Can two Belkin 54g routers F5D7230-4 "wireless bridge" together to extend range

[lsman]

The manual say only be done with one F5D7230-4
and one wireless f5d7130 WAP can wireless bridge together and extended the range.

But F5D7230-4 itself can be set as a AP. But can it be a WAP and get extended the range.
I have weak signal (too many wall) and those router are cheap (cp to the WAP)

 

[JackMDS]

Some of the Belkins 802.11g can do it.

It is called WDS, or and it should mention that the thing can be configured as a Client, or Group Bridge, or a Repeater.

Link to: Extending the Distance of Entry Level Wireless Network.

Link to: Wirelessly Bridging Home / SOHO Network.

:sun:

 

[cparker]

At the belkin site there is a download of an "addendum" to the manual that gives instructions for using that router as a wireless bridge. I looked at it. It appears you will have to download some newer firmware but it seems like it's very doable. Funny, I picked one up at the compusa 6 hour sale last night for 8 bucks. If I had known this I would have picked up two. Actually, the sale is still going on on the West Coast if anyone has any interest.

 

[cparker]

I looked some more at that addendum as well as the manual from the belkin site. It's a bit confusing. Reading the addendum would indicate that you need to have a different box: a Belkin access point, to do bridging with. But reading the main router manual you get the impression that you can do the bridging from the router to an access point, but also you can configure one of these routers as an access point. I think if you have two of the routers go ahead and configure one as an access point and see if you can get them to communicate -- you have to inter the mac adress of the access point (router configured as an access point) and i would think it would work. I'm not sure you could do the kind of bridging you can with say two access point boxes such as two wap54gs, but it might be possible.

By the way, I did the same search for the netgear 802.11g router and it was equally confusing. Maybe someone out here has done it already. That would surely help.

One more thing, if you look around for the next month or so you will probably find one of the Belkin access points on sale at one of the outlets in the 10-20 buck range. It seems to be fire sale time on 802.11g gear. Probably lots of inventory.

 

[cparker]

Take a look at this article from the Belkin knowledge base:

How To: Configure WDS (Wireless Bridging) with the 54g router

here is the url:

http://search.belkin.com/cgi-bin/MsmGo....+ROUTED+ROUTEUR+router+ROUTERS+ROUTES+

 

[lsman]

Thanks all,
JackMDS, some good info.
cparker, I already read the belkin site. (same as you a bit confuse)

As I said, the wireless router F5D7230-4 can act as a AP. BUT you need a CAT5 to connect them together to make it work. My interested will be without the wired connection, will it act as a "wireless" access point.
F5D7230-4 has 10AR all the time (if rebates all back. I got one during BF at CC 5 AR)
Currently the f5d7130, cheapest is at officeMax with 20 Rebate for $50.

one F5D7230-4 and one f5d7130 should works. but two F5D7230-4....

Quota as the first link of JackMDS gives:
"Scenario 2: A "normal" two floors house. The Internet Modem and the Router are in the Den and the signal can not cover the whole house, it usually covers the Computer room and the direct rooms next, sideway, and above.

Additional Access Point was installed and physically put on a high pedestal near the staircase in the hallway. The AP was connected to the den's Wireless Router with a long CAT5 cable. The result a total converge of all the house with good Wireless signal.

As oppose to the solution in Scenario One, putting a better Antenna on the Wireless source in a multi level multi room envioroment, would not benefit as much as adding a second unit in a better location.

Cost: $20-$40 for Wireless Router (used as an Access point) + $8 for CAT5e.

Since the price of Wireless Routers is much lower than the price of Access Points. Many people extend the coverage by connecting a second Wireless Router, configured as an Access Point, to the primary Wireless Router that is connected to the Internet modem.
"

 

[cparker]

It is definitely confusing. OK, maybe this will help, last week I saw an ad for Motorola access points (802.11g) for something like 10 dollars after rebates. I believe it was from compusa. They will probably be available again. I looked at the manuals. They can do just about everything a wap54g can but you need two of them to boogie. I also saw ads for netgear 802.11g access points for 20 bucks also. so it's only a matter of time before you will find two of these or other brands at a good price. I think you are much better off getting boxed access points rather than trying to configure a boxed router as an access point and then trying to bridge them. THe companies seem to want to make you buy more boxes and they set the firmware up to have limitations. I'm pretty new to all of this, so I'm just telling you what I've picked up the past few weeks. In my case I just picked up two wap54g boxes for 42 bucks (after mir) from pcconnection. I've also picked up some cheap or free routers (after mir) for adding wireless to my bridged networks. But looking at the wap54g manual and already having played with one of the units as an access point, well it's real easy, convenient, beats all this trying to figure out how to configure the Belkin router. (I'm planning on bridging two lans in the next month or so over a distance of say 700 feet line of site using gain antennas along with the access points configured as a wireless bridge.) All this aside, I believe you might be able to bridge two of the belkin routers, but it would be nice if someon has already done it before and can clue you in as to it's feasibility.

I hope this helps. This wireless is fun, kind of a learning experience.

 

[newParadigm]

hrm, i have a WRT54g, i just purchased netgear router, and am using it as my main router, and the linksys as a 'client' AP. This setup however requires the linksys router to act as a gatway for the pcs behind to the rest of your wirlese networks, in effect creating two seperate networks. THis is a problem for local file sharing and such.

The setup looks like this.

____________ _________________ ________
|Cable Modem |______cat5______(WAN Port)|Netgear WGR614v4 |(wirelessLAN 'Port')~~~WiFi~~~(wireless WAN 'Port')|WRT54G|
|___________.| |________________.|<---192.168.101.1 |_______| <---192.168.102.1
. | |
. | |
. C C
. A A
. T T
. 5 5
. | |
. | |
. _|__ _|__
. |PC1|192.168.101.100 |PC2|[192.168.102.100
. |___| |___|
If i can use WDS with tis belkin router, then the setup will lok like this:

____________ _________________ ________
|Cable Modem |______cat5______(WAN Port)|Belkin WiFi Router |(wirelessLAN 'Port')~~~WiFi~~~(wireless LAN 'Port')|WRT54G|
|___________.| |________________.|<---192.168.101.1 |_______| <---192.168.102.1
. | |
. | |
. C C
. A A
. T T
. 5 5
. | |
. | |
. _|__ _|__
. |PC1|192.168.101.100 |PC2|[192.168.102.100
. |___| |___|


This would be awesome, and with the new Talisman firmware coming out fro mSveasoft, this will be a very powerful router.


~new

 

[newParadigm]

yeah, i know, its just a buncha giberish, dint quite come out the way i intended,

~new