[lug] Bridging netwroks with wireless

[Daniel Webb]

On Sat, Apr 30, 2005 at 06:03:36PM -0600, Michael Hirsch wrote:

> My house has a wireless router (netgear 802.11g) in one room, but it
> doesn't reach every where.  A lot of the rest of the house is wire for
> ethernet, but not the room with the router (which is where the cable
> modem comes in).  I'd like to Have another wireless box in anonther
> room which would bridge between the wired netwrok in the rest of the
> house and the netgear router.
> 
> How do I do this--this must be a standard thing?  Is this something
> that all wireless routers do automatically?  What feature do I have to
> look for?

The feature you're looking for is called WDS (wireless distribution
system).  From what I've heard, you'll still be safer if you use the
same brand for both routers.  The Linksys WRT54G has been a favorite for
a while, but unfortunately the newer revisions (v.2.2 and v.3.0) have a
hardware or firmware bug that causes them to lock up after about 30-40M
traffic (see linksysinfo.org or dslreports.com and search the forums if
you're interested).  The reason they're so popular is that they are the
best supported for the OpenWRT or Sveasoft Linux distributions that run
on them.  They also have dual external antennae with a fairly standard
jack.  I got several of the 2.0 version of them that I plan on setting
up a 100 yard outdoor link with once I have some time.