Long range wifi router?

[hhamama66]

7 minutes ago, Falcon1986 said:

That’s your standalone modem.

 

That’s your wireless router. Are you using its wireless access point feature since you have a mesh system already? You shouldn’t need to because this might introduce a lot of interference and channel overlap.

 

Everything after the RAC2V1K should be configured in bridge mode or access point mode to avoid network conflicts. Even the Netgear wireless router in the other house should be configured in access point mode.

 

If you want to be able to move between houses and seamlessly connect to their WiFi, make sure that the power level of each access point’s antenna is set appropriately to just cover that house. Then you can assign them all the same SSIDs/encryption/password, but place their broadcasts on non-overlapping wireless channels.

The RAC2V1K isn't running as a router.

 

As for the Netgear router in house 1, would it be easier and simpler if I just purchased another Velop node and hardwired it to the Spectrum RAC2V1K back in house 1?

[Falcon1986]

1 hour ago, hhamama66 said:

The RAC2V1K isn't running as a router.

 

As for the Netgear router in house 1, would it be easier and simpler if I just purchased another Velop node and hardwired it to the Spectrum RAC2V1K back in house 1?

Then what is it running as?

[Donut417]

1 hour ago, hhamama66 said:

The RAC2V1K isn't running as a router.

If you have multiple devices plugged in to it then yes it is running as a router. Its doing NAT, Firewall and DHCP. Anything router wise connected to it needs to be in AP mode or you're going to have multiple layers of NAT and firewalls, plus multiple networks. 

[hhamama66]

20 minutes ago, Donut417 said:

If you have multiple devices plugged in to it then yes it is running as a router. Its doing NAT, Firewall and DHCP. Anything router wise connected to it needs to be in AP mode or you're going to have multiple layers of NAT and firewalls, plus multiple networks. 

I only have two wifi networks running in my house right now, the Linsys mesh network and the Netgear one right next door. And the Spectrum router isn't configured as an access point.

 

Edit: scratch that. I was completely wrong. It's running two separate networks that I just now found out about. Is there any way to disable them?

[Donut417]

27 minutes ago, hhamama66 said:

I only have two wifi networks running in my house right now, the Linsys mesh network and the Netgear one right next door. And the Spectrum router isn't configured as an access point.

 

Edit: scratch that. I was completely wrong. It's running two separate networks that I just now found out about. Is there any way to disable them?

As stated above, every thing past the Spectrum router has to be switch over to AP mode. Just because the wireless on the Spectrum router is not on doesn't mean its not a router. There are routers out there that don't have WiFi. For example the Ubiquity edge router doesn't come with WiFi and its a router. Each router creates its own independent network. So by my count you have 3 separate networks running between the two houses. 

[hhamama66]

32 minutes ago, Donut417 said:

As stated above, every thing past the Spectrum router has to be switch over to AP mode. Just because the wireless on the Spectrum router is not on doesn't mean its not a router. There are routers out there that don't have WiFi. For example the Ubiquity edge router doesn't come with WiFi and its a router. Each router creates its own independent network. So by my count you have 3 separate networks running between the two houses. 

I couldn't configure the Velop in AP mode, but I was able to find an option to disable the radios on the Spectrum router. What I'll do know is talk to my brother about getting these Velop nodes hardwired to hopefully improve speed and stability and I'll see what I can do about the Netgear router in house 2.

[Falcon1986]

15 hours ago, hhamama66 said:

I couldn't configure the Velop in AP mode, but I was able to find an option to disable the radios on the Spectrum router. What I'll do know is talk to my brother about getting these Velop nodes hardwired to hopefully improve speed and stability and I'll see what I can do about the Netgear router in house 2.

OK. Let's know how it goes.

[hhamama66]

7 hours ago, Falcon1986 said:

OK. Let's know how it goes.

The lone Netgear router wouldn't work in access point mode. I followed all the steps, but I guess the velop doesn't let you add access points. It's definitely my brother's problem now. All he has to do is buy another Velop node if he wants a single wifi network covering both houses.

[Falcon1986]

1 hour ago, hhamama66 said:

The lone Netgear router wouldn't work in access point mode.

Before activating AP mode on most consumer WiFi routers, you should assign it a static internal IP address outside of your primary router's DHCP pool. Some will allow you to do this within the webGUI itself, but others won't until after converting to AP mode. Unfortunately, with the latter, they'll lose their IP address unless your client device is configured for static. I tend to reserve the IP within the primary router and bind it to the MAC address to avoid all of this.

 

1 hour ago, hhamama66 said:

I followed all the steps, but I guess the velop doesn't let you add access points.

Modern mesh systems usually allow you to add mesh points for easy expansion, as long as you stick within the same brand and approved mesh point model.

 

1 hour ago, hhamama66 said:

All he has to do is buy another Velop node if he wants a single wifi network covering both houses.

If you're wiring each mesh point to the primary router, you're essentially treating them as access points now. I can see where using the same SSID on mesh systems is necessary, but wireless access points do not need to have the same SSID to access the same network.

 

For example, in my apartment, I have separate names for my 2.4GHz and 5GHz SSIDs, but connecting through either gives me WAN and LAN access. I even have another AP for testing and it uses another SSID, but it gives me access to the same network. The reason I do it this way is to control which APs my devices connect through, allow only particular clients with the right passphrase to connect in certain areas and make sure that my client devices aren't holding on to a weak radio. All client WiFi devices store network names and passwords and should be able to properly disconnect from a weak signal and reconnect to a stronger signal when in range.