How to bridge Netgear X6 and R7000

[SnowyMZ]

I have a Netgear Nighthawk X6 R8000 router that I would like to bridge with a Netgear R7000 to expand to and increase speed on my deck in the backyard. I want to use the X6 as the router and the R7000 as the bridge. I am confused on exactly how to do this.

The X6 is on one side of the house and the R7000 will be on the other side, much closer to the deck outside. I will also attach a Roku 3 to the R7000 by ethernet.

So here are my questions:

Is this even doable?

Will bridging with the R7000 increase speed out in my backyard? I have Comcast Extreme 105 service and in most of the house I get around 128Mbps down and 25Mbps up, but out on the deck I get around 55 down and 12 up. I know this is at least partially the fault of the Intel 7260AC wireless card in my laptop, because with my son's Mac it gets closer to 100Mbps down out on the deck.

How do I go about bridging the R7000? Do I unplug the X6 and connect the R7000 to the modem and set it up as a bridge as per Netgear's instructions and then unplug the R7000 and reconnect the X6? Then do I just plug in the R7000 where I want to put it and the X6 will see it? Netgear has instructions on how to bridge, but it doesn't say how to actually connect the router that is acting as the bridge to configure it.

I would appreciate any help on how to go about this.

One last thing. If it is better to bridge 2 R7000's I can return the X6, but I really like the performance I'm getting in most of the house so I would prefer to keep it.

 

[bobsilver]

I have a Netgear Nighthawk X6 R8000 router that I would like to bridge with a Netgear R7000 to expand to and increase speed on my deck in the backyard. I want to use the X6 as the router and the R7000 as the bridge. I am confused on exactly how to do this.

The X6 is on one side of the house and the R7000 will be on the other side, much closer to the deck outside. I will also attach a Roku 3 to the R7000 by ethernet.

So here are my questions:

Is this even doable?

Will bridging with the R7000 increase speed out in my backyard? I have Comcast Extreme 105 service and in most of the house I get around 128Mbps down and 25Mbps up, but out on the deck I get around 55 down and 12 up. I know this is at least partially the fault of the Intel 7260AC wireless card in my laptop, because with my son's Mac it gets closer to 100Mbps down out on the deck.

How do I go about bridging the R7000? Do I unplug the X6 and connect the R7000 to the modem and set it up as a bridge as per Netgear's instructions and then unplug the R7000 and reconnect the X6? Then do I just plug in the R7000 where I want to put it and the X6 will see it? Netgear has instructions on how to bridge, but it doesn't say how to actually connect the router that is acting as the bridge to configure it.

I would appreciate any help on how to go about this.

One last thing. If it is better to bridge 2 R7000's I can return the X6, but I really like the performance I'm getting in most of the house so I would prefer to keep it.

OK let me try and answer your questions here.

First off you can do what you are asking. But let me clarify a few things for you.

Lets start with the R7000 versus R8000 question. The primary difference is that the R8000 has dual 5ghz radios and one 2.4 radio. The R7000 has one of each. (this is referring to broadcast bands. Because in fact each band actually has 3 radios per band in these routers. But enough on that)

The end result is that the second 5ghz band in the R8000 will only be effective within the reach of the R8000 itself. Adding a bridge or AP won't help that. Now the benefit of the dual 5ghz bands in essence is to double available bandwidth. This is valuable if you have many users simultaneously using this RF space. If you only have 1 or 2 users at a time you won't get much value from it. If you have 5 simultaneous users then yes.

Now lets talk about bridging and range extension.

The preferred method of extending range is to use 1 router as a router and another device as an access point (AP). To make this work you would need to have a hard wire cat 5 cable connecting the router to the AP. This would allow you to extend your wifi range as well as provide you wired Ethernet connections at the AP.

A bridge is a device that receives the wireless signal and then converts it to a wired Ethernet connection. This is valuable for devices that are not wifi enabled.

The other function is a Repeater. This is like a bridge except that it can rebroadcast your wifi signal as well as give you bridge functions. The R7000/R8000 can do all the above.

The limits of the Bridge and Repeater are these. It must be within range of your router wifi signal to function. Putting it at the far end of your house where you have low signal strength isn't good. It needs to be placed where it gets a strong wifi signal and then will function best. This may be what you are experiencing now.

To add repeater/bridge or AP functions use of a second router was the way to go until recently. If you already owned the secondary router and were upgrading that that made sense. If you are buying 2 new devices that this is the expensive approach. Netgear makes a number of Repeater/Bridge/AP devices that will do what you want at less cost. I would suggest you look at either the EX6100 or EX6200. The EX6200 looks like a router with 4 gigabit ports and can serve as your secondary device. If you already own the R7000 you can add one of those. If you want the added bandwidth of the R8000 then keep what you have now.

Now to configuration. If you can't use an AP (ethernet connection required) then you want to use the second device in repeater mode. This will connect your 2 devices via wifi. Usually this requires having a separate SSID for the repeater. You can make them the same but your client devices may have an issue. You will need to try it and see. This will give you the bridge connection you want plus extend your range.

Another option for an AP use if you can't get a wire to the AP is use of Powerline. These are devices that use your home power lines to transmit Ethernet. Configured as an AP you just use the powerline devices in place of wire. Netgear just introduced 1gigabit powerline devices model PL1200. If you have reasonably clean AC power this will work well.

In summary you really want to get things set up as an AP. This will be the best way to go for the best performance and most reliable function.

Good luck.

Bob Silver
Netgear Networking Consultant