Netgear AC1200 Owner's Manual

A WDS system includes a base station and repeater.

Wireless base station. The router acts as the parent access point, that bridges traffic to 
and from the child repeater access point. The base station also handles wireless and 
wired local computers. To configure this mode, you have to know the MAC addresses of 
the child repeater access point. Often, the MAC address is on the product label.

Wireless repeater. The router sends all traffic from its local wireless or wired computers 
to a remote access point. To configure this mode, you have to know the MAC address of 
the remote parent access point. 

The router is always in dual-band concurrent mode, unless you turn off one radio. If you 
enable the wireless repeater in either radio band, the wireless base station or wireless 
repeater cannot be enabled in the other radio band. However, if you enable the wireless base 
station in either radio band and use the other radio band as a wireless router or wireless base 
station, dual-band concurrent mode is not affected.

For you to set up a wireless network with WDS, both access points have to meet the 
following conditions:

Both access points have to use the same SSID, wireless channel, and encryption mode.

Both access points have to be on the same LAN IP subnet. That is, all of the access point 
LAN IP addresses are in the same network.

All LAN devices (wired and wireless computers) are configured to operate in the same 

LAN network address range as the access points.

The wireless repeating function works only in hub and spoke mode. The units cannot be 
daisy-chained. You have to know the wireless settings for both units. You have to know the 
MAC address of the remote unit. First, set up the base station. Then set up the repeater.



Set up both units with the same wireless settings.

The SSID and mode must be the same.

The wireless security option has to be set to None.

You must select a channel (wireless repeating does not support the Auto Channel 
setting).