2nd WIFI Router to Extend Range

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bkloos

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Hi All,

I'm trying to increase the signal of the wifi to the far rooms of my house so the kids can stream music at night...

I have a cable modem feeding a Linksys EA6500. The EA6500 attaches to a netgear GS116 gigabyte Ethernet switch which handles all the peripheral devices in my house...

I ran a line from the switch to the room where the new router is to be housed and tried hooking up an old netgear N600 which came formatted from my cable provider. I cant seem to get the second router to work, probably because I need to change settings so it can work with the IPs set up by the primary router...

So my questions:

Do I need to buy a new router or is it possible to reflash/hack the N600 so I can reconfigure?

If so, how should I do this?

All help is appreciated by both me and the kids!

Thanks,

Bryan
 
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Ralston18

Ralston18

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Give it a try with respect to the existing N600. Nothing to lose, lots to learn, and you may save some money if the plan proves viable.

Is this the manual for your N600?

http://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/DGND3700V2/DGND3700v2_UM_05June2014.pdf

I would start with a factory reset per the manual and reconfigure the N600 as an extender.

DHCP should be off on the N600 and I would assign a reserved static IP address to the N600.

Plan it out with a diagram and then go online and look for "extender" tutorials. That will help you confirm or modify your plan as warranted.

Then go for it.

Configuration is the key and will be necessary with either the N600 (reflashed or not) or a new router/access point/ extender.

 
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bkloos

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I'm hung up on configuring the N600. It's set up with firmware from optimum cable and runs me through their UI. I need to restore to factory default but the reset pin is not bringing me back to stock...
 
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Ralston18

Ralston18

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Understood. I avoid Netgear just because of the "need" to go through their website.

We are losing more and more control over the software and hardware we purchase. Or are forced to lease.

Not good for end users no manner how it is "justified".

Could easily go into a rant on that subject. Not the place here.

Anyway, please post accordingly if you have problems with setting up another router/device.


 
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bill001g

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Some ISP have loaded custom frimware into routers so its hard to really be sure. How the reset pin work varies so you will have to look up the instructions in the manuals. Most if you just press it the router just reboots. Many you must hold it for say 30 seconds but some you must do it at power up.

In any case what you want to do is use your router as a AP. It needs no special feature to do this. There are tons of instructions on "how to run router as a AP". Pretty much you disable dhcp and set the ip to a non conflicting ip and use the lan ports.
 
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bkloos

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Fair enough!

Would anyone care to make a good recommendation of a decent router to act as an access point on my network? I'm looking for something reliable but not top of the line to match the rest of my system. Affordability at a good price point.

Again, it's mostly for my little
Kids to stream music when they are going to bed.


 
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bill001g

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Depends if you want 802.11ac on the remote device. Otherwise pretty much any dual band 802.11n router will work find. I would buy one that is rated at 600m. This means it uses 2 antenna feeds on each band. Most end user devices only have 2 antenna so having more on the router does little good.
 
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bkloos

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I just picked up another linksys AC1900 which I will use as the primary router and I will move the old EA6500 to the AP. So I plug the AP into the main router or one of the ports on the GS116?
 
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bkloos

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Ok, So I'm having a bit of trouble...
I have the new router set up and functioning as the primary router. Its nice and has better wireless speed.
I am trying to configure the old EA6500 as the AP and I cant seem to enter its UI to make the changes.
I have a direct line from my laptop to the EA6500 but cant seem to get in. I've tried holding down the reset button to clear any old programming, and nothing seems to help. I've entered 192.168.1.1 and myrouter.local and neither get me to the UI

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Bryan
Any suggestions?
 
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