How many AP's do i need?

[g2oob]

Hi all, im soon to setup a wireless bridge for a friend.

There is 2 buildings involved, they are approx 100-150 feet apart with
line of sight. my aim is purely to provide internet access to what is
really an out-house for now.correct me if im wrong please, i was
thinking i would need 4 AP to do this, i had the Linksys WAP54G's in
mind. with these i would have 2 of the AP's in bridge mode to create the
'link' between the two buildings, and another 2 which would be connected
to each of the access points in 'bridge mode' at either end. allowing
the laptop to connect. any help is greatly appreciated!

due to the location of the access point which will be in line of site,
they will be to high up in the building for the wireless to reach down
to ground level, so a cat5 cable will be run from the access point in
'bridge mode' down to ground level where the access point in normal
would be, which is the one the laptop would connec to. sorry ifthis
souds confusing, would be easier if i could draw it!


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[John Navas]

On Mon, 21 Jan 2008 16:06:03 -0500, g2oob
<g2oob.33k245@no-mx.wirelessforums.org> wrote in
<g2oob.33k245@no-mx.wirelessforums.org>:

>Hi all, im soon to setup a wireless bridge for a friend.
>
>There is 2 buildings involved, they are approx 100-150 feet apart with
>line of sight. my aim is purely to provide internet access to what is
>really an out-house for now.correct me if im wrong please, i was
>thinking i would need 4 AP to do this, i had the Linksys WAP54G's in
>mind. with these i would have 2 of the AP's in bridge mode to create the
>'link' between the two buildings, and another 2 which would be connected
>to each of the access points in 'bridge mode' at either end. allowing
>the laptop to connect. any help is greatly appreciated!

The link is wireless Ethernet client bridge to wireless access point.
To have wireless in the remote location, you need to wire a wireless
access point to the wireless Ethernet client bridge.

If the remote link wireless access point has a directional antenna,
wireless in the main location might need a wireless access point.

>due to the location of the access point which will be in line of site,
>they will be to high up in the building for the wireless to reach down
>to ground level, so a cat5 cable will be run from the access point in
>'bridge mode' down to ground level where the access point in normal
>would be, which is the one the laptop would connec to. sorry ifthis
>souds confusing, would be easier if i could draw it!

All access points run in bridge mode.

--
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[DTC]

g2oob wrote:
> Hi all, im soon to setup a wireless bridge for a friend.
>
> There is 2 buildings involved, they are approx 100-150 feet apart with
> line of sight. my aim is purely to provide internet access to what is
> really an out-house for now.correct me if im wrong please, i was
> thinking i would need 4 AP to do this, i had the Linksys WAP54G's in
> mind. with these i would have 2 of the AP's in bridge mode to create the
> 'link' between the two buildings, and another 2 which would be connected
> to each of the access points in 'bridge mode' at either end. allowing
> the laptop to connect. any help is greatly appreciated!

Literally speaking, no...four Linksys WRT54G devices won't work.

Option 1: Load a third party firmware to a Linksys WRT54GS (Linux OS).

Option 2:
For the wireless link part: Use a WRT54G wireless router unit out of
the box and a WAP54G Access Point. The WRT54G should running straight
bridging mode (not as a router), i.e connect your existing first
building WAN to one of the four LAN ports on the WRT54G.

The WAP54G can be set to bridge or client mode. In bridge mode, you
can connect it another WRT54G (as above) or WAP54G for the remote
access point. This is the preferred method as it will pass full DHCP
support form the first building's WAN and you can have multiple
computers behind it. In client mode, its nothing more than a laptop
wireless card in functionality (although you could use a WRT54G
in routing mode behind it as your access point then).

a) LAN > WRT54G ~~ WAP54G (bridge) > WRT54G (LAN ports) > PCs with
native IPs

a) LAN > WRT54G ~~ WAP54G (client) > WRT54G (WAN ports to LAN ports) >
PCs with new IPs

[Bill Kearney]

You're right about using two access points as a bridge. But you may want to
start by putting up just the first one and using a directional antenna on
it. Point it at the second building and see if a computer in there can
maintain a decent signal. If so, you're done! If not, then yes, you'd
probably want to pull wire down from the access point in the outbuilding and
setup another access point there. That will let this third router provide
coverage just in the second building. You may want to lower the power level
on it to avoid covering any further than necessary. As for a fourth router,
if you want to keep wireless coverage in the first building, yes you'd need
it.

But I'd start by setting up that second router in the first building and
seeing how well (if at all) the signal is received in the second building.

-Bill Kearney

> Hi all, im soon to setup a wireless bridge for a friend.
>
> There is 2 buildings involved, they are approx 100-150 feet apart with
> line of sight. my aim is purely to provide internet access to what is
> really an out-house for now.correct me if im wrong please, i was
> thinking i would need 4 AP to do this, i had the Linksys WAP54G's in
> mind. with these i would have 2 of the AP's in bridge mode to create the
> 'link' between the two buildings, and another 2 which would be connected
> to each of the access points in 'bridge mode' at either end. allowing
> the laptop to connect. any help is greatly appreciated!
>
> due to the location of the access point which will be in line of site,
> they will be to high up in the building for the wireless to reach down
> to ground level, so a cat5 cable will be run from the access point in
> 'bridge mode' down to ground level where the access point in normal
> would be, which is the one the laptop would connec to. sorry ifthis
> souds confusing, would be easier if i could draw it!