Help with Mesh wifi (Tenda Nova)

sweettooth205

Hi, hope someone can help:

I am on BT fibre and due to wifi issues in my house, recently purchased a Tenda Nova MW6 mesh wifi system. My BT modem connects to my BT router (smart hub), and I've connected the primary node of my mesh to the BT router. This works successfully so far (and I've turned the wifi off on the BT router), but if possible, I would like to use the system without the BT router? I've tried connecting the mesh directly to the BT modem, but this didn't work. Any advice anyone?

A search online implies I need to set the Mesh in Bridge mode - I don't really understand what this means. Also, in the Tenda app, it implies that parental controls and the guest network would not be available in this setting, and these are things I would like to use.

I'm not very technical about these kinds of things, so any help would be much appreciated.

arciere

You need a router in a network. If the "primary node" is not a router and a DHCP server at least, you can't get rid of the BT router.

arciere

Having checked online, it appears that this model is also a router.
If you want to connect it to the BT modem, you will need to set it to PPPoE mode (not bridge), plus the username and password, that I believe are generic (but I don't remember them now, I can check my own router later but Google can quickly tell you).

sweettooth205

arciere said:

Having checked online, it appears that this model is also a router.
If you want to connect it to the BT modem, you will need to set it to PPPoE mode (not bridge), plus the username and password, that I believe are generic (but I don't remember them now, I can check my own router later but Google can quickly tell you).

Thanks a lot, I'll try this tonight.

I found the following log-in details, but it would be great be great if you could check/confirm on your own router later?
user name of bthomehub@btbroadband.com and a password of bt

arciere

sweettooth205 said:

arciere said:

Having checked online, it appears that this model is also a router.
If you want to connect it to the BT modem, you will need to set it to PPPoE mode (not bridge), plus the username and password, that I believe are generic (but I don't remember them now, I can check my own router later but Google can quickly tell you).

Thanks a lot, I'll try this tonight.

I found the following log-in details, but it would be great be great if you could check/confirm on your own router later?
user name of bthomehub@btbroadband.com and a password of bt

Yeah, they sound familiar, try them, worst case it won't connect. Are you on ADSL or VDSL?
EDIT: just checked on mine, I have the same, I'm on VDSL.

sweettooth205

arciere said:

sweettooth205 said:

arciere said:

Having checked online, it appears that this model is also a router.
If you want to connect it to the BT modem, you will need to set it to PPPoE mode (not bridge), plus the username and password, that I believe are generic (but I don't remember them now, I can check my own router later but Google can quickly tell you).

Thanks a lot, I'll try this tonight.

I found the following log-in details, but it would be great be great if you could check/confirm on your own router later?
user name of bthomehub@btbroadband.com and a password of bt

Yeah, they sound familiar, try them, worst case it won't connect. Are you on ADSL or VDSL?
EDIT: just checked on mine, I have the same, I'm on VDSL.

Sorry but I have no idea what ADSL/VDSL mean!

arciere

sweettooth205 said:

arciere said:

sweettooth205 said:

arciere said:

Having checked online, it appears that this model is also a router.
If you want to connect it to the BT modem, you will need to set it to PPPoE mode (not bridge), plus the username and password, that I believe are generic (but I don't remember them now, I can check my own router later but Google can quickly tell you).

Thanks a lot, I'll try this tonight.

I found the following log-in details, but it would be great be great if you could check/confirm on your own router later?
user name of bthomehub@btbroadband.com and a password of bt

Yeah, they sound familiar, try them, worst case it won't connect. Are you on ADSL or VDSL?
EDIT: just checked on mine, I have the same, I'm on VDSL.

Sorry but I have no idea what ADSL/VDSL mean!

Ok, then I would suggest you proceed carefully 
Nothing serious can happen, but if you change the settings and don't know what you are doing, it may be difficult for you to get back online.

sweettooth205

arciere said:

sweettooth205 said:

arciere said:

sweettooth205 said:

arciere said:

Having checked online, it appears that this model is also a router.
If you want to connect it to the BT modem, you will need to set it to PPPoE mode (not bridge), plus the username and password, that I believe are generic (but I don't remember them now, I can check my own router later but Google can quickly tell you).

Thanks a lot, I'll try this tonight.

I found the following log-in details, but it would be great be great if you could check/confirm on your own router later?
user name of bthomehub@btbroadband.com and a password of bt

Yeah, they sound familiar, try them, worst case it won't connect. Are you on ADSL or VDSL?
EDIT: just checked on mine, I have the same, I'm on VDSL.

Sorry but I have no idea what ADSL/VDSL mean!

Ok, then I would suggest you proceed carefully 
Nothing serious can happen, but if you change the settings and don't know what you are doing, it may be difficult for you to get back online.

Thanks. I'll try the PPPoE mode with removal of the BT router. If it doesn't work, I guess I can always put it back to the current setup (BT router in place and the mesh in DHCP mode)

sweettooth205

It worked, thanks again for your help! 

sweettooth205

Aren’t these supposed to work by devices connecting to the nearest node? Im finding that this often isn’t the case?

arciere

Not necessarily, sometimes it's up to the device to decide whether to change access point or stick with the current one. If the minimum threshold is X dB, until the device doesn't go below it, it will stay connected to that access point, even if there is a closer one nearby.