How to Optimize a Messy Wireless Setup
Wireless networks are hard, no questions asked. And it’s easy for some people to end up with Frankenstein at home because they’ve added devices, access points, routers and switches, and who knows what else, to get a decent connection around their homes. They suddenly find that they have a lot of equipment that should work well, but their wireless connectivity is still having problems.
This week, Phil reading Lifehacker talks about his complex home setup, and we’re going to help him – and you – deal with your hardware shortage. He’s writing:
My situation has to do with getting things to work after new hardware is added to the equation:
- Our house is equipped with Ethernet lines, and I have three Apple Airport Extremes connected throughout my house. They all have the same SSID and password.
- ATT Wireless had a wireless router built into the modem; did not need or use a wireless network.
- Now with Spectrum and their Arris TM1602A MTA is just a modem. We tried to drag the modem into a gigabit switch (we have three of them connected to Ethernet lines and CCTV cameras).
- But for some reason it didn’t work. The technician said the Airport Extremes would need to be reconfigured (?). Not wanting to put that variable into the equation, he suggested installing an Askey Wave 2 wireless router – and that got my Airport Extreme up and running again.
- I tried replacing the portal wireless router because I love their Fastlane feature, but while my Airport Extreme network was running I couldn’t see our Logitech Alert cameras (that would be if I wasn’t at home on the LAN). Ugh.
- However, I would like to ditch their wireless router and $ 5 monthly charges. What’s stopping me from getting our Airport Extreme network working properly without an extra wireless router?
Please advise any ideas.
I rack my brains before diving into this. Here’s what I would do, and it’s also good advice for anyone looking to tweak their home networks in the best possible way.
First, I would give up any modem you get from your ISP. Chances are good that you are probably paying the rent for it , and buying your own modem should pay off (and then save money) in a year if that is the case. I and many others love the Motorola MB7621 , which needs to be compatible on the Spectrum network to serve up to 400 Mbps. If you’re paying for gigabit services you’re in luck, you’ll need the Netgear CAX80 (when it comes up).
From there, you’ll want to take one of your airport extremes and hook it up to a new modem. This will be the main “router” of your network, and any other devices you use to distribute the wireless signal will be your “access points”. I say this, as I do, to make this article understandable and to remind you that you will ever want to have only one device on your network that acts as a router. Other “routers” that you connect to your network should have routing disabled so that you don’t create internal chaos with multiple firewalls and multiple routers assigning IP addresses to devices, including other routers you use.
For AirPort Extreme, you do this by opening AirPort Utility, going to your device’s configuration screen, and setting Router Mode to Off. (Bridge Mode) ” on the” Network “tab . Remember, you only need to do this for the two extreme AirPort options. And these two Airport Extremes must be connected via Ethernet to one AirPort Extreme that you use as your primary router. (I think this AirPort Extreme will probably be next to your cable modem.)
You can keep any other router that you are offered to buy if you want. As before, if you want to use it as your primary router, make sure that all other “routers” connected to it are acting as access points – in bridge mode for your AirPort Extremes. And if you want to use your AirPort Extreme as your primary, you need to turn this mysterious other router into an access point (which should be stated in its user manual if it doesn’t already have “access point mode”). ”You can install). Then you connect it to your main router using an Ethernet cable.
The process is easy to confuse, because you can also connect an access point to the router wirelessly, providing a wired device connected to the access point, access to the rest of your network (or giving your access point way to expand your network). Wi-Fi bubble). This is called a wireless bridge or wireless repeater respectively. Resist the urge to do this if you can, as it will be slower than if you hard-wired your APs to your router over Ethernet – which it looks like you can do.
And while we chat, I would also recommend that you give each of your wireless networks (from your various wireless access points – your AirPort Extremes) a separate SSID. This tends to go against convention, but I like having finer control over what my devices connect to. For example, I keep my AC wireless devices on a 5GHz network, and anything else that doesn’t require that much speed (or requires a bit more range) gets 2.4GHz. At a minimum, consider setting up “Phil_24” and “Phil_5” Wi-Fi networks around your home, as having a separate 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Wi-Fi SSID on all three of your AirPort Extremes can become cumbersome.
You will also want to make sure that all Wi-Fi networks on your different AirPort Extremes are using different channels. While they should do this automatically, chances are good that you will have to manually configure it .
Ouch. And I almost forgot one detail that you buried in your question. Do not connect the switch directly to your cable modem. In almost all cases, your home network should look like this: Cable Modem> Router >> STILL. Think of your router as the master gatekeeper and controller of your network. Don’t put anything in between it and the nice, clean connection it has with your cable modem, because it will cause all sorts of problems if your cable modem can only assign an IP address to one connected device – which should be your router, which then works wonders to give each device on your network its own IP address. (Hence its name: “router”. It routes data. Understand?)