Find a second high-speed router designed for specific devices and connect it to one PC.
Find a second high-speed router designed for specific devices and connect it to one PC.
You’re allowed to use the Asus router as an access point, but not as a primary AP. This means you’ll have two separate networks, preventing devices on each from communicating directly. Anything connected to the Asus router will go through double NAT, which can be problematic for certain tasks.
So, since there weren't any clear answers and hardly any explanation regarding my actual questions, I decided to just buy the parts and test it out myself. It turns out it's incredibly simple. So for anyone reading this and looking to get a similar setup working but still has some questions about how to do it (like I did), here you go. First, how to set it up. Second, some possible issues. Third, some maybe unecessary explanation for my setup and answering a couple questions. Fourth, conclusion. A quick little disclaimer; I don't run things like home servers. No NAS accessible from the outside, no file server, no home hosted cloud, nothing. All I do is use the internet, play VR wirelessly, store things on a USB connected SSD which is connected to my new router now (and I am 100% fine with it not being accessible from outside my local network), and host game servers for friends. If you run any kind of servers at home this probably isn't for you, and might not work for you either. But I have a feeling you already have a good network setup as is anyway. 1: How to set it up Setting it up is as simple as pulling a cable from your main ISP router to your new router's WAN port. This will make it so your PC is on a different LAN network. But since it's your own router you can configure it entirely to your likings. As far as your router lets you of course. Simply set up your router in a normal way, set up the WiFi network(s) and passwords and connect your PC to your new router. Whether that's done with or without a switch in between the router and your PC doesn't matter. Once that's set up, as long as your ISP router has internet, your new router will get it from your ISP router and pass it through to any device connected to it. And if you didn't know you wouldn't even realise it. Unless, that is, you have a WiFi printer on the LAN of your ISP router. Because that's a different LAN you can't connect your PC to that printer anymore as your new router creates a new LAN. But if you don't have a WiFi printer and have a USB one or just no printer at all, you'll most likely not run into any issues. As far as port forwarding is concerned, it's also super simple. Best solution is to go into your ISP router and give your new router a static IP address so that'll always stay the same. Might need to restart your new router just in case. I don't know why but mine didn't take it until I did. Then, simply set up a port forwarding rule like you're used to but instead of setting the destination IP to that of your PC, set it to that of your new router. Then, in your new router, simply set up port forwarding like normal. Just route the chosen port(s) to your PC's IP address. As long as you don't make a typo like I first did, it should work like it always has. If you, like me, got a router that supports faster speeds than your ISP router supports, this will allow you to get your PC (if it supports it as well of course) to connect to your devices with the supported speeds. If your router, like mine, only has one 2.5G port, make sure you check whether it can be used only as a WAN port or also as a LAN and have another port act as the WAN port. My router ended up having 2 WAN ports which could both be used as LAN ports as well if it's not used as a WAN port. Mine has a 1G and a 2.5G WAN/LAN port. So I set the 1G up as the WAN port and the 2.5G as a LAN port, connected a 2.5G switch to that 2.5G port so everything can make full use of that bandwith. For what supports it so far. If you get a router with full 2.5G or even full 10G ports though? Lucky you lol. 2: Possible issues Possible issues you might run into is WiFi devices on the other network. If you want to also use your new router for your own WiFi network for your phone and such, make sure ALL of your necessary devices are on it if they need to communicate with each other locally. I'm talking about things like WiFi printers (again). They won't really work if each device is on a different network. Since your PC would be on a different LAN (if you set it up the way I described here) than your printer or something of the sort would be, they can't communicate. If you have something like smart bulbs then it shouldn't matter. As most can be controlled from pretty much anywhere in the world where you have an internet connection. 3: (un)necessary explanation and answers The reason I set it up this way is so I can have all my devices, both wired and wireless, make use of the available 2.5G speed. Which some devices have already benefited from. But some also haven't. But hey, it's a little bit of futureproofing right? Could I have replaced my ISP router? Technically yes. However that would require running another a second cable upstairs since I need the router in my room for the 6GHz band. Since the 6GHz band is even worse at penetrating walls than the 5GHz hand, it needs to be in my room where I also use my VR for that thing to have the most stable connection. If it was easy to run a cable downstairs so the other people in the house could be on the same network then I would. But it's not. So I won't. So I'll be the one on a different LAN. Which is only a problem for my WiFi printer. That's all. Someone mentioned I could set that new router up as an AP (access point) which would not make it a seperate network. This would be handy for something like a WiFi printer, but you wouldn't be able to make use of the 2.5G speeds if your ISP router doesn't support it. That's because an AP still sends its data through the main router first before it arrives to the destination. This would obviously defeat the whole 2.5G port for me as my ISP router only supports 1G. And my ISP doesn't offer anything else. Is this a first world problem? Yes. Do I still want the faster speeds? Also yes. Another question, which I hadn't considered, was an add-in WiFi card for my PC. This won't work for me since I don't have the space available anymore in my PC. Only available slot left is blocked by my GPU so it wouldn't fit. I don't know if a WiFi add-in card is a possible solution since I can't test that, but might be worth considering if all you want is highspeed WiFi. 4: Conclusion Setting it up was pretty simple in the end. Only annoyance was my own typo in the port forwarding rule but that was quickly spotted. I do have the issue of not being able to communicate to the WiFi printer from my PC, but since I can just as easily print form my phone it doens't really bother me. For the rest I have 0 issues so far. And I can now enjoy faster speeds AND my wireless VR now works a whole lot better too. Honestly am starting to think something else in my PC is now struggling to keep up sometimes with the data being sent back and forth. PS: I know this is a weird setup, I'm very well aware, but I often have weird setups. They make sense to me because I don't think in a "conventional" way (but who really does anyway). Everyone's setup and or workflow is different and what might work for you might not work for another. Sometimes things aren't immediately clear and sometimes you can't find the answers on your own so easily either because you might have simply typed the question a little wrong. Happened to me too when doing my research for this. I would have appreciated more explanation in the replies and more direct answers to my questions. I didn't ask "how would you do it" I asked "how could I do this". But that seems to be a common theme here... Same with reading the whole post if you ask me. All in all though it worked out well and ended up being pretty simple. If this helps you set up your weird setup, I'm glad. It's a bit of a long read, but I find it interesting and maybe someone else does as well. PS #2: if you know how to title this post better, let me know. I'm still not sure lol.