Broadband - Mesh - Hardwire

Ron Burgundy II

Hi, I'm looking for some advice in regards to wifi coverage within my house. I'm currently living in a very old house with thick walls resulting in numerous black spots. In particular, I just want to improve the wifi coverage to two rooms, my home office and the living room (Netflix, Xbox One). Thankfully these rooms on plan these rooms sit over each other (office on the first floor and living room at ground Floor).

Rather than using a mesh system (I've discussed this previously) due to expense. I'm looking at the idea of just running an ethernet cable (cat5e) to the living room and installing a second router (TP-LINK Archer C50 V3 AC1200 Dual Band Wi-Fi Cable Route or similar) I know this will work as the room above where the incoming line and router is located has very good coverage.

Now, this is where I need some advice. Do I need to get a network switch for this to work or will a cable from the back of the main wifi router running to a new data point (in the living room) be sufficient to set up a second router?

ED E

No switch needed, just a little configuration.

Ron Burgundy II

Thanks, ED E.

Just a quick question if I went with a network switch will that allow for plug and play? I'm looking for the easiest solution possible.

ArrBee

The main router is also a switch which is what you would be plugging into.

There may be a little config required on the 2nd device you put in the living room. (extra router or Access point.)

If reusing an old extra router, you may need to disable some of the typical router functions like DHCP etc and just leave the wireless working.
But if you need to buy a device, go with an access point

demanufactured

Go for an access point rather than a 2nd router.

Marlow

demanufactured wrote: »

Go for an access point rather than a 2nd router.

Most cable-type routers can be configured for either/or router or access point.

/M

celtic_oz

i put in a mesh wireless system and it so much better than the power line / access points I was using

powerline used to not respond sometimes and then you have to restart everything .. used to drive me nuts .. also moving between access points can be delayed which is a pain if your upstairs for a few minutes only .. with mesh no issues .. HD to the attic over 2 wireless hops!


Tenda MW6

put Tenda Mw3 in for friend with a smaller house and also works perfect

Ron Burgundy II

An access point is what I was trying to describe but I described something different . I had to google it.

Anyway, that seems to be the ideal solution, run an ethernet cable from the router to an access point and I should be golden. The devices that will link to the access point will be laptop/tablet, xbox so will be used for a period of time so not too worried about experiencing connection delays from moving around the house.

Thanks for all the help.