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Extending your network using wireless technology holds both promise and complexity. Here are some ideas to extend a network using wireless networking.
I have a home network set up where my router is connected to an access point. That access point talks wireless to another access point on the property. That access point is then hooked to a PC with ethernet. I have just purchased a laptop with wireless capability. My question is how can i access the internet at the remote location wireless? Can i somehow use the 2nd access point? Right now they are set up to only talk to each other.
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What you describe as having could be done several different ways, so it's difficult for me to give a specific recommendation without knowing your situation exactly.
However, it's not at all uncommon for people to want to extend their wireless network somehow, or use wireless technology to extend their wired network.
We'll look at a couple of ways to do that, and see if we can't solve your problem along the way.
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First let's look at what I believe you've described:
On the left we have your router sharing connectivity to the internet between one or more computers and an access point. On the left, we have another access point configured to act as a bridge, into which you've plugged your PC using an ethernet or wired connection.
I'm assuming that the access point on the right is configured to act as a bridge.
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This is an important point. An access point and a bridge are not the same thing. An access point is, as its name implies, a point from which other devices can access the wireless network. The access point acting as a bridge on the right, in this scenario, is one of those "other devices" - it connects to the "real" wireless access point on the left. The way the bridge is used in the scenario you outline, it's very much like a wireless network adapter, allowing your single PC on the right to connect to the wireless network.
As we'll see in a moment, it can actually do a little more than that.
I also want to point out that there are wireless devices that simple are bridges. Rather than configuring an access point to "act like" a bridge, a dedicated bridge is typically much simpler to set up for its purpose.
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Option 1
In your case, since you're just adding a laptop to the mix, as long as it's in rage, I'm tempted to suggest that you go the simple route if you can:
In this case the laptop simply connected to the existing wireless network via the access point on the left. No tricks or games, no additional hardware, it's just the normal way to connect a laptop to an existing network.
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Option 2
If that's not acceptable - perhaps the laptop is too far away from the access point to connect solidly, my next option is to add a hub:
Here you can see we've placed a hub between the bridge and the wired computer on the right, and connected the laptop to that hub. In fact, you could add several additional computers to that hub, and they'd all be able to share the wireless connection that the bridge provides. This is a common way to extend a network when physical wiring isn't an option.
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Option 3
Of course, the previous option didn't enable the wireless capabilities of your laptop. To that, we need to add a wireless access point - actually acting as an access point:
The creates a second wireless network which is connected to the first. It's one approach to extending a wireless network beyond its initial range.
This technique creates what's called a "repeater" - a bridge connected to an access point. And, just like the bridges themselves, there are dedicated wireless devices which are repeaters.
Caveat as you can see this scenario is not necessarily simple, and it's not a scenario I've actually implemented. In theory it should work.
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The more common, and typically more stable approach to extending a network is to use a wired backbone:
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Naturally it relies on being able to run physical wiring to the location of each access point. When that's not possible, the bridged approach above is a reasonable compromise. I tend to favor the wired approach, however, as being less error prone and easier to maintain. If there's a way I can run wire and use only simple access points, that's typically the direction I'll design things myself.
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And finally, I do want to point out that these are only examples. Depending on your own needs, your configuration will probably be different. Switches can be used instead of hubs, you might have the ability to wire more computers, or place wireless access points and/or bridges in ways that would be different than the diagrams I've outlined above.
But hopefully I've provided some ideas and a starting point.
Article C2883 - December 28, 2006
Leo A. Notenboom has been playing with computers since he
was required to take a programming class in 1976. An 18 year career as a programmer at Microsoft soon followed.
After "retiring" in 2001, Leo started Ask Leo! in 2003 as a place for answers
to common computer and technical questions. More about Leo.
Nice article!
Also for the more "technically adventurous" you can build a WiFi Cantenna, which has high gain, but is highly directional.
You can purchase one, but they are pretty easy to build too. Here is a link on how to build a cantenna:
http://www.mikestechblog.com/joomla/component/content/article/42-wifi-wireless/58-extend-wireless-wifi-network-building-24-ghz-cantenna.html
Posted by: MistaT at February 19, 2010 8:32 AMFortunately, I can connect my new wireless access point at one of my house to an existing wireless router at the opposite end of the house via wire. My goal is to wander throughout my house with an iPhone that doesn't know or care which of the two devices it is talking to. Both radios are using the same band and channel, and naturally the remaining wireless settings, e.g. SSID and security protocols are the same.
Some people suggest the devices should use different radio channels to avoid overlap but then that's precisely what I'm trying to achieve, isn't it? I don't know about other smart phones but the two iPhones my wife and I use seem very fussy when it comes to switching among WiFi nets and/or a cellular network. Thanks in advance for any thoughts or referrals.
Posted by: Bruco at October 11, 2010 5:52 PMI want to setup like Option #2. I currently have a wireless network but need to add a wired network area where I can not run a cable to connect 2 devices.
Can you help?
Posted by: Stew at January 9, 2011 12:17 PMYou mentioned the problems of adding wireless to a Home network. Here is how I did it.
Posted by: Donald at November 22, 2011 12:09 PMSome of your readers might want to add a wireless "router" but not use it as a router, but to expand their network to include a wireless "router." This uses the wireless capablities as a "switch" allowing wireless connections to the network. (In my case I ame using a used Netgear Cable TV modem that my son-in-law replaced for a newer one -- I don't mind saving a few bucks by using some one elses junk--and also save our world from the accumulation of junk -- works for me).
So here goes:
Setting up a ADSL or Cable Modem for a wireless switch:
After a reset, you need to do three things:
1.Turn off the DHCP server
2.Change the IP address to the 192.168.101.x subnet, on an address that won't collide with anything else
3. Set the wireless router configuration (just like normal i.e. WPA2 Ten digit password)
Now you can access the wireless router by a notebook computer using the wireless connection.
How this is done:
To begin with, plug a computer into one of the ethernet ports on the router, and log into the configuration panel (usually 192.168.0.1
after a reset).
The two special settings are both under "LAN settings" on the router.
Uncheck the box that says "DHCP server". WARNING -- after you do this, just plugging a computer into the router won't work anymore;
you'll have to manually give the computer an IP address on the appropriate network.
Changing the IP address is a bit quirky. First, you need to select an IP address that won't collide with the addresses handed out by your
other DHCP server (the one connected to the ISP on the Wireless Internet router). The Wireless Internet router router in our case was
set to give out DHCP addresses above 100, so any address under 100 (other than 1) should be OK. Secondly, even though you've turned off the DHCP server, it still won't let you set the IP address that overlaps with the dynamic range. So you have to change the start range from
'2' to '100'.
That's basically all I did as far as configuration. The only other thing to note is that things didn't seem to work right for some reason when the other network was plugged into LAN port 1 (cable modem input) on the router; plugging
it into other LAN ports seemed to work fine.
@Donald. Or you could just turn off DHCP and enable WAN to LAN bridging most router have that feature somewhere hidden or it can be used after you upgrade the firmware with custom firmware on your router. see DDWRT, OPENWRT or TOMATO for details.
Posted by: Morpheus Exegis at January 4, 2012 1:13 PM