Extend airport time capsule with Netgear WNR1000v2

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Extend airport time capsule with Netgear WNR1000v2

We have Comcast broadband internet in our home, a Mac desktop computer, and a few Macbook pros. When internet was originally installed into our house, our ISP put the modem/cable jack on the second floor in the front of the house. It worked when we simply plugged in our computer with ethernet, but hasn't made for great wireless coverage. In the back of the house on both floors - it really only hits the computer room and a couple other rooms towards the front.

Someone suggested that we purchase a more powerful Airport Extreme router, and that it might cover the whole house. It doesn't. Now, we have a brand new Airport Timecapsule and an older Netgear WNR1000v2. I've heard that you can repurpose an old router to serve as a repeater/extender (I confess I don't really know the difference), and was wondering if there were idiot proof instructions on how to do this.

I tried to configure the Netgear router using the Airport utility, but was given a message that the airport utility had problems reading the Netgear router,

I tried following lifehacker's instructions but found that DD-WRT didn't have a file available for the Netgear WNR1000 v2.

Are we bound to having comcast come over and re-wire our house to place the modem on the first floor, or is there an easy way to configure our old Netgear router to catch the wireless and broadcast it to other parts of the house.

Thank you very much in advance for your help.

Posted on Jun 27, 2013 7:41 AM

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Answer 1

Jun 27, 2013 8:13 AM in response to mrmewe

Hi,

I have a Netgear WNR2000 but it's the same basic configuration.

Firstly you cannot extend the Netgear with an Airport Extreme with WDS, Apple's WDS only works with other Airports. However you can do the following:

1) Disable Netgear WiFi - see the manual:

http://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/WNR1000V2/WNR1000v2_UM_19NOV2009.pdf

See Figure 1-11

2) Connect an Airport via an Ethernet cable to the NG router, configure it to run as "Create a Wirless Network" and in the Internet tab set Connect using: Ethernet and Connection sharing: Off(Bridge Mode)

3) The extend to another AP if required via WDS, Wirless mode: Extend a wireless network, Internet Tab: Connect using: Wireless Network and Connection sharing: Off(Bridge Mode)

Regards,

Shawn

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Answer 2

mrmewe Author

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Jun 27, 2013 8:16 AM in response to Shawn Grinter 2

Hi Shawn,

Thanks for your message! I'd like to keep the Airport Extreme as the base station and use the Netgear as the extension/repeater. Using these instructions, would they have to stay plugged in all the time, or could the Netgear wirelessly repeat?

Max

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Answer 3

Jun 27, 2013 8:33 AM in response to mrmewe

Max,

I'm pretty sure the second NG reouter can't be used in this way....

The NG is the modem so it's the thing that connect to the internet, the APs are just wireless link devices (think invisible cables).

As APs can't extend the NG via WiFi you have to use an ethernet cable to connect the two.

You could have both WiFis working but you'd end up with two networks. Now I'm not sure what would happen if they have the same name - never tried that myself.

I decided to not use the NG WiFi to simplify my setup so I only have one WiFi vendor. I have 4 ports on my NG, 3 have computers wired in as they are nice and close and the 4th is for an Airport Extreme (The "master" - which has a printer attached) which then have 4 other Aiports that support a SAN, Didgibox and a range extenders.

Regards,

Shawn

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Answer 4

mrmewe Author

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Jun 27, 2013 8:30 AM in response to Shawn Grinter 2

Hey Shawn,

Thanks again for your help. My NG is actually our old wireless router that comcast gave us. Unfortunately our modem is in a bad part of the house for wireless coverage. We were told to replace it with an AP which didn't end up extending our range. Wanted to try and see if there was a way to configure the NG router to create another network off of our AP... just can't figure out how to configure it to do so.

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Answer 5

Jun 27, 2013 8:39 AM in response to mrmewe

Ah I see...

Short answer not sure, but you could try and connect the APs ethernet port to the NG WAN port, the problem as I see it would be how you configure the NG to have a valid internal IP address. I think by default it would try to be the DHCP server which would be a problem as you already have one. You may need to connect directy to the second NG to turn DHCP server off - not even sure if that is possible as I've never tried it before!

Regards,

Shawn

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Answer 6

mrmewe Author

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Jun 27, 2013 8:40 AM in response to Shawn Grinter 2

Fair enough! I'll try that, but I'm guessing that we'll have to rewire our house...

Thanks so much for your help.

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Answer 7

Jun 27, 2013 9:09 AM in response to mrmewe

Or buy two Airports :-)

Regards,

Shawn

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