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RT-AC66U router + Powerline and second router?

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PULCK

Occasional Visitor
I have an RT-AC66U as my main router downstairs. WiFi is spotty upstairs, so I've been trying to extend it using a couple of Powerline adapters I had lying around and a second cheap router I bought, but I keep running into problems.

As I understand it, this is the procedure: you copy the WiFi and internet settings (SSID, encryption, password, DNS etc) from the primary router to the secondary router. You switch off DHCP on the secondary router. You set the secondary router's own IP address as a number within the subrange of the primary router. (I set the secondary router to a static IP.) You put the secondary router into AP mode. Then you just connect the 2 routers via LAN over the Powerline and voilà ... Except for me it doesn't work.

I've done all this and for some reason the secondary router loses internet connection after a while. I can't work out if the problem resides with the secondary router or my primary Asus router.

Any ideas what am I doing wrong ?

I am using standard firmware, by the way
 
Just do a factory reset on the second router AP and then set it up in the AP mode. Then connect a cable from a LAN port on the first router to a LAN port on the second router AP. Once you get it working you can change the SSIDs to match if thats what you want along with the passwords. Be sure they both are on different radio channels for both bands.
 
Thanks.

I have already managed to get the secondary router working in AP mode but it drops internet connection after an hour or so.

I hadn't thought it necessary to make sure they're on different channels Is that definitely necessary? I have not seen that advice anywhere else.

I suppose the only way I can do that is to fix the channels they're on. Currently they're both set to automatically find the best channel. Do you think that is what is causing the issue?
 
A couple of tests can be done to better isolate the issue:

From a WiFi connected laptop on the AP, ping the IP addresses of both the router and the AP.
- If the router stops responding, but the AP responds, it is the Powerline connection
- If both stops responding, it is the AP

And yes, you should be using manually set dedicated non-overlapping channels on both devices on both frequencies. Most consumer gear does a horrible job of automatically picking channels. Unlikely this is causing your issues, but it for sure won't help your performance.
 
I have already managed to get the secondary router working in AP mode but it drops internet connection after an hour or so.

That suggests to me that the router configuration is OK, but the powerline adapters are dropping out due to either line noise or poor design.
 
Well, just to add to the confusion....

If I plug my laptop directly into the powerline adapter at the other end of the house from my primary router, it works absolutely fine with no internet connection drops.

However, if I take the ethernet cable out of the laptop and plug it into the secondary router, I either get spotty performance or no connection whatsoever. This suggests no problems with the powerline or the primary router.

For the avoidance of doubt, I've taken a screengrab of my secondary router's AP settings:

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Capture.JPG
Granted, it is a cheap router, but you wouldn't think it would have to do much to act as an AP.

I've made sure it's on different wifi channels from my primary Asus router. As you can see, I've set its IP to 192.168.2.201. My Asus router is set to 192.168.2.1 with a DHCP range of 192.168.2.2-200.

BTW, I previously had an old Buffalo Nfiniti (model: WHR-G300N V2) serving as an AP. I installed DD-WRT on it and set it up similarly. However, it too was dropping internet connection every hour or so.
 

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