0

Looking at buying a cheap Cable Modem/Wifi Gateway combo while I wait for my ISP to get faster speeds, at which point I would buy a pricier DOCSIS 3.1 cable modem. When that eventually happens, will I be able to convert the old cable modem/wifi combo into just a wifi router (so I don't need to spend extra to get integrated wifi capability on the DOCSIS 3.1 modem)?

I ask because I've seen it mentioned that if your cable modem/wifi router doesn't have a dedicated WAN port (which it doesn't), it can't function as just a wifi router.

Improve this question
2
  • 1
    It might possibly work. It should have Ethernet ports. Ignore the WAN side. Hook up an Ethernet port to your network. Set up wireless. You need to be able to turn DHCP OFF on the combo unit, and if you cannot, it will be very limiting.
    – anon
    Commented Aug 10, 2021 at 20:18
  • Yeah I get the part about DHCP off on the wifirouter and give the wifi router a static address like 192.168.1.2 (assuming modem is 192.168.1.1 and removes the '2' address from its pool). Now that I think about it, it's not really a router anymore, it would just be a wireless switch, which would be fine for my purposes. It would just need to pass the ARPs so that the client PCs would have the MAC address of the modem
    – public wireless
    Commented Aug 10, 2021 at 20:31

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
0

You cannot use a cable WiFi/router as a router with anything but cable because it doesn't have a WAN port. However, if your cable modem is also a router, then you don't need to use the existing combo as a router, just as a WiFi access point. That will work.

Improve this answer
1
  • Yep that's all I need it to to, just be a wireless 'switch'
    – public wireless
    Commented Aug 11, 2021 at 21:04

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .