Can one wireless router talk to another wireless router?

[pmanington]

Hi,

I live in a house where 2 of us have desktop computers with printers etc. My housemate has the wireless router in his room which is connected the the phoneline for our internet connection, his printer and pc is wired into his router. My pc currently connects wirelessly to that router. I also have a laptop that connects wirelessly.

I was wondering if it was possible to get another wireless router and have it connect to the existing router wirelessly. Then plug in my pc via an ethernet cable into that new router point along with plugging my printer in via the ethernet enabling me to share it over the network without having my desktop on.

Is that possible? I can't find any mention of it being possible anywhere and I don't think it's a common thing to want to do. I don't want to use cables as they'd have to go through 2 doors and the house is rented so I can't do any drilling.

[Splash]

I'm not really sure what you're trying to achieve here, but I think you're wanting to wirelessly share your printer. If this is indeed the case why not just get a wireless printserver and do it that way?

If that's not the case I'm struggling to see what you gain by setting up a wireless router in your room and connecting via ethernet to it.

[pmanington]

I do want to wirelessly share my printer, I also want to wirelessly share some NAS and I want to do that without having to have my desktop on and I'd rather it was wireless N.

I'm fairly sure it's not possible and possibly not sensible, certainly not for a reasonably price anyway but I thought i'd ask the question as I wanted to assess all my options.

[peterb]

It is possible - you are using the wireless link to extend your ethernet - so in effect you are using it as an Access point. Whether it is possible with the kit you are using though is another question though. I have done it with two wireless acess points, although it was very slow - might have been the access points I was using.

Something like the Linksys WAP54G would do it. (Google for it - the link was too long to post)

It might be easier to get a couple of home plug units and a cheap switch - plug one output of the router (I am assuming it has a switch in it) to the home plug in your mates room, connect the other switch to the homeplug in your room, and off you go - you could use your wirelss router as the switch.

Cheaper still would be to run a length of cat5 cable between the two rooms - although I realise that might not be possible if you are in rented accomodation.

[pmanington]

Yeah I'd come to the conclusion that a homeplug solution might be better too. My housemate tells me he doesn't have a plug free but I might see if I can talk him round. It can't be that hard even if I have to buy another 4-way.

I'm still interested to know if it can be done with 2 routers and how well it would work(purely out of curiosity)

[peterb]

A router thinks that it is the wireless network controller, while the 'client' is just that - it responds to the master station, so I don't think two routers would work together. The access point I couldn't link to can be configured as a master or slave, which is why it would work with your existing router.

However, you might want to experiment (always delighted to be proved wrong), but I think you would need to set up static IP addresses on the PCs... to set up the router... no - the more I think about it, the more certain I am that two routers wouldn't work - I just can't see how you would configure the router to act as a slave.

[DigiGuru]

A homeplug solution is ok, but can be expensive.

You can get a wireless router that supports WDS to extend the existing wireless network, or one that supports client-bridge mode where the wireless portion of the router actually acts as a client to the existing wireless network.

You can also get wireless bridges which do the same thing.

Almost any router that can be flashed with DD-WRT or OpenWRT will be able to be configured as a client and give you the wired access you want

But, to clarify, it CAN be done

[peterb]

But, to clarify, it CAN be done

Yes it can, but not with two routers 'as is' - one will require a firmware change as you described, and te firmware you describe is limited to certain devices.

This is a link to the Linksys WAP54G I mentioned in an earlier post

Linksys WAP54G 54Mbps Wireless Access Point

[DigiGuru]

It will work with certain routers "as is", provided both routers support WDS or one of the routers support client bridge mode (for example, lots of the Buffalo routers do)

[JohnK]

WDS (Wireless Distribution System) is indeed what you'd want, but it's not well-implemented at the moment - many routers do now support it, but often only work with the same brand, and I think usually not with WPA, only WEP which is not totally secure. What are the two routers (make, model)?

[pmanington]

Well the existing router is a netgear wireless n model from about a year ago (not the ones that have just been released).

NETGEAR WNR854T RangeMax NEXT Wireless-N Router - Gigabit Edition

I haven't bought another one as I wasn't really sure whether anything would work and i didn't want to spend £100 just to see if it would. I'm more interested now out of curiosity more than anything else and it's good to know it's possible to do. I don't think I'll go that route as my landy has said he doesn't mind me putting some proper cable trunking in to go around the door so i'm getting a switch and some cables instead, much easier

[peterb]

I don't think I'll go that route as my landy has said he doesn't mind me putting some proper cable trunking in to go around the door so i'm getting a switch and some cables instead, much easier

Easier, faster and more reliable! Glad you got a solution!