How to make my at&t modem just a router

[Cityboy626]

Im tring to pick up my neighbors internet. How do I make my At&t modem just a router?

 

[Saga Lout]

Hello and welcome to Tom's Hardware Forums.

You need first to ask permission to share your neighbour's bandwidth and to get the wireless security key so you can join it. Doing so without that consent is breaking the law. Once you have that information, you won't need a router - each computer you use can "see" and connect to the network. If you want to extend the wireless signal, your MODEM/Router will carry out its router duties with no direct connecton to the Internet.

 

[eibgrad]

Putting aside for the moment the ethical issues (for all I know you have permission), and assuming you currently have a combination modem+router, you can't actually turn it into just a router. A standalone router always exposes a WAN port (which of course is connected to the modem), but a combo device establishes the connection between the modem and router INTERNALLY. And without an exposed WAN port, there's no way to use the device purely as a router!

That’s the downside of combining components. While it’s convenient, reduces the footprint, and minimizes the complexity of the setup from the ISP’s perspective, it also hinders your ability to reuse it for new purposes. You’re basically stuck.

Despite all that, I’m not sure it even matters since I'm assuming your neighbor is using wireless, and that what you really want to do is establish a wireless bridge (aka WISP (wireless ISP)) from your wireless router to theirs. If that's the case, and if your modem+router supported wireless bridging, it would be possible. Unfortunately, it's extremely unlikely that AT&T device would actually support it.

Bottom line, the chances you can access your neighbor's wireless w/ your current modem+router is next to nil. You'd have to consider another router, one without a modem, and which supported wireless bridging. Some routers do have this feature, esp. any that support dd-wrt third party firmware.

 

[Saga Lout]

I was assuming it would have a setting to use it as an AP Most of the combination MODEM/Routers on the UK market can do that.

 

[eibgrad]

Yes, you can always turn any wireless router (and modem+router) into a simple AP. But that's not the issue. He doesn't need an AP, he needs a wireless bridge. Something that can create a wireless client connection from his router over to the neighbor’s AP (aka WISP). And not all wireless routers can be reconfigured into a wireless bridge. That’s why I said, it's extremely unlikely a crappy AT&T modem+router would also support wireless bridging (not impossible, just very unlikely).

 

[dwdarwhite]

Hello and welcome to Tom's Hardware Forums.

You need first to ask permission to share your neighbour's bandwidth and to get the wireless security key so you can join it. Doing so without that consent is breaking the law. Once you have that information, you won't need a router - each computer you use can "see" and connect to the network. If you want to extend the wireless signal, your MODEM/Router will carry out its router duties with no direct connecton to the Internet.