Why should you convert a router to an access point?

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zoofie

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Jul 18, 2009
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Hey guys

We have our router that's provided by our ISP : Bright Box.

Our house is quite spread out, so I bought an Asus 68u router to stretch the signal, and this is placed in 1 room away from the ISP router. I went into the settings of the Asus 68u and made it an access point. I have a few questions! :

1) Why couldn't I just leave the router as a router, and use the Wifi off it, instead of making it into an access point via the router settings?

2) When I made it into an access point, I can't access the router settings. While the asus was a 'normal' router, I would type in 'router.asus.com' and it would take me to Asus router settings. However, when it's an access point and I type that it, it takes me to the Brightbox's (isp router) setting page instead?

3) Other than going into the settings and changing the router to an access point, is there anything else I need to do to make the new Asus most effective at transmitting Wifi?

4)
ASUSRT-AC68U-1-655x529.png


This the back of the asus router. When the cable from the ISP router is plugged into one of the yellow ports on the right and try to log into router.asus.com (when it's not an access point), it just takes me to the asus website. However, if I plug the ethernet cable into the blue ethernet port and goto router.asus.com, it takes me to the router settings. Any ideas why?


Sorry for the long post, but I would be so grateful if someone could help me out. Please pretend you're talking to someone who knows very little about networking btw, as I don't! :(

Cheers guys
 
Solution
nukemaster
Setting the router as an access point removed the routing feature to allow the ISP one to deal with it. This includes giving out IPs and firewall duties. As an AP the router acts as a switch(for wired and wireless traffic.)

You should still be able to access it on the yellow ports via its IP address.

Another thing about leaving it as a router(in that case you would want the ISP unit connected to blue) is that your ISP router will not longer do any work. It will see one computer(the Asus Router) and the Asus router will deal with all the data/firewall duties. This may add a very small bit of delay since the ISP router will still do its thing(may have a firewall of some kind).

For routers that do not have an AP mode, you just disable...
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nukemaster

nukemaster

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Nov 23, 2004
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Setting the router as an access point removed the routing feature to allow the ISP one to deal with it. This includes giving out IPs and firewall duties. As an AP the router acts as a switch(for wired and wireless traffic.)

You should still be able to access it on the yellow ports via its IP address.

Another thing about leaving it as a router(in that case you would want the ISP unit connected to blue) is that your ISP router will not longer do any work. It will see one computer(the Asus Router) and the Asus router will deal with all the data/firewall duties. This may add a very small bit of delay since the ISP router will still do its thing(may have a firewall of some kind).

For routers that do not have an AP mode, you just disable DHCP(give out ips), firewall and connect the ISP router to a LAN(Local Area Network[your own network]) port instead of WAN(Wide Area Network [internet]) port.

As said above, Any computer on either side will not see each other unless you are in AP mode(or the above dhcp/firewall off and use lan port setting.) You may also be able to setup a private wireless network on many routers. This is good for connecting less trusted computers without them being able to see your systems.
 
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Solution
WarWolverineWarrior

WarWolverineWarrior

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You can leave it as a router, make sure the network ip address is different from the one that the isp gave you.

ie.
192.168.0.1
192.168.1.1
192.128.2.1
etc
Mask 255.255.255.0

Setting it as an AP would just remove it's functionality to DHCP and other cool things that it does

Also you can install Merlin firmware, it improves functionality.
https://asuswrt.lostrealm.ca/about

With functionality, you can limit users to certain bandwidth, see what sites the devices go to and usage. There is alot of other things that router can do.
 
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