Everything You Need To Know About Wireless Bridging and Repeating

[lrz35]

I appreciated greatly the articles about wireless bridging and repeating, but the statement about WDS and WPA / WPA2 security is not always true.

My configuration is built with two old Apple Airport Express APs (802.11g), WDS and WPA/WPA2 activated (see screen capture - in French sorry ). And it works !

 

[BartStoffels]

Repeater AVM

I've tested a wireless repeater from AVM (Fritz!WLAN Repeater N/G: http://www.avm.de/en/Produkte/FRITZ_WLAN/FRITZ_WLAN_Repeater_N_G/index.php).

I'm not quite sure if this particular repeater uses WDS, but I am sure that I can use WPA/WPA2, and at the same time give it a different SSID than the base WiFi AP.

Therefore, I believe that Tim's statement below is not completely correct. Especially the last two sentences:

"Because they act like standard clients, they have a key advantage over WDS-based devices in that they can use WPA/TKIP and WPA2/AES wireless security in addition to WEP. Their disadvantage is that because they act like clients, they need to use the SSID of the AP they are associated with. So you can't use the trick of configuring the repeater with a different SSID so that you can direct your client to associate with it."

 

[thiggins]

I appreciated greatly the articles about wireless bridging and repeating, but the statement about WDS and WPA / WPA2 security is not always true.

My configuration is built with two old Apple Airport Express APs (802.11g), WDS and WPA/WPA2 activated (see screen capture - in French sorry ). And it works !

Thanks. I'll correct the article. I think EnGenius products also allow WPA2/AES in WDS.

 

[thiggins]

I've tested a wireless repeater from AVM (Fritz!WLAN Repeater N/G: http://www.avm.de/en/Produkte/FRITZ_WLAN/FRITZ_WLAN_Repeater_N_G/index.php).

I'm not quite sure if this particular repeater uses WDS, but I am sure that I can use WPA/WPA2, and at the same time give it a different SSID than the base WiFi AP.

That's an unusual little box. I didn't see any mention of SSID assignment in the User Manual I downloaded, but I believe you.

The product doesn't use WDS and if it displays an SSID different than the network it's connected to, it must be supporting multiple SSIDs.

 

[heap1]

I use 2 Hawking Tech products, a Router (HWRN1A) and Range Extender HWREN1), in Repeater mode. Neither of them use WDS or allow for multiple SSIDs. I am also able to assign a different SSID from the main router and use WPA2/AES on each of the devices in repeater mode.

 

[thiggins]

I think I said in Part 2 that Repeaters can work with WEP, WPA and WPA2.

Assigning a second SSID in the main router doesn't help you to select the repeater because the same SSID is still coming from main AP and repeater. You have to be able to assign the second SSID in the repeater.

 

[heap1]

I think I said in Part 2 that Repeaters can work with WEP, WPA and WPA2.

Assigning a second SSID in the main router doesn't help you to select the repeater because the same SSID is still coming from main AP and repeater. You have to be able to assign the second SSID in the repeater.

You can assign a separate SSID, different from the router, to the Hawking Tech products in Repeater mode.

 

[tipstir]

Thanks. I'll correct the article. I think EnGenius products also allow WPA2/AES in WDS.

Yep it does!

 

[DaveVM]

Repeater Security Settings

Folks,

My situation, currently have two Netgear WNR834bV2 routers one set as a base station the other as the repeater. Have the security set for WPA-PSK. These routers are now three years old. Work fine but demands in the house have increased.

Well I went and bought a Netgear WNR3500L as I figured it would work just fine and improve the speed through out the house. Thinking it would also be fully backward compatible with the 834b's. Wrong thought.

The problem is that in repeater mode the only security available is WEP for the 3500L (even for the 3700 at least in it's documentation) and even Netgear says WEP should not be used. I thought things were to move forward not back, so I do not want to go down in security, seems like a bad idea. Not to mention having to get all of the wireless stuff reset. Do not want to mess with firmware such as DD-WRT or others.

I've been reading the forums, and read the two articles on how to do all of the repeating and bridging but the 834b's only do WDS.

So what I'm trying to figure out is how to keep security or improve it, increase speed in the house, without having to buy any more stuff. What is it I'm missing? Got to be something.

Any input would be appreciated.

Thank You For Your Time

Dave

 

[thiggins]

WDS support for anything other than WEP is vendor-specific and not common. I'm surprised that the WNR834bV2s support it.

Unless you are in a high-risk area (lots of surrounding networks), your options are to load DD-WRT on the WNR3500L and try it or buy a pair of products that are known to support WPA and WPA2 (EnGenius noted above).

 

[stevech]

WDS support for anything other than WEP is vendor-specific and not common. I'm surprised that the WNR834bV2s support it.

Unless you are in a high-risk area (lots of surrounding networks), your options are to load DD-WRT on the WNR3500L and try it or buy a pair of products that are known to support WPA and WPA2 (EnGenius noted above).

I've seen that in the past, and wondered why a WDS repeater cannot receive in WEP and retransmit in WPA? And all the permutations.

 

[DaveVM]

Thank You

Tim and Steve,

WDS support for anything other than WEP is vendor-specific and not common. I'm surprised that the WNR834bV2s support it.

Unless you are in a high-risk area (lots of surrounding networks), your options are to load DD-WRT on the WNR3500L and try it or buy a pair of products that are known to support WPA and WPA2 (EnGenius noted above).

Tim, unfortunately I live in an area where it seems everyone has wireless in their homes. Could be worse though! At least it's not condos/apartments! So I keep things pretty tight.

I've seen that in the past, and wondered why a WDS repeater cannot receive in WEP and retransmit in WPA? And all the permutations.

Steve, what you say makes sense. Guess it just boils down to dollars and cents.

Thank you both for your quick responses.

It is as I was afraid the 3500L will be going back. Really seems odd that Netgear can not keep things backwards compatible with their own product line.

To me locking down your network is like locking your doors. You just do it! Though it is so hard to find out the security options available when reading the manuals for routers/AP's and so forth. Shoot some gloss right over it. I wish there was some easy way to find it, without having to at times buy the product. As I step off my soapbox.

Thanks again.

Dave

 

[stevech]

For me, home WiFi security is very simple. Just enable WEP128 or WPA encryption and you are done. Unless you live in a dorm at M.I.T.

 

[tipstir]

WPA2 AES is more secured than WEP are.. You can use WPA2 AES on 802.11g.

 

[duhfool]

non-WDS compatibility

According to the article, are all non-WDS devices usable with any access point? (AP only or Router/AP combos)?
I'm assuming the modes are only for when using the listed device as a repeater/bridge.
I am thinking of using the WET6 with a netgear wnr1000v2 (free comcast router) but plan on upgrading to a wndr3700.

 

[thiggins]

According to the article, are all non-WDS devices usable with any access point? (AP only or Router/AP combos)?
I'm assuming the modes are only for when using the listed device as a repeater/bridge.
I am thinking of using the WET6 with a netgear wnr1000v2 (free comcast router) but plan on upgrading to a wndr3700.

Wireless bridge / repeater devices usually will work with any AP or wireless router. The WET610N will work this way.

 

[duhfool]

Wireless bridge / repeater devices usually will work with any AP or wireless router. The WET610N will work this way.

Wireless bridge / repeater devices usually will work with any AP or wireless router. The WET610N will work this way.

I want to confirm that the only router that supports non-WDS bridging is the EnGenius router.
You have the WNDR3700 listed with WDS, Router under the MODES column, which I assume meant those are the only two modes it can be configured to run in.
I'm asking since I thought the article was only about non-WDS devices.

BTW, thanks for this article, as it has give me much help in explaining the concept of wireless bridging as it stands now. Back in the day, I had a WET11 that just worked because it was one of the few solutions I found that did what I needed, but I never really understood it well.

Thanks.

 

[thiggins]

I want to confirm that the only router that supports non-WDS bridging is the EnGenius router.

That is correct, for that list. There may be other routers that support non-WDS bridging / repeating, from EnGenius in particular.

 

[RabidTreeMonkey]

Wanted to say thanks for these two articles. We're looking to purchase a pair of repeaters/range extenders for our network and SNB's articles have really helped us narrow down our choices with a better understanding of what we need.

I'll post the details in the Buying Advice forum, but would love a short reply about which repeater/AP to buy between the EnGenius esr9850 and the Asus rt-n13u? Our repeater locations (unfortunately) will be limited to positions similar to SNB's D and E. Our primary router is a Netgear WNDR3700. Security is important as we have a lot of nearby wireless traffic, including at least one unfriendly neighbor who keeps trying to gain unauthorized access to our wireless network.

 

[stevech]

Be sure to consider MoCa as an alternative to WiFi range extenders. I changed from a WiFi bridge to MoCa and am very happy to have it - dumb layer 2 MoCa, just works, and provides 70Mbps net at the IP layer.