I’m having to move my Mac Pro from its current location into a room that doesn’t have an ethernet connection.
I would welcome suggestions as to the best way to get a network connection for it.
My MacMini will also be moving to the same room and it will work OK with the WiFi.
Can I share that connection to the MacPro with ethernet via the Netgear hub I already use in the current location ? (ie MacMini into the hub and then Hub to Mac Pro).
I can move one of the TP-Link Deco units into that room. It has an ethernet port.
I also have a TP-Link WiFi router sitting unused if that is possible to use.
If it isn’t that simple can someone please recommend a suitable PCI card I can add to the MacPro.
There are a few wireless USB dongles you can add at a nominal cost, but they’ll be limited to 802.11n speeds, and they’re almost certainly out of date with respect to security. I don’t recommend those in 2026.
You can use your Mac mini’s Internet Sharing function to share a network connection with your Mac Pro. The idea is that your Mac mini would connect to the home network via Wi-Fi, and your Mac mini would connect to the mini via Ethernet.
I don’t have direct experience with TP-Link Deco units, so I’ll defer to others for specific advice on those.
You should be able to set up your spare TP-Link router in “bridge” mode, which would connect it to your main router via Wi-Fi and then connect to your Mac Pro via Ethernet. Assuming that it is up to date with respect to security, I think that would be my preferred approach. If you share your TP-Link router’s specific model, I may be able to give you more specific instructions.
That should work. I haven’t use the TP-Link system, but with my Linksys Velop mesh, the Ethernet ports on remote nodes can be used to connect additional hosts.
I actually have a 5-port switch connected to the Ethernet on the node in my media room in order to support the equipment in there (Apple TV, and some game consoles), in order to improve throughput (so the node’s Wi-Fi only talks to other mesh nodes, not to the equipment in the room).
You’d need to check the manual, but you may be able to configure it for this, where it connects to a Wi-Fi network as a host, relaying traffic out its Ethernet ports.
If the TP-Link router model is one that’s compatible with OpenWRT, you could flash it with OpenWRT and configure it as a bridge. That would be a bit more complicated than the other solutions mentioned, but it would be cost-free, put an old piece of hardware to good use, and there is a high likelihood that it will continue to be supported with high-quality updates for longer then any of the proprietary solutions. I just did that in the immediate aftermath of a hurricane to hook up a neighbor who was homebound but who had lost her phone and internet connections.
If you decide to go that route, let me know and I can probably walk you through the configuration. You’ll find online tutorials on configuring OpenWRT as a WiFi to Ethernet bridge but they’re far more complicated than they need to be.
There are a pair of devices that plug into domestic power points to effectively extend ethernet connections using the house wiring. I haven’t used them for more than a decade but they might meet your needs at low cost.
Based on the replies from @Shamino and @ron, I’ll amend my earlier comment as follows:
Either of the TP-Link solutions should work well.
I presume that the TP-Link Deco unit is still supported by TP-Link (you should check), and that moving it won’t cause problems with signal strength. The main advantage to taking that path is that it should “just work” without requiring complicated setup.
I also like re-purposing the unused TP-Link router. If it still has a few years left of support from TP-Link, it shouldn’t be too hard to set it up in “bridge mode” using the current TP-Link software. If the router is out-of-support or close to it, OpenWRT is a great option for secure bridging, especially with @ron’s very generous offer of assistance. Just let us know the specific model of TP-Link router you have.
I rate the TP-Link options as superior to the Mac mini solution for “always on” operation.
I’ve used powerline network adapters. They do work, but they don’t deliver nearly the amount of bandwidth they claim as a theoretical maximum.
I used to use three “gigabit” adapters in my home and I never got more than 20 Mbit/s over those interfaces. A Wi-Fi link between my mesh nodes worked much better than that. But, that having been said, they do work and they’re pretty easy to set up.