How to setup a repeater?

[maskmcgee]

Right now the router is at the other end of the house. It gives very poor signal into my room. I have been using a wired 20 metre ethernet cable to a switch which I link to my PC and use for other devices with ethernet capabilites. But now 
I am dissatisfied with the painfully slow speeds to my laptop, phone and iPad. So I purchased a router with repeater functions, a GL-AR300M16, to use as an extender. However its guide to set it up only has instructions for using it as a wifi repeater.  But I want the connection to run like this. From the modem, wired to the main router, wired to my switch. The switch connects my main PC and other wired devices to the internet. Off that switch, the mini router is connected, and uses the wired Ethernet connection to broadcast a repeat of my main router's network. 

Is this possible with this model of router? If it's not, its no big deal, I can buy a different one, but I need to know exactly what term this feature is referred to by, and can someone link to some general instructions on how to set up what I have described? 

[ZetZet]

You want to configure the router as an access point, not as a repeater. Googling that router model it seems that option is somewhere within More Settings. You might want to look up a quick tutorial on how to configure an access point. 

[maskmcgee]

13 minutes ago, ZetZet said:

You want to configure the router as an access point

Won't that create a second wifi network not repeat the existing network?

[ZetZet]

Just now, maskmcgee said:

Won't that create a second wifi network not repeat the existing network?

You can set it up to have the same SSID, but that's not always recommended considering it's not a mesh system and the experience won't be great anyway. What's the problem of having two wifi networks? 

[Alex Atkin UK]

17 hours ago, maskmcgee said:

Won't that create a second wifi network not repeat the existing network?

Without a mesh system you probably wont get seamless roaming anyway.  Effectively repeating an existing network is no different to having a second Access Point physically connected to the wired LAN, except a repeater wastes half the WiFi bandwidth so is absolutely a last resort.

[vmdyap2022]

2 options: turn the old router to access point (you can set the same SSID but its not ideal) or turn it to a repeater.

 

easiest option and you said you are willing to spend money, is just buy a mesh system, set it as your access point, turn off the wireless network from the current router you are using so that you can set the mesh system as your primary wifi access point. or you can set the mesh system as your main router then current router as a switch...

 

there are entry level mesh sytems like tp-link deco x20.

 

[cmndr]

On 10/7/2022 at 7:21 PM, Alex Atkin UK said:

Without a mesh system you probably wont get seamless roaming anyway.  Effectively repeating an existing network is no different to having a second Access Point physically connected to the wired LAN, except a repeater wastes half the WiFi bandwidth so is absolutely a last resort.

"mesh" is a marketing term. It's usually loosely related to 802.11krv standards. Not all "mesh" systems support these. Even then if you're not walking around a TON it won't matter that much in practice.

Multiple APs, all of them supporting KRV is ideal but it's not the end of the world if those standards aren't supported.

 

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From a technical perspective, buying a mesh system with a wireless backhaul will generally do worse than having multiple wired APs in strategic locations. Several reasons why
1. WiFi is half duplex, your ancillary nodes will spend half their time listening and receiving. This means you lose half your bandwidth off the bat and have added latency at each hop. It gets worse with more hops. Having triband systems help but it's not perfect.
2. All the repeated transmissions clog up the airwaves
3. wired APs can be placed in more ideal locations in your home (usually on top of a ceiling so human bodies, literally bags of water, don't absorb the signal). Wireless mesh kits require you to consider the location of the nodes with respect to the main system too. This means LOTS of compromises.

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The big critique of the GL-AR300M16 would be that it's a low end unit that only supports WiFi-4 from 2009. In this instance, setting the devcie to AP mode, using a different SSID and only setting low performance devices to it is a viable strategy for clearing up air time and getting some stuff usable. A better AP (TP Link EAP 225?) would usually do a lot better.