Bridging two wireless rooters.

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Gezza

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Bridging two wireless routers.

Hi There guys. Neep some help. I have to bridge the wireless connection that we have at work. Got a wireless rooter in one room and one in another. I know which one is gonna be the primary router. How will I go about bridging the second one so that the "Signal area" is much bigger.

Hope I explained that right. Any help will be greatly appreciated!
 
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Are you looking to connect both routers by cat5 and then use them as 2 "hotspots" ?

If you plan on wirelessly connecting them, you are likely to have some problems, as far as I know not all wireless routers can receive wireless ..
if yours is one of those, you will need a pc with a wireless card to connect wirelessly to the old network, and then connect it to the router with cat 5 and have router software like smoothwall or IPcop running on the pc.

Easiest will be to connect them with Cat5 .. but even then, thats not neccessarily going to connect them both to the internet .. cause those routers are designed to bridge directly to the net..

If you are planning to connect them to the net, you can try setting up the dns and gateway addresses of the second wireless router (if those settings are available on your router software) .. and hopefully you will come right ..

So .. I suppose the first question is, which models of routers are they ... and what is your overall design intention with the network ?
 
Thanks for the help. Not very clued up with wireless routers so gonna try and explain as best I can and how I understand it.

Gonna use two routers. One wireless router that is connected to the lan and then another in a different part of the office that should connect to the primary wireless. To make the field of the wireless network bigger (if that makes any sense at all). Router model is "EnGenius Senao 'LongRangeWirelessClientBridge/AP'"
 
I have a setup at home that works like this: in my study, there's the primary router that's connected to the phone line and is the main link to the internet. Way on the other side of the house, I've set up another wireless router that gets it's connection from the primary router but the secondary router can only share the connection through the ethernet ports...just google "client mode wireless DD-WRT" to find out how to set this up.

If you want to extend the range of your wireless, then I think there's an option in DD-WRT firmware to set the router up as a wireless extender or something similar to that.
 
The secondary router is gonna be a "Intellinet 522755/ETSI"
 
Gezza said:
Thanks for the help. Not very clued up with wireless routers so gonna try and explain as best I can and how I understand it.

Gonna use two routers. One wireless router that is connected to the lan and then another in a different part of the office that should connect to the primary wireless. To make the field of the wireless network bigger (if that makes any sense at all). Router model is "EnGenius Senao 'LongRangeWirelessClientBridge/AP'"
Click to expand...

Ok, but are you trying to connect them wirelessly or cable ? And are they only connecting to the lan, or is 1 of them your internet gateway aswell ?
 
jetlee said:
Ok, but are you trying to connect them wirelessly or cable ? And are they only connecting to the lan, or is 1 of them your internet gateway aswell ?
Click to expand...

One is connected to the LAN for internet and is wireless enabled for the wireless machines here. Got an extra router that I want to connect on that network just to make the wireless area bigger.
 
Gezza said:
One is connected to the LAN for internet and is wireless enabled for the wireless machines here. Got an extra router that I want to connect on that network just to make the wireless area bigger.
Click to expand...

OK .. Got it . . but are you connecting the new wireless router to the lan via cable ?
 
ok .. then that should be the easier option of the 2 ;) ..

Ok . .so by plugging in the lan cable (router 2 router) that will automatically create a LAN link .. so all thats left is to set up the 2nd router to correctly forward traffic to the second router.

So what I would do is, plug in the cable, open the AP Router page and set the IP of the AP to something inside your network range,

Then set the AP wireless security settings and set the gateway and DNS to the same address as the ADSL wireless router.Save reboot .. voila.
 
jetlee said:
ok .. then that should be the easier option of the 2 ;) ..

Ok . .so by plugging in the lan cable (router 2 router) that will automatically create a LAN link .. so all thats left is to set up the 2nd router to correctly forward traffic to the second router.

So what I would do is, plug in the cable, open the AP Router page and set the IP of the AP to something inside your network range,

Then set the AP wireless security settings and set the gateway and DNS to the same address as the ADSL wireless router.Save reboot .. voila.
Click to expand...

Cool will try that as soon as I can connect to the second router. Giving me sh*t :p! Will let you know if it worked.
 
Second router not picking up the signal.

I put the primary routers MAC Address into the secondary one and the SSID names are the same. The secondary router is plugged into the network (but as I understand it doesnt have to be). On my blackberry Im only getting one bar at the secondary router. Is there something im missing?
 
Gezza said:
Second router not picking up the signal.

I put the primary routers MAC Address into the secondary one and the SSID names are the same. The secondary router is plugged into the network (but as I understand it doesnt have to be). On my blackberry Im only getting one bar at the secondary router. Is there something im missing?
Click to expand...

OK .. but if you have wired them together, then the signal isnt neccessary, they are connected wired ? .. Thats what I was getting at originally .. if you connecting the second AP to the first by allowing it to connect to the existing AP .. then you are not connecting them wired, you are connecting them wirelessly ...

Did I miss something ?
 
In the end only one access point is giong to be connected wired and the other wirelessly.
 
Gezza said:
In the end only one access point is giong to be connected wired and the other wirelessly.
Click to expand...

Right, and thats where it gets tricky .. If you arent wiring them together, then your second (slave / booster) wireless point will need to connect to the wireless network (which not all wireless AP's can do) , and also broadcast the new wireless network (which is what it was designed to do).

This then relies on the weakest link, which will be your wireless link between routers, I have had more than my fair share of wireless network troubles, so I for one am not optimistic that the second AP which will connect to the first AP (If it is capable) will not be the weak link in the chain. I have a wireless network at my fathers house (netgear router) which somedays just doesnt play nice, and If I had to rely on that for my network .. Id pull my hair out.

Your problem here is going to be testing to make sure the setup is correct, I would suggest once you believe you have a good wireless link between routers, that you use a network cable to the AP from the PC trying to connect just for testing, to make sure you arent connecting to the working AP by mistake. Once you have confirmed that your new AP is definately connecting properly to the network, I would only then move on to connecting devices to the second AP wirelessly.

Good luck, You are going to need it.
 
Maybe

Wireless router One ( Internet gateway )
Set to one channel and all PC's connecting to it to specific private IP subnet
Set to NAT. Set Internet gateway.


Wireless router Two ( not Internet gateway -- want to extend wireless coverage)
Set to different channel and all PC's connecting to it to different private IP address. Set Gateway as Wireless router One Internet gateway.


Connect Wireless router One to Wireless router Two with Cat 5e
Set Wireless router Two a static route to Wireless router One ( connecting two subnets , providing connectivity , NAT and Internet gateway)

Ping to see if Group One PC's talk to each other and router
Ping to see if Group One PC's can talk to outside World

Ping to see if group Two PC's can talk to each other and router

Ping to see if Group One and Group Two can talk to each other.

Ping to see if Group Two can talk to Outside World.


Trying to bridge wireless with this class of equipment can be a PITA


MW
 
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