Ax88U wireless to wired

[Kahless]

I have an Ax88U and I am moving into a appartment that only has wireless internet with a password.

How would I connect my Ax88U to their WiFi and share that over Cat6 cabling to all of my PC's?

 

[L&LD]

I have an Ax88U and I am moving into a appartment that only has wireless internet with a password.

How would I connect my Ax88U to their WiFi and share that over Cat6 cabling to all of my PC's?

I would get something cheap like an RT-N12 D1 and connect to their WiFi. Use a LAN port on the 'N12 and connect to your WAN port on the 'AX88U.

 

[Kahless]

Does it require 2 routers? Where do I connect within the router software to their WiFi?

My thought was that by using my Ax88U I am going to be able to pull in a better signal to distribute over Cat6 rather then then connecting all my PC's and TV's directly to the apartment WiFi.

So looking for best possible performance . Not terribly worried about cost...

 

[ColinTaylor]

How would I connect my Ax88U to their WiFi and share that over Cat6 cabling to all of my PC's?

Set the Operation Mode to Media Bridge.

Be aware that in that mode most of the functionality of the router is disabled.

 

[Kahless]

If that is the case would it be better to have two Ax88U, set the one that will connect to the WiFi to Media Bridge then connect that one to the other one with Cat6 to retain router functionality?

 

[ColinTaylor]

Having a second RT-AX88U acting as nothing more than a wireless bridge would be a very expensive overkill. Do you know what kind of WiFi service will be supplied to the apartment? For example, if they're only supplying 2 stream ac WiFi there's no point having an 4 stream ax client. What is the download/upload bandwidth?

There's been some recent posts on these forums about Travel Routers. Have a read of those as that is typically what one would use in your situation.

Here's one such thread: https://www.snbforums.com/threads/rt-ac68u-as-repeater-at-hotel.56005/

 

[Grisu]

use repeater mode, so you are connected via Wifi to internet and your clients can be connected via LAN or Wifi, so you will have all options for your clients.
If your AX wifi covers all of your home no need for a second router.
Though an RT-AC86U would have been the better choice in your case, AX still in evolution and chipset wont be the final solution and you will never get any benefit with its capabilities.

 

[Kahless]

I am not sure of the WiFi other then it is 100/100 served by Fiber.

With repeater mode I only need to use my single router and I will be able to connect to the lan ports with cable?

With the link above is there a downside to repeater mode? Some routing limitations?

 

[Grisu]

repeater mode uses wifi backhaul (like bridge) but you are not limited to clients only on its LAN but wifi possible too.
Furthermore bridge mode is often reported as problematic (maybe some firmware bugs), repeater mode seems to run much smoother for many.

 

[Kahless]

Some forum posts suggest repeater mode cuts throughput in half?

Does using a router that I assume would have superior ability to pull in a signal and share to devices make more sense rather then connecting my TV's and computers individually to the apartment WiFi? I would think the WiFi antenna on a TV and PC somewhat poor...

 

[Grisu]

Some forum posts suggest repeater mode cuts throughput in half?

and if repeated 1000 more times it wont get more truth!

As long as you use its bridge function (Wifi-WAN and clients on LAN) there cant be any difference at all.
Of course radio must carry traffic from client and pass it to WAN (wifi-master router) if you use its repeater function and then (and only then will half speed), but that should be clear to anyone who can add 1+1 (or 1/2+1/2).

This wrong (or better not relavant) argument is upcoming every time, same as those 30-30-30 instructions for factory reset which have been only for some completely different routers years ago.

Does using a router that I assume would have superior ability to pull in a signal and share to devices make more sense rather then connecting my TV's and computers individually to the apartment WiFi? I would think the WiFi antenna on a TV and PC somewhat poor...

Hard to say, usually LAN is all the time better than wifi and much mor reliable!
If the clients get good coverage by your existing wifi maybe its better to connect them directly to your apparments wifi.
Your LAN-clients arent really LAN clients, only in perspective to the node (bridge/repeater), but this is connected via wifi to your apparment, so you cant say they are connected via LAN, only intranet between your LAN clients will benefit of LAN-connection.
All traffic to internet will be limited by wifi connection of the bridge.

PS: Asus repeater mode isnt what's generally meant by repeater, as a repeater is connected by wifi and clients connected via Wifi too while a bridge has LAN-clients.
Asus implementation of repeater mode allows both, clients via Wifi AND LAN, its up on you what you will use.
If you attach no LAN client then it will act as real repeater (where "half speed" will be truth), if you set a different SSID (with strong password nobody knows) no wifi clients can attach and its a real bridge (full wifi speed to wifi of main router).

 

[L&LD]

The main benefits of using any other mode than Wireless Router mode for the RT-AX88U is that another router isn't needed.

The negatives (for me) are that we are simply connecting to an unknown network and in turn, allowing them to connect to our clients too.

By unknown here, I mean, I don't know who else may be connected and be tempted or probe or snoop where every they can. Connecting as an 'AP' to such a network is always a bad/worst idea. This is the very reason I recommend to everyone to not use their ISP's router. Regardless of how well it works for them.

I think the negatives here far outweigh the positives for connecting in an 'AP' mode, whether it is Media Bridge, Repeater or similar.

With any luck, there will be a wired plugin to connect the RT-AX88U to in the new apartment. If not, then a low-cost router that acts as an 'invisible' Bridge/Repeater and is only used to connect to the WAN port of the RT-AX88U in wireless Router mode is the most straightforward solution.

The only real consideration for this low-cost router is should it be 2.4GHz or 5GHz capable? I would be inclined to lean towards the 5GHz band to connect to the shared WiFi, but that pushes the price up. If you can still get an RT-AC56U in that role, then that would be my 'best' recommendation for this 'problem'.

 

[Kahless]

Currently where I live I have wired gigabit internet provided by a cable modem and use the WiFi function except for tablets and phones . I have Cat6 going from the router to 4 computers and 3 TV's.

Where I am moving to they only have WiFi and don't allow isps so there are no cable Jack's in the walls of any kind.

So my two options are use the repeater mode on the Ax88U and share that internet over Cat6 to my equipment . No need to worry about halving the speed as it's over cable . Then I will connect phones and tablets directly to apartment WiFi.

Or I can use a seperate router or repeater to connect to the wifi and connect that device physically with a Cat6 cable to the Wan port of the Ax88U and connect my devices to it with Cat6.

Sound about right?

 

[Grisu]

I would take another apartment

yes, sounds right, and for security connect your phones to the wifi of your AX. If no concern you can use apartment wifi for them what could be a faster connection if you have more devices online at the same time.

 

[L&LD]

Currently where I live I have wired gigabit internet provided by a cable modem and use the WiFi function except for tablets and phones . I have Cat6 going from the router to 4 computers and 3 TV's.

Where I am moving to they only have WiFi and don't allow isps so there are no cable Jack's in the walls of any kind.

So my two options are use the repeater mode on the Ax88U and share that internet over Cat6 to my equipment . No need to worry about halving the speed as it's over cable . Then I will connect phones and tablets directly to apartment WiFi.

Or I can use a seperate router or repeater to connect to the wifi and connect that device physically with a Cat6 cable to the Wan port of the Ax88U and connect my devices to it with Cat6.

Sound about right?

I would not be worried about the half the speed part. That will be their concern and I'm sure they have already thought about it (or, at least should have).

The issue is how secure do you want your network-connected devices to be?

If you really don't care about security, your call, then sell the RT-AX88U and simply connect directly to the supplied WiFi. If you don't have any network printers and/or NAS that you care about, of course.

If network security is even remotely a concern? The second router in Bridged/Repeater mode to the supplied WiFi network is about your only sane choice.

 

[Kahless]

Stuck with this apartment lol. All about the location!

Performance is my main driver. Security second.

All it is used for is streaming 4K content, downloading large gaming installs off Steam.

 

[L&LD]

Stuck with this apartment lol. All about the location!

Performance is my main driver. Security second.

All it is used for is streaming 4K content, downloading large gaming installs off Steam.

An additional AC router then (doesn't have to be expensive, just needs a 5GHz radio) will give you both then.

 

[Kahless]

Thanks for all the information!

So use the AC or whatever Asus router as a repeater, connect to the wifi. Then attach it with a Cat6 cable to my Ax88U Wan port? Then I'm good to go.

 

[L&LD]

Thanks for all the information!

So use the AC or whatever Asus router as a repeater, connect to the wifi. Then attach it with a Cat6 cable to my Ax88U Wan port? Then I'm good to go.

Yes. Even a quality Cat5E would do.

 

[Kahless]

Is the RP-AC68U going to be any good at pulling in the apartment WiFi signal?