Bridging 2 Wireless Routers

[x Alex x]

Hey people,

I don't know a great deal about this but i've been told it's do-able.

so, we have a computer downstairs wired to our router, couple of laptops connect through that wirelessly.

the house is pretty big so the wireless signal struggles upstairs and in other rooms sometimes, the other reason i want to do this is i'll base it in my room next to my Xbox so i can wire it through the net cable because to get online with it i keep having to move the existing router to and from my room

i've spent hours looking this up, some forums say it can't be done and others say it's easy enough going through various settings i can't fathem out because the only instructions i can find are vague at best :bang:

i only found out about this when looking into getting the xbox wireless adaptor and found people said this is cheaper, specially as i have a spare router and it would serve a bonus purpose

any thoughts/advice on this would be great as it's driving me round the bend

cheers, Alex

 

[ChrisUK]

Defiantly possible.

The problem is wireless routers normally won't let you use bridging on the wireless interface. What you need ideally is not another router but an "Access Point" this has more flexible options such as bridging and will allow you to "bridge" the router downstairs over wireless and "repeat" it upstairs.

Problem is the access point would need to be placed where the signal is pretty good for best results.

Personally I'd get a better access point and a Wireless Adapter for the 360. Thats what I did in my house in the end.

Another option which would work a lot better than wireless is Power over Ethernet Adapters. Modern ones can happily provide 85mbps "real throughput" in most situations. Can buy a couple for about £30 these days albeit lower quality ones.

 

[x Alex x]

Defiantly possible.

The problem is wireless routers normally won't let you use bridging on the wireless interface. What you need ideally is not another router but an "Access Point" this has more flexible options such as bridging and will allow you to "bridge" the router downstairs over wireless and "repeat" it upstairs.

Problem is the access point would need to be placed where the signal is pretty good for best results.

Personally I'd get a better access point and a Wireless Adapter for the 360. Thats what I did in my house in the end.

Another option which would work a lot better than wireless is Power over Ethernet Adapters. Modern ones can happily provide 85mbps "real throughput" in most situations. Can buy a couple for about £30 these days albeit lower quality ones.

thanks for the info, the d-links interface is pretty complex but the belkin one which is the main router actually has an option to use as an 'access point' might have a go at switching them around so the d-link is the main one and the belkin is the access point, failing that i'll either just get an adaptor and put up with the poor signal OR base the router in my room wired to the xbox and buy a £15 wireless card for the computer downstairs

 

[colin79666]

How about:
Get a pair of power over ethernet adaptors (I have the comtrend ones).
Connect one adaptor to the router downstairs. Connect the other adaptor to a wireless access point upstairs. Turn off wireless on the router downstairs if nothing down there connects wirelessly to reduce interference.

 

[x Alex x]

could do, but TBH my main focus is the xbox, my laptop works in my room so i'm happy lol.

the belkin interface looks pretty simple, it explains if it's in access mode it will turn off the nescasery settings etc, so if i put that in my room and hook the d-link to be the main router, will the belkin in my room pick up the d-link downstairs ending the internet?

if so, great i'll give it a go, if not i rekon it's going to be a lot more hassle than it's worth

 

[jip0]

could do, but TBH my main focus is the xbox, my laptop works in my room so i'm happy lol.

if you get good signal with your laptop you can ethernet your xbox into your laptop then bridge the connections and use your laptop wireless thats how i do it (well on my computer with wireless dongle)

 

[Focus Owner]

as said access points

also you can get wirless extenders

 

[x Alex x]

if you get good signal with your laptop you can ethernet your xbox into your laptop then bridge the connections and use your laptop wireless thats how i do it (well on my computer with wireless dongle)

i looked into using my laptop as a sort of wireless adaptor too and read it was a pig to do, that's what i was going to look into next actually

how did you do it mate? i used to be decent with computers, since i've finnished with them at college i don't remember much at all

 

[jip0]

erm iirc you just plug your xbox and pc up with an ethenet while there both switched off

turn your pc on wait for everything to load up and you got connection
then turn your xbox on and it should say about being connected in a little bubble from your tray

see if you can get connection if not then go to your network connections select both connections and then right click and click bridge connections

that usually works but sometimes it throws a bit of a wobbly

i just played with it untill it worked and the only problem i have is i have to turn my pc on first and then my xbox after its loaded up and if i turn my xbox off i cant connect again untill my pc has been restarted i dunno why

thats all assuming your using xp aswell lol

 

[x Alex x]

erm iirc you just plug your xbox and pc up with an ethenet while there both switched off

turn your pc on wait for everything to load up and you got connection
then turn your xbox on and it should say about being connected in a little bubble from your tray

see if you can get connection if not then go to your network connections select both connections and then right click and click bridge connections

that usually works but sometimes it throws a bit of a wobbly

i just played with it untill it worked and the only problem i have is i have to turn my pc on first and then my xbox after its loaded up and if i turn my xbox off i cant connect again untill my pc has been restarted i dunno why

thats all assuming your using xp aswell lol

on vista =/

i did try and ethernet it to the laptop and it recognised it but never got a net connection, might have a play around with it later, cheers

 

[jip0]

on vista =/

i did try and ethernet it to the laptop and it recognised it but never got a net connection, might have a play around with it later, cheers

ah me not to experianced with vista

just have a play and try bridging the connections

 

[x Alex x]

ah me not to experianced with vista

just have a play and try bridging the connections

bridged them no bother but when it's hooked up to the laptop it does work but stuff like the market place is missing, only my xbox and friends comes up, status code 80072741 (pops up saying content is disabled but will appear when available)

 

[jip0]

bridged them no bother but when it's hooked up to the laptop it does work but stuff like the market place is missing, only my xbox and friends comes up, status code 80072741 (pops up saying content is disabled but will appear when available)

never heard of that could be the nat settings

give me a min and ill google the code

 

[x Alex x]

never heard of that could be the nat settings

give me a min and ill google the code

i couldn't get google to work for the past hour but it seems alright now, NAT settings are fully open

 

[jip0]

http://support.xbox.com/support/en/us/nxe/kb.aspx?id=960116&lcid=1033&category=xboxlive

i found that wich seems helpfull

that seems to say its xbox's problem or you need to openports but that cant be the case if its worked on your network before