Geek question: stupid wifi tricks.

[reddragdiva]

We have a shiny new Netgear WG602v4 11g access point. The old D-Link 11b point, apart from being D-Link, is less than spectacularly well-behaved and has had the crap kicked out of it a bit often. The Netgear's manual is a bloody hazard, but it's now behaving very nicely thank you.

I'd like to do stupid wifi tricks like using the 11g for the house and putting the 11b somewhere that will reach the garden. The 11b can be set up as a repeater. I could just leave the user to switch networks by hand as needed, but hey. The 11g does WPA, the 11b only does WEP — can it still repeat the 11g's signal, or does it need to be able to decrypt and re-encrypt the packets? I do not understand repeater mode.

I am listening to Gruftiradio (96kbps MP3 Shoutcast) over teh intarweb. I like this station. Amarok has several hundred radio stations in it. (Lots of 48kbps AAC+, which is way better than 96kbps MP3. MP3 is so 1991.) We were going through a pile of bad '80s stations last night. It's frightening. Also, try WFMU (40kbps Ogg stream), the "what in the blue blazes was that?!" station.

Comments

[ajohnymous.livejournal.com]

I'd like to do stupid wifi tricks like using the 11g for the house and putting the 11b somewhere that will reach the garden. The 11b can be set up as a repeater. I could just leave the user to switch networks by hand as needed, but hey. The 11g does WPA, the 11b only does WEP — can it still repeat the 11g's signal, or does it need to be able to decrypt and re-encrypt the packets? I do not understand repeater mode.

Repeater mode will likely suck. One, it will slow down your g router to mix it with b signals. Two, repeating consumes (I believe) 1/2 the bandwidth to repeat. So, you're talking about max speeds of 802.11b/2.

Instead, just run the g router (as a router) in g-only mode, and run the b router (in bridge/no-router/no-DHCP mode) in b-mode. Plug the g-router's uplink to teh interweb and the b-router's uplink into one of the downlink ports on the g-router. Get a long enough network cable to place the b-router close to your garden, or whatever.)

Give the routers two different SSID's. Connect to whichever one is appropriate (G for speed, B for range.)

Did you see this:
http://developers.slashdot.org/developers/07/09/29/1722228.shtml

[reddragdiva]

Yeah, that's what I figured. Bah!

[hawkeviper.livejournal.com]

Needs more last.fm tag radio love!

[reddragdiva]

I figure people know that one ;-)

[secretlondon.livejournal.com]

As far as I remember a wireless repeater is like a bridge - ie it's at a low layer (layer 1 or layer 2?). I don't think it will be able to re-encrypt re-process the signals just repeat them. I reckon you'd need to have WEP on both, and identical channels etc.

This is off the top of my head and I can look this stuff up, but not right this second.

[ajohnymous.livejournal.com]

It's like a bridge from its wireless to its wired ports -- but "repeater" mode is more like a relay. A b radio can't listen and talk at the same time -- so it's not repeating like a ethernet hub (everything in one port out all of the others instantaneously.) What the "repeater" is doing is logging into the other wireless box as a client (using WEP/WPA/etc.) and also accepting its own client. Every packet it accepts from its own clients, it then turns around and send the same packet to the wireless box it's attached to as a client (which in turn bridges/routes the packet out its ethernet on to its final destination. Again, since the b (or g) radio can't talk AND listen similtaneously, while it is relaying the first packet, it can't be listening for the second packet -- so the max bandwidth of the client attached to a "repeater" is half of as usual. Also, since the repeater is attaching to the first wireless box as a client, the repeater will need to support whatever authentication mode running on the other wireless box

[reddragdiva]

Ew, that's appalling.

[poggs.livejournal.com]

Listen to sinmara's slot on Wednesdays!

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

Netgear shiny-box is indeed very good. But do not use their wireless cards ever ever. They are like D-link but backwards.

My *spit* desperate measures Belkin box displays several minor stab wounds. *is ashamed*

[gths.livejournal.com]

Is there a brand of router that isn't kind of shit in some way?

[reddragdiva]

ALL HARDWARE SUCKS.

[ajohnymous.livejournal.com]

For 802.11G/B, Buffalo and Asus are decent (and can both run DD-WRT)

This is a good high end one (with USB, 8MB flash/ 32MB RAM):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833320008

This is a good enough no-frills model:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833162134

For 802.11n, the jury is still out. My requirements here are 1) draft 2.0 certified -- http://certifications.wi-fi.org/wbcs_certified_products.php?search=1&advanced=1&lang=en&selected_certifications[]=33&x=32&y=5 -- and 2) dual band 2.4/5GHz operation (or more precisely, support for 5GHz, because that what I'd want to run 802.11n in: pure 5GHz mode,) and 3) Gigabit ethernet ports (because what's the point of high speed 37.5MB/s-300mbps wireless hooked up to 12.5MB/s-100Mbps Fast Ethernet. My home server can pump SAMBA shares out a GigE port at 40MB/s -- no way I'm going bottleneck that down to 12.5MB/s out the wireless.)

I haven't check in a couple months, but back then, it looked like Apple is the only choice here:
http://www.apple.com/airportextreme/

LinkSys has a dual band proposed -- it's been 'coming soon' for some time:
http://www.dlink.com/products/?sec=1&pid=548

[tenshikurai9.livejournal.com]

WFMU's blog's MP3 section is directly responsible for providing me most of my downloads.

[reddragdiva]

Oh hell yes.