Wireless Ethernet Bridge

[klinemj]

Does anyone use a Wireless Ethernet Bridge in their house? Any reco's on options to consider (or avoid...)?

I am seeing that over time, I am ending up with a lot of devices that need hard-wired to the net, but I don't have any hard-wired connections in my house.

I do have a wireless network most things are connecting to (3 computers and a Wii so far), so (instead of running a lot of e-net line around) I would rather get a wireless e-net bridge so I can tap into the wireless network and have a wired device connect that way.

Thanks in advance for any advice...

Mark

[houston1]

I use D-Link products. I like their web interface and they are easy to configure. Also, D-Link products seem to communicate with one another very easily. In the past I had Linksys, and I had issues with their devices communicating with each other. Maybe that has been fixed now...I am not sure. If you get a "bridge", make sure that it can also be configured as an "access point" in case your needs change in the future.

Lastly, make sure your bridge supports the same wireless protocol as your router (or other bridge). For example, if your router is 802.11n, then you need to match your bridge to the same protocol.

John

PS. Oops..I almost forgot. Make sure your bridge works on the same band as your router. If your router sends at 2.4GHz, your bridge must be able to receive at the same frequency. The good news is that alot of the new bridges receive at both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands.

[littlesaint]

Assuming you need a second access point (you'd be surprised how much range you get form one), it would be far more efficient to add a second AP to your wired network than to bridge it wirelessly to your router. Wireless radios are essentially hubs. Only one device can communicate at a time, so if your AP needs to send data to back to your router over the air, it can't receive anything from clients while this is going on. If the second AP is wired to the network, you don't have this limitation. 802.11n and MIMO fixes this problem to some extent, but it is still much more efficient to wire your APs.

[butchgo]

Dec 6, 2009 18:25:27 GMT -5 klinemj said:

Does anyone use a Wireless Ethernet Bridge in their house? Any reco's on options to consider (or avoid...)?

I am seeing that over time, I am ending up with a lot of devices that need hard-wired to the net, but I don't have any hard-wired connections in my house.

I do have a wireless network most things are connecting to (3 computers and a Wii so far), so (instead of running a lot of e-net line around) I would rather get a wireless e-net bridge so I can tap into the wireless network and have a wired device connect that way.

Thanks in advance for any advice...

Mark

You might take a look at this.

www.oppodigital.com/wireless-bridge-kit-WBK1/

[flamingeye]

I`m looking at that also , but I have to get through x-mass first

[mysterymachine]

I do. I have wireless G and a d-link wireless bridge to my bedroom rack for things like the blu-ray. Works fine... was finnicky to setup but once working I have not touched it (for over 2 yrs now)

[klinemj]

Thanks to all for their advice (esp. those offering options other than Linksys...I've had 3 of their products and had major issues w/2 that I ended up returning!).

Littlesaint, regarding your comment:

it would be far more efficient to add a second AP to your wired network than to bridge it wirelessly to your router

Do you mean running a hard line from one point to the other or some other approach? (I'm no networking expert...very novice...so assume I am effectively stupid in this regard...)

I'm trying to avoid running a hard line as the two current locations are very far apart...one on first floor, one on third. And, over time (I have an 8 yr. old and 10 yr old), I suspect there are at least two other locations on the second floor that will need access! My house is a kind of sprawling thing...4400 ft2 over 3 floors, so it consumes a lot of cable to run hard lines.

Luckily, when I built the house, I was smart enough to put outlet boxes in key places in each room for a possible hard line or two to be run (with a string hanging down inside the wall through the flooring into a crawlspace or top of the wall into an attic space) to a place I can get to so I can easily fish line through, such as cat5 or other line such as RG6). And, I have a central location it can all pass through. It's a large in-wall cabinet in my laundry room in a location that would feed line from the first floor to sites on the 2nd and 3rd floors. Currently, only RG6 line come into this location from our satellite and goes to 3 locations for satellite TV, but there's plenty of room to add more within that "hub". But, if I didn't need to run all that line, it would be a lot easier...

FYI, my current internet access is a high speed connection that comes via my phone line (Fuse from Cinci Bell), then I have a "modem" from which a hard-line i-net connection goes to my wireless router (Linksys WRT54g). I will soon have a BluRay hard wired to it, then all else in the house would be wireless unless I did something else. The wireless items will include at least 1 other BluRay player, 2 computers and occasionally a third, and a Wii - for now.

Thanks again!

Mark

[ufokillerz]

i have the dlink dap 1522, working great for ps3 and network receiver, working great so far. i hope to hardwire it soon enough though.

[house72]

I got the Oppo Wireless Bridge and as all of their products it is just plain awesome. I cannot think of anything simple and reliable as this one.

Cheers

[strindl]

another option you have is one of the powerline ethernet adapter kits. I have this one:

www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001J2ZSL4/ref=oss_T15_product

and I'll be damned if it doesn't work perfectly. The ethernet transmitter is plugged into your router with an ethernet cable, and then it's power plug is plugged into an electrical outlet. Your house electrical grid is now an ethernet network. You plug any number of receivers..each with 4 ethernet ports, into an electrical outlet somewhere else in your house, and the transmitter down by your router talks to the receivers and uses the electrical wires already in the walls of your home to send the ethernet network traffic.

I have one working and it's faster and more reliable than a wireless connection. I was skeptical at first...but it works and works well