Wifi bridging assistance

[Nite]

Hi all

I need a bit of assistance, need to set up a wireless network in a rather large house and have been running into trouble. I have a Netgear DGND3700v2 ADSL router set up on one end of the house and need to get the wireless to the other end of the house. At my disposal I have 2x Netgear WN2500RP range extenders and a TP-Link TL-WR1043ND router.

I've connected 1 of the WN2500RP's to the ADSL router via WDS in the middle of the house and it's working well at the moment however there's quite a few rooms toward the back of the house where I can't pick up any wireless signal. I've tried connecting the second WN2500RP to the first but that isn't working, I'm not sure if it's because it's not supported or because I configured something incorrectly.

At the moment the only hope I have of getting wireless signal in the back of the house is if I can use either the TP-Link or one of the range extenders as a wireless bridge between the ADSL router and which ever wireless device I put toward the back of the house. Right now I'm just hoping for some suggestions or assistance, unfortunately the ADSL router can't be moved from it's location and there's no option of running cables.

Forgive me if I'm not making much sense or if I've left out vital information, don't have a lot of experience with wireless set ups.

 

[upup]

I also have wifi just on one side of the house. I was thinking of moving the router to the center of the house.

 

[bekdik]

I found this:

Re: Use of multiple WGX102 Range Extenders
the instructions say you can use up to 16 WGX102NA adapters. I've got
4 of these going in a big house with no problems. I did the following:
1. set the ssid different on all units, this way I can tell where i'm going to
2. set a fixed ip in each unit-out of the DHCP range of the router
3. they work great
BUT the speed sucks!!!, I get a maximum of about 12mb throughput, so
transfering big files is out, but the internet works great.

Hope it helps

 

[paulcolmer]

In a residential application running cables between routers is allways a pain, so i sort of recomend 2 options, range extenders as you sugested or Ethernet over power adaptors, they alow you to connect second router wherever you have mains power and also have a fixed LAN port, so you may not even need the Wi-Fi or a second router.

 

[Nite]

Thanks for the suggestions so far

@bekdik, pretty much tried exactly that already :/ for some reason the second range extender refuses to play well with the first. I'm able to connect the second to the first, however any device that then attempts to connect to the second range extender fails to connect and I haven't been able to figure out why.

I've also gone so far as to connect range extender one to the ADSL router and then connect the TP-Link to range extender one via ethernet. At this point everything was working, I could connect to Tp-Link, range extender and ADSL router without any issues. I then attempted to connect the second range extender to the TP-Link which didn't work for me :-/ I got the same result as when connecting range extender 2 to 1.

@paulcolmer I have considered this option, however thats another R1000+ I was hoping I wouldn't need to spend lol. Pretty much been hoping to get it all working with what I have. In the end I'll probably have to go the ethernet over power route however I apparently need to find out if the house is single phase power or multiple as these units only work when on the same power phase (yay more stuff I know nothing of)

 

[bdt]

In the end I'll probably have to go the ethernet over power route however I apparently need to find out if the house is single phase power or multiple as these units only work when on the same power phase (yay more stuff I know nothing of)

Other options notwithstanding, if you try this, it's less about single phase power to the house as you're WAY unlikely to have 3 phase in a residential property, and more about the plugs that you use for this must be on the same breaker in the db. Which, considering how sod's law is always waiting to pounce, isn't going to happen for you (but I'm cynical as all hell about these things)

 

[bdt]

Personally, I'd go for running CAT5 from the adsl feed to the TP-Link somewhere central, and then using its Ethernet ports to feed the two range extenders that are placed elsewhere. Note that this can also all be done in the roof (presuming you have above-ceiling access that is).

 

[bekdik]

Suggest you give Duxbury support guys a shout.

 

[Tim the Techxpert]

I go With BDT on this one. The Cat5 is the better way to go. You do get throughput drop with WiFi extenders so cable between would be best. I appreciate you say it is not possible to run cables but have another look around. I have seen it done very neatly behind quarter rounds at carpet level. Good luck

 

[Nite]

@bdt CAT5 was in place between the TP-Link and the ADSL router and had been working well, until the dogs decided that the cable looks delicious and somehow pulled it off the wall and proceeded to eat it my gf's dad now wants to go purely wireless, doesn't want to go through the hassle of laying cables again as it's a long distance. I've already made attempts to patch the cable where it was eaten which worked well for about a week and now it's dropping so many packets that web browsing is a painful experience also theres no above ceiling access, only below ceiling and on roof :/

@bekdik I gave the Duxbury guys a shout yesterday, they told me that the setup should work and that I should be able to link one extender to the other however if it's not working then there's some environmental factor causing problems and I won't get it working then.

CAT5 was definitely the best option with this house, going to have to see if I can get around the wireless only wishes. ah well back to the drawing board I've somehow managed to convince Duxbury to credit the 2 range extenders so I'm open to alternative product suggestions if anyone has some

 

[KickTheBucket]

I've been very impressed with my limited experience this product:
http://www.engeniustech.com/business-networking/indoor-access-points-client-bridges/16139-eap300

We set up 3 of them in a large house as wireless repeaters off an ADSL router and were very impressed with the coverage. We've decided however to run cables through the house to each of the access points to improve throughput and reliability (the house is still being built so it was easy).
The problem is that they're a bit more pricey than the Netgear repeaters (worth the money IMO).

 

[bdt]

I've been very impressed with my limited experience this product:
http://www.engeniustech.com/business-networking/indoor-access-points-client-bridges/16139-eap300

I remember when Engenius used to be Senao. And yes, they've always been good. So now, which is better: going with the faux smoke-detector look, or (other comparatively expensive) saucer, or a cheaper saucer? And the latter is natively PoE, I installed a set of 3 of them in a house fed only by their network cables, and from a suitable switch.