I once bought a router to use for my internet when I moved into my new house just to find out that it “wasn’t compatible” with Verizon’s service. I still have it (because I’m terrible about returning things). Is there any point in keeping it? Is there anything fun or interesting that I could do with it?
You could probably turn it into an extended access point or something like that. You could also set it up to be used in like let’s say a lab or something like that. If possible, check what router it is and see if you can put OpenWrt or something like that on it.
If not, collecting dust in a box isn’t a bad idea either, just if you decide to take it out again to clean it thoroughly.
“Not Compatible” usually just means “We’re extracting a monthly fee from you to use out provided router”. Most likely, if you were to poke around, you could turn your ISP router/modem into a dumb modem and disable the inbuilt router, then connect your (better) wifi router to that.
Official guidance from Verizon is you can use your own router as a router, by setting your Verizon router as a modem only, then connecting it to the WAN port on your router. See e.g. https://kb.netgear.com/31100/How-do-I-set-up-my-Orbi-system-to-work-with-Fios
Unofficially, it’s fine. You can just use your router. The modem is in the white box on the wall (the ONT) with fibre on one end and ethernet on the other. I’ve been running my router directly to the ONT for 3 years without issue. It just works fine.
When I upgraded to a mesh system a while back, I turned my old router into a dedicated access point just for playing VR games wirelessly on my PC. Performance improved noticably once it didn’t have to compete with the regular house WiFi traffic.
I assume you had a hardline from the VR router to the central router? Otherwise wouldn’t the wireless communication between the VR router and the central router be in the same competition as the VR headset was before?
Most/all of the data transfer in their case wouldn’t be hitting the regular router; the spare router would only be acting as a go-between from the PC to the VR headset
Oh, so you have a main router for internet traffic (wifi access for extended router and other devices) and another router extended from it that both your VR headset and PC connect to for VR-type data communication, still providing internet to the PC with about half the bandwidth?
That’s how I’d set it up, yeah. Most VR games are gonna be local, not needing a ton of internet bandwidth
