How can I use 2 Linksys

[Ron Rockwell]

Wireless Routers together. I have 1 connected to the Satellite Modem in basement and it works fine. But need to connect another upstairs wireless as an Access Point to improve signal to rest of the home. I thought that the second could be configured as an AP but can not figure out how. There is no way to run wires for Ethernet so this needs to be done wireless. The routers are both Linksys WRT54G's.

[Tuttle]

Using a wireless router as an access point is basically: Turn off the DHCP server on the second router.
Manually assign the second router an IP address on the first router's network, but outside its DHCP scope.
Connect a LAN port on the first router to a LAN port on the second router, generally with a crossover cable (unless one of the routers has an autosensing switch in it).If you want a completely wireless solution then you need a wireless repeater. I don't know of any routers which do that out of the box, but the WRT54G with custom firmware can apparently do the job. See here (http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Universal_Wireless_Repeater), but use custom firmware at your own risk.

[Ron Rockwell]

Looks like a Repeater is needed. Will a repeater make a noticeable slowing effect for web surfing? Are some better than others? I have installed a Linksys Router so I would like to stay with the Linksys WRE54G unless there is a better way. Some complain about the repeater slowing things down.

[scottd]

Looks like a Repeater is needed. Will a repeater make a noticeable slowing effect for web surfing? Are some better than others? I have installed a Linksys Router so I would like to stay with the Linksys WRE54G unless there is a better way. Some complain about the repeater slowing things down.

Look into dd-wrt. It is a Linux based firmware upgrade for your Linksys router. I use it to create a wireless bridge between 2 WRT54G's. Please read the helpfiles before flashing your router.

[TropicalBound]

There's always Powerline Networking.....


http://computer.howstuffworks.com/power-network1.htm

http://www.clubmac.com/clubmac/shop/detail~dpno~457277~name~XE102+Wall-Plugged+Ethernet+Bridge~mfg~XE102US.asp

[Ron Rockwell]

There's always Powerline Networking.....


http://computer.howstuffworks.com/power-network1.htm

http://www.clubmac.com/clubmac/shop/detail~dpno~457277~name~XE102+Wall-Plugged+Ethernet+Bridge~mfg~XE102US.asp


Good suggestion. I considered that but have never used it, so didn't know if it would work. Could I use PLN from one Router to another? Would that slow the connection down?

[Tuttle]

From memory, modern powerline kit should be comparable to wireless, if not better.

[TropicalBound]

The first link said it was limited to 14Mbps, but I don't know how accurate that is. I've only heard second hand about its use.

However, even at 14Mbps, it will still be faster than your home Internet Connection. I have cable Internet and it runs at 6Mbps. The bottleneck occurs at your slowest connection (in this case, it will be your Internet).

[better_tomorrow]

I'm not sure if this can be done with the original linksys firmware - I hardly ever used the original linksy firmware. However I know for a fact that this can be done with DD-Wrt.

Install DD-Wrt:
http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Linksys_WRT54G/GL/GS/GX

After install, you will need to setup both routers for WDS:
(Note:I haven't tried WDS on WPA2, but I have used WPA in TKIP for WDS and it works well.)

http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/WDS_Linked_router_network

This should resolve your issuance.

[Tuttle]

The first link said it was limited to 14Mbps, but I don't know how accurate that is. I've only heard second hand about its use.According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HomePlug_Powerline_Alliance it's up to 200 Mbps theoretical. It's probably nowhere near that in practice, but it'd still be plenty for linking a couple of APs.

[usil]

Actually, an access point can connect to a router wirelessly if the router supports WDS. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_Distribution_System) According to this link, the WRT54G does WDS. All you would need to do is enable WDS in the router and put the MAC address of the access point into the WDS configuration on the router. Here (http://www.linksysinfo.org/forums/showthread.php?t=47118) is a step by step guide of how to set up WDS on your router. Hope that helps.