Planetarion Forums

meglamaniac · 21 Jan 2005, 09:18

Ok, a scenario for you:

A wireless network exists with one access point (which has the internet connection going into it) and six pcs with wireless network cards.
The wireless network needs to be expanded to cover another 16 pcs.

Clearly one access point won't handle that. However, I have no idea how you go about solving this.
Do you add another access point? Is there another peice of equipment entirely? Is there any special setup, and how do you connect the new equipment to the original access point?

NEWSBOT3 · 21 Jan 2005, 09:21

wireless access points are just that - access points for wireless connections to cabled ethernet networks.

thus the two waps would need to be connected by cat5.

meglamaniac · 21 Jan 2005, 09:58

Where I get confused is that the WAP with the internet connection obviously acts as a router and gateway etc, as well as handing out DHCP leases and so on.
Do I have to stop the other one from trying to do this as well, or should they work together or what?

Not that I'm a wireless newbie or anything

NEWSBOT3 · 21 Jan 2005, 11:32

you can have two wireless access points on the same network.

you'll need to set the 2nd one so the wep key (you ARE using wep right?) is the same, and connect it to the router. If theres no way to do that, it could get interesting.

the first wap should be left in place as it is, no changes to it are necessary.

flapjack · 21 Jan 2005, 12:17

just set the other WAP (same type and brand preferably) to repeat the signal from the first WAP, though 20 PCs on 1 WAP (or in this case, Wireless Router) is quite possible with a good WAP.

My WAP here is supposed to be capable of handling 36 simultaneous connections, though I have yet to go over 5

meglamaniac · 21 Jan 2005, 12:17

Yep I'm using WEP, I'm not THAT daft

I was reading the docs on mine and apparently it's also possible to use a second access point without having to cable to it (referred to as point-to-point mode in the manual), but the configuration required looks like it'd take ages and if something went wrong I wouldn't have a clue.
Guess I'll just cable to it.

ceres · 21 Jan 2005, 13:04

Have a google around for a product called AutoCell, it's wireless networking which uses a spanning tree style system to denote which access point traffic goes through.

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JetLinus · 21 Jan 2005, 16:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by meglamaniac

The wireless network needs to be expanded to cover another 16 pcs.

Clearly one access point won't handle that.

Are you sure? I'd almost say, one Access Point CAN handle it. Or is the bandwidth your problem? I've only set up 2 wireless routers / access points until now, but I do remember something about a bigger supported clients number than I thought.

However, I do know for sure you can (as others already suggested) connect 2 access points together. There should be a bridging option somewhere. You enter the other Router's MAC address and some stuff, including WEP key and so on, and then both routers should act as one unit.
Or you connect them physically. [or just get a bigger router // one that supports 32 clients?]

Anyway, bridging should be the keyword you're looking for.

flapjack · 21 Jan 2005, 18:02

no, bridging is for crossing distances...
both APs would transmit ONLY to eachother. You want the second AP to REPEAT the signals of the first, so it still routes for the whole network, but won't have to handle all of the connections.

meglamaniac · 21 Jan 2005, 20:21

That's the word, well done flapjack.
I need it to act as a REPEATER. Which is what the "point-to-point" mode my manual talks about is, as it has a little asterisk next to it which goes to a bit of text on the bottom of the page which says "also referred to as network repeater mode".

So looks like it should be possible.
Oh well cheers guys.

JetLinus · 22 Jan 2005, 17:01

So close ;-)