Unable to access admin page of wifi extender router

[Deleted member 77424]

I currently have 2 routers.
Primary one is the main access point receiving wan internet from excitel. TP-Link AC2300.
Secondary one is the original router received from excitel. Tenda N301.

I configured the secondary router in wifi repeater mode, scanned the list of available wifi, selected the wifi network from my primary router, typed in password and then saved the config. N301 only supports 2.4ghz 300mbps.

The issue is, after setting it up as a repeater, I am unable to access the N301 admin page.
The default 192.168.1.1 leads to my AC2300. Even via direct LAN to N301, searching for wifi shows only one wifi network don't know if its the repeater or the main router.
The router doesn't even show up in the client list of my main router admin page. All wifi devices show up in client list of main router, but there is no way of knowing if its direct or repeater.

I even set the admin page for N301 as 192.168.2.1 before setting it as repeater, but that ip just times out after repeater mode is enabled.

Is this by design or am I missing something. All guides which I could find only show how to setup repeater mode, but not how to access the repeater itself. Only way to get back is to reset the repeater and do the config all again.

Any tips?
Note: Also looking for a cheap AC(750/preferably 1200) router, so that I can extend 5ghz wifi too. If anyone is selling, do PM me. Location- Delhi.

 

[Deleted member 77424]

Starting with the various modes



WISP


With WISP, router shows up as a client itself and the devices connected to it.

112 is N301
152 is the laptop connected via lan to N301

WDS Bridge

With WDS Bridge
It shows up as a client on main router but I am unable to access N301(2.1 or 1.112 via lan to it)


Universal repeater

What this does is makes the N301 invisible and mimics the main router AP names.
Basically making this a dumb unmanaged wireless switch which puts all devices in the primary router subnet. Just a relay point, does nothing on its own.
How do I know its working?
Connected to N301 via lan

Connected to the repeated wifi (don't know if its the main or repeater)

9C is the lan mac address of the laptop
C8 is the wireless mac address of the laptop

 

[Deleted member 77424]

TLDR
WISP allows repeater admin page access
Universal repeater and WDS Bridge do not.

 

[Adithya]

I even set the admin page for N301 as 192.168.2.1 before setting it as repeater, but that ip just times out after repeater mode is enabled.

Because you are accessing the wrong gateway. Check your gateway address, if it is 192.168.1.1, you cannot access 192.168.2.1. Change it to 192.168.2.1.

You will probably also have to manually request an IP from the connecting device because DHCP will also be disabled.

Goto network and sharing center, adapter settings> IPv4> Click choose the following the IP address and provide the values like

IP Address: 192.168.2.10 (anything except 192.168.2.1 or any reserved IPs.)
Subnet: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 192.168.2.1

And now you will be able to access 192.168.2.1.

If you are connecting from mobile, change wifi settings to connect static instead of dhcp and use the same as above.

 

[Smh]

Assign your repeater a static ip 192.168.1.100 (with mac binding) and turn on universal repeater mode.

You do not need DHCP on both routers creating double NAT

 

[Deleted member 77424]

@Adithya @Smh
Thank you for your tips!
I'll try them and see if they work.

 

[Deleted member 77424]

Ok, I finally got my jugadu wifi extender working. Here is what I did.

On main router(AC2300), I changed the channel on 2.4ghz wifi to channel 14. Used wifi analyzer app on my phone to scan nearby wifi channels to avoid interference. 5ghz unchanged as it is not supported by secondary router N301.

Reset the N301, logged in with default credentials, using lan cable.
1. Changed the login ip to something unused on my main router. I gave x.x.1.101. (I was making a mistake here, I was giving it x.x.1.2, while the DHCP on my main router was configured for ips between x.x.1.100 - x.x.1.200. Thats why I was unable to access it.)
2. Changed the router2 wifi settings. Gave its wifi name as mainwifiname2 and set its password. Made it channel 1.
3. Saved everything
4. Disabled DHCP. As soon as I disable DHCP on router2, admin page becomes inaccessible by lan, have to manually assign local and gateway ip to my ethernet adaptor to access it.

After all this is done, I connected a lan cable from main router and connected it to lan1 of router2 (wan didn't work)

Connecting to router2 wifi now has internet and is on the same local network as main router. I can also access router2 admin page from any wifi.
Funny enough, my OnePlus shows up as wired device on main router when connected to router2 wifi!
Connecting to lan2 port of router2 works fine. Get internet and same local network.

Basically, it is now a dumb switch with wifi.

Only disadvantage I can say is that there is no seamless roaming with this setup, have to manually change (or hope OS selects automatically) to better wifi.
No ping or loss issues so far. Only limitation is that its a basic 150mbit router with only 2.4ghz wifi. A good gigabit AC750 or AC1200 router will be perfect.

TLDR: Hardwired the router2 to use as wifi extender(but has a separate SSID unfortunately)

 

[Smh]

Tinker with wifi range of both routers for seamless transition. ( Decrease power so both routers wifi do not overlap)

 

[Smh]

@deezcnuts you made it super complicated

 

[Deleted member 77424]

@Smh 5m cat5e cable just enough to reach other room while placing along the edges of the room. Two different ssids will be manageable.

I could rename router2 WiFi to be same as main router(but with different channel) to allow 'seamless' roaming but that caused problems earlier. I am happy with 2 different ssids to I know which one I am connecting to.