TP-Link AX1800 through Ethernet switch?

Hardware Hub Networking
1

I have not been able to find the information I am looking for anywhere online. I am unable to get Ethernet into my new office. If I use this tp link ax1800 as a wireless access point it says I can connect Ethernet to devices without wifi.

My question is, if I run the ax1800 into an Ethernet switch, and then have multiple desktops connect to the switch via Ethernet, will this work?

I understand that it may limit bandwidth if multiple desktops are working at the same time, but I am less concerned. This is primarily as a cost saving measure so I do not have to buy multiple wifi cards for desktops that only have Ethernet currently.

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yes, it will be fine.

i assume you will connect the ISP device to the WAN side of the ax1800, then the switch will connect to a LAN port on the ax1800.

if you have a different configuration that you are trying to do, maybe make a diagram.

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I think you’re a bit mixed up… it sounds like you do NOT want to “use this tp link ax1800 as a wireless access point”, rather you want to use it as a wireless client.

Any router that supports “client mode” will no longer work as a wireless access point in this mode but yes, it can provide wired connections to an existing wireless network.

These wired LAN connections are generally no different than if the router’s WAN port was connected… they’re just regular LAN connections so switches will work just the same.

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if that is what OP is describing, it is usually called ‘bridge mode’.

and also yes, it would no longer be able to provide WIFI, only recieve and provide ethernet port connections.

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Yeah… terminology seems to vary quite a bit between routers. The router I’m running now has freshtomato firmware installed and it’s in “wireless ethernet bridge” mode to provide wired connections but it also has “client mode” and “bridge mode”. They all work similarly with the differences being how the networks are integrated (and that bridge mode was constantly dropping the wireless connection).

TP-Link seems to support “client mode” so I just went with that… but yeah other modes may offer similar functionality. I think bridge modes tend to integrate with the existing LAN rather than running an independent LAN which may cause issues with a switch depending on how the existing wireless network is setup.

There’s always a bit of pissing about with these things though. I’d just start with “client mode” if it’s an option and explore other bridge or even repeater modes from there.

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I want to connect to my existing wireless network with this device. This device will then provide Internet access to an 8 port Ethernet switch, thus allowing me to connect Ethernet only devices to my network, via the to link wifi accessing it

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So, just to check, your internet/up-link connection is coming through ethernet or WLAN?

I think you should be able to use the wireless router as just a switch. If you feel like something is still unsure for you, please try to make a basic diagram (boxes and connections between those boxes is good enough :slight_smile:

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If I understood correctly, you want to get some internet connection to your new office, but you don’t have access to wired ethernet internet access/up-link access?

In case you already have an internet connection at the office, you might need a mesh system if you don’t want to run ethernet yourself.
Here is my little diagram of the basic setup

Internet router --Ethernet-- Mesh Router node A ~~Wireless connection ~~Mesh node B at your office--ethernet to the rest of the devices

If the office doesn’t have an already exisitng internet access and you would like to go with mobile broadband, you need a specific mobile broadband router. The TP-link AX1800 does not have that feature. It works only with an existing ethernet uplink/internet access, you probably wil not be able to use that specific router as your primary router.