I live in an apartment complex with free, fast WiFi that does not have a password or any security. II do not have physcial access to this router. have multiple laptops (all running Windows 10), a printer, and a smart TV. My objectives:

1. Connect all devices to my router with its own SSID so that all devices need a password to access the router and that the devices are hidden from others on the free, public WiFi. Effectively, I want the public WiFi to simply be the WAN input for the router, where the router then behaves normally where all devices connected to it are given local IP address to network with each other.

2. The laptops need to connect to the router via either a wired or wireless connection. They need to be visible to each other to allow fast transfer of files between them.

3. The printer needs to connect to the router so that the laptops can print to it,

4. The smart TV needs to connect to the router so that it is hidden from others on the public WiFi.

Unfortunately, achieving the above has been difficult. I have followed all of the instructions for WDS bridging, connected my router to the right WiFi network and disabled DHCP. If one or two devices are able to connect to the Internet throught the bridged router, others are not. Either they can't connect to the router at all, or if they do, they cannot access the Internet. A lot of times, the connection drops.

Any ideas on what I can do? Searching for answers, I see references for "WISP mode" or "WiFi as WAN" and not sure what to do? Would loading alternative firmware such as DD-WRT achieve this? If it does, what are the downsides? Will the C7's USB ports work so I can connect USD hard drives to them?

I do not understand why this is so difficult. With my windows laptops, all I need to do is switch on hotspot mode and other devices can connect to them easily.