hook together two wireless routers

[kfc469]

I have two linksys wireless routers. i have four computers in my house. all of them are wireless and as of now, they all connect to the same router. my problem is that, there is a 6X6ft spot in my house where there is about a 15% signal. it just so happens that that area is exactly where one of my computers is. my question is: can i hook my two routers together, wirelessly and use the second one to extend the range of the first? I have a Linksys WRT54G and a Linksys BEFW11. Can I do this?

Thanks

 

[mikesgroovin]

Sure, both of these wireless devices support bridge mode.

Basically your setup would look something like this

Location 1 - Internet ---> Cable Modem ---> Wireless Router 1 ))))))---> PC1 and PC2 (wirelessly)

Location 2 - Wireless Router 2 (in bridge mode) ---> PC3

In location 3, your wireless router 2 will be in place, picking up your signal from wireless router 1. Then it will be connected to PC3 via physical Ethernet cable.


))))))---> represents wireless connection
---> represents physical cable connection

 

[mikesgroovin]

I recommend placing WRT54G in location one and the BEFW11 in bridge mode.
But, try both ways. You will find that one way aquires more speed and less reliability and the other method will be more reliable but will be a smidge slower.

 

[kfc469]

I recommend placing WRT54G in location one and the BEFW11 in bridge mode.
But, try both ways. You will find that one way aquires more speed and less reliability and the other method will be more reliable but will be a smidge slower.

how do you set it to bridge mode?

 

[mikesgroovin]

Well, this is where it can get a bit tricky. Come to think of it, the WRT54G will serve as a better bridge than the BEFW11. The broadcast range was my primary concern, but, as long as you have 15% reliability, this should be ok. Ok, so the tricky part is that you are going to have to setup the WRT54G as a bridge via a seperate piece of firmware. Have you ever heard of installing a 3rd party firmware to a router to make it perform seperate functions? It's not uncommon. It's happenning all the time and the firmware is generally safe to install and has been widely tested. The Sveasoft firmware will ONLY work on the WRT54G and WRT54GS models (version 2) so, if you have a v1.0 or a v1.1, this wont work. Same with the BEFW11. The 3rd party firmware will only work on certain models on the BEFW11S4(v2 only). I have used the Sveasoft firmware on the WRT54G and it worked great for me. I did this for a client a while ago and, to my knowledge, it's still running (I haven't heard from her in quite some time....so, I assume it's still working)

 

[mikesgroovin]

Actually, on second thought.....When using the Sveasoft firmware, you are only going to achieve 802.11b anyway given the broadcast of the BEFW11S4. So, It's probably not going to be worth it. When I used the Sveasoft firmware, I did it with (2) WRT54Gs so that I wouldn't have to buy an extra actual Bridge. It saved me $100 and a headache at the time. But, there again, I had two WRT54Gs....so I had 802.11g all around.

 

[kfc469]

awsome. thanks alot. i will try this this weekend and post results