Using old 3200M as second wifi network.

[dnord]

I just upgraded to 1G fibre - works great.  I need to setup a second wifi network in the home.  

I have an old 3200M modem/router from old subscription.  Is there a way to use the old 3200M as just a wifi router, not a modem?  

I have tried to connect it to a port on the square fibre box, as well as port 1 on the white wifi cylinder.  I've turned bridging on for everything but the 3200M is not getting an internet connection. 

I have tried putting a gigabit switch from square fibre box to both cylinder router and 3200M. The cylinder works, 3200M does not. 

Is there settings I can adjust to turn off the modem part of the 3200M and just use the WAN port and wifi capability?

My end goal of a second wifi network - is this even possible?  Is it much easier to accomplish with a new wifi router? 

Thanks for your Help

[Nighthawk]

Are you just looking to set up a guest network, another network that shares your main one, or a completely separate and isolated wifi network that can't see your existing devices?

Which square fibre box do you have? There are two different ones. Do you see a brand or model on it? Does it have a coax port on it also? There are also two white cylinder shaped devices Telus offers as well. There's the Wifi Hub and the Boost 6 wifi access point (not a router).

Left is the Network Access Hub. Right is an ONT (no coax port).

Left is the Wifi Hub. Right is the Boost Wifi 6 AP.

Depending on the hardware you have and what network you're trying to set up there are some options for the T3200.

The T3200M will not be able to function as a simple wifi access point as there is no way to shut off DHCP. The Boost Wifi 6 from Telus would be a better option for that, or if you wanted to set up just a generic wifi access point, that's an option also. If you wanted to set up a physically separate network, the T3200 can be used for that as a router but there will be an extra step needed depending on which hardware above you have.

[dnord]

Thanks so much for the detailed reply!

Im looking to setup a completely seperate wifi network that can't see any other devices.  I read that this should be possible somehow? 

I currently have the left - Network Access Hub(with coax) and Right - Boost Wifi 6 AP - These were installed by Telus tech and work great together.   I have the old T3200M and a gigabit switch to work with if needed. 

If it's easier to purchase a second 3rd party wifi router I will do that.

Your help is much appreciated. 

[Nighthawk]

Yes, it is possible to have a fully separate network. There is a settings change needed for the Network Access Hub. I only have the T3200 as my main gateway so I don't know if the settings on the NAH are exactly the same or not. Basically what will need to be done is called port bridging which allows you to isolate a single ethernet port on the NAH and give it a direct connection to the internet. You'll need to make sure there are no devices currently connected to LAN1 on the back of the NAH.

I'm basing this off of the T3200 settings so you may need to look around in the settings a bit.

• First, you'll need to log in to the NAH by going to 192.168.1.254 in your browser.
• Once in there, you'll need to look for settings for Port Bridging. On the T3200 that setting is found under Advanced Setup. 
• On the T3200, the settings will only let you bridge LAN port 1. If the NAH has the same setting, enable it. Be sure not to bridge all LAN ports or that will cause problems connecting. Once enabled, you should connect the T3200 to LAN1 by running an ethernet cable from LAN1 on the NAH to the WAN/Internet port on the back of the T3200. The T3200 will run as a router as long as the cable is plugged into WAN. If you connected the cable to any of the LAN ports on the T3200, it would cause a confict between the NAH and the T3200 and the connection would likely fail.

Once that's all set up, if you don't have the wifi configured on the T3200 yet, you'll need to connect a computer to one of the LAN ports on it and change the settings. I'm not sure if the T3200 will show up in the Telus Connect app in this configuration, but if it does, you should also be able to change settings there without connecting a device to it.

[dnord]

Thank you I will try this. 

one question. Currently port 1 is used by the current boost wifi 6 unit - where would this get connected to for the main wifi network. If the secondary network t3200m is using port 1 ? 

[Nighthawk]

The Boost would go in any of the other LAN ports on the NAH. There are 4 LAN ports plus the 10G port on the NAH.

[dnord]

Thank you for all your help.  I enabled port 1 bridge on the NAH.  plugged old T3200M into port1. The boost works as normal plugged into any other port. 

Unfortunately it does not work. it sets up a wifi network as normal but does not get an internet connection. 

I'm going to try a store bought generic wifi router in port 1 and see if that works. 

[dnord]

I tried a 3rd party router and I works great!  thanks for your help.