@mocelet hi mocelet,

Thanks for the help. Just 1 follow up question. Should I still be setting up the access point with static IP or should I just use smart ip? since I will be configuring it after the fact as you recommend

@Kryptix My understanding is that your network doesn't have DHCP, right? I mean, you have to setup your PC manually, don't you?

If that's the case, IP should be manually set. Smart IP tries to get it from the network, but guess it won't get any.

@mocelet 

Ah I see. Okay cool. I'll be sure to let you know if this works when I get back home. Very much appreciate your help so far though!

@Kryptix There's another option should you need to connect more than six devices and isolate your devices from others'.

That would be using the router as router instead of just access point. You would be doing what is called "double NAT", might be problematic for some applications but it's worth a try if you eventually need it. I'd definitely try, using backup and restore in the web UI you can play around and go back to a working config whenever you want.

In that case make a factory reset, wire would go to the WAN port this time, router is set in Router Mode, set static IP one of your available addresses and that should be it. The router will create a private network just for you, with a different set of IP addresses (typically 192.168.0.x up to 253 devices). And it will perform NAT so all packets exiting your dorm will appear as coming from just one IP. Then they will make NAT again to exit the Internet with their public IP (hence the double NAT)

TP Link routers have a nice feature should you need it which is cloning the MAC address of one device (the PC usually). If you ever had to tell somebody the MAC address so the PC could connect to the Internet, use that feature. Otherwise you don't need it.

In this scenario your devices should be configured to automatically get the IP address, as this time the DHCP Server will be just for you and your devices, not for the whole network.