What WiFi extender is compatible with the MI424WR router?
davef
Enthusiast - Level 2

My house is larger than the MI424WR router can service with wireless connectivity and I'm looking at adding a wifi extender, but want to be sure it will work with the Actiontec MI424WR router I have with FIOS. I'm thinking of the Linksys RE1000. Anybody know if that (or any other extender) would be compatible?

Thanks.

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Re: What WiFi extender is compatible with the MI424WR router?
smith6612
Community Leader
Community Leader

Just about any range extender should be compatible with the ActionTec router you have. For FiOS I would strongly recommend getting an access point rather than a range extender, mainly due ot the fact that Range Extenders work on the basis of taking the exact signal it is receiving, and repeating it. By design too, like most repeaters what you get from the repeater is half of what the repeater is getting. This is because the repeater uses half of it's radio bandwidth to deliver the repeated signal, and the other half to send/receive to the Access point it is repeating.

As FiOS is a higher speed connection and we know how people love to mention slow Wireless around here, I would recommend using another FiOS router, wired to your main router using Coaxial cable OR Ethernet to run as your "repeater." Any old FiOS router can be used and set up as an Access Point, and the benefit too is you get four additional Ethernet ports. If you have another one sitting around, then put it to use. Otherwise I would suggest picking up an old FiOS router (Westell or ActionTec will do) from eBay and using that.

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Re: What WiFi extender is compatible with the MI424WR router?
davef
Enthusiast - Level 2

Thanks for your advice, Smith6612. After I posted, I continued doing research and learned about the reduced bandwidth issue using an extender. But I didn't know about the possibility of using another FIOS router as an access point. The house does have coax to every room, so I just need to figure out a connection path from where my MI424WR is currently located to where I would put the other FIOS router.

One question: the MI424WR only has one coax port as input. So, how does one connect another FIOS router wired to my main router? Would I use a coax splitter?

Thanks again.

BTW, would Verizon sanction this approach or otherwise have heartburn with a second router? It almost sounds like I'm adding a second" line without paying.

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Re: What WiFi extender is compatible with the MI424WR router?
gs0b
Community Leader
Community Leader

You're not adding a "second line," you're just extending your LAN.

The key point to understand is that the primary router provides LAN access on three different media; wired Ethernet, WiFi and over the coax (using a system called MoCA).  Normally, the only coax clients on the LAN are set-top boxes.   However, the coax LAN is available to anything that plugs into coax.  Thus, all you need is a device that converts the coax LAN to something more useful, like Ethernet or WiFi.  This is called a "bridge," and is a different function than a router.

There are several devices that can be used to bridge coax MoCA to Ethernet and/or Wifi.  Actiontec routers can be run in bridge mode, and are suggested by many folks on these boards.

Here's a link that explains how to do it:

https://secure.dslreports.com/faq/15984

Have Fun.

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