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General discussion

how do I wirelessly bridge 2 wired switches?

May 6, 2005 12:31PM PDT

I would like to wirelessly bridge 2 or 3 wired switches/hubs, plus have normal wireless access. (New house, and I don't want to snake wires between floors.) I have a large collection of hubs, wired and wireless routers and a wireless access points, but no "bridge" (they are never on sale). Can I get this project done with what I have? And if so, how? Will I have to utilize more than one channel? Different network names? Help!

Discussion is locked

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Why you need a bridge?
May 6, 2005 4:37PM PDT

What you want to accomplished?

How many PC, you are talking about?

How many wireless router you have?

In general, you just put everything together in one place.. and connect using wireless.

Place one wireless router in other location... configured it as a different wireless accesspoint. using different channel, different SSID name, WPA/WEP and password.

Connect your PC's to those Switches and to the router (hardwired) Or get a wireless network adapter (they are on sale too).. for all the PC's or laptop you have..

I don't think you can connect your switches and hub wirelessly...

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Because...
May 7, 2005 4:14AM PDT

I need a wireless bridge because I have a few network appliances that cannot use wireless in that fashion(like a wired network camera).

I have four or five wireless routers (all are configurable as access points, also), plus one regular access point. Also, I have a few wired routers and a few switches/hubs. Just no bridge.

Also, I do not want to use a wireless-equipped computer as my bridge, which I have heard of. Mainly, I just want to use a wired network camera with as little equipment as possible (camera, hub, bridge) to watch over my baby's room.

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list of equipments
May 7, 2005 4:57AM PDT

can you list all the wireless routers, access points, switch, hub here so i can see if your equipments can do what you want?

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OK...
May 7, 2005 11:49AM PDT

Belkin 54g access point; Belkin 802.11 router; Motorola 54g access point; Netgear 802.11 router; Belkin wired router; Netgear wired router; no-name switches and hubs. Offhand, I don't know the exact product numbers of all of them, but these companies usually only have one product in each category - nothing is more than a few years old. I'm positive that the Belkin and Motorola wireless routers are configurable as access points, since they have that option right there on their HTML-based setup dialogs. The Netgear, I'm not so sure about, and I haven't played with that one in a year or so.

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here is what i'll do
May 7, 2005 2:31PM PDT

Since i dont know the exact model that you have, i'll have to assume a few facts here. Base on your information, you can use 2 access points as bridge (assuming the belkin 54g ap and the motorola 54g ap are the model i saw on the web). And from there, you can setup the remaining 802.11 routers as the wirless ap for your laptop computer(s) (one on each side of the bridge). Make sure you use different SSID and channel for the bridges and Access Points. For example:

Belkin 54g access point, SSID=bridge_ID, channel=11
Motorola 54g access point, SSID=bridge_ID, channel=11
Belkin 802.11, SSID=client_ID, channel=6
netgear 802.11, SSID=client_ID, channel=6

the belkin 54g will connect with the belkin 802.11 via wire and the same goes for the Motorola 54g and netgear. Now you have 2 network that bridge together and still able to roam your laptop between 2 networks.

Here is a PDF file so you can see how it work.
http://www.speakeasy.net/~acheung/bridge_example.pdf

Hope this will help.

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Problem solved (with add'l purchase)
May 17, 2005 1:54PM PDT

Thanks for all the help. I have successfully bridged two wired networks wirelessly, but I cheated - I bought a Belkin 54G wireless router ($20 after rebates) that had bridging capability built in. It only works together with the Belkin 54G access point, but the setup is fairly easy, and Belkin's owner's manual for the router is very good.

I have been trying to do this bridge thing, on and off, for quite some time. To me, it seemed logical that if you had any old access point connected to your remote wired network, you should be able to make a wireless bridge between it and any wireless router. But apparently, this is not the case - or, if it can be done, it must take more networking expertise than the average guy has. The products that would do this easily (bridges and game adapters) were, and still are, expensive. Happily for us cheapskates, Belkin put this new feature into their routers, which you can always find for $20-$30. (Their access point also has a range expander mode, which replaces another notoriously expensive piece of equipment.)


Setup: Cable modem---Belkin 54G wireless router <-wireless-> Belkin 54G wireless access point----Belkin wired router----computer.

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Don't you see the problem?
May 17, 2005 2:17PM PDT

In your latest configuration.. you drop the Switch/Hub you have... and change it to a 'Router'

Switch/Hub doesn't have the bridging capability(its only a simple connection devices) while Router is more advance device and can be bridge...

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No, I don't think I do....
May 18, 2005 11:58AM PDT

I'm not sure I see the problem. There was always a wireless router at the front end (with the cable modem). On the back end (with the wireless access point), it should not matter if it is a switch, hub, or a router, should it? In fact, in their owner's manual, Belkin shows the access point being wired to a "switch/hub" on the back end. I think it may even be better, because you don't have to worry about configuring Router #2 so it does not interfere.

Now that I have bought a few newer networking products, it seems that built-in bridging capability is a new feature that my old routers did not have. After getting some feedback from a few of these forums, I think there is the (mistaken?) belief out there, even among knowledgable people, that most or all wireless routers and access points can be easily configured into bridges. But I have never been able to make any of those suggestions work. That does not mean they are wrong, of course. But I think those solutions might be beyond the ken of 99% of the people who fiddle around with home networks. There are just too many configuration pitfalls that can stop these things from working. The newer router and access point have what I needed - a "make a bridge" button in their setup screens.

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Why the switches?
May 19, 2005 11:13AM PDT

I understand most of the logic in your diagram, but is it really necessary to have a router and a switch on both ends? Can't you still hook up your wired computers to the ports on the routers?

Also, does Router #2 have to be configured so as not to interfere with the main router's function? Do you have to disable the DHCP function of router #2? Do you have to change the default local address? Can't you just use a switch in that position?

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Answers
May 22, 2005 12:07PM PDT

Not necessary to have a switch on both ends as long as you have enought ports to use. But I placed the wireless router for you on both ends to allow your laptop (or any WiFi Devices) to roam between two location.

Routing function should NOT be use on router #2 (WAN Port should not be plugged in at all). DHCP should be DISABLE. The purpose of wireless router #2 is to provide wirless access to your network for all your WiFi devices.

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Thank you...
May 22, 2005 1:57PM PDT

That's what I thought. Actually, it's working right now, but the DHCP on router #2 is not disabled - for some reason, it did not work for me when I disabled it. What I did was manually change the default addresses on router #2 and the access point to 192.168.2.99 and .100 - all other settings are default, except WEP security, which matches router #1. I can't get my switch to work in that spot, either. That makes no sense to me, but this blind squirrel has found his nut, so that's OK.

I'm not going to change it now that it's working, but I know it's not perfect. When router #2 and the access point are on, I can't log into router #1's configuration dialog. Turn them off, and I can. I just chalk that up to networking voodoo.

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your router web configuration address
May 23, 2005 4:39AM PDT

are the same, the default is 192.168.1.1 (if I'm not mistaken)

When both of them are ON, then you only have (#1) router available...

To be able to access both router, change one of the router IP address to something different.

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It was changed...
May 23, 2005 1:14PM PDT

As I wrote in my last message, I had changed the address of (wired) Router #2 to 192.168.2.100, and the access point to 192.168.2.99 - that is the strange thing. I checked it - with a wired connection into router #2 - and those addresses are correct. But turning them on somehow makes it impossible to log into router #1 at 192.168.2.1. A minor matter, since things work, but a mystery nonetheless. My main goal, accessing a (wired) network-addressable camera attached to (wired) router #2, works.

Thanks again for your time.