Setting up the TP-Link N300 to work with Telehamster
These are pretty easy to set up — don't be put off by the length of these instructions.
Essentially, you plug it in, connect to it over wifi using a phone or computer, and tell it the network name and password for your local wifi. It connects to your local wifi, and "extends" the network as a new wifi network. If your network name is "ourhomewifi", it makes a second wifi network called "ourhomewifi_EXT". Users can then connect to "ourhomewifi_EXT" and use the internet.
The point of the product is to extend your wifi network if you have bad coverage in some part of your house, but we are using it for another purpose: to get a new network jack at a location in your house without running a cable. So even though it makes "ourhomewifi_EXT", you won't be using that wifi network for Telehamster. (If the new _EXT network happens to also help out your wifi coverage, that's a bonus side effect!)
If you bought your N300 used, plug it in, wait a couple minutes, then use a push pin to push in the "reset" button on the bottom of the device and hold it in for 30 seconds (no matter what the lights do during that period). Then follow the steps below.
If it's a new N300, just plug it in and follow the steps below.
Note: Cell phones and computers usually automatically connect to wifi networks that you have configured. This can cause confusion in this process. For example: your phone connects to the wifi extender before it has been configured and things are going along fine, but later your device realizes that it does not have internet access, so it automatically changes back to a known wifi network without telling you. If you have any trouble during this process, make sure your phone isn't doing this kind of thing silently in the background. You might need to change the settings for wifi networks your device remembers in order to temporarily disable the "automatically connect to this network in range" setting. (It may be described differently on your device.)
These instructions were developed using an Android phone, but should be "close enough" to get the job done for other device types.
- Plug in the N300 WiFi Extender, raise up the antenna like a little robot referee signaling a field goal, and wait a couple of minutes.
Open up your device's wifi settings and connect to a network called "TP-Link_Extender" (the grey bars you will see in many of these images are just masking out network names and passwords for privacy):
You don't need a password to connect, but after connecting it will show as "No internet" (your device may look different):
On some Android phones, you will see a notification appear in your notification saying "TP-Link_Extender has no internet access | Tap for options":
On Android, you cannot ignore this or the following steps won't work. If a similar thing happens on your device, make sure to tell your device not to worry about it. On Android, after tapping for options, tell it to stay connected. It might look like this:
Now we're connected directly to the WiFi Extender and we are ready to start the configuration. Open up your preferred web browser (Firefox, Safari, Chrome, etc.) and type in the web address http://tplinkrepeater.net as shown:
In due time the following screen will appear. It is asking you to create a new password that will be used for accessing and configuring the WiFi Extender. Note that this is not the same thing as the wifi password for your existing network, nor the password for the new _EXT network that will be created. This is the password to access the WiFi Extender device itself. For simplicity you can make it the same as your wifi network password, but only do that if you trust everyone who ever connects to your wifi networks.
After you tap "LOG IN", the next screen asks you to select your existing wifi network. This is the wifi that the device will be extending, so scroll through until you see your local wifi network name next to "SSID", and tap that. (Again, the grey bars in this image are just masking private data: you will see network names there.)
Next it will ask you for the password to your existing wifi network. Make sure to enter it correctly and then click "NEXT" at the top right. Don't take a "best guess" if you aren't sure about the password, clear that up first because it will be annoying to fix later if you get it wrong. If you have to, you can use a separate device, open the network settings, "forget" your wifi network, and then try to connect on it. Once you have cleared up any doubt about the network name and password, you can proceed on your device to enter it:
The next screen just asks for confirmation of the network name and password. Confirm them, then click "CONFIRM":
The next screen asks you to set up the details for the new extended WiFi network. The default name is your existing network with an "_EXT" suffix. You can change this if you like. The password of the _EXT network will be the same as the password for your main network, and it is shown again here for clarity. When ready, click "NEXT".
It will take a second to apply the settings, then it opens up a screen advising on the location of the extender device. For the purposes of Telehamster, the only important thing to consider in terms of location is that the extender device is able to "see" your regular wifi network well. If you also want to extend your wifi network for the sake of convenience, you can consider that as well. When ready, scroll to the bottom of this page and tap "DONE".
You will see the following screen. At this point, the new _EXT network should be alive. Go back to your phone's wifi settings and connect to it, using your regular wifi network password. Once connected, come back to this screen and click "FINISH".
- After confirming that you are connected to the extended _EXT network, you can try visiting a public website to confirm that things are working. If so, you are all done: you can unplug the extender device, plug it in wherever you want it to live, and plug your Telehamster "magic box" into the network port on the bottom of it. Be aware that if your main wifi network settings ever change (either the network name or the password) you will need to reconfigure your wifi extender device as well.
Troubleshooting: if step 14 failed, or if you change your main wifi network name or password in the future:
If you made a mistake choosing your wifi network or entering the password, you will have failed at step 14 to pull up a public webpage. Similarly, if your main wifi network name or password changes, or you move the wifi extender device to a new location and need to reconfigure it, these are the steps you can take:
- Open the wireless settings on your device and connect to the _EXT network (or whatever you named it). This mirrors steps 1-5 above, except that the network is no longer called "TP-Link_Extender" and is now named whatever you decided, possibly the same as your main network with the _EXT suffix. Remember to "stay connected" to this network as before in steps 4 and 5.
- Repeat step 6 as well, to connect to the device. You will be asked a password for device configuration. Note that this is distinct from your regular wifi password, and from your _EXT wifi network password, and is instead the configuration access password for the wifi extender device itself, which you chose in step 7 above. (It may indeed be the same as your wifi password if you made that choice at step 7.)
Once logged in, you should see a screen that looks something like this, indicating that the wifi extender device has not successfully connected to your wifi network:
Click the three-line menu at the top left, and select "Wireless":
On the next page you can correct or update the wifi network name (called "SSID"), and the password. The "Security" field is probably fine as-is, but you can tweak that too if you know that it is necessary:
- Once you have saved those settings, give it a couple of minutes to connect to your main wifi network. Since you are already connected to the _EXT wifi, you should be able to pull up a public website to test the connectivity.