How do I use my TPLink router in repeater mode ?

raksrules

raksrules

Elite
At the place where I am staying we have Airtel broadband connection with wifi router. But since the place is big, the wifi connection doesn't reach at all corners of the house.
Now I have a spare TPLink router with me. Model number is WR340G+
Does anyone know can I set this router in repeater mode ?
What I want to do is connect this router to power supply in middle of the house and it should repeat the main wifi connection so that wifi signal is made available in the farthest corner of the house.
Is the "bridge" related setting in the router page used for setting It in repeater mode ?
If you require the screenshot from any router page then let me know.

Also I am not sure which is the router connected to main Airtel modem. Have to check that yet.
 
Repeater mode always confused me :p I have a similar setup, but I have just used LAN wire withRJ45 port connected to both ports of LAN on routers here on mine. Easy. And it's super cheap. 1 meter costs like 13rupees. Might be cheaper for you as u live in mumbai

You don't need any repeater for mode this. Just do this.

Before connecting the wires, configure both routers. On first change the LAN IP to like 192.168.1.1 and enable DHCP on that first router/router-modem to 192.168.1.3-2xx.

On 2nd modem, just disable the DHCP and change the LAN IP for that router to 192.168.1.2

Connect both and restart. Done!
 
I shall read all the above today after I go home.

I have recently shifted in a shared accommodation and this is the needed at the new place.
The default router currently is Beetel (not sure about model number) which I am assuming airtel broadband folks may have given. It is not ADSL but only router I think because there is a separate modem as well. It is a 3BHK flat and the wifi signal doesn't reach well in the room where I am put. It does come if the door is open but still keeps disconnecting and signal strength is also pretty low or NIL.
Physical connection using LAN cable between the two routers (other being spare TPLink router I have) is not possible as I wish to setup the Access Point (AP) using the spare router just outside my room which is like in other corner of the flat.
I am not well versed with this repeater mode stuff so please correct me if my assumption is wrong..

Current Setup:
  • Airtel Broadband Modem is connected to Beetel router via a LAN cable

Expected setup:
  • Airtel Broadband Modem is connected to Beetel router via a LAN cable
  • Setup TPLink router to connect over Wifi to the Beetel default router. By using some sort of bridge mode or whatever. Will have to read the above links
  • Connect my devices to the TPLink router instead of the main Beetel Router
Is this how it is will work if I am able to successfully do it ?

Also I tried accessing the beetel router using 192.168.1.1 and its as expected asks for id and password. I tried the default combination of admin/admin and admin/password but it did not work. My rooommate says he may know the password and has written somewhere in his PC. Worst case if he doesn't get the password to get to the router page, what can I do ?
Is it necessary for me to have access to the main beetel router's settings page to make the above (setting my spare TPLink router in repeater mode) work ?

PS: I really don't want to mess any setting on the main beetel router lest i screw something which knocks off the internet completely for me and others.

Btw here is the spare router I have..

http://www.tp-link.com/lk/products/details/?model=TL-WR340G#over

Just FYI, the router name as G+ at the end but for some reason it looks like G.
But if you check below link, it will show the exact router I have with G+ written.

http://net.yesky.com/194/9195194.shtml

This router was bought from China and at that time only it was flashed with official TPLink english firmware since default firmware was in Chinese.
 
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Ok so i tried to do the above setup but it did not work. I reset the TPLink router before starting.
Btw the router connected to airtel broadband is a Belkin one (no visible antenna and a button called WPS on it).
I tried to go in "quick setup" option and only options I got were

PPPoE
Dynamic IP
Static IP

There was no option like Access Point or something. I guess the router I have is not capable of doing it.

But I was able to connect physically through LAN cable the belkin and TPLink routers and then access the internet through the TPLink one (and Belkin also if I connected to that). I did not do anything special or did any setting. It just worked.

But a weird behavior I noticed. Explaining the situations below...

Situation 1: Only main Belkin router is available and I am connected to that over wifi. I punch in 192.168.2.1 (router IP of belkin) and its settings page open up fine. Going to 192.168.1.1 does nothing and keeps asking me id and password repeatedly. Its is anyways not Belkin router's IP. This is a perfectly acceptable situation.

Situation 2: Belkin router is disconnected complete and internet is turned off. TPLink router is connected to power supply (and no modem) just like that. I connect to TPLink by going to 192.168.1.1 since that is its IP address and give admin/admin and as expected it works. I can access the router settings page. This is a proper situation as well.

Situation 3: Belkin router is connected to airtel broadband. Belkin and TPLink routers are connected via LAN cable. My laptop is connected to Belkin and i punch 192.168.2.1 and belkin setup page appears (normal) and 192.168.1.1 doesn't give anything (like before...expected).
Now i disconnect from Belkin and connect to TPLink and my internet connectivity still works. I go to 192.168.2.1 and belkin setup page appears (inspite of me being connected to TPLink) and 192.168.1.1 doesn't give anything.
So is it like since the TPLink is now acting just as a middle man, it doesn't allow me access to its own settings page and is merely mimicking the behavior of primary belkin router ?
Now If i disconnect the cable between belkin and tplink (so no internet through tplink now), i can then access 192.168.1.1 and TPLink settings page.

The situation 3 makes me believe that the setup that @Sobirvs has works in my situation too and I now will have ability to connect to 2 wifi networks (but same internet) but for my requirement it is pointless. I need a wireless connection between belkin and tplink.

Is it possible ?
 
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raksrules said:
The situation 3 makes me believe that the setup that @Sobirvs has works in my situation too and I now will have ability to connect to 2 wifi networks (but same internet) but for my requirement it is pointless. I need a wireless connection between belkin and tplink.

Is it possible ?
Click to expand...

tl'dr, what your situation exactly?

edit: you want it wirelessly, as I said, was always confused about that. bu the wire thingy works very well. And won't cost you much aswell as you already have 2 routers, now u just need cable which is like ~13rupees/meter. Hardly think you need more than 10 meters..
 
Sobirvs said:
tl'dr, what your situation exactly?

edit: you want it wirelessly, as I said, was always confused about that. bu the wire thingy works very well. And won't cost you much aswell as you already have 2 routers, now u just need cable which is like ~13rupees/meter. Hardly think you need more than 10 meters..
Click to expand...


I have the cable with me at my home in Mumbai. But then it would mean the cable will be hanging across the house. It is not my house but a shared apartment with other folks.
Hence seeking wireless options.
I see that for 1000-2000 Rs those repeaters are available but I do not really wish to buy them for now.
 
raksrules said:
I have the cable with me at my home in Mumbai. But then it would mean the cable will be hanging across the house. It is not my house but a shared apartment with other folks.
Hence seeking wireless options.
I see that for 1000-2000 Rs those repeaters are available but I do not really wish to buy them for now.
Click to expand...

There comes clippers in the market, u can get those from electricity shops. And with using little hammer, you can easy make the cables look good. So the wire won't hang. I have done the same in my home.
 
Sobirvs said:
There comes clippers in the market, u can get those from electricity shops. And with using little hammer, you can easy make the cables look good. So the wire won't hang. I have done the same in my home.
Click to expand...

Rented apartment. Don't really want to mess with that. I understand it is easy to do if it is my own house, but not possible here.
 
AFAIK Wireless repeating or WDS requires firmware support. It does not look like your model supports it. Flashing third party firmware like dd-wrt won't work, since your flash memory is only 2MB and 4MB is the bare minimum needed.

Edit: Can you mention what Belkin model this is? And perhaps a screenshot of the admin control panel of the belkin to determine if it can be used as a repeater instead?
 
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Crazy_Eddy said:
AFAIK Wireless repeating or WDS requires firmware support. It does not look like your model supports it. Flashing third party firmware like dd-wrt won't work, since your flash memory is only 2MB and 4MB is the bare minimum needed.

Edit: Can you mention what Belkin model this is? And perhaps a screenshot of the admin control panel of the belkin to determine if it can be used as a repeater instead?
Click to expand...

exactly.
 
Crazy_Eddy said:
AFAIK Wireless repeating or WDS requires firmware support. It does not look like your model supports it. Flashing third party firmware like dd-wrt won't work, since your flash memory is only 2MB and 4MB is the bare minimum needed.

Edit: Can you mention what Belkin model this is? And perhaps a screenshot of the admin control panel of the belkin to determine if it can be used as a repeater instead?
Click to expand...

See here is the problem.
This is the link of my router -> http://www.tp-link.com/lk/products/details/?model=TL-WR340G
It says WR340G but on my router it is written WR340G+ and it was bought from China so i am not sure if the above link is even valid for me.
I had flashed my router with some stock firmware back in 2009 to get english language.

Now aliexpress also shows this same router...

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-shipping-TP-LINK-WR340G-54M-Wireless-Router/358411106.html

And it says WDS is there but I am unable to find any WDS related setting in the router page.

May be flash back to original chinese firmware ?

And this link shows the same model number router but it looks different.

http://www.ownta.com/54m-wireless-router-for-tp-link-tl-wr340g.html


All screenshots on internet say there should be something with name "Enable WDS" while I have "enable bridge" and no option to select the main parent router SSID and instead have to give MAC address manually (which doesn't work anyways).

I think i will download some firmware files of this router and go on flashing spree and see what happens.
 
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Check this link -> http://www.tp-link.com/resources/software/200943083466.pdf
It is the manual of my router and go to the section...

3.5.1 Wireless Settings

This is exactly how it looks on my router and it does mention on the next page that the "Enable Bridges" is for wireless connection between this router and an AP.
But i expected something easier like using tplink router to find SSID of the belkin and just connect.
Something like in this link -> http://www.tp-link.us/article/?faqid=227

It seems I need to configure the bridge mode in the source router also but I tried to find it yesterday in the belkin router but could not. May be i will try again.
There is an option in belkin router as "Use as access point". I wonder if that is the setting.

Edit: Nah, looks like the use as access point disables the "router" functionality and that is not good.
 
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raksrules said:
Check this link -> http://www.tp-link.com/resources/software/200943083466.pdf
It is the manual of my router and go to the section...

3.5.1 Wireless Settings

This is exactly how it looks on my router and it does mention on the next page that the "Enable Bridges" is for wireless connection between this router and an AP.
But i expected something easier like using tplink router to find SSID of the belkin and just connect.
Something like in this link -> http://www.tp-link.us/article/?faqid=227

It seems I need to configure the bridge mode in the source router also but I tried to find it yesterday in the belkin router but could not. May be i will try again.
There is an option in belkin router as "Use as access point". I wonder if that is the setting.

Edit: Nah, looks like the use as access point disables the "router" functionality and that is not good.
Click to expand...


Hi raksrules,

I am facing near about same problem what u faced. ur problem got resolved now ?
Please reply if u found any solution.
 
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