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Author Topic: Router Question
saxon75
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A friend of mine was asking me for some help on how to set up his home networking. He currently has a cable modem, a wired router, and an older desktop set up. The reason for the router, instead of just using the cable modem alone, is because his company has policies about working from home that require that you use a certain brand and model of router in order to be able to connect to their networks. He just recently got a new laptop with 802.11b/g WLAN, and wants to add a wireless connection to his network. However, because of his company's policies, he wants to continue using his existing wired router. Now, as it turns out, a quick scan through the stock at the local Best Buy has the wireless access points being more expensive than wireless routers.

What I'm curious about is whether it's possible to daisy-chain a wired router and a wireless router something like so:

code:
Cable Modem ----> Wired Router -+--> Desktop
|
|
Laptop <---- Wireless Router <--+

or whether he needs to just pay the extra money for an access point.
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TheTick
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Many wireless routers can be configured to act just as an access point of necessary. Best to confirm at the manufacturer site first, though.

How to Use a Wireless Router as a Wireless Access Point

[ April 27, 2005, 02:47 PM: Message edited by: TheTick ]

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TheTick
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Wow, that post took several minutes to appear after hatrack came back up. Strageness.
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Boris
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From what I know, you can do it, but it requires turning off the routing capabilities of the router. I've never actually done something like this, but the most routers can be turned into plain switches. It would probably be much, much easier just to get a wireless access point, simply because there's not much setup required for it. That's part of the reason they're more expensive. You pay for the convenience of not having to go through a pain in the neck setup that might not work.
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Wonder Dog
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I was using a Linksys wireless router as an access point for 6 months - worked fine. (Was using a DLINK router as my gateway/router.) Most major brands should have no touble pulling duty as a simple access point.
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Wonder Dog
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I was using a Linksys wireless router as an access point for 6 months - worked fine. (Was using a DLINK router as my gateway/router.) Most major brands should have no touble pulling duty as a simple access point.
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Wonder Dog
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I was using a Linksys wireless router as an access point for 6 months - worked fine. (Was using a DLINK router as my gateway/router.) Most major brands should have no touble pulling duty as a simple access point.

In conclusion - save the cash and buy a wifi router, use it as an access point.

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Wonder Dog
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I was using a Linksys wireless router as an access point for 6 months - worked fine. (Was using a DLINK router as my gateway/router.) Most major brands should have no touble pulling duty as a simple access point.

In conclusion - save the cash and buy a wifi router, use it as an access point.

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jeniwren
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Sax, I used a Netgear wireless router under a Linksys router attached to a Linksys cable modem for a few weeks and it worked fine. I did it that way because it was quicker to set up and I was pressed for time. Weeks later I went back and cleaned up my mess, taking the Linksys router out of the picture. Works fine that way too.

What doesn't work great is that I can't get my two PCs on the router to talk to each other, and that's bugging me. They both talk to the printer, though, so I figure I have something set up wrong.

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mothertree
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I thought you meant a router, as in don't waste your money on anything but a Porter-Cable.
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saxon75
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Thanks for all the help, folks. I will pass this along.
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