Question Access Point Setup

[THRobinson]

We recently had our router from the ISP replaced with a new "better" one that's caused a few small issues.

One is that I had a Cat6 Ethernet cable running from it, through the length of the house, to my office and into a 10yr old Tplink router I had, and setup as I think it was called a cascading network. Still works but, had to reboot a few times and the wireless range for some reason is as though its not working. Old house, thick walls so needed a hub for my office/man cave but also WiFi extender else upstairs drops constantly, which it's now doing.

I was gifted a tp-link archer c1200, which is 5yrs old but also 5yrs newer than what I had. Has 5g, twice the speed etc... Rather than try to remember how I setup the old one years ago, I'll start fresh with the new(er) one.

So, do I want a cascading network? The ISP said lit should be in AP mode so, access point? Are they the same thing?

I've seen diagrams of an AP setup but they always show the second router as just WiFi. Can I also use the 4 ports for my PC/NAS/Media Player? Like it is now?

Basically, just want an Ethernet connection between the ISP router and the Tplink, i want the Tplink to work as a WiFi extender, and I want to use the 4 ports for my Ethernet connected hardware like I've had for almost a decade.

So...Cascading network? Access point? Is it hard to setup? Is there a third option that does not require buying anything?

 

[bill001g]

A AP should work exactly as you want. In effect it changes the router into a switch that has wifi radios. Most routers you just set them to AP mode and that is it. The only thing that can be a issue is if the lan IP of the device uses the same IP as the main router. This IP is only used to configure the AP no user traffic uses it but it can cause issue if it is the same as the main router. Many devices when you set them to AP mode change this IP.

 

[THRobinson]

A AP should work exactly as you want. In effect it changes the router into a switch that has wifi radios. Most routers you just set them to AP mode and that is it. The only thing that can be a issue is if the lan IP of the device uses the same IP as the main router. This IP is only used to configure the AP no user traffic uses it but it can cause issue if it is the same as the main router. Many devices when you set them to AP mode change this IP.

I found this link, so, basically follow the instructions and done? Even the same model of router which is handy.


How to set TP link Archer AC1200 to AP Mode | WhizComms https://www.whizcomms.com.sg/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/How-to-Setup-Archer-to-AP-Mode.pdf

 

[bill001g]

Unfortunately tplink likes to use the same name for many different hardware and software revisions.

The method they show in that document works on pretty much any router. Most routers now have a AP feature you turn on which makes it somewhat easier. The newer tplink ones have the AP feature.

It doesn't matter the feature just does some of the work for you and lets you use the WAN port instead of a LAN port. This gives a extra port if you would need it.

The only thing I think that is wrong is the IP address you assign should be 192.168.0.250 not 192.168.10.250. It technically will function using the 10 network but it is very messy to gain access. If you use the same network as your main router you can access the AP to make configuration changes just by typing the address in the browser.

Note this assumes your main router is using 192.168.0.1 you would need to use a IP address for the AP that was on the same subnet.

 

[THRobinson]

Ah, so if it has an AP feature, I plug into the WAN... if no AP feature and I have to setup like the PDF shows, then I plug into the LAN port?

 

[bill001g]

Generally that is the main difference. You of course should check that the IP address does not conflict and the dhcp is turned off even if the device has the AP feature but pretty much those are the 2 things it should do automatically....and however it changes a WAN port into a LAN port.

If you look at he "wireless" section of this forum there is a old sticky post from 2011 that has pretty much the same info as the PDF. Back then it wasn't as common to have the AP feature and people were using things like DSL routers that do not have wan port as AP.

 

[THRobinson]

Well, this router is about 5yrs old so not sure if has that AP feature or not.

Middle of finals for an online course so right now, I'm not messing with anything that might lose my access.

That said, I have nothing in WAN currently, but all 4 LAN are occupied. Extra port be nice, but not 100% needed.

 

[THRobinson]

Followed pdf directions, set to 192.168.0.250... Disabled the DHCP... Basically just the two steps I guess. Was expecting some sorta check box or something saying AP mode. Seems to be working though, but, dies that mean it's in the right mode?

 

[bill001g]

Very technically the box is still running as a router. Although it might be on the same silicon the lan port run like a separate switch chip. The traffic never goes to the router cpu chip. The wifi radio chip can also directly talk to this switch chip without passing through the router chip.

The part that makes it pass through the router chip is the IP addresses. When you change them the traffic no longer know that this router chip even exists.

The thing that tends to be different is the WAN port used to be always connected to the router chip. So for traffic to go from the wan port to a lan port it had to pass through the cpu chip. Somehow modern routers that have a AP function can change this connection so the wan port now is on the switch function rather than the router.

It was less complex to think about when they actually used separate chips now everything is virtual.

In any case all that is happening when you use a router as a AP is the function that does the routing is being ignored. A actual AP they just do not put the router function in the box to begin with.

 

[THRobinson]

So... am I running AP mode?

Annoyingly, once all hooked up, I can't access it without unhooking it again. Same as my old setup.

 

[bill001g]

The three steps are.
You use a LAN port.
You turn off the DHCP server function.
You assign a IP in the same subnet range as the main router that does not conflict. So if the main router uses 192.168.0.1 you can generally use 192.168.0.250 safely.

After that you should always be able to get into the ap using the IP 192.168.0.250. Be sure you typed the ip and mask correctly.

 

[THRobinson]

LAN - Yes
DHCP Off - Yes
192.168.0.250 - Yes

But if I type 192.168.0.250 it times out and says check internet and firewall.

If I try http://tplinkwifi.net/ I get some sorta "trying to configure the router?" screen with suggestions to try like clearing cache.

Cleared cache, tested with Chrome and Edge, and tried on my phone. No luck.

 

[bill001g]

Very strange I do that all the time with my routers...but I don't haven't had a tplink one for a while. Luckily it you seldom change a AP

 

[THRobinson]

Just realized, 192.168.1.1 brings up the Nokia router they installed, so should I change the Tplink to 192.168.1.250?

 

[bill001g]

yes it all needs to be the same subnet. Your pc will send any traffic that is not in the same subnet to the router gateway....ie the gateway means the path to other subnets. Your router though does not know where the other subnet is and will likely drop the data or try to send it to the internet where the ISP will drop it because it is a private network.

A not such a good idea that work ok to solve this when don't want to just change the IP.....

Windows should still allow you to assign a secondary IP under the IPv4 settings of the ethernet port. This lets you mutiple subnets at the same same time on same machine. It is a very non standard thing to do but does work when for example you are dealing with equipment where it is impossible to change the ips. People sometime use it as a layer of added kinda fake security. Since these devices that are not on the main subnet do not have a gateway..the router is on a different subnet..they can not get out of the network but they can talk to other devices that have ips assigned on that subnet.

 

[THRobinson]

Weird, I just finished reconnecting when this popped up.

Reset and started over again using 192.168.1.250 and so far works with ability to access the ip.

So far so good. Again, 5yr old router, had no AP mode button like newer ones, but my old one was less range and 2G only so, wireless stuff is doing better.

Only concern is that after a factory reset it has the quick setup wizard and had no idea what to set things as so defaults were used except name/password for the WiFi. But, again... Booted up, and seems fine.

Thanks for the help.

EDIT - Realized I forgot to update firmware. Checked and it was from 2017, and there was a 2022 update available. Applied it and sigh... start all over again... did the factory reset (hold reset for 6sec) and logged in and totally different screen... with an Access Point check box. I renamed my WiFi connections again, then clicked to AP mode, save and it rebooted. Was no assigning IP addresses or disabling DHCP. Pluged the main router to WAN and did a few speed tests and seems fine.

Followed this video... screens matched the same.

View: https://youtu.be/krcjZNSXsGs?si=0lSF99hFy1opwFY9