So does the EAX80 not having a router mode dependent on the hardware or is it a matter of firmware?----tough to say as most high performance extenders probably have the capability hardware wise. But they don't have a wan port or router mode to use it with. Because they're not designed that way. Even netgears routers used to be able to have an extender mode but they've been not building it into them anymore. Maybe its a product decision type thing from netgear. They don't talk about that. But the eax80 doesn't have a router mode so you can't use it as a router.