help needed to extend my wifi so TC can be accessed..

Is there anything I can easily do to make my TPlink router behave like it is my main router?

Not easily. You may have turned off the wireless on the Virgin modem/router, but it is still acting as a wired router for the network providing DHCP and NAT services. That is why the TC and TPLink access point both need to be in bridge mode to operate correctly on your network.

(Here, I am assuming that you have the TPLink in bridge mode since it is acting as a wireless access point, if you don't, then now would be a good time to change the setting on the TPLink to bridge mode).

If you want the TPLink router to act as the main router for the network you will need to do the following......

1) Configure the Virgin device to act only as a simple modem. That would mean setting it up in "modem mode"....which might also be called bridge mode.....which would include turning off both DHCP and NAT services. Whether or not this is even possible with the Virgin device is one question. How to do it is another question, and whether or not Virgin would support that type of the setup is yet another. Check with Virgin about that.

2) Assuming the Virgin device has been set up in modem mode or bridge mode, then the TPLink must be set up as a router to provide DHCP and NAT service for the network.

3) The TC should now be connected directly to the TPLink.....since the TPLink is the main router on the network.

Ive tried putting the virgin router in modem mode, but then the TC didn't receive any internet (although i didn't set the TPlink to be a router).

If you put the Virgin router in modem mode....and did not place the TP Link in router mode.....then you did not have any device acting as a router for the network.

You may really have a question for TPLink support here as far as your current setup is concerned. Since you posted on a support forum for Apple AirPorts, there will not likely be many users here who can provide technical information about a TPLink product.

IF....you had an Apple AirPort Express or AirPort Extreme instead of the TPLink device, then you would be able to do what you want. This assumes that the powerline adapters are working correctly, of course.

The WiFi extender would work fine in the current setup that you have now.....IF.....you use another Apple product like another AirPort Express, AirPort Extreme or Time Capsule. In other words, swap an AirPort for the TP Link on your current network.

The lesson to be learned here is that you always want to use products from the same manufacturer when you are trying to extend a network, since they will be compatible with each other.

Sorry, but I cannot comment on how well a WiFi extender from another manufacturer might work, since I have not tried them.

The question that you asked in your original post was......

Is there anything I can easily do to make my TPlink router behave like it is my main router?

And, I provided the answer......

If you want the TPLink router to act as the main router for the network you will need to do the following......

1) Configure the Virgin device to act only as a simple modem. That would mean setting it up in "modem mode"....which might also be called bridge mode.....which would include turning off both DHCP and NAT services. Whether or not this is even possible with the Virgin device is one question. How to do it is another question, and whether or not Virgin would support that type of the setup is yet another. Check with Virgin about that.

2) Assuming the Virgin device has been set up in modem mode or bridge mode, then the TPLink must be set up as a router to provide DHCP and NAT service for the network.

3) The TC should now be connected directly to the TPLink.....since the TPLink is the main router on the network.

Obviously, to do this, you will be turning your network upside down and having to reconfigure everything. Note especially that the TC must now connect to the TPLink router......since you asked how to set things up so the TP link would behave as the main router.

So, your network would look like this.......

Virgin device (configured as modem only) > TP Link router > TC in bridge mode connected to the TP link router.

I'm not sure if you want to do this.....and I cannot say whether it do exactly what you want.....I don't have a TPLink device here to test.

Thanks.

Now.....if you want to leave the Virgin device set up exactly the same as it is now.....and....the TC set up exactly the way it is now......and substitute an Apple AirPort in place of the TPLink......we can tell you how to do exactly what you want.

Good luck.

Perhaps the TP Link support folks can help you do what you want with the TPLink device. As I said previously, you really have a question for TPLink here.....not Apple.

If you have a specific question about the Time Capsule, or another Apple router......we can likely help.

Your setup should work.. as it stands.. but the TP-Link should be in WAP mode or WAN Bypass.

Go back to your original picture.

Virgin modem working as router (although having it bridged and the TC as main router is also fine).

Then the TP-Link (what model is this exactly??)

Should be in bridge .. which in this case means router bridge not wireless bridge. Unfortunately the terms are easily confused.

The easiest way IMHO is to use WAN bypass.

In the TP-Link router set the IP to something on the same network as the existing devices.. better though if outside the DHCP range.

eg.. virgin router is 192.168.1.1 (I have no idea what it actually is.. so you will need to fill that in).

Lets say the TC gets an IP of 192.168.1.10 from it.. could be anything.. and it is better to set it so it doesn't change.

Give the TP-Link a different IP.. and here is where you can strike problems.. Lets give it an IP of 192.168.1.100 but tell me if it doesn't stick.. or refuses the IP.. I have tried this setup and had issues..

Anyway .. if you can set the IP correctly to something in the range.. then turn off the dhcp in the TP-Link.

Plug your EOP adapter.. LAN of the upstairs to LAN of the TP-Link.. (hence the name.. bypass the WAN).

This is successful for 90% of routers. TP-Link routers sometimes have preset IP addresses that are not allowed.. it is always assumed that the TP-Link is going to be the main router.. but you can work around it..

It is going to help loads to have an actual model number.

And I want IP addresses of virgin modem and the TC.. I also want you to set the TC to always get the same IP otherwise this is really unreliable.

You can use this method to setup the TC..

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5981989?answerId=25135547022#25135547022&ac_cid=tw123456#