Neighbors

KrisK91

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Nov 2, 2020
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Hello I am looking to get internet to my neighbors house. I live in a triplex and I live on the end house and they live in the middle house. I am trying to figure out the best and easiest way to get internet to their home. I was using a router as an extender but that only worked so much and wasn't performing well. Would buying better antennas help with the performance using it as a an extender? I currently have xfinity and have 300 mbps download speeds and would like to get basically get those speeds to their house.
The devices I have currently have are:
1. Xfinity XB7 Gateway
2. Linksys EA 7500 Max Stream AC1900 MU-Mimo Router
3. Tp-Link C7 AC1750 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit Router
4. Netgear EX6100 Wifi Range Extender
5. Netgear EX3700 Wifi Range Extender
6. A Network switch
I would like to use the TP-Link C7 as the router for the neighbors house.

Also would like some information on how to get all the routers connected to the XB7 gateway correctly so everything is on the same network?


Thank you!
 
Don't do it. It's almost certainly against the terms of service for your service, and you could be on the hook if the neighbors do anything sketchy over the connection.

If you can get service, there's no reason they can't also.
 
The first step is understanding the difference between a "router" and a "wifi access point". You can have as many WiFi access points on your network as you want, but you should only have one router. It's an unfortunate misnomer that people often refer to most/all WiFi devices as "routers" when in-fact a device's ability to act as a router is merely an optional feature and has nothing to do with WiFi.

I assume that the "Xfinity XB7 Gateway" is a combo Cablemodem / router / Wifi device? You won't need any other router on your network besides that. Take all of your other "routers" and disable their router functionality. How exactly to do that will vary depending on the device but usually it's just a matter of disabling the DHCP server on the device and setting a manual IP on the LAN connection. You will need to manually assign an IP that is within your existing subnet but outside of your DHCP range. You do NOT want more than one DHCP server (which is what assigns IP addresses to clients) on the same network or you will end up with devices that can't communicate with each other and/or IP address conflicts.

For example, let's say that your "Xfinity XB7 Gateway" has an IP address of 192.168.1.1, with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0. Your network would include all IP addresses between 192.168.1.1 and 192.168.1.254. You would have to check the DHCP settings and see how many of those IPs are within the DHCP range. Your DHCP range might be 192.168.1.2 - 192.168.1.200 for example. That would leave you with a chunk of IPs between 192.168.1.201 and 192.168.1.254 that are outside of the DHCP range but still within the subnet, and you could manually set devices to use those IP addresses if you want to. You would then go into your Linksys EA7500 and TP-Link C7, disable their internal DHCP servers, give one a manual LAN IP address of 192.168.1.201, and the other a manual LAN IP address of 192.168.1.202. They would not act as "routers" anymore, but simply WiFi access points. You can access them at those manually configured IP addresses if you need to make configuration changes.
 
The first step is understanding the difference between a "router" and a "wifi access point". You can have as many WiFi access points on your network as you want, but you should only have one router. It's an unfortunate misnomer that people often refer to most/all WiFi devices as "routers" when in-fact a device's ability to act as a router is merely an optional feature and has nothing to do with WiFi.

I assume that the "Xfinity XB7 Gateway" is a combo Cablemodem / router / Wifi device? You won't need any other router on your network besides that. Take all of your other "routers" and disable their router functionality. How exactly to do that will vary depending on the device but usually it's just a matter of disabling the DHCP server on the device and setting a manual IP on the LAN connection. You will need to manually assign an IP that is within your existing subnet but outside of your DHCP range. You do NOT want more than one DHCP server (which is what assigns IP addresses to clients) on the same network or you will end up with devices that can't communicate with each other and/or IP address conflicts.

For example, let's say that your "Xfinity XB7 Gateway" has an IP address of 192.168.1.1, with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0. Your network would include all IP addresses between 192.168.1.1 and 192.168.1.254. You would have to check the DHCP settings and see how many of those IPs are within the DHCP range. Your DHCP range might be 192.168.1.2 - 192.168.1.200 for example. That would leave you with a chunk of IPs between 192.168.1.201 and 192.168.1.254 that are outside of the DHCP range but still within the subnet, and you could manually set devices to use those IP addresses if you want to. You would then go into your Linksys EA7500 and TP-Link C7, disable their internal DHCP servers, give one a manual LAN IP address of 192.168.1.201, and the other a manual LAN IP address of 192.168.1.202. They would not act as "routers" anymore, but simply WiFi access points. You can access them at those manually configured IP addresses if you need to make configuration changes.
Thank you for replying!
Yes the XB7 is a modem/router/wifi device.
Now I have a few additional questions.
1. Why wouldn't I be able to use the routers as "routers" anymore and would only be able to use them as access points?
2. What exactly is the difference?
3. I currently have the two additional routers hardwired into my main XB7 Gateway with both DHCP enabled for the last few days and all my devices seem to connect just fine. Both connected to the WAN ports of the two routers.
4. Would I need to connect the ethernet cable to a LAN port or the WAN port on the additional routers? LAN to LAN. or LAN to WAN? What is the difference?
 
What I'd do is I'd use a second router as an AP off the xfinity modem you should be able to put that port on the Xfinity modem in bridge mode and let the router acting as an AP using DHCP to give out IP addresses and that should let them have their own network separate from yours.

Also I wouldn't let other people use my internet connection.
 
What I'd do is I'd use a second router as an AP off the xfinity modem you should be able to put that port on the Xfinity modem in bridge mode and let the router acting as an AP using DHCP to give out IP addresses and that should let them have their own network separate from yours.

Also I wouldn't let other people use my internet connection.
How would I put the port in bridge mode?
 
1. Why wouldn't I be able to use the routers as "routers" anymore and would only be able to use them as access points?
2. What exactly is the difference?

A router is a gateway between your private network and the internet. It is what allows you to take one single Internet IP address (the IP address on the WAN side of your router) and have everything on your private network to use that single Internet IP address simultaneously. A Router assigns each computer on your private network a Private IP address (via a DHCP server), and tells each computer the address of the Gateway (the router's internal/LAN IP address) so that each computer on the network knows were to forward it's internet-bound traffic so that it can go out onto the internet.

You only want to use one router because you only have one internet connection. Since the router is the gateway between your private/local network and the internet, you only need one router per internet connection. If you have more than one router on your network, bad things will happen, such as:

-Each router would be running a DHCP server, both trying to assign IP addresses to the computers on your network. Some of your computers might get an IP from one router, some might get an IP from the other router. Those computers might not be able to communicate with each other if they are being assigned incompatible IP address information. Alternatively, you might end up with multiple computers each having the same IP address, which would cause an IP address conflict and network traffic might not be sent to the correct computer. You only want ONE DHCP server on your network, so that that you only have one DHCP server trying to assign IP addresses to the computers on the private network, and those computers are getting the correct IP address information.

-With only one Internet connection, the only router which would be correctly forwarding information from your private network out to the internet would be the router that is hooked up to your internet connection. Other routers would not have anything on their WAN connection, and would not provide internet for any computer attempting to use it as a gateway.

The difference between a router and a WiFi access point is that a WiFi access point is basically a wireless switch. A WiFi access point doesn't perform any routing. It's not trying to assign IP address information. It's a "dumb" device, like a switch, the only difference being that some devices are connected via WiFi instead of only via Ethernet.

3. I currently have the two additional routers hardwired into my main XB7 Gateway with both DHCP enabled for the last few days and all my devices seem to connect just fine. Both connected to the WAN ports of the two routers.

The ONLY thing a WAN port should ever be connected to is a standalone modem. Your Xfinity gateway doesn't have a WAN port because the connection between the WAN port and the Cablemodem is done internally, since it's a combo device. Proper use of your other routers, once they are configured only as Access Points, would be to use the LAN ports ONLY and not have anything connected to the WAN ports of those former routers.

If you connect the WAN port on one of your WiFi routers to one of the LAN ports on your Xfinity Gateway, you are creating a condition known as double-NAT. Basically creating a private network within a private network. This is not desirable, because you are creating multiple separate private networks that may have trouble communicating with each other, along with potential IP address conflicts depending on what the DHCP range of each router is. A router also acts as a firewall, in many cases intentionally blocking traffic that is only intended to be on your local network (the LAN ports) from traveling out onto the internet (the WAN port). You don't want the WAN port connected to your local network.

4. Would I need to connect the ethernet cable to a LAN port or the WAN port on the additional routers? LAN to LAN. or LAN to WAN? What is the difference?

You should use the LAN ports ONLY. Nothing should be connected to the WAN ports. The WAN ports are only for connecting to a standalone cablemodem. Your Xfinity gateway is not a standalone cablemodem because it already has a router built-in.

Setting your Xfinity gateway to bridge mode would be an alternate configuration where you are instead disabling the router functions of your XFinity gateway, essentially using it as a standalone cablemodem at that point. You would use one of the other WiFi "routers" as a router instead, connected to what is now merely a standlone cablemodem via the router's WAN port. In either case, you would only have one router, it would just depend on if you want your Xfinity gateway to act as the router or have one or the other WiFi "routers" act as a router instead. If you're not using any advanced router functionality, then it really doesn't matter which route you take. It would probably be more simple to continue to allow your XFinity gateway to handle routing tasks and switch all of the other WiFi "routers" over to acting as Access Points only.
 
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A router is a gateway between your private network and the internet. It is what allows you to take one single Internet IP address (the IP address on the WAN side of your router) and have everything on your private network to use that single Internet IP address simultaneously. A Router assigns each computer on your private network a Private IP address (via a DHCP server), and tells each computer the address of the Gateway (the router's internal/LAN IP address) so that each computer on the network knows were to forward it's internet-bound traffic so that it can go out onto the internet.

You only want to use one router because you only have one internet connection. Since the router is the gateway between your private/local network and the internet, you only need one router per internet connection. If you have more than one router on your network, bad things will happen, such as:

-Each router would be running a DHCP server, both trying to assign IP addresses to the computers on your network. Some of your computers might get an IP from one router, some might get an IP from the other router. Those computers might not be able to communicate with each other if they are being assigned incompatible IP address information. Alternatively, you might end up with multiple computers each having the same IP address, which would cause an IP address conflict and network traffic might not be sent to the correct computer. You only want ONE DHCP server on your network, so that that you only have one DHCP server trying to assign IP addresses to the computers on the private network, and those computers are getting the correct IP address information.

-With only one Internet connection, the only router which would be correctly forwarding information from your private network out to the internet would be the router that is hooked up to your internet connection. Other routers would not have anything on their WAN connection, and would not provide internet for any computer attempting to use it as a gateway.

The difference between a router and a WiFi access point is that a WiFi access point is basically a wireless switch. A WiFi access point doesn't perform any routing. It's not trying to assign IP address information. It's a "dumb" device, like a switch, the only difference being that some devices are connected via WiFi instead of only via Ethernet.



The ONLY thing a WAN port should ever be connected to is a standalone modem. Your Xfinity gateway doesn't have a WAN port because the connection between the WAN port and the Cablemodem is done internally, since it's a combo device. Proper use of your other routers, once they are configured only as Access Points, would be to use the LAN ports ONLY and not have anything connected to the WAN ports of those former routers.

If you connect the WAN port on one of your WiFi routers to one of the LAN ports on your Xfinity Gateway, you are creating a condition known as double-NAT. Basically creating a private network within a private network. This is not desirable, because you are creating multiple separate private networks that may have trouble communicating with each other, along with potential IP address conflicts depending on what the DHCP range of each router is. A router also acts as a firewall, in many cases intentionally blocking traffic that is only intended to be on your local network (the LAN ports) from traveling out onto the internet (the WAN port). You don't want the WAN port connected to your local network.



You should use the LAN ports ONLY. Nothing should be connected to the WAN ports. The WAN ports are only for connecting to a standalone cablemodem. Your Xfinity gateway is not a standalone cablemodem because it already has a router built-in.

Setting your Xfinity gateway to bridge mode would be an alternate configuration where you are instead disabling the router functions of your XFinity gateway, essentially using it as a standalone cablemodem at that point. You would use one of the other WiFi "routers" as a router instead, connected to what is now merely a standlone cablemodem via the router's WAN port. In either case, you would only have one router, it would just depend on if you want your Xfinity gateway to act as the router or have one or the other WiFi "routers" act as a router instead. If you're not using any advanced router functionality, then it really doesn't matter which route you take. It would probably be more simple to continue to allow your XFinity gateway to handle routing tasks and switch all of the other WiFi "routers" over to acting as Access Points only.
I don't know how his modem works but on my modem you can set each port to be bridged or not.

So one or 2 or whatever can still use the modem to act as a router while one or more ports can be in bridge mode.

bnridg.png
 
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If you plan to do this, get something that supports VLANs and seperate YOUR network from theirs. Last thing you need or they need is someone getting ransomware and infecting your network or vice versa.
 
A router is a gateway between your private network and the internet. It is what allows you to take one single Internet IP address (the IP address on the WAN side of your router) and have everything on your private network to use that single Internet IP address simultaneously. A Router assigns each computer on your private network a Private IP address (via a DHCP server), and tells each computer the address of the Gateway (the router's internal/LAN IP address) so that each computer on the network knows were to forward it's internet-bound traffic so that it can go out onto the internet.

You only want to use one router because you only have one internet connection. Since the router is the gateway between your private/local network and the internet, you only need one router per internet connection. If you have more than one router on your network, bad things will happen, such as:

-Each router would be running a DHCP server, both trying to assign IP addresses to the computers on your network. Some of your computers might get an IP from one router, some might get an IP from the other router. Those computers might not be able to communicate with each other if they are being assigned incompatible IP address information. Alternatively, you might end up with multiple computers each having the same IP address, which would cause an IP address conflict and network traffic might not be sent to the correct computer. You only want ONE DHCP server on your network, so that that you only have one DHCP server trying to assign IP addresses to the computers on the private network, and those computers are getting the correct IP address information.

-With only one Internet connection, the only router which would be correctly forwarding information from your private network out to the internet would be the router that is hooked up to your internet connection. Other routers would not have anything on their WAN connection, and would not provide internet for any computer attempting to use it as a gateway.

The difference between a router and a WiFi access point is that a WiFi access point is basically a wireless switch. A WiFi access point doesn't perform any routing. It's not trying to assign IP address information. It's a "dumb" device, like a switch, the only difference being that some devices are connected via WiFi instead of only via Ethernet.



The ONLY thing a WAN port should ever be connected to is a standalone modem. Your Xfinity gateway doesn't have a WAN port because the connection between the WAN port and the Cablemodem is done internally, since it's a combo device. Proper use of your other routers, once they are configured only as Access Points, would be to use the LAN ports ONLY and not have anything connected to the WAN ports of those former routers.

If you connect the WAN port on one of your WiFi routers to one of the LAN ports on your Xfinity Gateway, you are creating a condition known as double-NAT. Basically creating a private network within a private network. This is not desirable, because you are creating multiple separate private networks that may have trouble communicating with each other, along with potential IP address conflicts depending on what the DHCP range of each router is. A router also acts as a firewall, in many cases intentionally blocking traffic that is only intended to be on your local network (the LAN ports) from traveling out onto the internet (the WAN port). You don't want the WAN port connected to your local network.



You should use the LAN ports ONLY. Nothing should be connected to the WAN ports. The WAN ports are only for connecting to a standalone cablemodem. Your Xfinity gateway is not a standalone cablemodem because it already has a router built-in.

Setting your Xfinity gateway to bridge mode would be an alternate configuration where you are instead disabling the router functions of your XFinity gateway, essentially using it as a standalone cablemodem at that point. You would use one of the other WiFi "routers" as a router instead, connected to what is now merely a standlone cablemodem via the router's WAN port. In either case, you would only have one router, it would just depend on if you want your Xfinity gateway to act as the router or have one or the other WiFi "routers" act as a router instead. If you're not using any advanced router functionality, then it really doesn't matter which route you take. It would probably be more simple to continue to allow your XFinity gateway to handle routing tasks and switch all of the other WiFi "routers" over to acting as Access Points only.
The Xfinity gateway is 10.0.0.1 and the Linksys is on 10.0.1.1 and the TP-Link is on 10.0.2.1 so even with them all having DHCP enabled would be a bad thing? I have certain things that only connect to the Linksys and all seem to connect just fine without having IP address conflicts. I also have things that connect to the Xfinity gateway just fine. And I would like all me neighbors devices to connect to the TP-Link.
How would I be able to get the IP address to be for example: Xfinity gateway 10.0.0.1. Linksys 10.0.0.2 TP-Link 10.0.0.3. When I try to do that I seem to have problems.
I have both additional routers have static IP addresses from the Xfinity gateway.

So this is how I have it hooked up right now. Xfinity XB7 hook up normally with everything that comes enabled. I have the Linksys router hooked to the LAN port 1 with a static IP address 10.0.1.1 so it is providing IP addresses in the 10.0.1.2 - 10.0.1.100 range with everything normally enabled including DHCP. And I have the TP-Link hooked to LAN port 2 with a static IP address of 10.0.2.1 with everything normally enabled. So issuing IP address 10.0.2.2 - 10.0.2.100 range.

I have my switch connected to the Linksys router and it seems that the things connected to it are accessible.

How can I get the things connected to the Xfinity gateway and the Linksys router be able to "see each other". Like having them on the same network. Because I am not able to see certain devices unless I am connected to that specific router.
 
If you plan to do this, get something that supports VLANs and seperate YOUR network from theirs. Last thing you need or they need is someone getting ransomware and infecting your network or vice versa.
My Linksys supports VLANs. How do I use it and what is a VLAN? I am not sure if the Xfinity gateway or the TP-Link supports it but the Linksys definitely does support VLAN.
 
home network diagram.jpg

This is what how I currently have it set up. Please explain how to properly set this up so the linksys can be seen with the Xfinity modem. And the TP-link being it's own private network.

Thank you.
 
Can you explain what you mean by triplex and neighbors house? Are you an end unit in a 3 unit building and referring to each unit as a house? or are you guys actually in different houses (ie separated by the great outdoors)?

If you guys are all just different units in the same building do yourself a favor and just pick up a mesh system like Google WiFi or Linksys Velop and add stations as needed.
 
Can you explain what you mean by triplex and neighbors house? Are you an end unit in a 3 unit building and referring to each unit as a house? or are you guys actually in different houses (ie separated by the great outdoors)?

If you guys are all just different units in the same building do yourself a favor and just pick up a mesh system like Google WiFi or Linksys Velop and add stations as needed.
Probably means a townhouse that has three houses connected.
 
Can you explain what you mean by triplex and neighbors house? Are you an end unit in a 3 unit building and referring to each unit as a house? or are you guys actually in different houses (ie separated by the great outdoors)?

If you guys are all just different units in the same building do yourself a favor and just pick up a mesh system like Google WiFi or Linksys Velop and add stations as needed.
Yeah its a town house. 3 apartments side by side.
I'm on the end unit and they are in the middle.
Would the mesh system work? I just know the wall between us seems to drop the wifi signal pretty significantly with normal routers. I know the mesh systems can be pretty expensive. And not really wanting to go that route if it might not work well. Wouldn't hard wiring be the best route?
 
The Xfinity gateway is 10.0.0.1 and the Linksys is on 10.0.1.1 and the TP-Link is on 10.0.2.1 so even with them all having DHCP enabled would be a bad thing? I have certain things that only connect to the Linksys and all seem to connect just fine without having IP address conflicts. I also have things that connect to the Xfinity gateway just fine.
So this is how I have it hooked up right now. Xfinity XB7 hook up normally with everything that comes enabled. I have the Linksys router hooked to the LAN port 1 with a static IP address 10.0.1.1 so it is providing IP addresses in the 10.0.1.2 - 10.0.1.100 range with everything normally enabled including DHCP. And I have the TP-Link hooked to LAN port 2 with a static IP address of 10.0.2.1 with everything normally enabled. So issuing IP address 10.0.2.2 - 10.0.2.100 range.

First of all, there is a difference between something that "works" and something that is configured properly. Like I mentioned in my previous post, what you have going on is called "Double NAT". If you need fancy graphics, do a google search for "Double NAT".

In a nutshell, each "router" is it's own private network, allowing access to an exterior network via the WAN port. Because you have the WAN ports of your Linksys and TP-Link connected to the LAN ports on the XB7, you have created a double-NAT scenario where traffic is going out of the WAN ports on the Linksys and TP-Link and back into another private network (the XB7 network) instead of out to the internet.

Double NAT does not prevent basic internet access. You could daisy-chain 10 routers together if you wanted, each one with it's WAN port connected into a LAN port of the router in front of it, but all you would be doing is creating 10 separate private networks where the devices connected to each would not be able to communicate with each other. You would also create UPNP / Port Forwarding issues since a device can only send a UPNP port-forward request to the router on it's own private network. UPNP requests aren't forwarded out of the WAN port to any upstream private router that it might be erroneously connected to. UPNP / Port forwarding is critical for certain apps that require inbound connections from the internet, so that those inbound connections from the internet are forwarded to the correct computer.

How would I be able to get the IP address to be for example: Xfinity gateway 10.0.0.1. Linksys 10.0.0.2 TP-Link 10.0.0.3. When I try to do that I seem to have problems.

Well there are a couple reasons why you might be having problems.

First of all, what is the DHCP range of the Xfinity Gateway? The DHCP server will assign IPs within a set range. You need to make sure that the static IPs that you set for the Linksys and TP-Link are OUTSIDE of the DHCP range of the XFinity gateway, but still within the same subnet. As an example, the Xfinity Gateway is 10.0.0.1, the DHCP range might be 10.0.0.2 - 10.0.0.200. In that case, 10.0.0.2 and 10.0.0.3 would be within the range of DHCP addresses that the Xfinity Gateway is trying to assign to other computers, so you would not want to use those IPs as static IPs for the Linksys and TP-Link. In my example, with the DHCP range ending at 10.0.0.200, you could set the static IP addresses of the TP-Link and Linksys to 10.0.0 201 and 10.0.0.202, both just outside of the DHCP range. The first step in knowing what static IP to set is to figure out what address range the Xfinity gateway is trying to assign via DHCP, as my example of 10.0.0.2 - 10.0.0.200 was only a guess.

The other reason you might have issues is if you connect the LAN ports together without disabling the DHCP servers on the Linksys and TP-Link. Then you would have one private network with multiple DHCP servers each trying to assign different IPs to the computers on the same network.

I have both additional routers have static IP addresses from the Xfinity gateway.

A static IP is something you should be entering manually into the configuration page of the Linksys and the TP-Link as the LAN IP of each. The process of setting the Linksys and the TP-Link to each use a static IP has nothing to do with the Xfinity Gateway, other than you needing to make sure that you are setting static IPs that are outside of the Xfinity Gateway's DHCP range.

How can I get the things connected to the Xfinity gateway and the Linksys router be able to "see each other". Like having them on the same network. Because I am not able to see certain devices unless I am connected to that specific router.

Yes, that problem is being caused by the Double-NAT situation that you created. Simply put, if you have anything connected to the WAN port of the Linksys or TP-Link, you are doing it wrong.

To get things working you should:

Log into your Xfinity gateway, examine it's DHCP settings, and find out what range of IPs it is set to assign, as well as the subnet mask. What you find out will be critical to knowing which Static IPs you should set on the Linksys and TP-Link. Report back here with what you find and I can give you a more exact recommendation as to exactly what static IPs you should set.

Once you know that, you need to log into the Linksys and TP-Link, set a Static IP to the LAN side of each (based on what you discovered about the DHCP range of the Xfinity Gateway). Once you have a Static IP set to the LAN side of the Linksys and TP-Link, disable the DHCP servers on both. This turns them into WiFi Access Points basically. The only reason to set a Static IP on the Linksys and TP-Link is so that you can continue to access their configuration pages if needed, to be able to change WiFi settings.

Only ever connect anything to the LAN ports on the Linksys and TP-Link, which would simply be functioning as WiFi access points now. The Linksys and TP-Link would connect to the Xfinity Gateway using only the LAN ports. The WAN ports on the Linksys and TP-Link should not be used for anything.

At that point, you will only have one private network, with your Xfinity Gateway being the ONLY router, and the ONLY device with DHCP enabled. Everything will be on the same private network, and every device will be able to communicate with each other. All devices on that network will be able to send traffic directly to the Xfinity Gateway, including UPNP / Port forwarding requests. Your Linksys and TP-Link devices will simply be 2 additional devices on that one private network, acting as additional points via which devices can connect to that one private network using WiFi, but not doing anything else.
 
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Yeah its a town house. 3 apartments side by side.
I'm on the end unit and they are in the middle.
Would the mesh system work? I just know the wall between us seems to drop the wifi signal pretty significantly with normal routers. I know the mesh systems can be pretty expensive. And not really wanting to go that route if it might not work well. Wouldn't hard wiring be the best route?

It really depends on your requirements \ budget. Mesh is going to be the easy set it and forget it option particularly if you aren't worried about devices commingling.. Price is pretty good for what you get, you can get a basic 3 AP pack from bestbuy for $199. I would think 3-5 APs would probably do it regardless of walls. You could always buy one pack to test and a second pack to fill in any spotty areas. May be worth trying before you get too complicated, you can always return them. You'll find these mesh units work much better than your standard crap range extenders.

Regarding "best" route. I would disable WiFi on the Comcast box, Run a line from the Comcast router to each unit, Connect said line to WAN port of a router in each tenants unit, Configure routers for each tenant as needed. From there the tenants can essentially can do whatever they want to their networks without accessing any other tenants data. You shouldn't have any devices other than the 3 routers connected to the Comcast router or they will be accessible by everyone (basically just pointing out it's important you have your own non Comcast router as well.) It's not bullet proof but reasonably secure assuming none of your tenants are IT professionals.

If you wanted to take it a step further you could get a business package to add static IPs and give each tenant router it's own static WAN IP.

You are still liable for tenants piracy, data usage, kiddy porn habits, so keep that in mind too.

Regarding the router WAN and LAN ports, WAN ports should be used if you don't want devices to talk to each other, and LAN port if you do. Plugging your uplink into a WAN port essentially segments anything behind that router into its own network. Nothing higher up the chain is going to be able to access devices connected to the router. If you want to be able to access those devices then you would use a LAN port for the uplink instead and disable the dhcp server, effectively turning the router into a hard wired access point. (This is general info. Residential networking is a bit crazy because manufactures do things like make AP modes that will automatically make your WAN port act like a LAN port when enabled in the name of user friendliness.)
 
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Alright, question? With the same devices as stated above. I have the Xfinity XB7 connected as a gateway with no configurations done to it. I then have my Linksys EA7500 connected to the XB7 with an ethernet cord and configured to run as an Access Point. I would really like to be able to see which devices are actually connected through the Linksys EA7500. Is there a way to do is? I also have a TP Link C7 connected to the Linksys EA7500 router. I would really like to be able to have an range of IP address that would be used to assign devices to the TP Link C7.

Basically is there a way to assign devices on the Xfinity XB7 to have an IP range of 10.0.0.2 to 10.0.0.100
And have the Linksys EA7500 assign devices to have an IP range or 10.0.0.101 to 10.0.0.149
And have the TP Link C7 to assign devices to have an IP range of 10.0.0.150 to 10.0.0.200?
Or something along those line? Like I stated the Linksys EA7500 turns off all functionality when it is in AP mode which isn't an issue I would just like to know if when a certain device is connected to a specific device it will have an IP range depending on what it is connected to.

Because it doesn't matter if it is connected to the EA7500 or the TP Link C7 it still shows up on my XB7 of connected devices.

I also for some reason cannot find my printer on my network under connected devices. It's connected with a static IP address of 10.0.0.7 and when I go to the address it's online and running just fine I just can't seem to find it on my XB7 any ideas why this may be happening? The printer is connected to my Linksys EA7500.

Sorry if this is confusing, if it is I can try to clear this up a bit. I can include pictures to help understand what I am trying to accomplish.
 
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