@1badchad wrote:
Hello - Was just wondering if it is possible to connect an older router I have as an access point to stretch my wireless network into my basement when running a Rogers Ignite Modem?
Would welcome any input here to help. Thanks!!
This won't technically "stretch" your wireless network. You will end up with two separate wireless networks in your home, and these two networks will NOT be coupled together in a mesh configuration.
If you have mobile devices, that can associate with either Wi-Fi access point, you won't have seamless roaming throughout your home. A device will have affinity to the access point that it first connects to... and if the connection quality becomes bad enough that it disconnects from one and reconnects to the other, you will have a break in network connectivity that some applications will not handle very well.
You could give your basement Wi-Fi network a unique name, that only your new device will connect to. However, if this is an IoT device, that communicates with other IoT devices or an IoT controller in the home, it may not work correctly if it is not associated to the same Wi-Fi network as the other devices.
Another solution would to get Ignite Wi-Fi Pods, and create a single seamless Wi-Fi mesh network throughout your home. The downside is that once you install a Pod, you will lose access to many of your Wi-Fi settings and will no longer be able to manually assign Wi-Fi channels, etc. You will also have Band Steering enabled, if you don't have it enabled already, which can be a problem for some devices.
The bottom line is yes, you can add a router configured as an Access Point to your network. However, you also need to be very careful with how it is configured, and be aware of the connectivity issues that will result when you have multiple active Wi-Fi networks and devices that can access both Wi-Fi networks.
@1badchad wrote:
Thanks and appreciate the info. Yes, that is probably what I will be doing. The device will be permanently in my basement and my plan would be to use the access point SSID only for that device. If I do that, will the rest of my devices on my primary SSID experience any signal reduction?
Yes, that is correct. It should not have any negative impact on the performance of your primary Wi-Fi network. Ideally, you should also configure your basement Access Point to use different Wi-Fi channels than your Ignite gateway.
you mentioned you have a ethernet outlet in your basement? is this ethernet outlet somehow connected to your modem which is on your top floor? if its connected then yes pigging in the third party access point will give a new ssid in your basement and will work. the ethernet will essentially bridge the two networks
@1badchad wrote:
Yes, exactly. That outlet runs up to my modem on the third floor. The problem is the device I am putting in the basement is not capable of a wired connection. My thinking was to use a spare router I have and plug it into the switch in the basement and use it as an access point which will provide a separate SSID that I will only use for that device in the basement. I have never set up an access point so I am hoping it's pretty straight forward.
If your router has a "Bridge Mode" or "AP Mode", the setup should be fairly straightforward. If it does not, setting it up as an Access Point is more complicated because all of the routers internal services (especially DHCP) will need to be disabled.
Your router's support page should provide step-by-step instructions on how to set it up as an AP.
@1badchad before you switch the router into Access Point mode, log into the modem thru its own interface, or thru the app and take note of its wifi operating channel(s). The modem will most likely be operating its 5 Ghz network in the channel 36 to 48 range.
Then log into the router and set the 2.4 channel to some channel that will avoid the modem's 2.4 channel. I'm assuming that the modem channel is probably running on Auto and that you can't change it. The modem will simply have to avoid the router's 2.4 Ghz channel if in fact you want to use a 2.4 Ghz channel for the router.
The modem's 5 Ghz channels appear to be locked into the channel 36 to 48 range for a majority of users. That leaves you free to set the router to use the channel 149 to 161 range. Modem's and routers are limited to 200 milli-watts conducted power when using channel 36 to 48. Channels 149 to 161 are allowed to use 1 watt conducted power. So, in your case, running channels 149 to 161 in your basement, with their higher power levels is overkill, but, with the router in the basement, it will have a very limited RF horizon beyond your home, if any. When its running, it might be useable in the upper floor of your home.
So, set the router's wifi channel in the 149 to 161 range for now, if in fact you need to use the 5 Ghz network.
In the event that you don't need the 2.4 or 5 Ghz network running, disable it in the Wireless Professional tab. Set "Enable Radio" to No, for the network that isn't required. That will shut down the 2.4 or 5 Ghz network.
To kick the router into Access Point mode, navigate to the ADMINISTRATION .... OPERATION MODE tab and change the operating mode from Wireless Router mode to Access Point mode. Save the changes and reboot the router. When the reboot is complete, the router will operate as an Access Point for both ethernet and Wifi devices. You can then connect that router thru its WAN ethernet port to any ethernet network in the home. It will function as an Access Point until you change the operating mode back to Wireless Router mode.
When you log into the router for the first time, take note of its LAN IP address if it's connected to the modem. After you switch the router into Access point mode, the modem will most likely use the same LAN IP address for the router. Knowing that IP address will allow you to log into the router after it's been switched over to Access Point mode. You could probably assign an IP reservation to the modem so that it always uses the same IP address for the router. The router, in Access point mode, will be invisible in any trace, so to log back into the router, you either need to know its IP address, or determine the IP address by using Network Discovery on any ethernet or wifi connected device. Having the ability to log into the router thru the network will also allow you change the operating mode, change any settings if necessary or update the router's firmware.
If you run a factory reset on the router, it will return to Wireless Router mode and you will have reconnect to the router thru an ethernet LAN port in order to set the parameters and operating mode back to Access Point mode.
Out of curiosity, what Asus router do you have and what firmware version is currently loaded?
@Datalink wrote:
before you switch the router into Access Point mode, log into the modem thru its own interface, or thru the app and take note of its wifi operating channel(s). The modem will most likely be operating its 5 Ghz network in the channel 36 to 48 range.
I'm still convinced that those who have reported this are in the minority. FYI, ALL of the XB6 and XB7 gateways that I have set up to date have all auto-selected channel 157 in the 5 GHz band. However, I concur that you should manually set the 5GHz channel to 157 (or to another channel with a higher transmit power) if you can, unless you have a good reason not to.
running channels 149 to 161 in your basement, with their higher power levels is overkill, but, with the router in the basement, it will have a very limited RF horizon beyond your home, if any. When its running, it might be useable in the upper floor of your home.
I would try to avoid doing that. If you have mobile devices that can connect to either the router/AP or the Ignite gateway, you won't get a seamless hand-off when the device disconnects from one AP and associates with another.
I'm normally all for reducing load on an Access Point, especially the Ignite gateway, avoiding weak Wi-Fi connections (which is why it is sometimes better to pick channels that use a lower transmit power), and distributing device connections across multiple Access Points. However, from the Ignite gateway's perspective, in this situation, it will also see the devices' (MAC address) status switch between "wired" (when connected through the router/AP) and "wireless", and that can sometimes cause some weird issues.
From the vast majority of the posts in the forum it would appear the the XB6s and XB7s, under Rogers backend control, end up using the lower 5 Ghz channels. In any event, all that I'm pointing out is to essentially pick one channel range for the router, which is the opposite of what the modem is running, ie: modem running low 5 Ghz channel - pick 5 Ghz high channels for the router, modem running high 5 Ghz channels - pick low 5 Ghz channels. If the modem is in Auto Channel Selection mode where its bouncing all over the channel range, then it doesn't matter what you pick, the modem will do what it wants to do, so, pick a channel for the router and stay with that channel. Let the modem work around the router.
As for any mobile devices that might connect to the router, that doesn't appear to be the intention here and all that I was pointing out was the possibility of seeing the router network when you're actually up on the top floor of the house. To use it or not is up to @1badchad.
turn your old unused router into an access point, turn off DHCP and plug the ethernet wall jack into the LAN port of that router, connect your device to the Wi-Fi SSID of that router is broadcasting in your basement, this is all you really need to do to solve your initial problem
Theres lots of devices not capable of hardwired ethernet connection, such as Echo Dot, Google Home Hub, Google Nest Home hub, wireless printers, tablets. By doing what I explained, you are smart, knowledgable and creative and turned an unused third party router and an unused ethernet jack in your basement into a wireless acces point, and saved a ton of money. you dont need all these fancy schmancy gadgets and accsss points and gismos unless you can afford them and were looking to do that, but if you wanted the simple but effective solution you just found it
@Pauly wrote:
turn your old unused router into an access point, turn off DHCP and plug the ethernet wall jack into the LAN port of that router, connect your device to the Wi-Fi SSID of that router is broadcasting in your basement, this is all you really need to do to solve your initial problem
At the very least, you will need to change the router's IP address from 192.168.1.1 (or whatever the default is) to a static IP that you can reach when connected to the Ignite gateway. If the router does not have a bridge mode or AP mode, DHCP is the critical service that you will need to disable, but the router could also have an IGMP proxy, UPnP, DLNA services, file sharing services etc. active. You will want to disable as many of the router's internal services as possible; anything that you are not using, especially if it advertises those (unused/unusable) services on the local LAN. Disabling those internal services is especially critical if you will be connecting the router/AP to the network using its internal LAN ports.
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