Need a wifi ethernet hub

[bdcardinal]

So I have an interesting issue I need to work out a solution to in my house. I can use my office again thanks to the new breaker panels we had installed. I wanted to move my cable modem, Arris SB8200 with my newer Netgear R9000 router back to the office since the tower in there I want having a closer, wired connection. However I need to have a router or hub at the other side of the house since that is where the "entertainment center" is. Ideally I would run cat6 to a switch or hub, however due to the layout of the house I can't. Is there a way to have a hub that connects to my R9000 through wifi but also has cat5/6 ports to hardwire everything? I have a R7000 router but would be willing to buy something to do this. I could run everything off of wifi if I have to though.

 

[JMJNet]

Using G.oogle:
https://www.tomsguide.com/us/how-to-turn-old-router-into-wifi-extender,review-5166.html

See if this help otherwise there is a whole lot of info on using 2 routers to extend your wifi range.
G.oogle is your friend.

 

[ctechbob]

Could probably use powerline networking as well. I use it to go from my main area of the house to all of the 'entertainment' devices with pretty good success.

 

[RonRonnster]

I've done this several times by flashing DD-WRT onto a wireless router. The function you are looking for is a wireless bridge. You could flash DDWRT onto the R7000 router you have, which would then connect to the R9000 in the other room. You could then plug devices into the R7000 and they would connect to the network just like they were plugged into the R9000. Of course, it wouldn't be quite as fast as a hard wired connection, but I've used this method for SmartTVs without issue.

A quick Google search shows the R7000 supports wireless bridging from the stock Netgear firmware - I would double check that the wireless bridge mode isn't already available on the R7000 router first.

https://kb.netgear.com/24105/What-is-bridge-mode-and-how-do-I-set-it-up-on-my-Nighthawk-router

 

[Andrew1972]

I have been in the market for a new system due wifi spots lacking in my home and poor hand off between my main router and a disabled old router connected to main router via ethernet now acting as wifi hotspot only remotely.

A great candidate for what you propose is a mesh router system consisting of 2 -3 units one being a router. The advantages:

1) The units send signal to one another on a dedicated wifi channel that is akin to running an ethernet cable between them. That channel is not used for anything else.
2) The wifi is consistently one name to devices and hand off between the units easily as you move about (smartphone).
3) Each unit offers a few ethernet ports to hook your PC up for example. Not applicable in your case but this port can also be used as interconnection between units also.

 

[OVERKILL]

The simplest route is to just buy an access point that will do bridging and plug it into a cheap switch. However, Netgear does make a product that's marketed to do exactly what you are looking for (I chose Netgear based on your current equipment):

https://netgear.com/home/products/networking/wifi-range-extenders/WN2500RP.aspx

 

[Donald]

If you cannot run CAT 6 cable to the entertainment area, then a WiFi mesh would be the best idea.

However are all your entertainment items WiFi? Or do some require a network 6 cable?.

 

[Rand]

powerline networking can be a very good answer.. the rock solid 200-300mbps is much better than wifi for streaming.

Of course at my house it tripped my new cafci breakers. Whenever my upstairs 450w ac unit would cycle.

I was using it to get ethernet to the garage for a WAP.

IF you have coax run to the living room you could also use a MoCA adapter (ethernet to coax)
there are 2 types one that works with satellite and one that works with cable. If you use the wrong kind it will be transmitting in the same frequency range as your tv signal. There are also several versions of MoCA the newest ones are much faster.

 

[bdcardinal]

Originally Posted by OVERKILL
The simplest route is to just buy an access point that will do bridging and plug it into a cheap switch. However, Netgear does make a product that's marketed to do exactly what you are looking for (I chose Netgear based on your current equipment):

https://netgear.com/home/products/networking/wifi-range-extenders/WN2500RP.aspx


So as somewhat of a closure to this, I ended up buying this: https://www.netgear.com/home/products/networking/wifi-range-extenders/EX8000.aspx

We had a Ring Doorbell Pro and 2 Floodlight Cams installed and the floodlight cams are having a weak wifi signal. I plan on moving my modem and router to their original location which is physiclaly closer to the floodlights with less "house" in the way and am putting the extender with ethernet ports where the modem and router are now. The spot where the modem originally is has less cable splits and at least previously had a much stronger signal through the CATV cable.