Is this dir-655 / dap-1522 setup feasible

[bobbodavis]

I live in an apartment that is strait and long. It is quite a ways from one end to the other (total size is approximately 1400 square feet). Unfortunately my one-and-only ISP connection point is located at the farthest point possible on one-side of the apartment. Because of this, my wifi signal doesn't travel all the way to the other end (it's a German building with solid concrete walls between each room!)

I want to ensure that I have a good wireless signal all the way to the other end of the apartment, while also being able to support some HD media devices. I currently have an old wrt54g router as my access point on one side of the apartment and a wre54g expander on the other end in my game room. I also run a cat6e cable from the router to my media extender in the center of the aparment, but can't run anymore cable (nor do i want to). So everything in my game room is getting wireless G off of a WRE54G expander. It's not really the best as far as bandwidth and reliability go, so i want to upgrade to wireless N products and expand the range all over.

I've attached a setup that i'm interested in using as my upgrade. Is this feasible? Thanks for your feedback.

 

[thiggins]

Yes, your setup should work. You are basically adding a second AP, Ethernet-connected to the main AP/router and hard-wiring your media adapter. If the diagram is accurate you are only spanning one wall with the bridged wireless signal.

Even with only a short distance for the bridged wireless signal, don't expect flawless HD streaming if you are expecting it from any of the devices attached to the second DAP-1522. The throughput variation of draft 11n is just too high.

You should, however, see a significant gain in speed from the WRT54G / WRE54G setup!

 

[bobbodavis]

Thanks for your feedback - much appreciated.

Other thought... doesn't the DIR-655 support either bridge or AP mode? I've read that it used to, but a recent firmware update nixed that option, making it necessary to buy a dap if you want repeater or bridge capability? Would be nice to use one DIR-655 as my AP and a second for either a bridge or repeater, but i'm not sure if this is still do-able.

Damn I wish the 655 was DD-WRT compliant! I'm almost leaning towards the linksys 310's just for DD-WRT support as the 3rd party firmware gives so many more options for ap/repeater/bridge mode and tweaking cpu and radio power. I'd much rather have the external antenna's of the 655 though... if only there was a way to get the best of both worlds!

 

[thiggins]

The 655 has never supported bridging or repeating. There are plenty of client mode, i.e. don't require WDS, bridges that you can use with any wireless router (DAP-1522, Linksys WET610N, WGA600N).

The only advantage external antennas give you is the ability to swap them out for higher-gain ones if they attach via connectors. I have not found any relationship between performance and internal vs. external antennas.