Please help with Access Point problem

I would really appreciate some help. I am sooo lost.

I want to get internet access to an non-profit office that can't get DSL at their site & cable internet is too expensive for them. I am going to try to get them internet acceess from one of their employees who has cable broadband & lives on the street behind the office, about 250 feet away - line of sight with nothing interfering.

So far I purchased the following: Dlink Router (DI624) Dlink AP (DWL-2100AP) Dlindk Switch (DGS-2205) Dlink Outdoor Directional Panel Antenna (ANT24-1400).

I will put the router at the employee's house & connect it to the antenna. The antenna will point to the office. At the office I will have the AP & connect it to the switch. From the swithch 2 or 3 computers will be wired to it for internet access & file sharing.

I have tried to get the AP working in my office before I take it onsite. I am able to wire the AP to a computer & access the AP configuration from the computer. I set it up in the AP Client Mode & then tried to access the wireless router network- but no success.

If it is setup in this way isn't the AP basically acting the same as a wireless card in the computer?

Questions:

1) Does the way I want to set everything up make sense? If there is a better way, please let me know.

2) How do I configure the AP wireless mode? as an Access Point, WDS with AP, AP Repeater, or AP Client.

3) The router will have encryption enabled (WPA-PSK). a) Do I have to set the AP to the same type of encryption b) or does it matter what wireless mode the AP uses?

I you can help me it will be greatly appreciated.

Ed snipped-for-privacy@fastmail.fm

Reply to
Edincleve
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"Edincleve" hath wroth:

Most major ISP's have special programs for schools, charitable organizations, and public service agencies. They're often difficult to find, but they do exist. Non-profits are a borderline situation that usually requires some convincing but can be done. A 501(c)(3) status is usually the minimum requirement.

Perfect. No problem except that there may be some interference from other nearby systems. I suggest you do a "site survey" with at least Netstumbler or Kismet to determine if there may be any interference. Much of the interference can be eliminated with highly directional antennas, but this also agrivates the problem along the line of sight.

No problem so far. I'm not thrilled with your selection of hardware, but it will work. The DWL-2100AP has a client mode that can be used:

Select AP client. Insert the MAC address of the wireless port of the DI624 (on the status page). You should have a connection.

That could be anything from no signal to bad configuration. Drag the DWL-2100AP and DI624 into the same room. Run a simulated test using a local computer. Keep it simple. Once you have verified that the two will talk to each other, then you can play with the antenna.

Hmmm.... why only one directional antenna? Are you perhaps shooting through a window? What are you leaving out about in the RF path description?

Also, while you have everything in one place, could I trouble you to update the firmware in both the DI-624 and the DWL-2100AP. Even new off the shelf, they're often out of date.

By AP, I assume you mean the DWL-2100AP. It has various modes, one of which is to act as a client. You'll be using it in the client mode. Here is a list of other wireless bridges from the FAQ that will do the same thing:

Nope. It sounds tolerable. I have to question whether you really have line of sight and whether you have enough gain to make it 250ft away. Without calculating, my guess is that you're doing fine.

However, for 250ft, I would have considered other means such as CAT5, ethernet extenders, fiber, coax, power line, or phone line networking.

Power Line networking:

Phone line networking:

CATV coax sharing:

Ethernet extenders:

Plenty of others, but these are a good start at alternatives.

See:

You should probably use "AP Client". You could also use WDS bridge which combines the best of a client ethernet bridge with a repeater, but only if you really want to use a wireless client at the DWL-2100AP end. WDS is supported in later versions of the DWL-2100AP firmware

I really don't want to walk you through the setup. Call Dlink support and ask them. If that doesn't work or you're still lost after reading the documentation,

come back and we'll try again.

Yeah, that will work for client mode to access point mode. However, it will possibly not work for WDS mode where you may be stuck with WEP. I say may be because some combinations do work, but most do not.

Yes. You also have to set the shared key to be the same at both ends.

Yes. The router will use "infrastructure mode" also known as access point mode. The DWL-2100AP will probably use "AP client" mode also known as "ethernet client wireless bridge" mode.

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

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