WDS with dual band router - 802.11n as backbone

[Qacer]

Hi everyone.... I have two Linksys E3000 routers. Both already have DD-WRT installed. I have read on various forums that you some folks have succeeded in setting up the 802.11n as the primary link for their WDS network. This is pretty straightforward.

In this particular setup, they use the 802.11n at 5GHz link to connect two routers in a WDS configuration. The primary router acted as the gateway and DNS for the second router. Easy setup. Devices connected to the switch ports of the second router automatically had Internet access.

What if I want to extend this concept and also allow wireless devices connected to the 2.4Ghz link on both routers? How do I configure the 2.4Ghz link using 802.11g so that this can be done? Do I just leave the wireless configuration as is (i.e., Wireless mode = AP and whatever security settings I pick)?

I figured if the wireless link is treated like another switch port, then I shouldn't have to do anything different, right?

Thanks!

 

[serpretetsky]

this is for client wireless bridge mode for dd-wrt
http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Client_Bridged

did you also want the client router to send the signal back out again (will wireless devices benig connecting to the client router?). If yes, that mode is usually called repeater mode.

edit: ohh, and no, 2.4 vs 5 shouldn't matter, everything else should be the same setup.

 

[Qacer]

What I really want to do is extend my wireless coverage. If I use the 802.11n at 5GHz as the primary link to connect two routers, then I'm thinking that I can just treat this like a physical cable connecting two routers. Only this wireless link has a higher throughput using 802.11n compared to using 802.11g.

So if I'm solely devoting the 802.11n connection to act as a backbone virtual link to connect the two routers, then that should free up the 2.4Ghz radios of the Linksys E3000 to act as access points to wireless devices.

If I'm reading your comment right, then if I set my 2nd router to repeater mode, then that would just be like extending the access point in router 1 to router 2?

What if I want both routers to have different SSID? That way I can just configure my devices to pick the access point with the strongest signal. From what I read, if both routers have the same SSID, then some wireless devices still like to latch on to the weaker signal even though there's another router serving the same SSID with a stronger signal.

Thanks!

 

[serpretetsky]

ahh, that would be an interesting setup, i'm not sure how to accomplish that, good luck!
It seems repeater mode will require the same SSID and the same channel for both devices and it seems it should be seamless, however it reduces your total bandwidth.

 

[cedmondson28]

I have an Asus RTN-12 B1 and a Cisco E3000. I am attempting to set my 2.4ghz as backbone (rtn12b1 doesnt support 5 ghz) and use my 5ghz on the E3000 as my main wireless which in theory will reduce Retransmission of wireless packets which will cut your link speed in half. I am using Tomato instead of DDWRT (in my opinion its much easier to configure). Theyre both good firmwares. My issue is I cant find the wireless lan page on the E3000, the RTN12 has it in the Advanced page but not E3000. Will update once I figure this out.