How can you bridge two 802.11b devices in one machine...

[wasssup]

I'm a cheapass, so instead of buying a wireless bridge for my media center (xbox) I put a computer under a table in the family room, connected a wireless 802.11b usb device to it, and bridged it with my local network connection. My xbox was connected to my pc via a crossover cable.

OK, great, my pc was working great as a wireless bridge, BUT my xbox would hiccup in when playing back files with a higher bitrate (only over this wireless network, not when the files are stored locally)...guess I couldn't sustain a high enough throughput with this setup.

So I figured well, I have another 802.11b usb device lying around, why not throw that into the machine so I can double the theoretical throughput? I did that, spent a good 30mins playing with the drivers to get both to see the wireless network, bridged the two wireless connections with my lan and thought all was well. While playing a file back on my xbox, I switched over to my pc and noticed it was only transmitting data through one of the usb 802.11b devices...

Does anyone know what i'm doing wrong..?

 

[imported_FishTaco]

Uh, this might work if you had 2 access points running on different channels, and you set each of the 2 usb devices to access the 2 different access points. If they are both going to the same access point, which is what it sounds like, you won't get double your bandwidth because they are both running on the same channel. At least that's the way I understand it. There are some B devices that used proprietary solutions to double B bandwidth by using 2 channels, but if you don't have that equipment already it makes no sense in purchasing it since G equipment is so cheap.

Instead of streaming, you could send the file to the xbox's pc and have the xbox play from there. That's the cheap solution.

 

[wasssup]

While its true that G devices are cheap, i'm holding out till they're free after rebates or close to it

well, thanks for the info, guess i'll make do with what i have for now

 

[thomsbrain]

yeah, i think this doesn't work because your entire wireless network only gets 11 Mbps, not 11 to each device. wireless stuff doesn't work like a switched network, but more like a hub-based network. so you can't use two and get 22. someone correct me if i'm wrong.

 

[nightowl]

The others are correct. In order to get more bandwidth out of multiple wireless connections you need to have multiple APs running on different channels, preferably non-overlapping channels. You are probably better off getting a wireless bridge or running a cable to your xbox.