Question Replace a router and a stupid range extender

William3

Junior Member
Nov 7, 2016
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Our current setup:
AC 1200 Router
RE230 Range Extender (RE)

Our church has a router located in an office and the wifi signal must go from the office, through a cinder block wall, and reach to
the far end of a big building 75 feet from the wall. The current router just barely reaches, so we recently added a range extender.
The problem with the RE is that it changes the IP address and somehow messes with the MAC addresses of some of the hardware, which
is a problem for us.

So, I am looking for a new router with the following requirements:
1) Wifi must reach 75 feet away with a fairly strong signal.
2) Cost of less than $125 (less is better)
3) Guest account
4) Guest account with adjustable bandwidth (We currently have this, but may not be needed, so is optional)
5) Wall mountable assuming this does not hinder performance (see #1 above)
6) Has at least 4 ethernet ports
 

mxnerd

Diamond Member
Jul 6, 2007
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Guess OP means the wireless devices/clients need to reach the router at the office?

OP should be able to keep existing router but you need outdoor AP and outdoor client/bridge.

1. Mount https://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-300Mbps-Outdoor-wireless-Transmission/dp/B010AWXF5O at the outside of the big building.

2. Mount https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Wireless-MU-MIMO-Gigabit-EAP225-Outdoor/dp/B07953S2FD at the outside of the office, and link to one of the LAN port of existing router.

or a pair of CPE 510


or


or


in all cases you probably need another AP/router inside the big building uplink to the outdoor AP/Client/Bridge.
 
Last edited:

William3

Junior Member
Nov 7, 2016
17
2
71
Thanks for responding. I guess I was not clear in my description. This is all indoors. The office and the large room are only separated by an interior cinder block wall. The RE made the wifi signal reach to the far end of the large room, which was not possible without it. The problem is that the RE changes the IP address and the MAC address of the wifi devices.
BTW, the devices are tally lights mounted to the ceiling which would be very inconvenient to have to go up on a ladder to change the IP address on all three each time they are used.
Bottom line: I need a router that has more range and am willing to spend about $150 or so if it will do that. Or, I could look at a different RE that does not change the IP and MAC address of my tally lights.
 

SamirD

Golden Member
Jun 12, 2019
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www.huntsvillecarscene.com
Thanks for responding. I guess I was not clear in my description. This is all indoors. The office and the large room are only separated by an interior cinder block wall. The RE made the wifi signal reach to the far end of the large room, which was not possible without it. The problem is that the RE changes the IP address and the MAC address of the wifi devices.
BTW, the devices are tally lights mounted to the ceiling which would be very inconvenient to have to go up on a ladder to change the IP address on all three each time they are used.
Bottom line: I need a router that has more range and am willing to spend about $150 or so if it will do that. Or, I could look at a different RE that does not change the IP and MAC address of my tally lights.
Getting another router really isn't the solution to this as a cinder block is hard to get almost any wifi through. You really need a wire to get around the wall, but in lieu of that, you can use powerline adapters and the kit that I linked to has all you need for a setup that will work with your existing router.
 
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William3

Junior Member
Nov 7, 2016
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It would be fairly easy to run an Ethernet cable in the attic and over the wall. I could then put a second router in AP mode. Would that work? I am reluctant to use a range extender after seeing that my current one changes the IP/MAC addresses.
 

SamirD

Golden Member
Jun 12, 2019
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www.huntsvillecarscene.com
It would be fairly easy to run an Ethernet cable in the attic and over the wall. I could then put a second router in AP mode. Would that work? I am reluctant to use a range extender after seeing that my current one changes the IP/MAC addresses.
That is a superior solution. The reason you run into that issue with the RE is because it isn't configured correctly. Any AP or whatever should not be handing out IPs or messing with them.
 

Fallen Kell

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
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I don't think it is configured wrong, it is just doing what it does. A typical "range extender" is in many cases a wifi-bridge, sometimes called a "game bridge". The issue as stated is that anything that connects to these bridges are then seen by the rest of the network as the bridge itself, not the underlying device behind the bridge.

A proper solution is a wired back-haul to one or more wifi access points to properly cover the additional area that needs wifi coverage.
 
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mxnerd

Diamond Member
Jul 6, 2007
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Wired AP absolutely is the solution if an ethernet cable can be hauled.

Just buy a router (use its AP mode) or even a set of mesh system (TP-Link M5 is only $150)and uplink to the existing router.
 

SamirD

Golden Member
Jun 12, 2019
1,489
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www.huntsvillecarscene.com
I don't think it is configured wrong, it is just doing what it does. A typical "range extender" is in many cases a wifi-bridge, sometimes called a "game bridge". The issue as stated is that anything that connects to these bridges are then seen by the rest of the network as the bridge itself, not the underlying device behind the bridge.

A proper solution is a wired back-haul to one or more wifi access points to properly cover the additional area that needs wifi coverage.
Interesting. The last time I worked with such a device, it could only work with one device at a time due to the mac binding you're talking about. I guess the newer devices started to pull some neat tricks.

I guess this is good to know if you need to use a spoofed mac address to get into a network. :0
 

William3

Junior Member
Nov 7, 2016
17
2
71
I have decided to get in the attic and run a cat6 from the main router to a second router and use it in AP mode. I am looking at two routers to buy and both are about the same price. Which one is the better router?
Both are TP-Link.
AX1800 (Archer AX21) $100
or
AC2600 (Archer A10) $110