Installing WRE54G Range Expander

[Unregistered]

Alan Cates is my hero. If you're struggling with this, go to http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/content/view/29840/98/ for the solution. He explains exactly how to set up your Linksys Range Expander. I was able to get it to work wirelessly in about 30 minutes, where four Linksys technicians with about four hours of effort couldn't get it right. Thank you, thank you, thank you , Alan Cates.
Blessings, Sue McHenry

 

[DaveMcLain]

I've set up and used several WRE54G's and most of the time they are a bit of a pain to get working. But, once they are working I've had excellent results when using them to extend the network range. There are a few different versions too. I've had one without any cable socket at all, others had a cat5 jack under a little lid on top, all seemed to work about the same.

 

[GhostWriter]

Configuring a WRE54G with a WRT320N Dual-Band Router

I have read through and have followed the instructions found at http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/content/view/29840/98/ but can't get my WRE54G to connect to my network. In the instructions, it mentions that the channel on the WRE54G must be set to the same one being used on the router. I have configured my router for dual-band and when you do, you can't specify a channel - the router assigns one automatically. In my case, the channel being assigned is 149 - way outside of the 1-11 range allowed on the WRE54G. Is there a way to get both devices to use the same channel. BTW, I have upgraded the range expander's firmware to 3.04.1 and the router is up-to-date as well.

Thanks in advance.

 

[thiggins]

The WRE54G is a 2.4 GHz device. Channel 153 is in the 5 GHz band. Not gonna work.

 

[GhostWriter]

Well, it kinda works, sort of...

After I posted my reply, I played with it. Couldn't get the Link light to glow any other color than red and on the Setup Page, the Link Status showed a dashed line - all indicators that it wasn't working. I left the Expander off then I went upstaris to tinker with the machine that needs the range expander. When I "Viewed Available Networks" my network name "GhostNet5G" came up, which I thought was coming from the router. But...I saw that it was showing as Unsecured and I knew it was secured on the router. I went down to make sure. It was secured but I had left the Expander powered on (by mistake). Went back up and determined it was, in fact, picking up the Expander. I tried connecting and it succeded. I checked my Internet connection and was able to browse - pretty slow, but it seemed to stay connected. I don't consider this success and I am VERY frustrated with the router which has given me nothing but trouble. I may bag the whole Linksys solution and try Netgear or D-Link.

 

[thiggins]

Wireless "expanders" are very slow because they reduce throughput by at least half because the single radio must receive, then retransmit.

11G devices typically deliver only a few Mbps throughput. For best results, the expander should be positioned closer vs. farther away from the main AP.

 

[DaveMcLain]

While it's true that having a range expander or any device set up as a repeater cuts the available throughput by 50% I wonder if the signal between the router and the range expander is just a little too low and that's why that it's running very slowly. In situations where I've used that device I never noticed it effecting the speed of surfing the internet when on a connection that's running at about 3Mbs.

 

[thiggins]

In situations where I've used that device I never noticed it effecting the speed of surfing the internet when on a connection that's running at about 3Mbs.

You wouldn't, because that's within the range of speed you'd probably get with a repeater. That's ok for surfing and email. But not good if you're expecting HD streaming or transferring large files around your LAN.

 

[DaveMcLain]

I don't think that any setup using a repeater could do HD streaming. Netflix or Amazon streaming maybe but that would be about all that it could handle.

 

[thiggins]

I don't think that any setup using a repeater could do HD streaming. Netflix or Amazon streaming maybe but that would be about all that it could handle.

Depends on the bandwidth you're starting with and the requirements of the HD stream. If you have compressed HD that requires ~ 20 Mbps, you might be able to do it. But for a rule of thumb, I wouldn't count on a repeater setup supporting HD stream bandwidths.