Setting up Plusnet Hub One with Wireless Access Point (Draytek VigorAP 902)??

[#1]

Hoping someone can help please?

I'm about a 3/10 on IT knowledge but can usually get by with by googling my problem but I'm totally stuck on this one.

I'm trying to extend my wifi coverage. My house has thick walls so our existing Plusnet hub one is very patchy when you get further away from the router. Also, with very old electrics, power-line adaptors I've tried before don't work great either with constant drop outs.

Although I've had mixed success from a speed point of view with them before, I was going to buy a set of wifi repeaters to boost the range but then got given a free Draytek VigorAP 902 by work who over ordered and with its big fat aerials, hoped this would be the answer to my problems as it was at work.

The plan is to turn off the wifi on the Plusnet hub one and use the Draytek as an access point to handle the wifi traffic more efficiently.

I've immediately ran into problems however, I've set up so the darytek connects from LAN A to the Ethernet port 1 on the hub one and the draytek is broadcasting both 2g and 5g wifi with its default SSID. Great news is the signal is excellent even in the far reaches of the house. Bad news is i cannot get into the Draytek VigorAP web interface to configure the networks securely.

I've plugged a laptop into one of the LAN A ports on the Draytek as instructed in the user guide and changed the Laptops IP and submask to the recommended settings but still cannot access the management screen. In fact, when i make these changes, the laptop cannot access the network at all. With the setting as automatic, the laptop is connected to the web via ethernet through the draytek but i still cannot access the draytek using the default IP address.

Is it a problem with the Plusnet hub one assigning the draytek a different IP address i will need to know to access the Draytek settings?

I fiddled around with it ages last night and really struggled so any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Ed

[#2]

Hi @CluelessEd,

I'm afraid that we're unable to support setting up the Hub One as a wireless access point with other routers and I apologise for any inconvenience that this may have caused you.

[#3]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply.

Just to clarify, I don't want to set up the Hub One 'as' a wireless access point. I want to set it up 'with' a wireless access point as the wireless reception on the hub one itself is poor.

I'm just after some help in doing it. I've got all sorts of issues following the instructions which came with the access point. I think it could be problem with DHCP as the IP address the access point comes with as default (And is used to access the AP's settings) won't connect but don't know for sure.

Any help would be appreciated please.

thanks

[#4]

Hi @CluelessEd, sorry for the misunderstanding.

Though not for the set up you have, there's a forum post here that might offer some assistance with settings you may need for the Draytek?

To be honest this isn't something we can really offer support with, however you have come to the right place for help with this as we have some very knowledgeable forum users that will hopefully jump on this for you.

[#5]

@CluelessEd I'll try and help if I can.

I've downloaded the manual for the AP902 and I suggest starting as follows:-

Set the laptop to 'obtain an address automatically'

Disconnect the AP from the Hub one.

Factory reset the AP

Connect the laptop wired to one of the LAN-A ports on the AP

You SHOULD now be able to access the web interface of the AP as described on page 14 of the manual via http://192.168.1.2

Let's see if we can get that far first.

Post back and we'll take it from there...

[#6]

Thanks so much for the help. I think this would have worked.

In the end I stumbled onto a solution before I found your reply. I'll detail in case it helps anyone else.

I turned the DHCP off on the draytek AP. then I let the hub one assign all the IP addresses. I then logged into the setting of the hub one, identified the IP address of the AP and logged into its admin console with that IP address. from there it was easy.

thanks again.

[#7]

@CluelessEd glad you got it working

turned the DHCP off on the draytek AP. then I let the hub one assign all the IP addresses

Yup, that was my next step once you had access to the web gui on the AP. Not a good idea to have 2 DHCP servers on the same subnet!

I was also going to suggest giving the AP a fixed IP rather than letting the Hub one allocate it, that way you always know what it's IP is.

If you wish to do that then from page 34 of the manual :-

Uncheck 'enable DHCP client'

Set IP address to 192.168.1.63 ( any between 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.1.63 will do as they are out of the Hub one default DHCP range but inside it's subnet )

Set Subnet mask to 255.255.255.0

Set Default gateway to 192.168.1.254 ( the Hub one IP )