3

Scenario: I have a ADSL modem inside the studio which is connected with some wired/wireless devices. but when I'm in the backyard with my laptop the wireless signal is very poor, so the connection is very unstable.

I have an old belkin wireless router and I read that it can be useful in this scenario. after some search, it's compatible with DD-WRT, and seems setting it both wireless repeater or wireless bridge can do the job.

but which is better for speed and stability or for my purpose they are the same?

wireless repeater

wireless bridge

3
  • Have you considered putting a directional antenna on the diversity port pointed at the back yard?
    – Chris S
    Apr 9, 2012 at 4:17
  • yes, but not working... just too far and too many walls. recycle a router would be better I think
    – Kossel
    Apr 9, 2012 at 4:26
  • I would avoid either of these options and either wire the two routers to each other and use the new router as an access point or use WDS. Sep 7, 2013 at 6:43

3 Answers 3

4

In most cases, you want to use the Repeater Bridge option. This keeps all the systems on the same subnet -- it's basically a range-extender, with the unlikely-to-affect you issues of MAC filtering already raised. You should not bother using MAC filtering as a security measure (it's useless, provides no security compared with WPA and any hacker can spoof a MAC) and virtually no services rely on MAC, because NAT is so prevalent.

A straight repeater creates a separate subnet for clients of the repeater. Doubt that's what you want.

Also, WDS is highly unlikely to work. WDS only works on nearly identical hardware. It sounds like your old router is not the same as your new one. Also WDS is generally just hyper-touchy. It has the benefit of using a single SSID, but I've never seen them work well. They work for a while, then one of the AP's needs to be reset because it fell out of favor with the others.

Repeater-Bridge mode on DD-WRT just work (most of the time -- I've seen it be touchy on some hardware). It's vastly more reliable and hardware ambivalent than WDS.

2
  • Welcome to Super User! I can see you're off to a good start. If you need any guidance, be sure to have a look at the help center. Thanks for participating on Stack Exchange, and we hope you enjoy your stay!
    – bwDraco
    Jun 12, 2015 at 15:02
  • @DragonLord <sarcasm>thank you for that comment that was very beneficial for everybody to read</sarcasm> if that is the new norm then it's worth the system saying that as a PM of some sort
    – barlop
    Jun 12, 2015 at 15:05
1

A wireless bridge would require you to plug your laptop into the Belkin router. If you don't want to do that, you would set it up as a wireless repeater. There's a little more to it than that, you that's the place that I would start with.

edited: I stand corrected:

DD-WRT is combining the functions of a bridge and a repeater. I haven't used DD-WRT that much so I didn't know they had that functionality.

From the article:

"The limitation with standard bridging is that it only allows wired clients to connect to your secondary router. Wireless clients cannot connect to your secondary router configured as a standard bridge.

New in DD-WRT v24 is Repeater Bridge mode. This extends your primary LAN via secondary router (bridge router) and also allows wireless clients to connect to your secondary router."

3
  • But in the link I provided for bridge, there is an iimage showing laptop connected wirelessly :s
    – Kossel
    Apr 9, 2012 at 4:44
  • 1
    There are significant differences. For example, in repeater bridge mode, machines on the main LAN do not see the correct MAC addresses for machines on the remote LAN and many non-IP protocols will not work. MAC-based filtering on the primary LAN won't work for devices on the secondary LAN. And there are lots of other quirks too. (For example, you can't bridge IP packets for other subnets across the wireless link.) Apr 9, 2012 at 5:34
  • Thanks David.. you're right, of course.. and again, I stand corrected :)
    – Rex
    Apr 9, 2012 at 5:35
0

For your situation it should not matter. I have basically the same setup except I have a wired machine in my garage (old E-Mac with no WiFi). I have 2 WRT-54g routers. One in my house on the first floor, the second one in my detached garage.

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .