How can I connect two wireless subnets each using WRT45G routers? 7

[sawback]

I've read a few other related threads but nothing I've tried so far seems to work.

Here's my intended set-up:

1. I have a main router, a WRT45G LinkSys router (192.168.1.1), connecting to the internet and to a small network (192.168.1.). DHCP is enabled, though it doesn't have to be as it's a small network.
2. I have another router, another WRT45G Linksys router (192.168.2.1), that will act as a router for a separate small subnet (192.168.2.). Ditto re: DHCP.

Goal: I want subnet 192.168.2. to have access to the other subnet 192.168.1. (& vice versa) and to the Internet via router 192.168.1.1.

Can anyone recommend a good (preferably step-by-step) solution?

Regards,
Tom Wolfe

 

[sawback]

Oh, and if your ReplayTV has a static IP address assigned to it then you either have to change your entire network over to that subnet or do some fancy networking stuff. Personally, with only a couple of computers, I'd go with changing the subnet.

E.g. if your ReplayTV has a static IP of 192.168.5.100 then you should change your entire network's subnet to 192.168.5.xxx

Good luck,
Tom Wolfe

 

[bcastner]

I strongly believe that users help other users. I have starred Forum Member sawback's contributions above.

Just great stuff, and appreciated.

Best wishes,
Bill Castner

 

[Preyhunter]

My question is...

Can both solutions listed above be implemented on the same "repeater" router? In other words, can you configure the repeater router to act as a range extender for an existing wireless network as well as a wireless bridge for an ethernet device?

My situation is that I want to hook my xbox up to the repeater via cat5 (on the 2nd floor of the house) and have it communicate with another box on the lan through the main router via the wireless link (both on the first floor). Other wireless computers on the lan on the second floor cannot communicate with the main router on the first floor due to signal strength issues. I have already tried pumping the transmit power up some, which doesn't seem to help. I would like the wireless computers on the second floor to use the repeater as a range extender for the router on the first floor, while using the repeater as a wireless ethernet bridge for the xbox at the same time.

Is this possible? If so, are there any steps you could provide to make this work for me?

 

[ShawnMichael]

Sawback,

Many thanks for this great post! I found it via Google last night and it was instrumental in helping me get my system up and running!

In case anyone has a setup like mine, I’ll document the slight differences here.

First, my situation: I recently moved my family to a new home and planned on setting up the kids PC’s on the 2nd floor with my wired Barricade SMC7004BR router and Adelphia Scientific-Atlanta Cable modem. But my office PC and Xbox were to go in the finished basement. To avoid running CAT5, I stopped by Best-Buy where I found the WRT54G on sale. I picked up two figuring I could put one in the basement, one on the second floor, and they would be a “wireless” bridge...here's what I planned:

2nd floor
WRT54G lan port 1 --> lan side “wired” SMC Broadband Router (DCHP on), wan side -> Cable modem
WRT54G lan port 2 --> PC 1
WRT54G lan port 3 --> PC 2
WRT54G lan port 4 --> for future expansion

Basement
WRT54G lan port 1 --> PC 3
WRT54G lan port 2 --> PC 4 - Laptop without Wireless card
WRT54G lan port 3 --> XBOX
WRT54G lan port 4 --> for future expansion

After stuggling, and searching the web it looked like I would need 3rd party firmware, and might have problems with two+ devices on the basement WRT54G.

But after finding Sawback’s post, I decided to give those settings a shot:

Preliminary Setup Notes:

Before finding Sawback’s post, I had previously made the following changes in the WRT54G’s

- Updated firmware on both routers to WRT54GV2_3.01.3_US_code firmware
- Enabled WEP security on both
- Gave both routers same key
- Gave both routers same ssid
- Set Main (2nd floor) router IP to 192.168.100.100 / 255.255.255.0
- Set Repeater (basement router) 192.168.100.101 / 255.255.255.0
- Turned DCHP off on both since my SMC router was the DHCP server at 192.168.100.1, serving addresses .2 to .20 (not conflicting with 100 and 101)
- Under Setup - Advanced Routing - changed OPERATING MODE to ROUTER, and RIP to LAN & WIRELESS on both units

Changes to Sawback’s steps

a) No change – didn’t yet have any other wireless devices besides 2 WRT54G’s
b) I left Control panel open and manually switched back and forth as needed
c) Did same but did not reset
d) Same but …100.100 (see notes above)
e) Same except leaving DHCP off, and …100.100 IP address (see notes above)
f) Same
g) IMPORTANT: Changed basement "Repeater" router to 192.168.200.100 – a different subnet as per Sawback’s notes!
h) Did not need to do – not a selection in factory firmware
i) Did not need to do – not a selection in factory firmware

I then took both routers to their new spots on the second floor and basement, powered them up and presto! The 2 test PC’s downstairs plugged into the WRT54G router with the 192.168.200.100 /255.255.255.0 address STILL received 192.168.100.x addresses from the SMC router on the second floor, and were able to connect to the Internet!

Strange as it seems, it worked. I think the key was the Advanced Routing settings, and Sawback’s suggestion to make the second router's IP address a different Subnet.

Hope someone finds this helpful – now going to go test Halo 2 online and will post if any problems arise.

Shawn Michael Tierney
There is Zero A.I.

 

[Billyrud]

I looked over the postings on this forum, and it seems people have similar problems as me. Here's my setup

1ST FLOOR
DSL MODEM > WAN PORT ON WRT54G

2ND FLOOR
DI-524 LAN PORT 1 > xbox

The WRT54G with the SVEASOFT firmware detects the DI-524 in the survey. But I cannot get the DI-524 to see the WRT54G. Is it possible for this setup to work?

 

[ShawnMichael]

PS - In my setup the XBOX works great online with Halo 2 - until I boot the PC - eventually one gets knocked off so I now only use one at a time.

Shawn Michael Tierney

http://www.shawnmichael.com

 

[getredygetredy]

I have the same setup as sawback and bcastner have described above (way above). However, I have intermittent connection problems from my repeater router to the main router. Is there a 'time out' limit on the wrt54g?

Also, I can ping each router pretty much all of the time, but I can't get out the the net from the repeater through the main router.

 

[Billyrud]

I decided to go out and buy another WRT54G the other day. The wireless setup is working for LAN, but the computers from the repeater cant access the internet and the ones from main can. I updated to the newest linksys firmware after i found myself not getting far with the SVEASOFT firmware. Any suggestions?

 

[ShawnMichael]

Only thing I can think of is if you didn't change "Repeater" router to a different subnet (as per Sawback’s notes - in my case 192.168.200.100). Also, I still have my wired router serving ips. Also, if I have two wired pc's on repeater at same time they keep knocking each other off every five minutes - I'm at the point of getting a USB Wireless card for the PC. Good luck

Shawn Michael Tierney

http://www.shawnmichael.com

 

[trekmbikes]

Bill Castner,

I'm trying to bridge my parents' wireless network with their neighbors' wireless network using a directional parabolic antenna on each of their roofs. I plan on using WDS with two WRT54G's and the latest Sveasoft firmware. I read your idea of using antenna diversity to assign one antenna to be long-range (i.e. parabolic on the roof) and the other to tx/rx for each local network. In the Alchemy options I see TX antenna is left/right/auto and the same for the RX. Can you elaborate on how you would set this up?

Thanks!

 

[bcastner]

Try it first as Auto on both sites. The WRT54G will then discriminate each connection based on the highest signal/lowest noise connection it receives in each case from measurements taken at both antennas.

 

[trekmbikes]

Thanks for the quick response. I just want to make sure this will work before I invest $150+ on equipment What I'm worried about is the idea that if the "slave" WRT54G decides the parabolic is the best way to connect to the "master" WRT54G then it will lock out the wireless users on the slave side, or vice versa. Check out

http://www.tomsnetworking.com/FAQ-50-Antennas-0.php#478

... both groups of users (my parents and their neighbors) will both be using the internet at the same time. What do you think?

 

[bcastner]

The choice of antenna is made for each connection, and is not a global selection.

 

[acicalla]

Hello I would like to use the wrt54gs as and end point for a point to point vpn between two wrt54gs routers. Does anyone know which third party firmware supports the p2p vpn, not ipsec pass through but a router to router vpn?

 

[bcastner]

I know Sveasoft alchemy offers a true PPTP VPN server:

http://www.sveasoft.com/content/view/3/1/

 

[MmmDee]

Well it's been a few days since anyone posted, so I'll jump in with a question and hope no one minds. I reviewed a few sites and other threads in this forum, but this thread seems to be the most cogent. I'd like some opinions on whether the desired plan will work or other recommendations. Specifically, my question concerns VoIP over wireless residential hardware such as Linksys equipment using the WRT54GP2A.

My current set up is (using the documenting scheme from above):

Main floor:

Belkin WAN port <-- Comcast Cable Modem
Belkin (DHCP on) lan port 1 --> PC 1 (DHCP client)
Belkin (DHCP on) lan port 2 --> future
Belkin (DHCP on) lan port 3 --> future
Belkin (DHCP on) lan port 4 --> future
Belkin Wireless (DHCP, WEP, MAC filtering) --> .11b laptop in attic

Attic:

I'd like to add an attic router/bridge (associating the above laptop with the attic Linksys device and NOT the Belkin router):

WRT54GP2A lan port 1 --> PC 2
WRT54GP2A lan port 2 --> PC 3
WRT54GP2A Phone Port 1 --> VoIP
WRT54GP2A Phone Port 2 --> future
WRT54GP2A Wireless (?) --> .11b laptop

The attic equipment (PC2 and 3, VoIP phone) needs internet access and I'd like "decent" quality on the VoIP phone. Very few if any of the attic devices will be used concurrently. Current speeds are about 1.2Mbps download/750Kbps upload as measured on the wireless laptop about 25 feet away (floor/ceiling and one wall in between). Suffice to say this would be by far the easiest arrangement; however, if ABSOLUTELY necessary, I can replace the Belkin router with the Linksys VoIP router and move the phone next to it. Most PC's run Win2K, the laptop runs WinXP Pro, a Linux (Debian) PC will join the circus at some point.

Ideas (please)?

 

[bcastner]

You will find the VoIP fussy about its requirements. I believe it demands to be in the role of primary router.

 

[MmmDee]

Well, maybe I answered my own question after a bit more reading. I was under the impression, given the similarity in product names, that the WRT54G was similar enough to the WRT54GP2 to use modified firmware (like Sveasoft's) in support of bridge mode. However, on another site, a user mentions the two devices, despite an outwardly similar physical appearance, have absolutely nothing in common internally. I think I'll go the route of a WRT54G with a PAP2 (I'm planning on trying Vonage). If anyone has other knowledge on the topic, I'd appreciate hearing it.

bcastner: Thanks for responding. On the Vonage site they list the VoIP router preferentially, as you do, as being "first", but they also show it connected to a "secondary" router in an "alternate" installation plan. I presumed this was so the Vonage box could do its own QoS prioritizing. Since the Sveasoft firmware with the WRT54G now (?) has QoS, I thought it might work in the configuration I was planning (if it doesn't, I'm not out megabucks). The primary router in this case (the Belkin router) has very little to do being that PC 1 is seldom used and I was planning on having the wireless laptop associate with the secondary router (under QoS control).

 

[MmmDee]

This is what I'm trying to set up, now realizing I'll probably need to change the WRT54GP2 into a WRT54G + PAP2. Pictures are worth a thousand words, but I didn't see anyway to edit my prior posts.

 

[MmmDee]

Okay, things are working... mostly. To simplify things I got a WRT54G (the regular router, not the Vonage-provisioned WRT54GP2) because the latter will simply not accept the Sveasoft firmware (due to different hardware internally). The WRT54G is running Sveasoft firmware, per recommendations here, and set into Client Mode with the latest Alchemy revision 6.0rc6a (which now supports multiple devices on the client router). I plugged a Linksys PAP2 into one of the client ports, a laptop and another PC into two other ports and all are able to use the client router to talk with the Belkin router (and internet) wirelessly. The VoIP/Vonage thing was a real easy task and took about 10 minutes to setup.

So, in summary, the updated Sveasoft firmware for the WRT54G (v2.2) works great and now supports multiple LAN ports on a client router (I'm sure magic is involved). VoIP works on the client router while sharing a connection with other PC's. The "limited" bandwidth of 802.11b is sufficient for this (so far, but it hasn't been put through the ringer yet--voice latency is an estimated 200-500 milliseconds on a "quiet" network as tested by talking on the VoIP-connected cordless phone in one hand and listening to a cell phone simultaneously). No buzz or hiss was heard (I mention that since many others have mentioned an annoying background noise on the VoIP end).

The following diagram illustrates: