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ConvertWirelessRoutersintoAccessPoints
ByEricGeier
Don'tthrowoutyourold802.11ggearjustyet.Though802.11n
providesfasterspeedsandlongerrange,youragedlegacy
equipmentcanstillserveapurpose.
Aswe'lldiscussinthistutorial,oldwirelessrouterscanbeturned
intoaccesspoints(APs)theycanhelpincreasetheWiFifootprint
evenmore.Plustheymightevenhelpincreasetheperformanceof
the802.11nconnectionsonyournetwork.

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Beforegoingfurther,it'simportanttounderstandthedifference
betweenawirelessrouterandanAP.Firstoff,wirelessrouters
containanAP.InadditiontotheAPfunctionality,awirelessrouter
providestheroutingbetweenclientsandtheInternet.Thismakesit
possibleformultiplecomputerstoaccessonebignetwork,the
Internet.Secondly,routershaveaDHCPserver.Thisservergives
eachclientanIPaddress,whichisrequiredfornetwork
connectivity.WithouttheroutingandDHCPfeatures,awireless
routerwouldsimplybeanAPifawirelessrouterdidn'thaveanAP,
itwouldjustbeawiredrouter.
Onmostnetworks,onlyonerouterisneeded.Thentoextendthe
wirelesscoverage,APscanbepluggedintotherouterorswitches.
TheseAPsaren'tas"smart."TheyonlyprovideWiFiaccessthe
routerstilldoesmostofthenetworkmanagement.
GetAdditionalCoverageAnd/orSeparatethe802.11G
Clients
Afterwedothemagic,we'llplugtheoldwirelessrouterintothe
newone,toserveasanotherAP.Theniftheoldrouterisproperly
placed(byrunninganEthernetcable),itcannearlydoublethe
coverageareaprovidedbythenewrouter.Ofcourse,802.11n
clientsthatconnecttothe802.11grouterwon'trunat11nratesof
speedandperformance,buttheoldrouterisearningitskeepby
providing"freecoverage."
There'sasmallcatchtheotherwaythoughit'sbetterthatthe
802.11gclientsonlyconnecttothe802.11grouter.Whenthey
connectto11nrouters,theperformanceofthenclientsis
negativelyeffected.However,again,theadditionalcoverageis
betterthannothing,evenjustfortheoldclients.
Youcanstillbenefitfromkeepingyouroldgearifyoudon'thavea
longEthernetcableoryoudon'twanttorunitthroughthebuilding.
Eveniftheoldrouterisplacedclosetothenewoneanditdoesn't
provideadditionalcoverage,itcanstillserveastheAPforthe
802.11gclients.Thiswaythenewroutercanbesettoonlyallow
802.11nconnections,sotheoldclientswon'tconnectanddegrade
theperformance.
PerformingtheConversion

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Inadditiontochanginggeneralsettings,turningawirelessrouter
intoanaccesspointconsistsofdisablingitsDHCPserverand
hookingituptothenewroutercorrectly.Startbyconfiguringthe
generalsettings.Plugintheoldrouter(butdon'tconnectittothe
newrouteryet)andlogintotheWebbasedconfigurationutilityby
typingitsIPaddressintoaWebbrowser.Thenatleastconfigure
thefollowingsettings:

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IPAddress:ChangetheIPaddresstobewithinthesubnetof
thenewrouter.Forexample,ifthenewrouter'sIPis
192.168.0.1,theoldroutercouldbesetto192.168.0.2.
Channel:Changethechanneltooneofthethreenon
overlappingchannels,1,6,or11,whilemakingsureany
coexistingoroverlappingroutersorAPsaren'tsettothe
samechannel.
SSID:Typically,alltheAPsofanetworkshouldhavethe
sameSSID,soroamingworkswhenclientsmovearoundand
changeAPs.However,ifroamingisn'tcrucial,thinkabout
settingtheold802.11groutertoadifferentnetworkname.Thiscanhelptheusers
distinguishbetweenthegandnaccessespeciallyusefulifperformanceisimportant.
Security:Remembertosetupencryption,preferablyWPAorWPA2,onallthewireless
routersandAPs.

ToturnofftheDHCPserver,findtheDHCPsettings,usuallyonthemainornetworktab.There
shouldbeacheckboxorsomethingsimilartotoggletheserveronandoffdisableit.Thenmake
suretosavethechanges.
Whentheconfigurationisdone,puttheoldrouterinplace.ThenconnectanEthernetcable
betweenthem,pluggingintotheregularEthernetportsofeach.Donotconnectittotheold
router'sInternet/WANport.
ConversionComplete
Wediditnowweshouldhavegreatercoverageareaand/orperformance.Wedisabledthe
routingfeaturesoftheoldwirelessrouter,turningitintoabasicAP.Iftherearemoreoldrouters
lyingaround,considerotherprojects,too.TheDDWRTreplacementfirmware,forexample,has
arepeaterfeatureandCoovaAPincludeshotspotfeatures.
EricGeieristheauthorofmanynetworkingandcomputingbooks,includingHomeNetworking
AllinOneDeskReferenceForDummies(Wiley2008)and100ThingsYouNeedtoKnowabout
Microsoft(R)WindowsVista(Que2007).SHAPE
ArticlecourtesyofWiFiPlanet
Formorehelp,checkoutthePracticallyNetworkedForums.
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