[AccessD] Finally! Second access point in my house

Jim Dettman jimdettman at verizon.net
Tue Jul 28 08:26:41 CDT 2009


<<Though it is hard to tell precisely, I think the key was to turn off the
firewall.>>

  Actually, the key was:

<<, and feed the data into the AP via the router ports - NOT the WAN port>>

  The firewall sits in between the WAN interface and the LAN interface.  By
plugging into the LAN interface, you effectively disabled the firewall.

  What you've done is turned a router into a repeater.

<< The radio used 
to transmit the signal appears to hang off of the WAN side of the box, which
is why I was originally 
trying to feed the signal into the wan port, but with the wan side not
connected to the internet, 
the SPI firewall is no longer needed.>>

  This is not the case.  The wireless signal is always off the LAN side.
Otherwise it would not be protected by the firewall and would be exposed on
the public side.

Jim.



-----Original Message-----
From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of jwcolby
Sent: Tuesday, July 28, 2009 8:06 AM
To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving
Subject: [AccessD] Finally! Second access point in my house

Well, I finally accomplished it, creating a second WIRED wireless access
point at the far end of a 
cable at my house.

I am doing the "responsible parent" thing and creating the public location
computer for my kids, out 
in the living room.  Unfortunately the available location was across the
room from the cable that I 
had run for my Windows Media Center PC, so I needed wireless.  While I had a
wireless access point 
mid house in the basement directly under my wife's office, by the time the
signal got up to the PC 
in the living room it was just too weak to hold a reliable connection.

I have been trying for AGES to get a second access point in the house.  It
seems so simple, place a 
second wireless AP (a wireless router) at the far end of the cable and let
it broadcast on a 
different channel.  Well.... I had tried and tried and TRIED different
things but last night, quite 
by accident(kinda) I found the solution.

The solution in MY CASE was to turn off the SPI firewall, turn off the DHCP
server, set the channel 
to the far end away from the other AP (primary AP on channel 11 and
secondary on channel 1), and 
feed the data into the AP via the router ports - NOT the WAN port.  To be
honest, feeding the WAN 
port MIGHT work, however once I got it running (which happened feeding it
via the router port) I 
didn't go back and try it.

A wireless router has two independent interfaces, each of which requires an
IP address to access. 
However it is the router interface which is used to program the router, and
this IP address normally 
sits at 192.168.0.1.  In my case I had changed my address range to
192.168.122.1 to 192.168.122.255. 
  Thus my main router sits at 192.1687.122.1.

My second access point had to be modified to be something in the
192.168.122.x range so I put it up 
at the top end, 192.168.122.149.  Thus to program that router (the second
AP) I had to now use that 
address.

Though it is hard to tell precisely, I think the key was to turn off the
firewall.  The radio used 
to transmit the signal appears to hang off of the WAN side of the box, which
is why I was originally 
trying to feed the signal into the wan port, but with the wan side not
connected to the internet, 
the SPI firewall is no longer needed.

So that is it.  I have successfully turned a full on router into a simple
wireless access point 
hanging on the far end of a cable.  I have more signal than you can shake a
stick at in my living 
room, and that part of life is good at Colby Manor.

-- 
John W. Colby
www.ColbyConsulting.com
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