Using old router as a Wi-Fi extender

Afxal

Afxal

Level E
I need wifi for my PC. I can't bring a LAN cable from my Jio router as it is around 20 feet away in another room.
Now, that I have these 2 old routers, can I use them as wifi extenders/access points without connecting them to the Jio router?
I don't know if this is even possible with these, don't want to buy a wifi extender.
Might as well buy Tp-Link AC1200 if nothing works.
 

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Extending signal wirelessly with these ONTs is not possible, these are not designed to work that way.
Now, I wouldnt recommend you extending range wirelessly as it will attract wireless noise and speed wont be good. You can disable DHCP server in any of these ONTs and connect LAN to LAN(Jio ONT to Airtel ONT).
 
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Nope, they would have locked down custom firmware so not possible.
Also you won't have a good experience extending wirelessly a signal which you're getting 20 feet away from source.
You'd be lucky to even get 40% of the speed compared to source and the latency would be horrible.
 
Yeah... I would also suggest to rather get a long LAN cable. As it'll be more more faster than a wifi extender. I also have a 20ft cable, works fine.
 
enthusiast29 said:
Nope, they would have locked down custom firmware so not possible.
Also you won't have a good experience extending wirelessly a signal which you're getting 20 feet away from source.
You'd be lucky to even get 40% of the speed compared to source and the latency would be horrible.
Click to expand...
I tried following the tutorials on YouTube for both routers, but even after following it all, there was no success.
Huawei has an option for the WDS bridge but does not seem to work. A similar feature is in the Airtel router too.
 
I've tried to use the bridge feature on a TP link router (Archer C5) and it just did not work well at all, barely got 10 mbps. Only solution here (other than LAN cable) is try to get a more powerful receiver for wifi. I used this one and it made it usable, got 60-70mbps on 5GHz.


Not perfect though and occasionally on video calls it drops packets. LAN cable is the best solution short of an expensive mesh setup.
 
roadrash99 said:
I've tried to use the bridge feature on a TP link router (Archer C5) and it just did not work well at all, barely got 10 mbps. Only solution here (other than LAN cable) is try to get a more powerful receiver for wifi. I used this one and it made it usable, got 60-70mbps on 5GHz.


Not perfect though and occasionally on video calls it drops packets. LAN cable is the best solution short of an expensive mesh setup.
Click to expand...
I suppose I will have to buy this as I need Wifi and Bt both for my PC.
 
Afxal said:
I suppose I will have to buy this as I need Wifi and Bt both for my PC.
Click to expand...
Yes there are probably better cards also out there, you will have to research. In the meantime, if your phone can get decent wifi signal at the same spot, you can use USB tethering on that phone connected to the PC, it works pretty well.
 
Again, It wont make a difference whether you buy any sort of wifi adapter. Best would be to get a separate router, and use it in Access Point mode, where Jio ONT will act as main router. You will get same(or even better, depending upon which router you get) if you add a separate router using Lan Cable.
 
Best solution is to get a long Lan cable to connect directly to the PC, if thats not an option buy any old router and use it as access point (connect main router to it using Lan). This way you will be able to reduce the distance between your PC to the second router resulting in better connectivity also with access point you will get full speed compared to Wifi extender which will reduce the speed to half.
 
roadrash99 said:
Yes there are probably better cards also out there, you will have to research. In the meantime, if your phone can get decent wifi signal at the same spot, you can use USB tethering on that phone connected to the PC, it works pretty well.
Click to expand...
I have tried to find better cards in this price bracket but this one seems to be the best. So if nothing else comes up, will buy this.

Yes, I have been using the phone's usb tethering for internet in the meanwhile.
 
In my view, wifi extenders or routers as extenders are fine on paper but they fail to satisfy in real world unless everything aligns in line of sight in house.
Its better to either relocate your main router, now a days the service provider technicians carry long and strong drills you can get access of the main Line into your house from any other point.. or as others advised.. Get a lan cable and connect the secondary router to main router and place it near your device...
 
awestorr said:
I have bought this in the past.
https://www.amazon.in/gp/product/B0036AFAEW/
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I have this, but upgraded the wifi module with wifi 6 one.
Also if one hs tp link archer C6 then use wds with wifi5 only, that will give proper speed and work flawlessly. I use same and get full speed as on my isp plan and without issue. Working since last 2+ yrs.
Wifi2.4 will reduce speeds to 40% of original speeds and higher latency.
 
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