Archer A7: Advanced options as access point & how to access using router name
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So I currently have two of these routers and use one as my primary router to the outside world and have it configured as a "router" in my basement. I have a second router configured as an "access point" in my living room. They are both hooked together via ethernet.
Question 1:
For the router configured as an "access point", there does not seem to be an option to enable "advanced" mode. I understand this for the items that only apply to the router providing DHCP (etc), but it would seem that you can not rename the router except if advanced is enabled and go to: internet -> IPv4 -> internet -> advanced -> host name. Since I have 2 of these routers, I wanted to rename each something like "basement_archer_a7" and "living_room_archer_a7". There may be other options, but this is one I was looking to change while it was in "access point" mode.
Question 2:
How do you access local resources via URL? I have a NAS attached and was able to access using "TERASTATION.local" in the URL. When I use "archer_a7.local", "archer_a7", or "archer_a7.home" it does not load. I can obviously reach each router via their IPs which my case I have configured as 192.168.1.1 (primary) and 192.168.1.2 (access point).
For question 1, you could possibly reserve the address on the AP inside of the main A7 so you can customize a description.
For question 2, you would reference the shared name indicated in the USB settings. If there is no USB drive attached to the router, you would use the IP address to get to the router login page.
@Tony, thank you for taking the time to reply to my question. Let me see if I can show you the current state ... something is still not right.
From the archer_a7 (in the basement) acting as the main router, I see it is working as a router and can see "Living_Room_Archer_A7" @ 192.168.1.2.
In addition, when I look into: internet -> IPv4 -> advanced -> Host Name ... I have set the main router to be called "Basement_Archer_A7".
Now, when I go over to the access point I can see it can see the main router named "Basement_Archer_A7".
However, when I look at the routers via the tethering app on the phone, the names are not the same.
But when I click on the one listed as "archer_a7", it clearly then lists it as expected.
As for the second question, I just would have thought there would have been a DNS entry (name) for each of the routers which could be resolved back to 192.168.1.1 and 192.168.1.2. It would be nice to be able to store a router name and not worry about the IP address for things like password management or using ping. I guess I would have thought that name would be based on the previous question. (Using the default values that you would be able to do a "ping archer_a7" to ping the router)
I have a update regarding the host names and the Tether names.
As far as the hostnames, the routers are not be accessed as they are not supported in order to get to the router admin page.
With the Tether app, you will need to modify the name manually by accessing the device, tapping on the router image, then editing the name.
@Tony, thanks again for the follow up.
That is understandable about the host names, so thanks for clarifying that.
In terns of the router names, what you described is what I tried to do. I used the tether app, clicked on the router name, edited the name, and saved it. As you can see, one was updated and the other was not.
@Tony sorry for the late reply as I missed the email. :)
So I uninstalled the phone app (Samsung Galaxy S8), reinstalled Tether and I was able to make changes to the router names and everything worked! However, before claiming victory, I saw that both routers were obviously listed as "local". I then used the phone app to logon to my TP-Link ID to enable cloud management and once I did that I saw the router that would not change reverted back to the default "Archer_A7" in the device list although when I click on the router in Tether is already shows "Living_Room_Archer_A7".
I also then logged out of my TP-Link account and it reverted back to the proper names and local devices.
Could the difference have anything to do with the fact that the living room router is configured as an access point whereas the basement one is configured as a wireless router?
