Question Using Netgear Nighthawk as Extender or Bridge

[JFBallou]

I just recently got rid of Spectrum internet in favor of TMobile hotspot home internet service. I had to place the new modem/router in a downstairs window sill to get best reception, but I get around 340mbps near the router and I'm very pleased with that. Problem is, I had my old cable internet coming in all the way across the house and upstairs thru the spectrum modem and to my Netgear Nighthawk R7400 AC2600 Smart Wifi router. I also use Ooma for phone service, which I turned back into the phone jack (2 rj11 ports) to be available from any phone jack in the house, and I'd like to leave that device there.

So, my high level need is to capture the wifi from the downstairs router in the upstairs room, ideally using the Nighthawk router. My original thought was to use the Nighthawk as a repeater, but it's so far from the main router that the signal repeated wouldn't be worth it, so I'm going to get a plug-in extender nearer to the downstairs router. Now, with that same need, upstairs for the Ooma device, and potentially a couple of other ethernet-connectable devices not needing high bandwidth, I looked into using the Nighthawk in Bridge Mode. I went through the steps in the user's guide, including selecting bridge mode, entering the SSID, pw, and for the time being I just set the security to none. After a few attempts, I now have the Internet connection light orange on the router. Success! I thought. But the signal is not going out the ethernet ports on the back of the router and to my devices. The cable to the desktop system is good, as I'm using that to connect to the router, so I think that checks out, plus I also tried the Ooma and it didn't get signal. So, I'm not better for it yet - drat!

Has anyone here tried to use their Nighthawk router in bridge mode, or can anyone provide next steps or have a suspicion of what the trouble could be? Thanks for any help you can provide!

 

[kanewolf]

I just recently got rid of Spectrum internet in favor of TMobile hotspot home internet service. I had to place the new modem/router in a downstairs window sill to get best reception, but I get around 340mbps near the router and I'm very pleased with that. Problem is, I had my old cable internet coming in all the way across the house and upstairs thru the spectrum modem and to my Netgear Nighthawk R7400 AC2600 Smart Wifi router. I also use Ooma for phone service, which I turned back into the phone jack (2 rj11 ports) to be available from any phone jack in the house, and I'd like to leave that device there.

So, my high level need is to capture the wifi from the downstairs router in the upstairs room, ideally using the Nighthawk router. My original thought was to use the Nighthawk as a repeater, but it's so far from the main router that the signal repeated wouldn't be worth it, so I'm going to get a plug-in extender nearer to the downstairs router. Now, with that same need, upstairs for the Ooma device, and potentially a couple of other ethernet-connectable devices not needing high bandwidth, I looked into using the Nighthawk in Bridge Mode. I went through the steps in the user's guide, including selecting bridge mode, entering the SSID, pw, and for the time being I just set the security to none. After a few attempts, I now have the Internet connection light orange on the router. Success! I thought. But the signal is not going out the ethernet ports on the back of the router and to my devices. The cable to the desktop system is good, as I'm using that to connect to the router, so I think that checks out, plus I also tried the Ooma and it didn't get signal. So, I'm not better for it yet - drat!

Has anyone here tried to use their Nighthawk router in bridge mode, or can anyone provide next steps or have a suspicion of what the trouble could be? Thanks for any help you can provide!

Does the T-Mobile router have ANY ethernet ports (the pictures I have seen do) ? If so, you should do something to get a wired connection upstairs. Do you have coax in the house? MoCA will provide gigabit wired connectivity. You would then use your R7400 as an access point and switch. That is a much better solution.

 

[JFBallou]

There are 2 ethernet ports on the Tmobile router, but I don't have cable nor ethernet ports in that room. (As a matter of fact, since the TMobile router doesn't have a WPS button, I had to get a different wifi extender, with an ethernet port for setup.) I can see how the MoCA would work, if I had access to the ports and would be an amazing option. ... I am still baffled as to why the Netgear router shows there's internet available but none coming over ethernet nor wifi.

Thanks for the MoCA info!

 

[JFBallou]

Alright, it's working now. I had the security in bridge mode set to none, thinking that would remove a hinderance, but in fact, since the base router is set up in WEP, it kept it from working. When I set the bridge mode security to WPA2-PSK[AES], it worked! So, this is very exciting for me, to be able to set things back up as they were, hardware-wise, get 340 mbps downstairs and 60 on the other side of the house, which is plenty for what I need it for.