home networking - wireless network with cable modem and access point

08
2013-08
  • hayri

    I have a Scientific Atlanta EPC2203 cable modem and a TP-Link TL-WA500G access point. When I connect my computer directly to modem with a CAT5e cable I have internet connection on my laptop (when i type ipconfig i see my external ip there, provided by isp).

    So I decided to have wireless network in the flat, allowing other devices to connect as well. I bought this wireless ap (TL-WA500G) configured Wireless security stuff, and connected it to my modem. With that configuration (by default AP has static ip of 192.168.1.254) only my computer can connect to internet over wifi, but not any other device. When I set the IP of AP to Dynamic IP (DHCP) it is the same.

    How should I change my configuration to enable all wifi devices to connect to internet?

    • Answers
  • techie007

    To share the single Internet connection with multiple computers you need a router not an access point.

    The most familiar type of routers are home and small office routers that simply pass data, such as web pages and email, between the home computers and the owner's cable or DSL modem, which connects to the Internet through an ISP.


    • Related Question

    networking - How can I set up a wireless access point to connect to an existing wireless network?
  • Ben McCormack

    I already have an existing wireless network. How can I connect an additional access point wirelessly to that network so that the new access point can provide a wired connection to other devices on the network?

    Background:

    My wife's family gave us a Samsung Blu-ray player as a gift. It has Netflix, Pandora, and other services built-in, provided you can establish an internet connection.

    It can only accept a standard Cat5 ethernet connection (the BD-P1600 model allows for an optional propietary wireless adapter, but ours is the BD-P1590, so this option is not available).

    In lieu of running Cat5 cable all over our home, I'd like to be able to set up a wireless access point to connect to our existing wireless network and then serve as a hub for wired connections. Can a standard consumer router (such as the Linksys WRT54G) be set up for this purpose or do I need a different device?


    • Related Answers
  • Journeyman Geek

    the wrt54g- and many other routers will work in client mode IF you have third party firmware - such as dd-wrt which mostly works on the GL and older builds.My suggestion is pick a router firmware distro such as openwrt or ddwrt, look at its feature list, then pick a router they support- since not every router will do what you want.

  • RJFalconer

    The 3rd party firmware wrt54g The Journeyman Geek mentions is "Tomato firmware".

    You can download it here, and read more about features on the wiki page.
    (Features: "Wireless modes: access point (AP), wireless client station (STA)... wireless repeating")

  • William Hilsum

    Well, to start, I would advise Cat5 over Wireless any day if you are talking about a permanent point to point connection.... That aside...

    Most standard consumer routers should be up to this. You basically need to set up WDS or whatever your router calls it, this should allow you to join it as a client to the other router and then disable DHCP as clients will be getting their requests from the primary router.

    Doing this sort of thing is MUCH easier if you have routers from the same manufacturer.... If you don't, then try buying an actual access point instead of a router as they are designed for this sort of thing and usually have pre-configured profiles that make it very easy.