Need help setting up wireless bridge

[SemperFi]

I have a lan setup in two different spots. Both having wired and wireless connections. One has internet connection(cable). A couple weeks ago Staples had a heck of a deal on linksys router and I picked up 2. I flashed both to dd-wrt firmware. I am getting a couple of hi gain directional antennas to finish up.

My problem and question is how to set up the 2 routers. I don't know which mode to use. They talk about client and client bridge. I read in the how to on the dd-wrt website but didn't find one that quite fits my situation. I have set up my own network but nothing like this before.

My main questions are what mode to run the router in and how to wire in into each network.

Thanks for the help.

 

[xSauronx]

There are really 3 ways (iirc) to setup 2 dd-wrt flashed routers to share a wireless connection. Ive tried them all so ill try to explain them briefly (something im not good at )

Client: This turns your 2nd wireless router into...a wireless adapter.

Client bridge: This turns the 2nd router into a bridge unit, which you can connect to via ethernet to get 5 wired connections (if you use the WAN port as switch option). This 2nd router wont be using any of its other available functions such as DHCP, NAT, etc.

WDS mode: This is what ive gone with at home. Basically it allows the 2nd router to act as an AP/Bridge/Router all at once. You can use it to extend wifi range while still taking advantage of the other router functions (not that it should be necessary, or even taken advantage of, but the functionality is there) and all of the ethernet ports.

Keep in mind each WDS node halves your wifi bandwidth, as all nodes must share a channel in order to accept and send connections between WDS nodes *and* wifi clients at the same time. Still, its damn handy to have the option

My situation is oddball a little. I have a cable modem and a dd-wrt router/AP. nothing is wired to it.

Connection to this AP (downstairs, central area of home) are 4 clients and a WDS node.

Connecting to the WDS node (upstairs and on the west side) are 3 wired clients, and sometimes 1 or 2 wireless clients. So i take advantage of extended wifi range and most of the ethernet connections on the 2nd router/ap.

The 1st router/ap hands our DHCP addresses and acts as the primary gateway as well as dns lookup; otherwise typical uses for a wireless router in a home.

 

[JackMDS]

The DD_WRT people are a little confused with the terms.

They Call the typical Client Mode, Wireless Bridge.

However if you want to use the second Router as a bridge and as Wireless in the second location you need to use it as WDS.

In General.

Wireless Bridging - http://www.ezlan.net/bridging.html

 

[SemperFi]

Thanks for that link Jack. Definitely some good info. Going from your link I am looking at situation one. I have routers setup in both locations at the moment. I want to use the 2 routers I just bought and flashed to dd-wrt as the bridge.

So from what I am reading my 2 newly flashed routers that are going to be the bridge, the one on the destinations side(non internet) wireless gets set as an access point. On the source side it says to plug in a consumer bridge into the router. I have a router and the choices in the software are client bridge and repeater bridge. I am assuming I should set my source router in the client bridge mode. Is that correct? I just noticed in the settings there is a network configruation setting which has 2 choices bridged and unbridged. Am I right in assuming that both routers should be set bridged.

 

[JackMDS]

The Main Route on the source side is set as normal Router.

The Router in the remote location if its Wireless has to be used has to be set as WDS.

The WDS (Repeater Router) get the info from the source and repeat it at the remote location.

 

[SemperFi]

Jack you are quick. I hit enter by accident and after editing my last post you already have an answer.

I hope this isn't a stupid question. Are the 2 routers you talking about just the bridging routers or are you saying that I only need 2. My plan is 4 routers total. The 2 that are already up and running, with wired and wireless on both sides. Then the 2 that are going to bridge it. I just want to make sure I am understanding you correctly. I am new at this and I appreciate your help.

 

[JackMDS]

You can use two Routers, but you lose half of the bandwidth at the remote location.

If half of the Bandwidth is Not acceptable, you can avoid it by using three.

Device 1. At the main location set regularly.

Device 2. A Wireless Router that use as a Client Bridge only.

Device 3. A Wireless Router used as am Access Point and plugged into the Bridge

You can use four Wireless Routers in the classical setting in which two Wireless Router acting as a bridge only and No other device can connect to the two.

In most Home/SOHO situations it does not provide anything more than the three Routers arrangements.

 

[SemperFi]

Thanks for detailing it for this dummy, Jack.

My intention is to use 4 routers. Reason being is the 2 bridge routers are going to be set in higher remote locations with directional antennas. So I figured I would use 2 for the bridge and one (the current one in use at each location) to handle the wireless at each building. That sounded like a match to the scenario one in the link you provided earlier. I just didn't quite understand all the settings mentioned on that page.