I can't believe how difficult it's been to find a reasonably priced wireless access point with ~4 ethernet ports. Can someone help please. Heres my requirements : Connect to existing wireless network, and provide an outlet for ethernet ports. Ideally with 3+ Ethernet ports for a TV, PS4, etc - all of which require a wired connection. Currently have 60 Mbit Fibre Internet My Router is an ASUS Nighthawk R7000 Router (Wireless AC1300 2.4Ghz + 5Ghz) Could only seem to find options costing >£100 pounds which is above my budget. Surely im missing something?! In essence its only a 'switch' that receives a wireless signal instead of a wired connection +Rep for help. Thanks in advance! Allan
Almost any consumer router* (and definitely any router* that can run DDWRT or similar) can be operated in 'AP mode' as a combination of a wireless access point and a switch. It will be easier to recommend something if we know what you want do with this device, and your current network setup. * A home 'router' is actually three different devices in a single box: - A Router: that checks packet destinations and routes them to the correct network. For a home router this boils down to two destinations: 'something in the house' or 'the internet'. - A Switch: that routes packets based on their destination MAC address betwen network device ports. A switch doesn't care about IPs, just the hardware that is literally pluged into it - A Wireless Access Point (WAP/AP): Think of it as a switch for wirless devices. It also has to handle things like authentication & encryption, and a bunch of stuff to do with how radios operate in a noise environment.
@Edzieba I've updated the original post with some clearer information. Thankyou for raising that - in hindsight as I hadn't been clear. Im hoping for an out-the-box solution, rather than setting it up with DDWRT (even though I know it's great)
Thanks lancer, thats looking much better. Id be interested in exploring what other bridges there are. There doesn't seem to be many on scan or ebuyer. I've only managed to find this one : https://www.scan.co.uk/products/net...-10-100-lan-to-connect-devices-to-the-network Can any find any more? I cant believe how little choice there is...?!
It's a case of trying to find range extenders with multiple ethernet ports and then checking to see if they can act as a bridge. There's a couple of Netgear AC extenders which will do what you want like this one which should match up well with your Netgear router.
