Extending WiFi range when WiFi can’t be accessed outside of main room.

stormoconnor · September 23, 2018

Hi guys,

I live in an old house where the walls are very thick and my WiFi cannot be accessed unless you are present in the room that the router is located in. As a result WiFi range extenders do not work as they cannot connect.

I’ve been trying to a WiFi range extender/access point that can be connected using an Ethernet cable, as I have an Ethernet going outside the room and into the desired location and I would like to use my WiFi only devices in this room.

I've seen multiple with an Ethernet port however the information suggests this is only for connecting a device and not for connecting the range extender to the router.

I’m looking for a solution that is less than £40.

please advise, thank you.

wANKER · September 23, 2018

What you want is an access point.

circeseye · September 23, 2018

what your wanting i believe is what i did with my house...i didnt have blocking walls just to many walls in between areas. plus we wanted also to be able to hardwire back there.
from my main router w/wireless i ran a hundred foot Ethernet to the other end of the house and got a asus router also w/wireless for that end.
i got mine to work by...connect the ethernet to one of the outs of the main...and into the wan of the the secondary one
the second one HAS to support to be able to be used as a access port/extender.....and even if the wifi signals are being blocked make sure the wifi channels on both units are not the same channel ( example...if main is on channel 2 put the second router on like channel 10).

Alex Atkin UK · September 25, 2018

On 23/09/2018 at 6:09 PM, circeseye said:

what your wanting i believe is what i did with my house...i didnt have blocking walls just to many walls in between areas. plus we wanted also to be able to hardwire back there.
from my main router w/wireless i ran a hundred foot Ethernet to the other end of the house and got a asus router also w/wireless for that end.
i got mine to work by...connect the ethernet to one of the outs of the main...and into the wan of the the secondary one
the second one HAS to support to be able to be used as a access port/extender.....and even if the wifi signals are being blocked make sure the wifi channels on both units are not the same channel ( example...if main is on channel 2 put the second router on like channel 10).

Did you actually put the second router into some sort of Access Point mode? Otherwise it was the wrong way to do it as by plugging into the WAN port you caused a double-NAT and making the second WiFi network independent of the first one. It will work, but its not ideal especially if you game on the second Access Point.

Actually ANY WiFi router that lets you turn off DHCP can be used as an Access Point. Ideally you make sure its IP address is not going to conflict with any from the main router (it can even be on a different IP range, it doesn't matter unless you need to access that routers UI) and plug the cable into a LAN port.

circeseye · September 25, 2018

19 minutes ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

Did you actually put the second router into some sort of Access Point mode? Otherwise it was the wrong way to do it as by plugging into the WAN port you caused a double-NAT and making the second WiFi network independent of the first one. It will work, but its not ideal especially if you game on the second Access Point.

Actually ANY WiFi router that lets you turn off DHCP can be used as an Access Point. Ideally you make sure its IP address is not going to conflict with any from the main router (it can even be on a different IP range, it doesn't matter unless you need to access that routers UI) and plug the cable into a LAN port.

its a asus ac-56r, trying to remember what i actually did (i set it up like 4 years ago (took me about 30 minutes to get it solid) and havent had to touch it since even when changing the main router 3 different times)...but yes the second router in is on the wan port. and it has no issue at all with gaming or anything...it gets full 200/12 speed. im on the main router hardwired, son and daughter and wife are on the asus....me and the kids can be gaming, wife and daughter (while gaming) watching streamed movies and of course they have their phones up and going on the wifi, i see no problems with pings, speed drops, and such.
right now i dont have a comp hardwired to it but son will be moved back in about a week and i will go in and see what i actually did