Home routers are generally not up to the job of transmitting a clear and strong signal throughout the house. The reason for this is varied, the router software is not up to the job or the amount of interference a home produces can affect the total distance a wireless signal can be sent. There are many options for sharing your internet connection throughout the house, some are expensive, for example wiring your house with physical access points or using a wireless repeater. This guide will show you the basic steps to create a wireless repeater using a LinkSys Wireless-G WRT54GL.
This versatile router had a built-in Linux operating system that allows it to be upgraded or upgraded with third-party software. This third party software can be obtained from the DD-WRT website. Search for your particular router in the database and the website will tell you if it is possible to update the DD-WRT firmware (Linux system) on your router. Once flashed, follow the steps below.
1. Set the router you want to repeat;
The router that has the internet connection needs to be configured first and some properties will need to be written for use on the repeater router. To simplify network setup, make sure the wireless access security is set to ‘None’ and the wireless channel used is set to a specific number (6, 9 or 11). In addition to these two settings, set the wireless mode to G. For now, don’t worry about the fact that your network is open, it will reconfigure it once you’ve verified that the repeater is working. Note the SSID at this point.
2. Configure the repeater router;
Once you’ve updated the DD-WRT firmware on your new repeater router, connect to it using your browser (usually 192.168.1.1). Reconfigure the IP address range to something unique, making sure the subnet is the same. So, for example, if the main router has an IP address of 192.168.1.1, set the new repeater to 192.168.2.1 using the same subnet as the main router (ie 255.255.255.0). Make sure DHCP is enabled at this point.
Once the properties are saved, reconnect to the repeater using the new IP address, ie 192.168.2.1.
On the wireless tab, configure interface ‘wl0’ making sure the SSID is set to the SSID of the main router. Set the channel and mode to be the same as the host router. Set the wireless mode to ‘Repeater’ and the network settings option to ‘Bridged’.
Now create a virtual wireless adapter and specify the SSID of the new repeated network.
Now go to the ‘Wireless Security’ tab to configure which security mechanism is used to connect this repeater to the main router. In this case, select ‘disabled’ and also set the repeater’s security mode to disabled.
Remember, on each page, to click the ‘Apply’ button. Once all of the above is configured, go to the ‘Administration’ folder, select the Save button and then the Restart button. The wireless router will now reboot.
3. Check Internet connection
Once the repeater restarts, the Internet connection should be established. If the connection works, check each router and apply the wireless security settings (ie WPA or WPA2), making sure these settings are exactly the same. Once the settings have been applied, reboot the first router, and once it is up and running, reboot the repeater. The repeater should automatically connect and pass any requests to the main router.
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