3 buildings.

[JDLaBorde]

Hello,

I am trying to extend a wireless network to cover 3 buildings.  Currently there is a 3rd party DSL modem / wireless router that covers 1 building and part of a 2nd.  I have a WRT54G and 3 WAP54Gs.  The buildings are fairly close together and 1 AP should cover a building pretty well.  Can someone suggest and optimal setup?  I've already tried below:

DSL M/WR ------ WRT )))((( WAP1 (repeating WRT) )))((( WAP2 (repeating WAP1)

This apparently doesn't work as I am unable to acquire an ip address when connecting to WAP2.

Thanks in advance.

[FredZ]

There is nothing wrong with the configuration you outlined, it should work well. What security do you have in pace? the use of WPA in Bridge/Repeater modes will most likely break the connection and/or prevent DHCP traffic.

If possible can you test the entire system with no security.

Regards

Fred

[JDLaBorde]

Originally it was open authentication with weak 40/64 bit WEP encryption (set the same on all devices with the same key).  I believe as part of the troubleshooting with support, we tested it with all security turned off.  Also perhaps worth noting, before I contacted support, I switched WAP1 and WAP2 changing only the remote MAC address for each (and power cycling of course).  The result was always the same.  No problems connecting to the AP repeating the WRT, but unable to obtain an address from the device repeating the other WAP.

[FredZ]

If you set the IP of the client statically and connect to the far end AP can you ping the router or 1st AP? If not then the issue is one of connectivity withn the repeater chain.

Note: You must connect to any repeater wirelessly as in repeater mode the AP assumes no LAN connection, although I have never tested what would happen if you did connect by wire to a WAP54G in repeater mode.

Regards

Fred

[JDLaBorde]

I tried a few different things out and then I had to break down my testing because I'm going on a trip.  I can tell you that I connected by wire to WAP1 (repeating WRT) and got an ip address and was able to surf.  I also tried the following setup:

DSL M/WR ------ WRT )))((( WAP1 (repeating WRT) ------ WAP2 (AP) )))((( WAP3 (repeating WAP2)

This worked, kind of.  I was able to successfully obtain an ip address at every hop.  When connecting to WAP2, things were slow.  When connecting to WAP3, there were dropped packets causing surfing to be intermittent.

I then changed WAP1 from repeater to bridge.  This helped more.  WAP2 was now faster and WAP3, while slow was consistently usable.  I think most of the slowness is due to interference.  Where I'm testing there are lots of other networks and of course having the devices right next to each other doesn't help either.  Although I am trying to use channels that don't overlap.

Unless someone has a suggestion for a better configuration, preferably where I don't have to use all these devices, this is probably what I'll go with.

[brickmonkey]

This configuration is a good one there is nothing wrong but there is limitation of speed being reduced to half of the original one after each repeater in use. This may be a possible cause of the problems You are facing. 

[JDLaBorde]

When you say "this configuration", are you referring to the original or the latest?  I thought the original configuration was valid, as did others, but based on the fact that I can not obtain an ip address when connecting to a 2nd repeater and Linksys support telling me that it's not valid, I'm going to have to believe that it's not unless someone actually has it working somewhere.  Regarding speed, everything has been in the same room so far.  Even the double repeater should only have cut things down to a theoretical maximum of 13.5 Mbps (I'm using G: [54 / 2] / 2).  Even if the worst is assumed and actual speed is 1/10th, that's still 1.35 which is faster than my internet and shouldn't be causing dropped packets.  With the latest configuration, I should be seeing much higher speeds.

[FredZ]

OK, you need to break down the way your doing this. Do it section by section. Once you have the first section going then move onto the second section and so on.

Start at the Router, configure the WAP54Gs as I mentioned previously. Test each section as you configure it.

Also try these settings on the WAP54G. Change the beacon interval to 50  Rts Threshold to 2306. This should help with the speed/packet loss issue.

Failing that I would isntall DD-WRT as it supports WDS (AP Client + Bridge running at the same time) Effectively this will create a wireless mesh. But this would be a last resort. And here is the big warning. Installing a third party firmware will void your warranty.

Regards

Fred

[JDLaBorde · Accepted solution]

Thank you for your suggestions.  I've gone ahead and implemented the solution as I determined above.

DSL M/R ------ WRT )))((( WAP1 (bridge) ------ WAP2 (AP) )))((( WAP3 (repeater)

I'm not all that happy about 5 pieces of equipment to cover three small close buildings, but it works and my warranties are intact.

Thanks again.