the original SSID from #1 making sure to choose exactly the same options as you have setup in #1.

Thats the short version.

festerovic

Distinguished
What you want to do may be accomplished with Powerline networking, it uses the power lines in your house to act as ethernet cables. TBH even perfect wifi kinda sucks for games. Just my opinion though.

Cable modem->Router->Ethernet cable->Powerline adapter->Powerline adapter in your gaming spot->ethernet cable->plug in to PC

To answer the original question, you set each router to their own IP, 192.168.1.1 and 192.168.1.2 Then you turn off DHCP on the 2nd one. You choose Wireless Client Bridge and enter the original SSID from #1 making sure to choose exactly the same options as you have setup in #1.

Thats the short version.

 
Solution
It wants the mac address of the other device. Go into the briding screen on both routers you will see their corresponding mac addresses. You just need to put the mac of the main router under the base station mac field on the repeater and put the mac of the repeater in the repeater field on your main router.

This is a security precaution to prevent unautorised bridge type devices from connecting.

It will likely only work marginally better than a nic card in your pc. The primary advantage is you can place it well away from your machine with a ethernet cable. It also tends to have better antenna than USB devices. I am going to bet it will work best placed just outside the door of the closet. You have walls blocking the signal from all sides. With wireless there is no way to predict what will work and what won't houses vary way to much but since you have the routers its worth a try.
 

ProGaminGranny

Reputable
May 16, 2014
19
0
4,510

Great! I'll work on that later today.
Thank you for the clear instructions!

 

ProGaminGranny

Reputable
May 16, 2014
19
0
4,510

Thank you for the tips and information!

 

bobnilson

Commendable
Jul 8, 2016
1
0
1,510
Installing a Wi-Fi router is simple. It is very simple to use the Wi-Fi internet connection when your Personal computer had a Wi-Fi network card. If you want to set up a wireless router, make sure you go along with the recommendations offered by the wireless router supplier. The guidelines are going to be provided in printed format plus a CD. You can download the software program from the internet as well.
Exactly what computer hardware will you need?
If you want to set up the router, you need these hardware. This consists of a wireless router, a networking wire and a wireless network card.

More info: http://www.ipaddressdefinition.com/192-168-0-l-192-168-0-1/