WIRELESS APARTMENTS

[john]

I admit lacking vast technical knowledge however we wish to set up a full wireless office with no cables except around the server. Is there a way to have a wireless access point that links to another access point and so on, currently i have only been able to go access point to access point using a hub at the end of each one - which kind of defeats the purpose.

[blue.modal]

Buy 350 series bridges and set them to 'repeater' or 'remote with clients'.

APs can't act as bridges, and if they can act as repeaters then they don't connect clients.

Bridges can do it all, if configured right.

You could always turn PCs into AP/Routers, but they'd have to be always-on and reliable. It would save money, but you'd have to be ready to do the geek-work to keep them up.

[ajarina]

Ive figured out how to turn PCs into routers by adding them additional LAN card which is a member of different segments. But how do you turn them into APs? Do you need a specific driver/software for this? How? tnks...

[blue.modal]

Allan,

There's software out there, but I'm not saying this is necessarily a good idea. Companies like Compex and Zoom sell packages that might be acceptable for home use. Like consumer-grade APs, they are no substitute for enterprise-class equipment like Cisco's.

If you are a Linux geek, there are several packages. I do not know if they include critical features like roaming and WEP (I haven't tested any yet).

There's also a guy in Latvia who sells all kinds of software for wireless. I can help you with it, but I'm not going to plug it here.

You seem to have your share of interesting projects.

Matthew Wheeler

[b.willett]

John,

The answer to your question is you can set up a repeater station, however I beleive you can only set up a repeater to an access point and not a repeater to a repeater, which would would meen a kind of yes no answer to your question. I have wondered for a while if you can have a repeater repeating off another repeater. I sway to the conclusion that you cant.

I would have a fully wired backbone in your office for your APs to hang off as then you have greater control over the bandwidth and you will not need to buy as many APs as if you tried using repeater, due to the repeater only increasing the cell coverage it is amplifying by 50%.

[a.iliev]

Hi, you can do that with Cisco Access Points - e.g AP352E2C - for internal use. Just take the time to read the respective materials in cisco's web site. However, you will loose half of the capacity. The Access point that is connected to the wired segment is set as an ordinary access point. Set the other APs in repeater mode and you will have it. Enjoy.

:-)))))

[a.iliev]

Hi again John, As a matter of fact you CAN have a repeater after repeater. As I've already said, for your own certainty chech the proper docs in the PEC.

[derricktan]

Are you sure that configure AP as repeater after repeater can work ? Theotically not, i think. Do you have any refenrece sites for this issue ?

Thanks

[bmcmurdo]

Yes APs will work in repeater mode. Its documented here;

http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/product/wireless/airo_350/accsspts/ap350scg/ap350ch8.htm#xtocid1

Be warned though, performance drops of dramatically as repeaters are strung together. Its generally not recommended to have more than 2 or 3 repeaters in a row.

[derricktan]

Thanks for your reference. I have study the information in that documents. But it seems that the throughput will be cut into half when transmit from one repeater to another repeater. I think as you said, it is not recommended to have more than 2 repeaters in a row.

Thanks again.