Can a WRT160N V3 be used as a wireless access point.

[SerenityNetworks]

I have an AT&T broadband router.  A WRT160N is connected to it, so I now have Wireless-N capability.  I have a second WRT160N that I would like to put in my living room as an access point, so I can connect my BluRay player to it and stream video.  How do I set up the second WRT160N as an access point?

Thank you in advance,

Andrew

[gv]

see here.

[SerenityNetworks]

Thank you, yet now I'm a bit more confused.

In these technical matters, I typically am not satisfied until a solution is confirmed.  This thread was to be my confirmation.  I had called Linksys  Technical Support.  They (also) said that I could not use the WRT160N as I had intended.  However, they told me (both the technician and the manager she consulted with) that what I needed was a WAP.  They said nothing about needing a "bridge".  They specifically recommended the WAP610N Wireless Access Point.  Hence, I'm confused as to what I need.

Since then I've also done some more searching.  I have seen different threads where the DD-WRT firmware has been offered as a solution.  I understand that 3rd-party software would void my warranty and I take the risk of creating a $40 brick, but I might be willing to try.

Can you clarify this for me please?  Is the WAP610N a solution?  Would the DD-WRT firmware be a solution?  For streaming Netflix video and Pandora radio to a BluRay player across the house, would I be better off just crawing around in the attic with 100 feet of CAT6?

I appreciate your guidance.

Thank you again,

Andrew

[gv]

1. Yes. 3rd party firmware will allow you to reconfigure the WRT as wireless bridge.

2. I won't comment on the quality of the response of the technical support.

3. Linksys WAP devices like the WAP54G used to be versatile wireless access points which could be reconfigured as bridge or repeater using Linksys firmware.

4. The WAP610N, however, specifically cannot be configured as bridge or repeater. The WAP610N is only a wireless access point. It won't operate as wireless bridge or repeater as previous WAPs did.

5. If you still know the name of the support person you could call again and complain. Refer them to the user guide available online. It clearly shows the configuration options. Setting the WAP610N to bridge is not an option as it used to be in the WAP54G.

6. In my opinion, running a wire is always the better solution. Always. Reliable, steady streaming even if your neighbor decides to do some heavy downloading on his wireless routers using the same channel as yours... And it leaves you more bandwidth with your other wireless devices...

[SerenityNetworks]

Thank you GV.  I very much appreciate your time and response.  I'm a technically inclined person, but beyond the basics I'm very ignorant about networking.

It looks like I'll be doing some crawling around in the attic :-)

I have a couple of simple (I think) follow-up questions:

1) Signal strength has never been great in the far part of the house.  After I string the cable, should I put the second WRT160N on the far end to give me better reception there?  Or would it just confuse matters and cause me to loose signal when going from one end of the house to another with my laptop?

2)  Does the cable make a difference?  Do I buy and use CAT5, CAT6, or what?  Do the plugs have to be anything special?

Thanks again,
Andrew

[gv · Accepted solution]

Re 1. Yes, you can use your second WRT and set it up as second access point for your network. First, unplug the second WRT from your network and wire a computer into one of its LAN ports. Open the web interface at http://192.168.1.1/ On the main setup page, change the LAN IP address from 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.1.2 and disable the DHCP server. Save settings. Unplug the computer and connect the cable from the first router into one of the LAN ports of the second router. Do not use the internet port of the second router! Now you can use the wireless access point in the second router as additional access point to your network.

For a wireless roaming network set both WRTs with identical wireless settings (i.e. SSID, wireless security, etc.) and make sure to enable SSID broadcast. Only channel assignments should be different. Use different channels at least 5 apart to avoid overlapping channels. Now your laptop can connect to your network through either WRT and has internet through the first WRT. It should also be able to move between both WRTs without loosing the connection.

Re 2. As the WRT160N only has 10/100 ethernet ports a CAT5e should do. Of course, you may consider getting a better cable, e.g. a cat6 for future improvements of your network. It depends on how much effort it takes to replace the cable later if you decide to go for gigabit ethernet in your LAN.

[SerenityNetworks]

This is great!  Your guidance has saved me hours of frustration.  And I even learned a few things :-)

Thank you again,

Andrew

[Gollum]

I agree with gv and all the suggestions mentioned by him.

[my5tika1cll]

What if your internal IPs are hard coded? (No DHCP)  Can it still be done? I have a cisco 2600 T1 router for Internet and want to setup the WRT160n as a routing point with only 10 IPs available for it to assign. I have netgear switches in plasce for hard wired desktops. Any suggestions!!!!

[therjnel]

Is it possible to set up the router as an access point where devices connect to it and then use the wireless connection to connect to the main wireless router?