Nobody puts the Netgear X4S R7800 in the closest

[wfarid]

So I sorta did. I put my netgear router in my media console drawer (solid wood, about 10mm thick). Obviously my signal did take a hit, but I live in a single story apartment so it's not that bad. I did want to see if I could get an antenna with a base that could connect to the router. I plan to place it behind a large picture frame on my media console. Is there a particular antenna you would recommend? Anything I should avoid?

 

[e38BimmerFN]

Avoid putting the router in a closet and near other electronic equipment.
Might do a search to see if any mfr are still making add-on antenna units...

 

[wfarid]

just to add, I have an Netgear Nighthawk EX7000 Extender. It's sitting pretty close to my router (there is a concrete wall and a door between the two but not more than 18 feet in a direct line (ignore all obstructions) . I'm currently using it just as a bridge for my wired devices (not extending or repeating my wifi). I think it may be a bit too close to the router to be really beneficial, or do you think it would help improve the signal? Would it help more than an antenna?

 

[e38BimmerFN]

Having concrete in the way can be problematic. You would need to do some testing to see where a good placement would be for the EX unit to see if it will be of some benefit. I had my EX7700 online with my R7800 however it was at 40 feet, wooden dry walls. no issues. Good solid system with these two together. Concrete will put the EX close. Something you'll have to check for good placement.

 

[Klueless]

I put my Netgear router in my media console drawer

Married, eh? : -)

there is a concrete wall and a door between the two

So what's really going on here?

Despite being buried it sounds like the router is doing fairly well? Except for all the stuff on the other side of the wall?

You sound like you know what you're doing but you don't tell us a lot, "too close to the router to be beneficial"? Are you thinking the two boxes are competing with each other?

What are your Internet subscription speeds?

You may have already but, if not, grab your very best laptop, load one of those free WiFi analyzers onto it, look at signal levels and run speed tests from various vantage points around the house.

Start close, connect to the main router with a wire, speedtest, then same laptop over 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. Then move the laptop around testing 2.4 and 5.

When you get to the other side of the wall try a couple more wired connections (to the extender) as well as wireless.

What are we learning? Does the WiFi analyzer show any channel conflicts with your neighbors? Does the data support your hypothesis? Is the signal to your extender too weak? Or, too strong (as you implied when you said the boxes were too close)? What speeds are you getting?

Is your bridge connecting to your router over both bands or have you force fitted it to one band? Which band?

Here's a couple wild butt guesses;

• First my assumptions based on your OP;
  • Stuff on the router side of the wall is running ok?
  • Stuff on the extender side of the wall is running crappy?
• WAGs:
  • Double check for channel conflicts (especially over 2.4 GHz.) with neighbors
  • Because you are using the EX7000 as a bridge you don't have to worry about WiFi ranges overlapping, in fact the stronger the better. What did your tests show as best for the room on the other side of the wall? 2.4 or 5? Connect your bridge on that one. (Concrete wall? Probably 2.4 GHz. Don't know your Internet speeds but 2.4 will probably limit you to about 75 Mbps.)

If you're still thinking signal level / antennae you can test that by moving the router out of the cabinet and running your tests again. (Too bad you already bought such a nice router, some wives will tolerate the looks of an Asus Blue Cave : -)

 

[wfarid]

I am married and yes my wife hated the look of the router. In our previous apartment there was a large internet cabinet so it worked out just fine. My internet speed is 30mbps. My wifi reception around the apartment is actually quite good. The bridge is connected on both bands, but I think it's just using the 5ghz band mostly. As far as interference with neighbors, doesnt really exist as I'm in a new building an not a lot of people have moved in. I'll do some more tests and report back.

I'm in a crappy situation where I'm double nat'd. My ISP's router has DHCP turned on and they purposely won't turn it off unless I upgrade my service. My fiber source is in a super skinny cabinet (my X4s can't fit inside it), but all the apartments ethernets ports are wired there. I tried to use the EX7000 as an extender in the furthest room but the connection has to go through the ISP router and it ends up disconnected to my home network/NAS. Any suggestions here?

 

[e38BimmerFN]

Do you have access to the ISP router? if so, does it have a DMZ? If it does, you can use the DMZ on the ISP router to help with Double NAT'g.

Any chance you can disable the wifi on the R7800 and wire connect the EX7700 up someplace centrally in the home? The EX can work as a wired AP.

I am married and yes my wife hated the look of the router. In our previous apartment there was a large internet cabinet so it worked out just fine. My internet speed is 30mbps. My wifi reception around the apartment is actually quite good. The bridge is connected on both bands, but I think it's just using the 5ghz band mostly. As far as interference with neighbors, doesnt really exist as I'm in a new building an not a lot of people have moved in. I'll do some more tests and report back.

I'm in a crappy situation where I'm double nat'd. My ISP's router has DHCP turned on and they purposely won't turn it off unless I upgrade my service. My fiber source is in a super skinny cabinet (my X4s can't fit inside it), but all the apartments ethernets ports are wired there. I tried to use the EX7000 as an extender in the furthest room but the connection has to go through the ISP router and it ends up disconnected to my home network/NAS. Any suggestions here?

 

[Klueless]

I'm in a crappy situation where I'm double nat'd.

Technically double NAT is overhead and one more thing that could go wrong. Realistically it's no big deal!

does it have a DMZ?

Could work but, again, no big deal.

The bridge is connected on both bands, but I think it's just using the 5ghz band mostly.

Short of running a few of the tests we talked about my wild butt guess is the extender connects on a marginal 5 GHz and "sticks" rather than rolling over to 2.4 GHz? Why not configure the extender to use 2.4 GHz as the backhaul and leave 5 GHz available for an esoteric client or two in that area?

I tried to use the EX7000 as an extender in the furthest room but the connection has to go through the ISP router and it ends up disconnected to my home network/NAS

I'm confused as hell. So the ISP router connects to the R7800 but the extender connects to the ISP router? Why? It's be so much simpler if you could disable WiFi on the ISP router and connect the extender to the 2.4 GHz radio on the R7800. Now I understand why @e38BimmerFN suggested trying a DMZ.

Good luck : -)

 

[Razor512]

With these routers, it is best to avoid running coax for the antenna. The attenuation you get from the wire, will be more than the attenuation you get from a little wood.

If the router is an enclosed cabinet, do not expect it to last too long anyway, thus if needed you can look at replacement routers that you will like the looks of more anyway.

If using an extender, connect both using Ethernet instead of wireless. If dealing with a wall that significantly attenuates the signal, then it should be simple to have the extender on the other side, and then you simple run a few feet of Ethernet cable around to the other side of the wall. You will get a far better experience than dealing with the wireless backhaul, especially if you use a NAS or even some or eSATA USB storage connected to the router.



If you are using a router from the ISP, then it should either be in a bridge mode, or if you have no choice but to do a double NAT, then the R7800 connects to the ISP router, and the extender connects to the R7800. If set up right, the extender is effectively transparent to the network.


PS, if using a service like verizon fios, you can run an Ethernet cable directly to the ONT and avoid using their router completely (I did that with my fios service, and it worked better than with the stock crappy fios router G1100).

 

[e38BimmerFN]

"Klueless, post: 460269, member: 45190"]Technically double NAT is overhead and one more thing that could go wrong. Realistically it's no big deal!
No, Double NAT means two routers on the same line and can cause port address access problems with the 2nd router and clients behind it.

Could work but, again, no big deal.
DMZ will work if the ISP modem has a built in router and if you want to put another router behind it.

Short of running a few of the tests we talked about my wild butt guess is the extender connects on a marginal 5 GHz and "sticks" rather than rolling over to 2.4 GHz? Why not configure the extender to use 2.4 GHz as the backhaul and leave 5 GHz available for an esoteric client or two in that area?

I'm confused as hell. So the ISP router connects to the R7800 but the extender connects to the ISP router? Why? It's be so much simpler if you could disable WiFi on the ISP router and connect the extender to the 2.4 GHz radio on the R7800. Now I understand why @e38BimmerFN suggested trying a DMZ.

No, need to disable ALL wireless on the ISP modem and connect the Extender to the R7800 that should be placed in the DMZ of the ISP modem if it can't be fully bridged.

 

[Klueless]

disable ALL wireless on the ISP modem and connect the Extender to the R7800 that should be placed in the DMZ of the ISP modem if it can't be fully bridged

I agree but, myself, I ain't that bright. I would simply remove all devices from the ISP modem/router.

 

[e38BimmerFN]

DMZ would still need to be used on the modem for the R7800.

 

[Klueless]

DMZ would still need to be used on the modem for the R7800.

Not sure why? I used to have an ISP provided modem/router and had an Asus N66U attached to it. The ISP would not replace it with a modem only nor would they bridge their modem/router. The ISP modem/router had DHCP and NAT. Its address space was something like 192.168.255.X

The Asus also had DHCP, NAT, etc. Its address space was 192.168.1.X

I disabled WiFi on the ISP modem/router and had no wired devices (except for the Asus router) on it.

Asus had WiFi enabled and all my wired devices (ten of them). All the Asus devices were able to talk to each other (because they were on the same subnet) and all the Asus devices were able to communicate with the Internet (NAT).

(If I had left stuff on the ISP subnet then I would have used a DMZ and/or port forward to communicate between the two subnets.)

I'm not understanding something?

 

[e38BimmerFN]

Double NAT. Not good for some applications, games and devices.

 

[Klueless]

Double NAT. Not good for some applications, games and devices.

True. Not a problem for many to most of us but, nonetheless, true statement.

 

[e38BimmerFN]

Maybe for some, however working in other NG forums, it's a big issue for others. Why I always recommend getting a modem with out a built in router if possible if users are going to connect a external router. Less hassle.

 

[Klueless]

... always recommend getting a modem with out a built in router if possible if users are going to connect a external router. Less hassle

Absolutely agree.

Maybe for some, however working in other NG forums, it's a big issue for others

I understand. I've had the opposite experience but, since my sample size is only three I do need to yield to your experiences : -)

 

[e38BimmerFN]

Users can do what they like. Not saying people should do what I say, all my experiences are for users to try. If users are not experiencing issues then theres nothing to changes. For those that do have problems, then the suggestions are recommended to try.