Wireless Network (Basic Questions)

J

jrg70

Weaksauce
Joined
Jun 23, 2004
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I'm needing to set up a wireless network.
Currently I have a wired network with a 4 port router.
On the network:
My main desktop PC
Second PC (hopefully soon to be HTPC)
HP MediaSmart Windows Home Server

I plan on getting my wife a notebook for a holiday gift and obviously want it to be able to be on the network for Internet access and file/print sharing.

My questions are the following:

Can I leave my wired router in place and just have another wireless router installed on one of the ports of the wired one? (This would enable me to expand in the future)

I've done a little research into the wireless standards and is the IEEE 802.11 "N" the latest and greatest?

Thanks for any replies.
 
You don't need a "wireless router" in this case, just an access point. If you do go the router route (lol) just don't plug anything into the WAN port and turn off DHCP serving if your current wired routing is doing that.

N is the latest and greatest, I think its still a draft, so it *could* change, but its stable enough for the past year or so to use.
 
bobdole369 said:
If you do go the router route (lol) just don't plug anything into the WAN port and turn off DHCP serving if your current wired routing is doing that.
Click to expand...

My recommendation is that if you do go the router route (lol here too), get one that not only lets you turn off DHCP, but turn on WAP bridge mode. I have seen problems with wireless routers, where even when you turn off DHCP, they do some funky things. The ones that let you set the WAP to bridge mode worked better on larger networks.
 
I'm still yet to get this set up and I now have another question:

I'm going to be getting my wife a notebook for the holidays. The notebooks all state that they have wireless LAN 802.11 B/G.

Will that not work on a "N" router?
Or can I set up the notebook for "N"?

Also, Santa is going to be getting us a PS3, what about that?

I'm sorry about the basic questions, but I'm really green about wireless networking, obviously.

Thanks!
 
You can get a wireless router that has wireless B/G/N like the Dlink-DIR655, excellent router.

This has ability to run mixed mode to support the laptop, but I would suggest getting a laptop with wireless N card already.

And the PS3 uses wireless G, so it works just fine with that Dlink.
 
mryerse said:
My recommendation is that if you do go the router route (lol here too), get one that not only lets you turn off DHCP, but turn on WAP bridge mode. I have seen problems with wireless routers, where even when you turn off DHCP, they do some funky things. The ones that let you set the WAP to bridge mode worked better on larger networks.
Click to expand...

really? like what? I'm just curious because I haven't heard of any.
 
I've used this with the belkin n1 and the Dlink WBR-1310

I believe the newer dlink dir-655 can do this as well, although I'm not 100% sure.

None of the linksys wireless routers I've ever used had this feature (haven't tried their n devices).

Bridge mode (aka wap mode) is nice if you don't need any routing features, but just need to bridge the layer 2 Ethernet with the layer 2 wireless so they are literally the same network. That way your wireless devices can access your wired devices without a firewall or NAT in the middle, and vice versa.
 
mryerse said:
I've used this with the belkin n1 and the Dlink WBR-1310

I believe the newer dlink dir-655 can do this as well, although I'm not 100% sure.

None of the linksys wireless routers I've ever used had this feature (haven't tried their n devices).

Bridge mode (aka wap mode) is nice if you don't need any routing features, but just need to bridge the layer 2 Ethernet with the layer 2 wireless so they are literally the same network.
Click to expand...

my wireless and my wired see each other as the same network.
 
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