Determine if your mesh Wi-Fi uses a router or an access point.
Determine if your mesh Wi-Fi uses a router or an access point.
Hello everyone, I bought a TP-Link mesh Wi-Fi (E4 model if you prefer) to boost my router/modem coverage. The installation was straightforward thanks to the user-friendly app that came with the device. Now most home devices connect via the mesh network except for my desktop, which stays linked to the router through Ethernet. I explored the settings and found an option to choose between router and access point modes. Initially I set it as router mode, but the manual suggests using access point. What’s the distinction between the two? Which should I pick? Thanks in advance!
So if you already have a router, you want to run any hardware after that in access point (also known as bridged) mode. I feel like the term "double nat" isn't commonplace, so I'll explain a little more: NAT = Network address translation. This is a router job. It translates all the local ip addresses on your network (ex: 192.168.1.10) to a WAN IP (the number you get when you google "What's my IP?"). This makes it so only certain communication is sent out to the internet for other people to see. Double nating is when you have a router in front of another router. This means that anything that has a router in between it won't be able to communicate. So if you're trying to transfer files from a laptop on wifi to your desktop plugged into the first router, it most likely won't work.