While most routers will automatically turn off the Wi-Fi radios when you turn on bridge mode, not all routers will, so you should take a moment to check the Wi-Fi status and turn it off. So you can save yourself the headache of typing in the MAC address by hand if you plug the new router into the old one while performing this step. Many routers will auto-detect the MAC address of the attached devices and auto-populate the address slot with a drop-down menu. This tells your old router which new piece of network hardware is the endpoint for the bridged network traffic. When you find the bridge mode settings, you will need to input the new router's MAC address as the destination address. Next, look for any options in the network configuration settings called "Bridge Mode," "Bridging," "IP Passthrough," or similar. And if you reused the same Wi-Fi credentials, you'll have even more problems as now two different routers will be broadcasting the same SSID. Second, on top of a double NAT situation screwing up your internet traffic, if you activate a new Wi-Fi router while the old ISP-supplied one is configured in the default state, you're blasting twice the Wi-Fi transmissions into the same space creating a lot of radio noise in the processes. If you recently bought a new Wi-Fi router, plugged it into the old router your ISP gave you (without changing any settings), you should be surprised if your kids pop in to yell about how their games won't connect and your spouse is upset their work laptop no longer connects to the corporate intranet via VPN. It's a great feature and one we should all be thankful for, but if you double it up, then software and services like online gaming servers, VPN connections, and even SSL connections to websites can fail because the connection is being filtered through two address translations. You get home, plug the new router into the old one, set everything up, and immediately there are problems.įirst, all your internet traffic is passing through two routers, both in routing mode, creating a situation known as a "double NAT." The acronym NAT stands for Network Address Translation, which refers to the function of your router that takes traffic coming into your public-facing wide area network (WAN) IP address and translates it across the router barrier to all the internal local area network (LAN) addresses within your home. You go shopping for a new traditional Wi-Fi router or maybe even decide to go for a mesh router platform to increase coverage around your home. Doing so will cause numerous problems.įor example, let's say you have an ATT-supplied fiber modem that is also your router and Wi-Fi access point, like the popular BGW320 Wi-Fi Gateway-but it could be any number of combination units out there. Why does this matter? If you want to upgrade your home network, you can't just buy the new equipment and slap it on top of the existing equipment your ISP gave you. We'll refer to all of them as "bridge mode" for brevity unless specifically discussing passthrough mode.īridge mode is a network setting on your router that instructs your router to stop functioning as a router-a device that analyzes, handles, and directs network traffic-and to start functioning as a simple pass-through device like a network switch.Įffectively, whatever comes in one side goes right out the other, just like real-world traffic over a physical bridge passes from one side of a river to the other. In the settings for your Wi-Fi router, you may find an option for enabling "Bridge Mode," "Passthrough Mode," or "IP Passthrough." Although there are small technical differences between true bridge mode and IP passthrough, which we will address in a moment, they function the same for most people. Here's what you need to know about bridge mode. There's a feature hidden away in many routers that perform a crucial function when using your own Wi-Fi router with your internet service provider's hardware.
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