A Networking Question

I have a Nighthawk router with three main ethernet branches in the house.

One branch is device-dense and too far from the router. So I have an extender there for wireless connects, and a 16-node unmanaged switch for the various wired kit

My question is: where should the extender be situated? Should it go between the router and the switch, or should it be placed “after” the switch? Or does it matter?

Your post is lacking any useful details. I would suggest to connect the extender to the switch, just because a switch is a purpose built device.

Note: A pure WiFi Range Extender (a.k.a. Repeater) does not need to have an ethernet port at all to do it’s job.

Sorry. The extender is a Nighthawk 6X, and this extender, (that’s all it is called), is wired to the network. It can be attached to the switch, or it can be connected to the ethernet run.

Any more useful details I can provide, let me know.

A search for “Nighthawk 6X” leads me to this product. It’s unlikely that it has any WiFi capabilities at all. Do you mean a Nighthawk X6 Tri-Band WiFi Mesh Extender instead?

From it’s manual:

Use the Extender in Access Point Mode

You can use the extender as a WiFi access point, which creates a new WiFi hotspot by using a wired Ethernet connection.

If so, please follow the instructions in the manual to set it up in Access Point Mode. The long Ethernet run, the Access Point as well as any other wired devices should then all be connected to the switch.

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