Connecting two Linksys WRT54GS routers together

[max2]

I would like to connect to linksys WRT54GS routers together to extend wireless converage in my home please. I am not real sure what I am doing.

Is there anyway to connect the two linksys WRT54GS routers together wirelessly so I don't need any CAT 5 wire to connect them together or would I still need to buy a repeater if I wanted to do that? The reason is my cat 5 ethernet cable is a little to short. Would this be a bad idea to do sense I want to extend my wireless coverage in my home? Would it just be better to bite the bullet and make do with cat 5 cable that is a little bit to short?

Whichever way would be better please say so and how would I go about connecting both of the Linksys WRT54GS routers please so it extends my wireless coverage?

 

[ColKurtz]

You'll have to flash the routers with 3rd party firmware, but it can be done as long as you don't have v.5 version of the routers. Read here and here.

 

[max2]

Thanks.

Would it be best to connect both of the routers together with a cat 5 wire instead sense there are about 2 to 4 walls inbetween the 2 routers I would say? Home only has one floor.

The reason I am asking because I want to extend the wireless converage in my home. I can deal with the little bit two short cat 5 ethernet cable between the two routers. Its not a big deal just would be easier to beable to move the 2nd router whereever I wanted sense it would be wirelessly connected to the other router.

 

[Atheus]

You might be able to extend coverage without a second router by getting a better antenna and boosting the power on the router.

 

[bluestrobe]

Originally posted by: Atheus
You might be able to extend coverage without a second router by getting a better antenna and boosting the power on the router.

As the OP said, he doesn't really know what hes doing. I would go against boosting the power on these units since that can fry them over time and gain is the thing he would be looking for, not the power output. A hard line between both would the best and more secure solution.

 

[Madwand1]

I agree that the hardline is the best solution, and also most easily preserves the security with minimal fuss and cost.

If you really wanted to avoid running that line, then another option would be to try a wireless bridge.

Router A -> Wireless Bridge -> hardwired to Access Point / Router B.

The Netgear WGPS606 Wireless Print Server has a wireless bridge built-in that works well in my experience as a simple bridge. It's highest security at present is WPA-TKIP (which is probably fine).

However, there's a very good chance that this won't work. If you want to pursue this further, please ask me directly to test it out. I'm concerned that the bridge might get confused by the two wireless routers, and if it decides to bridge to the 2nd one at any point, it will simply fail, and possibly cause IP conflicts in the process. MAC filtering might be able to avoid this problem.

Some AP's will do wireless range extention via WDS, however, with consumer gear at least, this often degrades the security to WEP, which IMO is too low, making this option not recommended.