Wireless routers connected wirelessly

I am trying to setup a wireless access point for my XBox. I have my main wireless router (DLink 2310) hardwired to my cable modem and want to have my second wireless router (Linksys WRT54GC) setup as an access point without having to hardwire it to my main router. Is this possible?

I would like to hardwire my Xbox into the 2nd router and be able to get on Xbox Live through the main router, wirelessly.

Please let me know if any clarification is needed. I hope I've explained this well enough. I've hit a brick wall with this, after a lot of searching google and xbox.com. I've heard that this may not be possible, but I'm not sure I can trust that source.

Thanks.

Reply to
Tara
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On 28 Nov 2006 06:35:39 -0800, "Tara" wrote in :

What you want is a "wireless Ethernet bridge". See if your router supports that mode. If not, you'll need either 3rd party firmware or a different product.

Reply to
John Navas

That would be a Dlink WBR-2310. Please do not abrev or trunc. I'll assume Xbox 360.

No. Not with the WRT54GC.

That's not what you previously asked. Basically, the WRT54GC isn't going to do anything useful.

First, what's wrong with the offical Microsloth Xbox 360 USB wireless contrivance?

I can find a suitable alternative, but why bother.

The nice thing about hitting a brick wall is that it feels so good when you stop.

Clarifications:

  1. Which Xbox do you have?
  2. Whats wrong with the offical Xbox wireless device (other than the price)?
  3. How far away is the Dlink WBR-2310? Got any walls or floors in the way? 2.4Ghz doesn't like going through these.
  4. Any possible sources of interference nearby? (Microwave ovens,
2.4GHz cordless phones, municipal wireless, other 802.11 devices, etc)?
Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

You are correct with the router name - sorry for the abbv. I have a regular Xbox - not the 360.

So, I can't set the WRT54GC up as an access point? From the box - it says that I can. ??

I'm not sure what you are inferring by "not what you previously asked". I was using two paragraphs to explain what I was trying to do. Why exactly isn't the WRT54GC useful? Just in this situation - or in any other?

One, I don't have a 360, and two - you are correct - it's the price. I don't want to pay $100 for the adapter if I can help it.

Why the animosity?

Only one wall

No interference from any of these things that you listed.

Reply to
Tara

John,

Can you explain exactly why a bridge is needed and a router/access point won't work? I've tried finding out this information and I'm having a hard time getting an answer. I am a sys admin and even the guys that I work with are hard-pressed to answer this question. Thanks for the reply!

Reply to
Tara

On 29 Nov 2006 05:28:22 -0800, "Tara" wrote in :

The network topology of an Infrastructure Wireless LAN (WLAN) is a point-to-multipoint star, with a single central controller (wireless access point or wireless router), and one or more wireless clients.

  • Clients can connect to one and only one access point, and not to other clients.
  • An access point can only connect to clients, not to other access points.

Some products can be switched between different modes; e.g., either an access point or a client bridge, but not both at the same time.

Most Wi-Fi WLANs are Infrastructure.

Reply to
John Navas

On 29 Nov 2006 05:26:29 -0800, "Tara" wrote in :

You can't set it up as a Wireless _client_ (Ethernet bridge), which is what you really need.

Your situation.

There's no animosity there, just a rhetorical question.

Reply to
John Navas

My God, just LOOK at all the white space around the text. Don't they know anything of proper page design?

600 pixels or bust.

John Navas wrote:

>
Reply to
Louis Ohland

On Wed, 29 Nov 2006 09:28:35 -0600, Louis Ohland wrote in :

White space? Scroll up. That's a navigation column on the left, and an ad column on the right.

Not if you expect me and others like me to respect it.

Reply to
John Navas

John, what's the difference if the white space is caused by a navigation column or ad column or if the column was set to 600 pixels?

I have got my pound of flesh. Back to my WHR-G54S

John Navas wrote:

Reply to
Louis Ohland

On Wed, 29 Nov 2006 10:24:19 -0600, Louis Ohland wrote in :

Columns of navigation and ads _aren't_ white space. Regardless, Wikia _isn't_ a good model of web page design. I just put up with that because it's free wiki. My own Web pages are better examples of good design:

How nice.

Reply to
John Navas

"Tara" hath wroth:

OK, the regular Xbox requires an ethernet wireless bridge or wireless client radio, not USB.

Yes, you can set it up as an access point. The catch is that there's no way to use it as a client adapter for your Xbox. Wireless client adapters talk to access points. Access points don't talk to other access points except using WDS, which neither the WBR-2310 or the WRT54GC support. You're looking for the wrong device which is why you're having trouble finding something.

Because what you need is a device that acts like a wireless client, not like an infrastructure access point router. Many wireless access points do have a "client mode", but the WRT54GC does not.

No animosity. Try not to read too much between my lines. The "why bother" was in reference to my incorrect assumption that you have an Xbox 360 and can use the official MS wireless adapter. I started to make a list of alternatives and decided it wasn't worth the effort at the time.

Also, I'm not into diplomacy, just accuracy and numbers. If you want to subsidize my decadent and lavish lifestyle, I can turn on the charm and diplomacy. For an extra charge, I'll run a spelling chequer. For my normal consulting rates, I'll even proof read my answers.

No problem as long as the wall is not concrete, foil backed insulation, foil backed wallpaper, or stuffed with chicken wire. I note that you didn't mention how many feet. The reason I asked is that there's a difference in range between cheap USB radios with tiny antennas, and ethernet wireless bridges or game adapters, with the potential for adding external antennas.

One of these should work:

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ones labeled "game adapter".

There are also a number of wireless access points that have a client mode. If the above list is insufficient, I can dig out a few of these.

I've only had personal experience with a Linksys WGA54G at a friends with an older Xbox. It works well enough but is rather pricey at $80.

One gotcha that drives me nuts is that none of the aforementioned products bother to mention how many game consoles can be connected via wireless to your Dlink WBR-2310. Some are limited to exactly one game console. Others, such as the WET11 and WET54G will allow attaching an ethernet switch with as many as 30 devices through the wireless. Sorry, but I don't have any numbers on the ones I listed.

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

On Wed, 29 Nov 2006 09:25:43 -0800, Jeff Liebermann wrote in :

Summarized at .

Reply to
John Navas

"Tara" hath wroth:

I prefer to call it an "ethernet client adapter" or "game adapter" but most vendors like to call it a "wireless ethernet bridge".

John answered most of the question. I'll try to fill in some detail and background.

The problem your facing is that the various vendors have been very creative on naming wireless devices. Worse, many of them are multifunction in that they have multiple modes and configurations. I tried to organize the terminology in the FAQ with:

It's not perfect, but it's the best I can do considering the muddle.

The thing to remember is that *ALL* wireless communications is bridging in that it works on ISO Layer 2 (the MAC layer). The only involvement with TCP/IP Layer 3 features is in the management interface and the often attached IP router section.

The other item of importance is that there two topologies. Peer to peer, also known as ad-hoc, where all the wireless clients talk to each other directly. There is no access point in ad-hoc. MS limits the number of participants to 9 clients.

The other is the more common infrastructure mode. There are access points and there are client radios. For two clients to talk to each other, they must go through the access point. This is the most common type of wireless network.

Access points normally do not talk to other access points. However, there is a protocol called WDS which allows supported access points to talk to each other and act as a transparent bridge while simultaneously acting as a wireless access point. If both your wireless devices supported WDS, you could have plugged the Xbox into one, and used it to talk to the other.

The term "wireless router" simply means a wireless access point with a built in ethernet switch, where one of the ethernet ports goes to an internal IP router. It's exactly the same as if you had just a wireless access point, and attached an external IP router.

There's more, that will do for now. Any questions?

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

Louis Ohland hath wroth:

Auto-adjustable HTML screen size or you can buy a real monitor. Thanks for not mentioning how it looks using lynx. Lots of cheap LCD monitors available at the stores and online.

You missed the fun a few months ago when the FAQ was ejected from WikiBooks. The advantage of WikiBooks was that they did not pollute the page with advertisements and excessive navigation tools. There was more room for content. We searched for a suitable replacement home for the FAQ and ended up on Wikia. There were others that were far worse. My only objection to Wikia was the advertising area, which I'll deem as a necessary evil since someone has to pay for the servers.

John did almost all of the real work on the FAQ. I just contributed some content, ideas, and criticism. Please note that relevent content and corrections are welcome as a Wiki is a user supported effort.

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

On Wed, 29 Nov 2006 09:55:18 -0800, Jeff Liebermann wrote in :

Which was invaluable.

Amen.

Reply to
John Navas

Thank you both so much for the help. The link and the information provided here has been extremely helpful.

I'm now looking for a game adapter on Ebay and will also try Tiger Direct. Hopefully I can get one and not get raped in the process!

Until then, I guess it's back to the 50' cable!

Tara

Reply to
Tara

I just found a forum that posts how to make the WRT54G operate in client mode. The firmware update doesn't say that it's for the "GC", so I'm not sure if it would work or not. I'm also not sure I want to pay $20 to find out.

Here's the link:

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Any thoughts on this?

Reply to
Tara

On 29 Nov 2006 12:11:51 -0800, "Tara" wrote in :

3rd-party firmware can indeed be used in wireless client (Ethernet) bridge mode, but it's not for the faint of heart (unskilled), and only works with certain routers (as you've discovered), _not_ including the WRT54GC .

Here's a combo access point/bridge for $40 plus shipping:

Reply to
John Navas

"Tara" hath wroth:

It's highly likely. I've got about $150 in assorted rebates that Tiger Direct has managed to ignore, lose, or forget. I won't buy anything that requires a rebate from them again. I've complained, was informed that they would "take care of it" and nothing has happened.

Also, I'm getting tired of miserable packing. The contents are usually fairly well wrapped and protected, but the outside of the box has never been taped shut properly. When delivered by UPS, the shipping box is usually partially open. Fortunately nothing has been missing, so far.

However, Tiger Direct does have a cool looking catalog.

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

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