I am looking to expand my Wi-Fi range using two Linksys routers. How do I go about this?

Question

Most of the computers in the house are used up to a maximum of five or six feet of the router. However, my iPad cannot get a good signal through a couple of walls.

Here's what I have:

• Linksys WRT54G2 with DD-WRT (currently in use with boosted TX power)
• Linksys WRT120N with stock Linksys firmware as DD-WRT does not support it (not in use)

The second router has 802.11n capability. Does using a router on wireless-N only give better range compared to wireless-G on the same hardware?

I cannot use the WRT120N on 802.11n exclusively without any support for 802.11g because one of the computers in the house does not support wireless-N. The settings don't allow me to select a G plus N mode.

Can I use both these routers together? I tried using the DD-WRT one as a repeater, but streaming was slow. I don't really need to stream videos, but it will be a plus. What I was thinking of doing is to somehow plug the two together and keep them together, with the old laptop taking advantage of the G mode and everybody else using the N mode from the other one. Is there a way to do this with only the hardware listed above?

Answer 1

If you are using WPA2 you CAN NOT use a router as a "repeater." This would look like a man in the middle attack to the encryption that WPA2 does. When you use repeaters a router doesn't just add signal strength to an existing RF signal. What a repeater does is receive a signal, and then retransmit it. If the signal is encrypted with WPA2, it would have to decrypt the packet first i.e. "receive" it, then pass it to the transmitter where it would be encrypted again (hence the man in the middle attack) .

What I would do is run ethernet cable from one router to the other, and set the second router as a bridge. This configuration takes traffic from ethernet and passes it to wireless AP and back so that the iPad works.

802.11n is a method for efficiently using 802.11 a/b/g and multiple antennas. This way you always receive the maximum throughput for your given situation. A card that is 802.11g only WILL work with a 802.11n router.

If you have any further questions feel free to let me know.