wireless router to wireless router - can any consumer routers dothis?

I have two home offices, and it would be nice to have a wireless
router in each office that has 4 ports that I can plug wired ethernet
connections into (or wired routers). One of the two offices has the
broadband connection (DSL).

I've been looking at the products sold by Best Buy and other stores,
and it is unclear what is the best way to do this.

For the remote office not connected directly to the broadband DSL
line, would it make any sense to use a real wired router and then
connect that wired router to a "wireless access point"? "wireless
bridge"? or ???

franzbrown@yahoo.com wrote:
> I have two home offices, and it would be nice to have a wireless
> router in each office that has 4 ports that I can plug wired ethernet
> connections into (or wired routers). One of the two offices has the
> broadband connection (DSL).
>
> I've been looking at the products sold by Best Buy and other stores,
> and it is unclear what is the best way to do this.
>
> For the remote office not connected directly to the broadband DSL
> line, would it make any sense to use a real wired router and then
> connect that wired router to a "wireless access point"? "wireless
> bridge"? or ???

how far apart and other details ?
quick suggestion - can you run Ethernet cable between them ?
or - could you run some Power Networking using the AC outlets
to connect the 2 offices and their respective Access Points ?

> how far apart and other details ?
> quick suggestion - can you run Ethernet cable between them ?
> or - could you run some Power Networking using the AC outlets
> to connect the 2 offices and their respective Access Points ?

Maybe 50 feet apart and on separate floors.

I don't want to go with a pure wired solution.

On Fri, 25 Apr 2008 08:12:55 -0700 (PDT), franzbrown@yahoo.com wrote:

>I have two home offices, and it would be nice to have a wireless
>router in each office that has 4 ports that I can plug wired ethernet
>connections into (or wired routers). One of the two offices has the
>broadband connection (DSL).
>
>I've been looking at the products sold by Best Buy and other stores,
>and it is unclear what is the best way to do this.
>
>For the remote office not connected directly to the broadband DSL
>line, would it make any sense to use a real wired router and then
>connect that wired router to a "wireless access point"? "wireless
>bridge"? or ???

I can see you're not familiar with the marketing buzzwords. What you
want is a "wireless client bridge" or "workgroup client bridge". It's
essentially a wireless ethernet extension cable. They usually have
only a single ethernet jack, but you can plug an ethernet switch or
hub into this port to expand the number of plug in connections.

Here's a partial list of probable candidates:
<http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi#Wireless_Ethernet_Bridges>
The most important specification is that it has the ability to bridge
multiple MAC addresses. This is often not specified by the
manufacturer and difficult to determine. The one's listed as "multi"
have allegedly been determined to do this. Watch out for "game
adapters" which will work, but often will bridge exactly one MAC
address. Also, some boxes, specifically the DWL-2100AP handles
multiple MAC addresses on some firmware versions, but not on others.
Yeah, it sucks, but it's the best I can do with available data.

You can also use the various open source router firmware such as
DD-WRT in the client mode to do the bridging.
<http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Client_Mode_Wireless>

Also, search for Cisco or 3Com "workgroup bridge", which are wireless
client bridges limited to 8 or 16 machines plugged into the device.

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

On Fri, 25 Apr 2008 08:12:55 -0700 (PDT), franzbrown@yahoo.com wrote:

>I have two home offices, and it would be nice to have a wireless
>router in each office that has 4 ports that I can plug wired ethernet
>connections into (or wired routers). One of the two offices has the
>broadband connection (DSL).
>
>I've been looking at the products sold by Best Buy and other stores,
>and it is unclear what is the best way to do this.
>
>For the remote office not connected directly to the broadband DSL
>line, would it make any sense to use a real wired router and then
>connect that wired router to a "wireless access point"? "wireless
>bridge"? or ???
>
I forgot to mumble something about WDS (wireless distribution
something).
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_Distribution_System>
It allows the use of a wireless "device" simultaneously as a wireless
access point and client bridge. Many wireless routers have a WDS
feature built in. However, since compatibility of this feature is not
certified by the Wi-Fi Conglomeration, operationg between dissimilar
manufacturers and even among different product lines from the same
manufacturer, is not guaranteed.

The function is the same as a "wireless client bridge" with the added
ability to act as an access point for wireless clients. That means
you'll be able to use a wireless laptop around this device, without
plugging in, or trying to connect to the main wireless router 50ft
away. However, your maximum wireless speed is cut in half doing it
this way, and connections tend to be somewhat erratic.

Since you didn't bother to supply any makers and model numbers for
your existing hardware, I can't offer any specific hardware
suggestions.



--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558