I have an EE (UK) Smart Hub that’s plugged in to the phone line in a cupboard under the stairs. In the same space it’s then connected to an unmanaged switch with ethernet cables that run to sockets in every room of the house.
The wifi across the whole place is pretty awful…
I bought a TP Link AX10 in the hope that I could extend the wifi, but then I found out just how dumb the Smart Hub is!
I want to keep the house under the same SSID because currently there is a weak signal everywhere and I think any devices would stay attached to the hub then need manually connecting to the other source when moving around.
As far as I can see my options are…
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Disconnect one of the ethernet cables from the switch, connect it to the WAN on the hub, then plug in the router to the corresponding external room port. This would free the signal from being under the stairs and hopefully improve things across the board.
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Buy another extender /router that’s also easymesh compatible, turn off the wifi on the smart hub and just use the two new bits one upstairs, one downstairs with a new mesh network.
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Buy another product from TP Link’s Onemesh range (however I like the idea of using my pre wired rooms to help with the backhaul if possible).
I’m going crazy with the limitations of the EE hardware, so any advice would be greatly appreciated! What’s my best choice or am I missing something else obvious that I can do with my setup?
What IO would do is configure the AX10 as an AP and assign the same SSID and password as the EE hub. Place it in the room where your WIFI is week and connect it to the Ethernet port there. If you need more coverage, purchase another AX10 and repeat the same steps. Putting the router into AP mode is easy and you can find the directions here:
https://www.tp-link.com/us/user-guides/archer-ax10&ax1500_v1/chapter-4-set-up-internet-connection#ug-sub-title-4