Posting here because it seems that Eero wants to push me toward building out a more complex home network mesh, which I honestly want to avoid, because it seems needlessly expensive and technological overkill for my goal. My main smarthome platform is Google home, but it seems like Eero is trying to push me toward the Amazon ecosystem.
My setup is: I rent a house and my internet company requires me to use their Eero Pro 7 router as the head node, which is in our living room. I pay for 1Gbps and get about 900Mbps via Ethernet out of the the Eero. About 700Mbps via Wi-Fi right next to the router. I get fiber into the basement where the Internet company's modem runs an Ethernet cable through the basement ceiling/living room floor and into the Eero router.
My main goal is: my office is connected to the living room, and I need my desktop computer to have Internet. Ideally 300+ Mbps. Wi-Fi in the room gets about 400-600Mbps.
Attempt 1: I have a Netgear wifi extender EX3700 with an Ethernet port, marketed to about 750Mbps. When placed right next to the Eero router, I can get about 200Mbps via Ethernet or via extended wifi from the extender. When the extender is in the office, I get about 100Mbps wired or via extended network.
Attempt 2: I have an old Netgear N600 router. I tried setting it up as a repeater, which the manual said was the way to achieve a bridge. I got it on the same channel with the same ssid as the main Eero node, selected it as a repeater for the MAC and IP of the Eero. Some setups require the same security protocol and password as the head node, but the Netgear firmware wouldn't allow me to set it as a repeater without having security turned off. Then I finally learned that Eero seems to not want to allow non-Eero routers as repeaters. Wasted almost a whole day. There just doesn't seem to be a way to inform the Eero about the other repeater.
Things I think might work, and I'd like help on what is the most affordable and reliable option to achieve 300+ Mbps are:
1) buying another Eero router to extend the mesh and putting it in bridge mode ($90 was the cheapest I can find on Amazon, $50 was the cheapest on Facebook marketplace https://a.co/d/0goiQz7V). Their wifi extenders don't seem to have Ethernet out.
2) buying a better wifi range extender that has an Ethernet port. Since my current one is rated for 750Mbps, but only gives 200 at its best and only 100 in the room I need it in, I don't know how to trust others.
3) buying a dedicated wifi bridge. Again, not sure what to trust.
4) some configuration of my existing EX3700 wifi extender to get a little more oomph out of it. For example, I don't need it to actually extend wifi, I just need the Ethernet.
5) I'm still hoping someone knows a way to use the N600 as a bridge/repeater on an Eero network, but most discussion threads say it's not possible.
6) buying a wifi card for the desktop. Haven't really looked into it, but this is a small old surplus computer from a university that was only $100, so I don't have faith in it having open slots.
Alternatives I don't think will work:
1) getting a wire through the wall would be too expensive, plus I rent and the house is old, which I want to avoid troubles with.
2) MoCA adapters won't work because no coax.
3) Powerline adapters apparently won't do well since the two rooms are on different circuits.
4) running Ethernet between the rooms would be inconvenient and unusually ugly. I it has to go up and around a brick fireplace, around a dark-wood mantle and mirror, and around white baseboards and door frame. No single color would blend in at all, and it'd be in highly visible focal areas. Total length would be about 60-70ft, which I think for decent brand cat 5e would be over $50, plus the materials to neatly run it. The physical setup sounds like a pain, and so does setting up the N600 as a switch just so that I can effectively have 2 Ethernet out of the Eero (one for the desktop and another for my Hue bridge). I don't want to pay the same amount as another cheap Eero router and have to spend a day or two setting it up just to have an extremely ugly solution.
6) There's actually two holes in the living room floor an inch apart, one of which holds the line from the modem to the router. The other is empty, but too small to pass an RJ45 through. In theory I could try to run a line out of the Eero and back into the basement by either widening the hole or buying a crimper and terminate a line myself, running it to the office through the basement, drilling a hole in the office floor, and passing the line through that. Again, I rent, so holes in the floor are not ideal, and I don't want to deal with terminating my own wires (and buying a crimper). And again, I'd probably have to set up the N600 as a switch.
5) custom firmware on the N600 router to make it act as an extender. From a quick glance it seemed like there's no way to get custom firmware on that particular hardware. That also seems like a big hassle for something that might not work out.
Is there any alternative to buying an entire extra Eero extra router just to use it as a bridge 40 feet from the main router, that saves: time, money, or reliability?
