Nerd needed - can i use a wireless router as a repeater?

[Audley Strange]

Google "Piggybacking routers".

That souns like some Appalachian banjo band....will have a look

lozzbanjo.jpg

Any reason whatsoever...

You know what? I saw that pic on another site a while ago with the caption "Meth is a hell of a drug" emblazoned on it.

Double larf.

Link, PLEEZ!!!

Sorry, I've no idea where, it might have been /b/ but it was well before Christmas. I'd forgotten about it until I witnessed the full uncaptioned atrocity on this very thread.

[Bella Fortuna]

If that's true it MUST be found... Loz is a meme!

[FBM]

Sorry, I've no idea where, it might have been /b/ but it was well before Christmas. I'd forgotten about it until I witnessed the full uncaptioned atrocity on this very thread.

Understood. Please remember to link us to any future encounters. In the meantime, here's the original captioned version, which I made when Lozzer was contemplating running for public office of some sort:

Any reason whatsoever...

[Gawdzilla Sama]

[Seth]

The LAN cables are plugged into a repeater that uses the household wiring as a LAN. We can't put any holes in the walls, so this repeater allows us to use hardwires rather than WIFI. So, two cables, one for the Blu-ray, one for the cable box. With a router I can use one long cable and two short cables and save a port on the repeater.

Okay. Not quite sure I understand your topology clearly, but you should still be able to use an ethernet switch to move the signals from the two devices to the wall-socket interface nearest the entertainment center, then plug the router into a wall socket interface near it. Since the AC wiring serves as the link between, the switch will still coordinate the traffic between the two devices and the wall-socket modem, which is what it is...a serial modem that translates the ethernet signal, which uses separate twisted pairs for incoming and outgoing packets, into signals that use different frequencies sent on one pair of wires.

I presume the router is next to the DSL modem itself for the same reason, and that the DSL modem is next to the phone jack, which is nowhere near the entertainment center. You might consider having a phone jack installed near the entertainment center so you can move the whole shebang there.

By the way, Netgear makes a nice DSL modem/ethernet/wifi router if your company-issue modem packs it in. Around here we get Actiontek modems with the DSL account, and they are crap modems to begin with. I was having to reboot the modem at least once a day. I finally replaced it with the Netgear unit (don't have the model number on me, but it's the Wifi N router/DSL modem) and haven't had to reboot the modem or router in months, and it's faster, and it has a hardware firewall that is configurable and works well at stopping DOS attacks and port sniffing. It also does VPN and has many other nice features.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Bedroom.
Wall plug
AT*T modem with wireless.
"input" for the "extender" system, which is plugged into an outlet.
Living room. "Extender" plugged into outlet.
Lan cables out from there. Three cables run to devices within a meter of each other. That uses up three of the four slots in the extender.

Putting a router in the system will free up two slots, and give a stronger WIFI in the living room.

[Seth]

Bedroom.
Wall plug
AT*T modem with wireless.
"input" for the "extender" system, which is plugged into an outlet.
Living room. "Extender" plugged into outlet.
Lan cables out from there. Three cables run to devices within a meter of each other. That uses up three of the four slots in the extender.

Putting a router in the system will free up two slots, and give a stronger WIFI in the living room.

Okay, but you don't want more than one router in the system, and the wifi router should be located where the signal will be most effectively used.

In point of fact, I suspect that your DSL modem IS a router, and has multiple ethernet ports on the back (if it's an Actiontek, which I suspect it is) Therefore, you do NOT need another router, and if you get one, you'll have to be sure to shut OFF the DSL modem/router's DHCP functions because you cannot have two DHCP servers in a network without causing problems.

You can use a "wifi router" for what you are proposing, but you may be better off with an ethernet switch and a WAP rather than a router. Dedicated WAPs tend to be better at being WAPs than combination devices, and you can locate the WAP, with a high-gain omni antenna (Netgear makes a nice WG102 wireless G WAP with removable antenna, and you can get a high-gain external antenna from several sources) or even directional panel antenna to improve signal strength and range considerably.

None of the standard consumer router/wifi units I know of have removable antennas that allow you to use an external high-gain antenna, although they used to.

I recommend you use the Actiontek DSL modem/router (or a better quality and more reliable DSL modem/router) for it's DSL/router/firewall function (including DHCP IP address assignment) and you install an ethernet switch behind the A/V gear and plugged into the wall modem and A/V gear. Then you use another ethernet cable from the switch to locate the WG102 (or an N model for faster linking) in a high spot using a high-gain external antenna.

This gives you the best possible wifi network reception without having to run multiple cables to the high point or locate the router/wifi down low where it won't be as effective.

What you're proposing is to use a "router" as a switch/WAP rather than a router. Most quality routers will permit this functionality, so a single unit may be more convenient for you, but you will be compromising the wifi capability somewhat by not being able to locate the wifi transmitter in the best possible location.

Either way, remember you can only have ONE DHCP server in the system, so you have to configure a second router to turn off DHCP (or turn off the DHCP on the Actiontek).

Edit: Also, if your DSL modem is in a good spot for wifi, I recommend that you plug the WAP DIRECTLY into the DSL modem and avoid using the wall-wiring modem, as it's not nearly as fast as a dedicated ethernet link and will slow down wifi link speed. This is another reason to use separate WAPs and switches rather than using a combined router/wifi.

Using a flat-panel directional antenna in the bedroom aimed at the living room with a WAP wired directly to the modem may give you better wifi performance than a AC-line linked wifi router in the living room. You need to check the specs for the AC-line link system to see what its bandwidth is as compared to a WAP (G or N) with directional antenna from the bedroom. You may be surprised at which is more effective.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Yes, the modem is a router, but as noted earlier, I can't run cables through the walls, so I would need one hundred foot LAN cables, or custom made ones, and they'd turn the house into a spiderweb.

[Tyrannical]

What you want to buy are wireless routers with four network ports + usb that supports bridging and preferably similar models. I'd think you could get decent ones on sale for $50 or so,maybe cheaper. Sales are always key.

This lets you do these marvelous things as you place them around your house:

Plug non-wireless things into the closest router.
Increases signal strength and by acting as a repeater, great if cable modem is in basement.
The usb plug lets you plug a usb device like hdd or phone into the router and make it available to the network.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

N-band is the standard right now?

[Seth]

N-band is the standard right now?

It's substantially faster than G, but it's also more limited in range and wall-penetration capacity because of its higher radio frequency. It's also harder to get high-gain antennas for N, most N devices have built-in antennas and no connector.