What's the point of having another router?

livingcoder@lemmy.austinwadeheller.com to Selfhosted@lemmy.world – 17 points –

I once bought a router to use for my internet when I moved into my new house just to find out that it "wasn't compatible" with Verizon's service. I still have it (because I'm terrible about returning things). Is there any point in keeping it? Is there anything fun or interesting that I could do with it?

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I may end up going this route if I can't turn it into a wifi extender. Having some coverage on the other side of the house would be amazing.

Mesh/range extenders really suck terribly, and that cannot be overstated. If you do any streaming or gaming or video calls, don't do that on mesh APs or range extenders. Especially if you live near other people.

My kids would be the ones benefiting from the range extender and they'd only be watching YouTubeKids on their tablets. I don't think they'd notice any issues with latency assuming that the buffer is able to load faster than the videos play. Thoughts?

I can't provide guarantees without datasheets, floor plans, etc. Not practical on Lemmy lol. Doesn't hurt you to try though. If that doesn't pan out, there are plenty of DIY videos on running cable, it's cheap and easy.

I'm legit scared to put holes in my walls; I'm afraid that I'll make a hole, realize that I can't use the hole (blocked, pipes in the way, etc.), and now I have a hole in my wall. I'm far more likely to pay someone else to do it - but I will at least watch a video on the topic, just to see if maybe it's easier than I think it is.

Why is this? I got some free with my ISP and just have them set up so i can manually plug things like my TV or Xbox in and not have them using their wifi.