A wireless router, networking, LAN question (1 Viewer)

[DaveF]

Can I distribute a wifi internet connection via wireless router to PCs connected to it by ethernet?


I'm setting up an ad-hoc LAN in a test facility. The facility has a wireless guest network: on a laptop, connect to the network, open a browser, enter your guest id and password into the authentication page and get access to the web.


I've got two PCs in this facilities current setup as a two PC LAN on a bog standard Linksys BEFSR41 wired router, so they can share data between each other.


If I replaced that wired router with a wireless router, could I use the router to distribute the wifi web access to the two wired PCs?


Or is it necessary to put a wifi card into a PC and set it up as an ICS host for LAN?



I need to replace the router anyway -- I bought a 10/100 router and I found need a Gigabit LAN -- and we want to give these PCs web access. I'd like to kill two birds with one stone by replacing the 10/100 wired router with a 10/100/1000 wireless-n router.


I'm out of my depth on this type of networking, so any guidance is appreciated!

 

[Thomas Newton]

I don't believe that there is any standard for mixing and matching arbitrary access points to construct an extended network. (The standards have the concept of an extended network, but are mostly concerned with the interface between the network "cloud" and wireless clients.)


So the brand of the test facility access point may determine what brands you can consider, or whether wireless extension is even possible. Beyond that, the administrators of the test facility LAN may not want you to extend their wireless LAN and potentially compromise their system security. (They may be hostile to the idea of any "foreign" access point being hooked to their LAN, in any way, as it only takes one unsecured access point to grant access to someone sitting in a parking lot.)

 

[mattCR]

Dave, what you can do is get a router that will act not as an access point, but as a client, so it would receive in wifi and use it as a source Basically, you could "homebrew" it, with something like ClearOS (http://ww.clearfoundation.org/ ) or find a router that supports being flased to DD-WRT which will also do it, but that's your options.

 

[DaveF]

Thanks


In this case the wifi system is specifically for "guests", such as myself. Given the modest complexity or using a wireless router for the connection, I'll just buy a wifi card for one or both computers and connect normally.

 

[nolesrule]

I'm not sure I clearly understood what you are trying to accomplish, but there are 2-zone wifi routers where one of the zones is firewalled off from the network and only allows internet access. I use one at home.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I use a Netgear wireless "print server" to accomplish something similar in my house. The print server also provides four ethernet switch ports and can act as a bridge to connect to my wireless router. I use the device to connect two devices in my home theater rack to my home network without running ethernet cables across my house, since my router is in a different room from the home theater.


You can purchase products called "wireless bridges" that accomplish the same thing. I used the "print server" instead, though, as it was only $30, while most products sold as a bridge were around $70 - $80, even though the print server is actually a bridge, too. You gotta love marketing.


This may work for you, depending on what security restrictions are in place on the "guest" network to which you are attempting to attach. The guest network, though, may be configured to allow only a single MAC address per connection to prevent this type of "piggybacking". We employ this type of security on the network where I work.

 

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