Ugh! I thought I knew what I was doing.

[geekgrrl-ca.livejournal.com]

I recently went to add a second segment to my network. basicly this is how it works right now -

Satellite bidirectional modem (land connections are better but that's a different post) with built in NAT and DHCP (oh how I wish I could turn off both of them and let one of my other routers do that stuff).

Connected to the satellite modem is a DLink 802.11g router (I forgot the model and I'm at work). Router is set to IP address of 192.168.0.10 (modem is set to 192.168.0.1), has dhcp turned off and the sat modem is plugged into port 1 instead of WAN because we aren't interested in the NAT abilities of the router, we just want the wireless bridge and switching abilities for the wired section of the network. All that works fine.both wired and wireless clients can get dhcp addresses and connect to the internet.

Now comes the part I thought I knew what I was doing and I'm not... We recently picked up a USR 802.11g (model 8054) router. The idea is that our network upstairs (which isn't connected to anything) will use the USR to connect to the network downstairs wirelessly (running cables just isn't a viable option). Except I can't get the USR to talk wirelessly to the DLINK.

The USR IP address is set to 192.168.0.254, and I've tried the following things - setting the channels to same number, setting the channels to different numbers, setting the SSIDs to the same name and setting the SSIDs to different names. Regardless the USR doesn't do anything except sometimes interfere with the working segment depending on configuration. I guess I need to do more reading.

Comments

[eikichi-onizuka.livejournal.com]

Do the routers support WDS? Normally, routers will not wirelessly speak to one another unless they support WDS.

[geekgrrl-ca.livejournal.com]

Just fount out about that requirement last night. They probably don't

[kalidor.livejournal.com]

sounds like teh USR 802.11g isn't meant to work as a wireless bridge...

So either need to get a bridging device, or find a way to hack the USR.

I know one of the homebrew firmwares for my wrt54g from linksys provides wireless bridging. You have to enter the SSID and Mac Address of sister AP's in order for it to connect, on a seperate wireless bridging page in the config.

[geekgrrl-ca.livejournal.com]

I'll have to look into that. maybe we can reverse the dlink's and usr's position.

[eightofspades.livejournal.com]

Running off my head I don't think you're going to find a lot of dlink firmwares... the wrt54g is a special breed since Cisco open-sourced the code.

Even want a bash shell on a router? (:

-----

Honestly, I think your best bet is taking the USR back while you can and getting a wireless bridge.

[geekgrrl-ca.livejournal.com]

Probably, though can't argue with the price of my USR, probably just ebay it or the dlink.

[japester.livejournal.com]

my dlink g604T (wireless adsl modem/router) has shell access. :)
it's running a linux of sorts with a 175MHz MIPS processor.
I haven't seen any firmwares for dlink stuff that's not pre packaged 'from dlink' though.
you can also get an opensource firmware for the wrtg54 series that lets you do seamless mesh networking over wireless.

[eightofspades.livejournal.com]

Yea, it's a pity I haven't found any directories of wrt54g firmwares out there. All the information I find is sketchy.

[torkell]

If all you want is a 802.11g wireless-ethernet bridge (not AP or router) then the Netgear WGE101 will do the trick. The only downisde to it is it only supports WEP encryption, not WPA. MAC address filtering is also fun with it - basically you need it's address, plus at least the address of the first computer that conencts from the wired side in the mac filter. Once it's actually connected, it appears to let anything through from the wired side.

[geekgrrl-ca.livejournal.com]

Security thankfully is not an issue. The signal barely makes it through the house and part of the back yard never mind next door (1 km away). Main reason I grabbed the USR was price. $60 with $50 mail in rebate.

[starblazr.livejournal.com]

go get a pair of WRT54G's and flash em with dd-wrt or OpenWRT.