Extending WiFi for Nexus 7 and ChromeCast

[2120SoMichiganAve]

I have a rather large rental home - one end of house has the modem & wireless router(Netgear) via Comcast. I also utilize an extender which is working nicely - Additionally I have run an ethernet cable to the other side of the house, just as a wifi backup and to have something reliable (it's 120 ft and the signal may degrade a bit, but still get very solid speed tests. What I would like to do, is run the ethernet cable into a similar netgear wireless router and create another wifi access point on the other side of the house. This would enhance signal strength on that side of the house, as we're using two smart TVs, the N7(2012 ) and Chromecast. So in summary, I've got 120ft cable running in the basement from the Netgear router to the other side of the house and want to establish another wifi signal or repeat it. Clearly not skilled at this, but Comcast is abysmal and the forum seems to be a lot smarter ! I suppose this is novice stuff, but would really appreciate any ideas, guidance or assistance. I'm retired and have really started to love tech, the gadgets / TWIT TV, etc. but really not too adept at working out a basic problem like this. It's gonna kill me in the end.... Anyway, Best Regards

 

[zkSharks]

You can buy network extenders that act as wireless access points, or you can accomplish this with a standard router. To do so with a standard router:

• Assign the new router (the one you want at the end of that 120-foot cable) an IP address within the IP address range of the default [Netgear] router.
• Disable DHCP on the new router.
• Set the new router's SSID and security to be identical to that of the Netgear router.
• Set the new router's channel settings so they don't conflict with that of the Netgear router.

What you're doing here is setting the new router to be a client device of the Netgear one, and then disabling the element of the router's firmware that tells it to create its own network. This way, since it doesn't assign its own IP addresses, it just acts more or less as a "passthrough" of the Netgear router's network. It's one network through two wireless access points, which devices should switch between automatically depending on which signal is stronger. There's an abundance of information and step-by-step guides online for turning standard routers into access points, so I won't go into a whole lot of detail here.

Also, if you don't have the Chromecast plugged into the short HDMI extender cable that came with it, I would change that. The extender also acts as a WiFi antenna, augmenting the Chromecast's network connection abilities.

 

[2120SoMichiganAve]

Just wanted to say thank you - we deeply appreciate your time,expertise and patience. best regards