WDS Help on Tomato for WRT54GL

chvvkumar

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 24, 2005
Messages
518
Location
Northridge, LA, CA
Hi!

I need a little guidance. I have my current network setup as follows:

Internet----Dlink WBR-1310

Now, I want to extend the wireless coverage to the whole house and I have a Tomatoed WRT54GL. Now, the linksys supports WDS which the dlink doesn't.

Is there any way to use the linksys as a repeater? Something like this:

Internet----WBR-1310----WRT54GL----Wireless devices
 
Hi!

I need a little guidance. I have my current network setup as follows:

Internet----Dlink WBR-1310

Now, I want to extend the wireless coverage to the whole house and I have a Tomatoed WRT54GL. Now, the linksys supports WDS which the dlink doesn't.

Is there any way to use the linksys as a repeater? Something like this:

Internet----WBR-1310----WRT54GL----Wireless devices

just plug the linksys's uplink (to dsl / cabel -modem) to any port in the Dlink, and put the linksys into wds-mode (ofcourse the settings first, there is a setting in the linksys to put it into repeater -mode + the wireless settings to linksys).
I think it will work, but i'm not sure.

Maybe someone has better information about the wds.
 
just plug the linksys's uplink (to dsl / cabel -modem) to any port in the Dlink, and put the linksys into wds-mode (ofcourse the settings first, there is a setting in the linksys to put it into repeater -mode + the wireless settings to linksys).
I think it will work, but i'm not sure.

Maybe someone has better information about the wds.

Thanks for responding!

The problem is I have no physical access to the DLink router. Some one in my apartment has it left open for the past 2 years and i have not seen any one use it in that period (I checked the log...all the users were people i know and no one knows who owns that router) i want to use my router to extend the coverage and leave my router open so that some one might use it to access the internet.
 
Unfortunately, WDS is a closed system that only works between two of the same devices (most of the time also between devices by the same manufacturer). The D-Link doesn't appear to support WDS at all, so there really isn't any hope that it will work.


There is another option that might work though, although it isn't easy and I haven't actually tried it so no guarantees. It relies on your wireless card supporting multiple wireless aliases, which I think the broadcom drivers do, at least in the 2.4 kernel series, and basically makes a poor-man's WDS by bridging two wifi networks together.

The basic idea is to flash your WRT with OpenWRT Kamikaze (which supports multiple wireless connections per interface for some wireless cards) (or X-WRT Kamikaze, if you like having a GUI). Then, set up one wireless network (probably called wlan0.1 or something) as a client on the D-Link's network, and make sure it is bridged to lan. Then, set up a second wifi connection in AP mode, and make sure it's also bridged to LAN. Make sure DHCP is off on the WRT, and then try associating with the new network.

Don't blame me if it doesn't work (or bricks your router), I see no theoretical reason why it wouldn't, but I don't know much about the technology involved in allowing one wifi device to host multiple networks. It might be more than the poor little broadcom chip can manage.
 
Great, that was actually exactly what I was suggesting above. I didn't realize DD-WRT already had a guide for it, so I suggested what I know best: OpenWRT. It's nice to know my ideas weren't totally crazy.
 
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Thanks for the suggestion anyway!

I did look into OpenWRT but got an heart attack after seeing the UI when compared to DD-WRT or Tomato ;)
 
Heh, what UI? You mean ssh and terminal?

Seriously though, while X-WRT is a step in the right direction, OpenWRT is really only good for cranky old Linux sysadmins like me who have spent far too much time with vi and iptables. I would always suggest DD for regular users.
 
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