Wireless bridging or linking

[Starrx05]

I have a Netgear v8 which connects directly to the modem. I want to use a 2nd router, a Linksys to link to it so I can connect by wire to this router or wirelessly to basically extend the range. I did some research and the Linksys can support WDS if I flash it with a 3rd party firmware but it looks like the Netgear doesn't have this feature. My question is do I need both routers with WDS capability or just the 2nd one?

Thanks everyone.

 

[JackMDS]

The Netgear does not need this feature since it would continue to wprk as a regular Router.

 

[Madwand1]

Yes, for WDS bridging, both sides of the link have to have a compatible WDS implementation.

However, you can use some Linksys and other wireless routers in client bridge mode using DD-WRT or similar third-party firmware, which gets around this limitation -- they connect as standard wireless clients, so the main router / AP doesn't have to have any special support.

 

[Starrx05]

Originally posted by: Madwand1
Yes, for WDS bridging, both sides of the link have to have a compatible WDS implementation.

However, you can use some Linksys and other wireless routers in client bridge mode using DD-WRT or similar third-party firmware, which gets around this limitation -- they connect as standard wireless clients, so the main router / AP doesn't have to have any special support.

Thanks. I updated my WRT54G v3 to DD-WRT f/w and use Client mode w/ same SSID as the first and diff. subnet 192.168.2.1 instead and it connects fine, boosting download speed from 80-90KB/s to 300KB/s But.... I have to connect by wire to the Linksys. I changed to the Client Bridge mode like you said and it wouldn't connect, even when I keep subnet the same and start at 192.168.1.100 instead (to avoid conflict with the Netgear starting at 192.168.1.1) I believe to have wireless clients connect to the Linksys and a jump pad to the Netgear, both routers have to support WDS and I have to change back to the normal AP mode, and add MAC addr of each router into the other one's list. Here's the help on each mode from DD-WRT:


Wireless Mode
The wireless part of your router can run in different modes:
AP mode ? This is the default mode, also called Infrastructure mode. Your router acts as an central connection point, which wireless clients can connect to.
Client mode ? The radio interface is used to connect the internet-facing side of the router (i.e., the WAN) as a client to a remote accesspoint. NAT or routing are performed between WAN and LAN, like in "normal" gateway or router mode. Use this mode, e.g., if your internet connection is provided by a remote accesspoint, and you want to connect a subnet of your own to it.
Client Bridged mode ? The radio interface is used to connect the LAN side of the router to a remote accesspoint. The LAN and the remote AP will be in the same subnet (This is called a "bridge" between two network segments). The WAN side of the router is unused and can be disabled. Use this mode, e.g., to make the router act as a "WLAN adapter" for a device connected to one of its LAN ethernet ports.
Ad-Hoc mode ? This is for peer to peer wireless connections. Clients running in Ad-Hoc mode can connect to each other as required without involving central access points.

NoteNote that WDS is only available in AP mode.

 

[Madwand1]

Sorry, I didn't read your "extend the range" requirement properly in the OP. None of the client bridge modes will do this, so you have to use WDS or repeating. For WDS, you need compatible support on the main wireless.

http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/ind..._Linked_router_network

There's a v24 beta feature which sounds like generic repeating -- that might be worth a try.

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

 

[homerunkevin]

Yeah, ran into incompatible issue too. i got a buffalo G125 and flash upgrade firmware to ddt-wrt. I was trying to setup WDS to extend wireless range.. i try matching all wirleess ssid encryption, add mac address, turn off lan routing still no internet access. the wifi adapter pick up the signal but can't get out internet. then i was reading maybe my netgear wpn824 doesn't support wds.

i return the buffalo g125.

 

[Starrx05]

I've been able to set up using DD-WRT v2.4 RC1 on my Linksys using Repeater mode. So now the Netgear has one wireless client and connected to modem. The Linksys as wired and wireless clients. Both are on diff subnets w/ diff SSID and same encryption type. Mac addr filtering for added security work too. I do not have to turn off firewall like in the article said. Amazing range. Before, wirelessly using my laptop connected to the Netgear I got about 1.5Mbps down. Now at same spot but to the Linksys, I got 4-5Mbps. One good thing is the Netgear's client can't see the Linksys's ones (can't ping them) So whatever PC connected to the Linksys has another security level I guess.

One thing I can't figure out is why it always give my laptop connected to the Linksys IP 192.168.2.106 when I set to start at 100. There's no other PCs connected at same time. It seems to pick a random number within the allowed range.