How to Use the Eero in Bridge Mode to Keep Your Router’s Advanced Features

The Eero Wi-Fi system is meant to replace your current router, but if your current router has advanced features you rely on, you can put the Eero in bridge mode—thus allowing you use of your normal router, while still getting Eero’s great mesh Wi-Fi coverage.

Depending on how your network is set up, you could come across some conflicts where the two are butting heads. If that’s the case, putting one or the other in bridge mode can solve those problems.

You can put your main router in bridge mode instead of the Eero, which will simply push your internet connection right through the router and let Eero handle everything on your network, but some users may still want to continue to use their router’s features and settings instead of having to rely on the Eero, especially since the Eero app doesn’t offer a whole lot in the way of advanced features. In that case, putting the Eero in bridge mode is the best option.

How to Put the Eero into Bridge Mode

When you put your Eero into bridge mode, you still keep the separate mesh Wi-Fi network that’s set up on it, but most of the features are turned off, including the ability to restrict internet access to specific family members, as well as setting up port forwarding and messing with other advanced features.

In bridge mode, your Eeros act like nothing more than an mesh extenders for your current network.

To enable bridge mode, start by opening up the Eero app on your phone and tapping on the menu button in the top-right corner of the screen.

Select “Network Settings”.

Tap on “Advanced Settings” at the bottom.

Select “DHCP & NAT”.

Tap on “Bridge”.

Your Eero system will need to reboot, but once it restarts it will be in bridge mode and all network duties will be handled by your current router.

From now on, your Eero system will simply just provide you with a basic mesh Wi-Fi network that you can connect to, but you’ll still have your current router if you ever want to change around any advanced network settings.

Also keep in mind that your Eero will still broadcast a Wi-Fi network separate from your main router’s Wi-Fi network, so be sure to disable your router’s wireless signal to avoid any interference. You want your old router to essentially act as a wired router—not a wireless one. The Eero will handle all the wireless stuff for you.

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