MP 1,1-5,1 Should This Work? cMP > Ethernet > Mesh Wi-Fi...

[spetznatz]

I’ve only got an 'n' card in my cMP, so thought I would run an Ethernet cable form the cMP to an Ethernet port on one of the nodes on my ac mesh network. The Network Preferences says that Ethernet is active and has the address 10.0.0.39, but, with wi-fi turned off on the cMP, I can't access the Internet.

Any settings I should be aware of?

TIA,

 

[Pressure]

Yeah, what mesh wi-fi solution are we talking about?

The ethernet ports on these units are usually reserved for hooking up extra mesh points or directly to the switch with PoE.

 

[bookemdano]

What you want is an ethernet-WiFi bridge. They are readily available from a number of different manufacturers and can be had pretty inexpensively. I suppose it's possible some mesh units can operate as a bridge, but I think you'd be better off buying a dedicated bridge.

Edit: Seems 802.11ac-compatible bridges aren't as plentiful as they were back in the g/n days. There are lots of APs and travel routers that advertise a bridge mode (or Client mode), but in terms of a dedicated unit, something like this should work: https://www.amazon.com/1200Mbs-Professional-Wireless-Dreambox-Microsoft/dp/B07MNMTYXT (Seems their setup utility is Windows-only. If you have a PC you can use to supply it with your WiFi credentials then it should work with your Mac once configured.

 

[spetznatz]

Thanks, both... mesh network is a Tenda NOVA 5800... I’m amazed at how capable it is, given the price.

I actually have a Netgear 5-port Gigabit Ethernet switch kicking around... what’s the best way of hooking it up?

 

[mangombia]

You could get a Netgear AC2200 Range Extender. I've got a three of these in our home: 2 are setup as dumbed down AC access points (no DHCP, etc.) taking gigabit ethernet from the main router, the other is setup was a AC bridge to a 5-port ethernet switch that serves an AppleTV, XBox & network AVR for my outdoor theater (Ubiquity Unifi AC outdoor access point --> Netgear AC2200 -> Netgear Gigabit Switch).