Extend range of wireless w/ ethernet bridge instead of wds

[mjia]

I have a rather large house and I am unable to connect wirelessly in my back yard. I don't want to spend the money to get a repeater. Instead, I'd like to extend the range of my network using two access points.

One way to to configure the access points to use WDS. I connected one AP to my wired network, and the other remotely, positioned close to the backyard (but still inside the house). I got this working. The problem with WDS is that the bandwidth of the AP are halved, and I would like to avoid this if possible.

Another idea I was exploring is using one of the AP to bridge the two networks. I set the AP connected to the wired network in wireless client mode and to operated as a bridge. The actual wireless AP is position remotely and not physically attached to anything. In this configuration, I am able to access my internal wired network wirelessly. However, I cannot access the internet from my router. I run Kerio's WinRoute to do NAT and DHCP. The remote machine is able to access my network (included being assigned an IP by my DHCP server) but unable to connect to the internet (DNS works, but nothing else).

For testing purposes, I tried switching the roles of the two wireless APs (so wired network is connected to the actual wireless AP). Then connecting one computer to the bridged AP. Everything works in this configuration. Of course this is not a real solution (unless I attached a third AP to the briged AP). Could WinRoute be the cause of the problem by preventing access becuase of it own security policies (I don't see anything in the logs)?

Another question I have is whether this briged configuration will actually improve performance. I'm thinking that in bridged mode, latency will increase since the AP will have to foward packets to the bridged AP, but bandwidth should not be significantly reduced.

 

[JackMDS]

For practical purposes it does not really matter, a stand-alone repeater is a stripped down Access Point that has a Repeater Mode. WDS is similar too.

If you are using hardware produced by different Brands WDS has a better chance to be compatible.

Entry Level Repeaters cut the Bandwidth into half past the repeating point.

Link to: Wirelessly Bridging Home / Network.

BTW, using Software NAT in such Wireless Network might yield unstable network.

:sun:

 

[mjia]

Thanks for the link. My bridging configuration is just like one described on the site. It did mention that in these types of configurations, the AP would have to constantly switch between send/recieve mode, reducing speed.

Are you saying that WDS and a bridged network would be the same speed in practice?

 

[mjia]

Looks like I got it working. It seems that the client mode AP doesn't work properly in ethernet bridge mode. I changed it to gateway mode and everything starting working. There is nothing plugged into its WAN port, so I don't think it is actually doing any address translation to the internet. I have no idea why it is working now...other than the AP just being weird.

There is no noticable speed drop while accessing the internet (verus wired). I haven't had a chance to compare it with WDS though.