Setting up a Wireless-Access Point

[fullvietFX]

Right now I currently have the D-Link DIR-655, my router and cable modem are on the second floor of the house. I'm going to be moving my room to the basement soon and my computer and PS3 are there. I already checked the signal and it's not as strong as I want it to be. I was thinking about getting this;
http://www.pccyber.com/?v=product&i=LAN-D-DAP-1522

How straight forward is it to set-up? I'm planning to put it in the main floor of the home, will this help boost my signal significantly?

 

[alphanumeric]

If you go to the "works with" section for the DAP-1522 on the D-Link web site the DIR-655 isn't listed. The DIR-825 is but the DIR-655 isn't. You might want to poke around on the D-Link forum and see if its going to work before you buy it. http://forums.dlink.com/index.php

 

[InvisiBill]

FYI, almost every "wireless router" sold today is actually a router, switch, and wireless access point combined in one. However, APs usually cost more than routers for some reason.

If you get a wireless router where you can disable DHCP, simply run a cable from the existing router to one of the LAN ports on the new router. Set up the wireless on the new router to mimic the original's settings, but pick a different channel for it. Just disable DHCP (so connections will be getting their setup info from the main router) and ignore the WAN port.

If you can run a cable from the router to the basement (I'm assuming you're already running a cable from the second floor to the first floor for the AP), you could also just put a switch there to "split" the connection to all the devices you'll have down there. They'd be sharing a single link (100 or 1000Mb depending on your hardware) back to the router, but that should only be an issue if both are making bandwidth-intensive connections to something on the other side of that link (like a file server on the second floor streaming a movie to the PS3 while copying ISOs.to your PC).

 

[alphanumeric]

The advantage of using the DAP-1522 is you don't have to run a network cable to it. It will talk to your existing wifi router and act like a repeater extending your wifi coverage. It will also work as an access point when you connect PCs to its LAN jacks. I think the OP is trying to avoid having to run that extra cable.

 

[fullvietFX]

I want to avoid anymore cables, I wanted a signal repeater like alphanumeric said. So the link I provided won't work?

 

[InvisiBill]

The DAP-1522 product page lists only Bridge and AP modes. Essentially, that means it's a wireless-to-wired adapter or a wired-to-wireless adapter. You could plug your PC and PS3 into it, and have it pick up the wireless signal to connect those devices to the rest of the network. Or you could wire it into your existing network to provide wireless signal to WiFi devices. See page 2 of the datasheet.

It may or may not work as a repeater, I don't know. I don't see anything on the site about it, but I haven't researched it any further than that. If you get hardware that supports it, DD-WRT lets you turn a router into a repeater.

Keep in mind that with a wireless repeater, you're instantly cutting your throughput in half (think of it as using half to talk to the router and half to talk to the clients). Without even considering that, the usable throughput of WiFi is usually about half of the advertised raw data throughput. So if it says 300Mb/s on the box, you'd probably be getting 75Mb/s (<10MB/s) transfers when using it as a repeater at best. That's not horrible or anything, but most people don't think of <10MB/s transfers when they see "300Mb!!!!" plastered all over the box.

 

[alphanumeric]

Hard to say if it will work based on the info on the D-Link site. If you look at the 360 view the switch on the back has three settings, bridge, auto, and access point. I'm not sure what the auto mode does, it might be both. If you download the manual you may get more info. It may work with the 655 in a reduced capacity, the 655 doesn't have the 5 GHz band.