making a wireless bridge with 3 routers

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  • NICETOBNICE
    DK Veteran
    • Nov 2011
    • 551

    #1

    making a wireless bridge with 3 routers

    I have a 4 story house and struggle to get internet conection to my upstairs laptop i have 3 routers listed below
    Dir-615 with ddwrt firmware
    linksys cisco wrt120n standard
    netgear vmdg280
    I can extend the range slightly by adding a network cable from the one to another but dont want wires everywhere. i did notice that the dir-615 has options in
    wireless mode including repeater and repeater bridge but havent a clue how to set this up to the other routers
    if anyone could help me out i would be very gratefull
  • sat12
    Newbie
    • Jul 2010
    • 4

    #2
    Originally posted by NICETOBNICE
    I have a 4 story house and struggle to get internet conection to my upstairs laptop i have 3 routers listed below
    Dir-615 with ddwrt firmware
    linksys cisco wrt120n standard
    netgear vmdg280
    I can extend the range slightly by adding a network cable from the one to another but dont want wires everywhere. i did notice that the dir-615 has options in
    wireless mode including repeater and repeater bridge but havent a clue how to set this up to the other routers
    if anyone could help me out i would be very gratefull
    It appears as though you'll only be able to use two of your routers to do this. Either one of the routers without the dd-wrt software and the one with.
    I've set up many routers as a bridge/repeater for myself, family, and friends. I used an article from wifiplanet dot com. I've copied and pasted the instructions I've used. Let me know if you have any questions. Good luck and don't forget to hit Thanks.


    Router Setup
    Take note of any wirelesssecurity currently enabled on your host router. If you are using WEP, note your passphrase and key length (64-bit, 128-bit, etc.). If using WPA or WPA2, note your passphrase. Later, you?ll need to use these to set up your repeater. Note that because DD-WRT V24 is still a beta, your mileage may vary when it comes to repeating a secured host router. Users of earlier betas reported a number of problems, but these seem to be smoothed out with the latest releases (the V24 1/15/07 release, as I write this).
    Also make note of the SSID of the host AP you want to repeat. Alternatively, you can scan for available APs from within the router?s administration interface as well.
    You will need to access the administration interface of the DD-WRT router you?re setting up as the repeater. Connect a wired PC to the DD-WRT router. Be sure to disable any wireless adapter on your PC for now, and plug the Ethernet cable into one of the LAN (not WAN) ports on your DD-WRT router.
    Step By Step
    Assuming your DD-WRT is set to factory defaults, its IP address is 192.168.1.1. If your client PC is configured to receive an IP automatically, it should be assigned an address by the router.
    Step 1. Open a browser on your PC and connect to the DD-WRT router ? its default address is http://192.168.1.1. The default login is root and password is admin. Of course, you should change these. If you don?t, you?ll have bad dreams involving Sally Struthers and bathing.
    Step 2. Click Setup/Basic Setup. You can leave Connection Type at its default, ?Automatic Configuration ? DHCP.? You can leave the router and host name fields at default if you like, or customize them as we did.
    The most important setting here is the Local IP Address. This must be a different subnet than that which the host AP is on. Our host AP is on 192.168.1.1, which was also the default for this DD-WRT router. Thus, we?ve changed the DD-WRT router to 10.0.0.1.
    You can leave the remaining settings alone ? the DHCP enabled, etc. ? and click Save Settings at the bottom of the page. Your router will reboot.
    Because it will restart with a new IP address, you will need to repair the client connection at your PC to join the new subnet. (Otherwise, you won?t be able to access the administration page any more.)
    In Windows XP, navigate to Control Panel/Network Connections, right-click on the Local Area Network connection, and choose ?Repair? from the pop-up menu.
    Once reconnected to the router, you should open your browser to its new address ? in this example, http://10.0.0.1.
    Step 3. Click Security/Firewall and click to Disable the SPI Firewall. If you want any special firewall settings, you should configure these on the host router.
    Step 4. Click Wireless/Basic Settings. For Wireless Mode change the selection from its default ?AP? to ?Repeater?.
    Unless your host router is set to G-only mode, leave Wireless Network Mode set to ?Mixed?. If your host router is set to G-only, likewise choose ?G-Only? here.
    Set the Wireless Network Name (SSID) to the SSID of your host router. If you don?t know it and for some reason can?t figure it out, we?ll show you how to scan for it a little later.
    Leave the remaining settings at their defaults. Some claim that setting SensitivityRange (ACK Timing) to 0 improves performance, which you might experiment with once the repeater setup is tested and working.
    Important: Now click Save Settings. The page will then refresh.
    At this point, you have essentially set up the DD-WRT router in wireless client mode. Your PC that is wired to the router should be able to access the Internet, assuming that the host router can.
    The next step is to enable the DD-WRT router to behave as a wireless AP in addition to being a wireless client. That?s why they call it a repeater, mmmkay?
    To perform this trick, you will create a Virtual Interface. This will behave as a software AP, broadcasting its own SSID and bridging external wireless clients to the router, which is itself a wireless client to the host router in this configuration.
    Click the Add button and the page will refresh again, with new fields for configuring the Virtual Interface.
    Fill in Wireless Network Name (SSID) with the name you want for the repeated wireless network. For best results, this should be different from the SSID for the host router. You will see this SSID available when your wireless clients scan for access points.
    Leave the remaining fields at their default values as seen here, and be sure to click Save Settings.
    Step 5. Click Wireless/Wireless Security. In repeater mode, you need to consider two dimensions of security:
    First, is security enabled on the host router that you?re repeating? If yes, you?ll need to configure security on the DD-WRT router?s ?physical interface? to match.
    Second, do you want security between your repeater and local wireless clients? If so, you?ll need to configure the kind of security you want on the DD-WRT router?s ?virtual interface? and, of course, on each individual wireless client that associates with the repeater.
    In this example, we?re using WPA2 security to connect to the host router. Obviously, you must enter the correct shared key as configured on the host router.
    We?re also using WPA2 security for the repeated signal. Note that on the Virtual Interface, we are choosing a shared key, one which we?ll need to use on each wireless client PC.
    In theory, you can select a different security mode for your repeated network (the virtual interface) than you are using with the host router. You could choose to use no security on the host router, and secure only the repeated network; or you could use security only at the host router and none on the repeated network.
    Users report varying success mixing and matching security modes, most likely due to DD-WRT V24 still being a maturing beta.
    Ideally, you should initially set up your repeater with no security for either interface. This assumes that you have administrative access to your host router if it is currently secured. Once the repeater is verified as working, add each layer of security separately to best pinpoint any problems.

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    • NICETOBNICE
      DK Veteran
      • Nov 2011
      • 551

      #3
      thanks for your help i have tried this perfectly to the post and still connect even gain internet ascess to the wired ddwrt router not sure whats wrong it may be the first router linksys cisco wrt120n any ideas ?

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