How to setup a second router on ATT fiber as a AP to extend wireless (I really want it as a mesh wifi network with my second router if possible)?

[pcslookout]

I can't figure it out. Maybe I am just stupid.

Thanks.

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[SamirD]

Nah, you're not stupid. It's not the easiest thing to set up what you want.

You won't be able to have seamless roaming between the two access points without a lot of signal tuning and testing. You can try by setting both to the same ssid and turn down the antenna powers so that they're just barely overlapping and you can get decent results doing this. Otherwise just set two different ssids and make the switch as you see fit.

Depending on what router you have, the specifics may be a bit different but it's essentially 3 things--turn off the dhcp server, set up the network to be on the same subnet as your existing network but a unique iP, and plug in the lan cable to the lan port not the wan port.

Feel free to ask questions if any of this went over your head.

 

[mv2devnull]

Does "router on ATT fiber" reveal us the make and model of the device?
If it doesn't (it doesn't for me), then how could we tell whether and how it can be configured?

A "WiFi mesh", AFAIK, has primary AP that has wired/mobile connection and "slave" AP's. All those AP devices act as AP for WiFi clients, but use a second WiFi channel for inter-AP communication.

A slave mesh AP is simultaneously a WiFi client that connects to primary AP (and probably direct slave-slave traffic too) and "regular AP" for the nearby WiFi clients.
"Extending WiFi via wire" has all APs wired to network and act as regular APs.
The latter configuration is possible with most "modems" (local ISP's documentation calls all devices "modems"), but the former (WiFi mesh) probably less so.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Yeah, if you're trying to do a "Mesh" wifi, with wireless back-haul, it has to be designed to do that. Asus' AiMesh can do that, with a certain sub-set of their existing routers, with a firmware upgrade. Otherwise, you'll need Google Wifi Mesh nodes, or TP-Link's, or whoever's.

 

[bbhaag]

When you login to your second router does it have the option to set it up as an Access Point? Before I purchased my second Ubiquiti Unifi Ap-AC-LR I was able to change a cheapo Asus router I had into an AP via the settings in the router.
Maybe that is an option you could explore if you poke around in the options for your second router.

 

[aigomorla]

what gateway are you running is the first important question one needs to ask.

Then you need to figure out if you need to do a DMZPlus on a PACE5280 or IP Passthough on a BWG210.
FYI, i hope you have a BWG210 and not a PACE5280, as that is much more friendly when you put a router behind it.

After you have done that, you basically make your gateway into a fake bridge mode by doing one of the two.
Then you put a router behind it, and you can setup your AP's behind that.

I dont think you can just slap on your mesh ontop of ATT's gateway.
They are VERY VERY (insert slew of curse words here) which is probably why your running into so many problems right now...

ATT makes it very difficult for you to do stuff like that because they lack a true bridge mode, unless you pay extra for static IP's which in mycase i ended up doing as it was messing up my NAT tables for VPN and other stuff.

 

[SamirD]

When you login to your second router does it have the option to set it up as an Access Point? Before I purchased my second Ubiquiti Unifi Ap-AC-LR I was able to change a cheapo Asus router I had into an AP via the settings in the router.
Maybe that is an option you could explore if you poke around in the options for your second router.

And just for additional info, a lot of the times 'AP mode' on routers simply turns off the dhcp server and stuff I posted above in one step.

However, some models like an older Belkin I have literally turned it into a AP. You had to factory reset it to turn it back into a router.