Can I plug a switch into a wireless gaming adapter to hook up two devices?

[murphy55d]

I currently have a Linksys WGA54G gaming adapter in my living room to hook up my Xbox 360, and now that we have DirecTV, I would also like to have my receiver hooked up to use the On Demand feature, and I don't want to have to switch the cable every time I want to do one or the other.

What I would like to do is spend very little money, and buy this switch:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16833127085
and hook the gaming adapter into that, and then plug both the DirecTV box and the 360 into the switch.

Will this work?

I know someone is going to suggest buying a router and putting DDWRT on it, so before you suggest that, can you address my original question first? If it isn't possible, what is the absolute cheapest router I can get to throw DDWRT on?

 

[spidey07]

Yes. Those adapters act like a workgroup bridge. It would have to be doing something very fishy for this to not work for you.

Also agree a better solution is a router acting as a workgroup bridge, just keeps things simpler for you.

 

[bystander]

"... your "game adapter" will only bridge one MAC address at a time. Other "game adapters" will do more than one. For example, the WET11 will do more than one..."

Link for reference

And here's a recommended router from Newegg: ASUS WL-520gu

And one from the FS/FT forum: Linksys WRT54G

 

[spidey07]

ugg, then it is doing something fishy and won't work.

 

[Lean L]

Originally posted by: spidey07
ugg, then it is doing something fishy and won't work.

It's not doing anything fishy. That's just the wireless non-wds standard. One MAC per connection. AFAIK the only way way to get it to work seamlessly is through WDS even with the routers posted above. that means the main router also has to support WDS.

The OP's bridge should still work though. I had a 520GU setup as a wireless bridge before and what would happen is, when one client is connected it works perfectly but as you turn on more clients behind the bridge they will stop working. So as long as the OP is willing to only use one client at a time and possibly reboot the adaptor once in a while, it will work fine.

BrainSlayer Forum Answer [1] : "Client Bridge mode will only recognize one mac address on the bridged setup, due a limitation in the 802.11 protocol, even if there are multiple clients (with multiple mac addresses) connected to the client router. If you want to bridge a full LAN you must use WDS. The problem is that the 802.11 protocol just supports one MAC address, but in a LAN there is the possibility for more than one MAC address. It may cause ARP table problems, if you connect more than one computer on the far end of a Client Bridge mode setup. You will not be able to, for example, block mac addresses of client of the bridged routers or set access restrictions based on mac addresses in the bridged router.

 

[spidey07]

That's not true at all. Look at what a workgroup bridge is. That quote you have is complete BS and totally not true at all.

 

[Lean L]

Workgroup bridge != what the OP is asking about. I'm not familiar with WGBs but I assume you just can't buy a bridge and connect it to any router. If that were the case, there's some other workings behind the scenes. I've had the exact ARP issues that BS quote is describing using a client bridge.

 

[spidey07]

WGB is actually one of the modes of the 802.11 standard and what most gaming adapters function as. An AP can be a root bridge, non-root bridge, infrastructure AP, repeater or workgroup bridge (or in advanced radios any combination of them). These are defined in the standard, these modes are also controlled in the 802.11 management frames upon association.

That's what I was trying to say - most act as a workgroup bridge so you can have as many macs/stations on the wired side as you like without any problems. Apparently what the OP has is one of the funny ones that don't use the workgroup brdige mode (as specified in the standard).

 

[murphy55d]

So it looks like router + DDWRT is my next best solution? Is it difficult to install/setup?

 

[JackMDS]

At the moment your best inexpensive solution is,

Asus WL-520GU - http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16833320023

The feature that you need (Wireless Bridge) is available in Tomato and DD-WRT.

It is much easier to Flash Tomato than DD-WRT, thus to avoid frustration and Bricking risk I would recommend to casual ?Flashers? to go with Tomato.

However, DD_WRT has better instructions on how to go about the configuration.

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

 

[Lean L]

honestly the OP is going to have the same arp issues with a wireless router. http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/ind...ess_Bridge#Limitations

might as well get a switch to save some moolah

 

[JackMDS]

I have 5 computers on a Buffalo 54G + DD-WRT acting as a Bridge (connects Wireless to a main Buffalo HP through 2 Cedar wooden walls, and 60 feet away) and there is No problem what so ever in their Network and Internet functions.

 

[Lean L]

I've had hell to deal with using a di624 + 520GU bridged in dd-wrt. I had a networked printer on the bridge and it worked 80% of the time since the arp entries just weren't there. I tried to add static entries myself but that only worked sometimes. When multiple clients were on the bridge, the printer would not work at all. Then again maybe this was due to the main router idk. I switched to another ddwrt as the main some months ago and everything works flawlessly everytime now using wds. This issue is well documented in the ddwrt forums. I guess some configs work while others don't

 

[JackMDS]

In the setting as mentioned above in my previous post the main Buffalo Router is with stock firmware.

As I mentioned many times in other posts, the Buffalo Stock firmware is Good as is and there is No reason to Flash unless a specific DD-WRT feature is needed.

The di624 is Not a technology device, it is a Box of Silver Plastic with Flashing Leds (Like the Snow Flakes Balls use to be ).

I doubt that any Body here that need a working Truck would buy this and try to make it a Truck.

http://www.smartusa.com/smart-car-fortwo.aspx

However it seems that when it comes to Network Technology the Rule is buy the Fortwo (Entry Level Network Cheapo Hardware, or Expensive over Hyped Marketing Gizmos), and then spend your time "Crying", and "Complaining", that does not do well as a truck.

 

[Lean L]

Well in that case (main router's fault), the OP would be better off buying a switch than a $45 router.

 

[murphy55d]

Originally posted by: iamanidiot
Well in that case (main router's fault), the OP would be better off buying a switch than a $45 router.

But I thought it was said above a switch wouldn't work??

Now I'm confused.

Maybe I'll just go to Best buy and get their $20 switch to see if it works. Hate to do that if I'll be troubleshooting a lost cause, though.

 

[JackMDS]

Some of the Game Box Wireless adapters when plugged into a switch would turn the Switch into a Wireless client that can support few devices.

I am not familiar with the Linksys WGA54G. If you can borrow a switch and try you might be lucky. Otherwise you need a Wireless Router working as a Bridge.

 

[murphy55d]

Jack, let me ask you this. If I were to go to Best buy and pick up their switch, does it, or is it supposed to, at least, work right out of the box?

I mean, do I just plug the Game adapter into the switch, then run cables to my devices? Is it plug and play, or do I have to actually set it up somehow?

 

[JackMDS]

If it is already configured to work on the specific Network then if should.

 

[murphy55d]

The game adapter is already configured properly, and it works fine. So in theory, all I need to do is plug the switch in.

 

[JackMDS]

Yes, if this Adapter can handle correctly few devices it should work when it is plugged to a switch as is.