BuRR

I currently run a wired 10/100 network around most of my house, as well as wireless functionality, but now with the advent of wireless console gaming I have a problem.

I have no wired connectivity to our living room, but that's where the TV and consoles live. I have a Wii (no problem there as its wireless) a 360 and a classic xbox, as well as a Slingbox.

At the moment, I have 2 x wireless gaming adapters that are doing the business, having to hot-swap as and when required, but I was wondering if I could do the following at all (I need some good networking advice)

Can I buy some kind of wireless bridge, that I can add a network switch to and run all the consoles/devices from this switch? I've been considering a Linksys WAP54G, but wanted to hear from someone else as to whether this can be achieved or not.

Thanks in advance.

Steve

Markus

Not sure if this is of any help or not...

I've got an Airport Extreme BaseStation which is connected to my 24-port DLink Switch, which has my DSL modem connected to it, along with various machines (mac and pc) connected via Cat5 cables.

I've got both the LAN and WAN connections from the airport basestation plugged into the switch. A couple of my computers have wireless cards in them (5 Macs, 1 PC laptop) and they can connect wirelessly to the base station and share the internet connection.

The reason for having both the LAN and WAN connected is that the base station is setup to supply DHCP addresses and this allows me to get DHCP be I wired or wireless. I've also got 6 static IP addresses from my ISP.

I do have an xbox networked, but it doesn't have a wireless adapter in it. It's connected via Cat5 to an Airport Express, which in turn is acting as an extender to my existing wireless network in my office. This allows network access for the xbox, plus the express is connected to my AC Amp so I can stream music to the AV system from iTunes.

I'm guessing that the wireless adapter you have will allow you to specify a network name (SSID), encryption level, and password, the normal kind of stuff you'd be asked for on a computer when connecting to a wireless network. If so then I think all you'd need would be a basestation, or the aforementioned linksys device.

This would allow multiple wireless clients access to the network, which is, from what I can tell, what you want to do.

Hope this makes sense.

BuRR

Cheers, Markus. Thanks for the reply. Most informative.

From what I understood, airport express allows wireless networks to be extended, but is relatively expensive. I was wondering if anyone had any knowledge of cheaper solutions.

Markus

express will allow you to extend or create a new network. As it's only got one ethernet port you'd have to plug the modem into it, or get a hub and plug the modem and the express into the hub. Having said that, the same would be true for the extreme base station, but it does have a WAN and LAN port.

I do agree about the expense though, they are a bit pricey compared to other solutions out there.

BuRR

back to the top here.

Just a quick one.

Thinking of going down this route. Imagine the setup:

Cable modem (ethernet) plugged into WAN port of airport express base station

Wireless switched on etc.....

G5 attached to LAN port on base station, along with USB printer into USB port on base station. Also, another room is linked to this one by CAT6, so this cable will also go into the base station LAN port.

Next room (no cable connectivity) is where my Q comes in.

Can I use an airport express unit to bridge the network to a wired self-contained LAN in this room?

ie. 2 game consoles (Xbox, Xbox 360) and a sling box all connected by RJ45 into a switch, and this switch into the airport express unit.... ultimately connected by wireless to the base station?

hope this makes SOME sense!

lol

Markus

First up, guessing when you say express in regards to what the G5 and cable modem will connect to you actually mean extreme as the express only has one RJ45 port on it.

As for the other room with the slingbox and consoles in it, yup it'll work as you think it will. Basically when you get the express and set it up via airport admin, configure it so it'll extend your existing network. You'll then be able to plug the switch into it and hang the devices off it.
My setup hasthe xbox going directly into the express but I've tried it with a hub going into the express and then the xbox and a laptop being plugged into the hub and it worked fine for me

BuRR

Yes - extreme. Sorry.

The express will be in the "unwired" room

Thanks for the advice so far.

Markus

No problem at all

BuRR

****.... airport extreme - they're not shipping until Feb

Unless anyone knows someone who can?

TopBanana

In answer to your original question, the WAP54G will do what you want when in bridge mode.

BuRR

Cheers..... from what I've read it needs another Linksys device to bridge "to" .... is this correct?

TopBanana

I think it's hit and miss. It might work, might not.