Turn Your Old Router into a Range- Boosting Wi- Fi Repeater. If you're upgrading to a faster, stronger wireless router, don't chuck your older Wi- Fi box. With the magic of DD- WRT, you can turn your older wireless router into a range- expanding Wi- Fi repeater to cover everywhere you need a connection. The advent of wireless home networks grew slowly in the past decade, but reached the point at which nearly every home with a high- speed connection had a wireless router that shared Wi- Fi connections throughout the home. Now Wireless N has become the standard at electronics retailers, promising faster connectivity with your wireless devices, faster transfer and streaming speeds between devices, and better connectivity. So what's to be done with your home's first wireless router? Our suggestion is to install the open- source DD- WRT firmware on your router and turn it into a repeater for your main router, expanding your Wi- Fi signal to reach every nook and cranny of your house, and even into your backyard or garage, if needed. You'll be able to use the same password and security scheme, you won't need anything except a power outlet for the repeater when you're done, and most of your devices will automatically switch between the two signals when needed. We've previously run down how to install DD- WRT on a Linksys router to give it many, many more features, including the repeater function we'll cover here. Configuring a router (WNDR3800) as a wireless repeater. The example below is how to set up a Router as a Wireless Repeater. WiFi Routers(1) WNDR3800. DD-WRT Router as Wireless Repeater. Configure Netgear JNR1010 Wifi Router with BSNL/Reliance Broadband. Click the 'Wireless Mode' drop-down box and select 'Repeater Bridge.'. Linksys WRT54G WiFi Repeater; Make Use Of: How to Turn An Old Router Into A Wireless Bridge; DD-WRT: Linksys WRT54GS v1.1; DD-WRT: Hard Reset or 30/30/30. If you've already installed DD- WRT, then, skip to the section on repeater configuration. One notable difference in this guide, too, is that I'm installing a custom build of DD- WRT, the . Now there's a huge array of supported devices, and even my sadly restricted Linksys can run a Micro build, and Micro now includes a repeater function. Of all the great DIY projects at this year's Maker Faire, the one project that really caught. To be honest, I was using the repeater mostly for Google Reader in bed, and browsing and web working from outside the house, so I hadn't seen a noticeable drop in speed. A few tests at Speed. Test. net tell the tale. Pictured at left here is the result from my main router, a Buffalo model with Wireless N (detailed here), connecting from my upstairs office to the downstairs living room, then Buffalo, NY to Toronto, ON. This result is through the modified Linksys WRT5. G ver. 6 router about 1. Buffalo router downstairs, and then tested again through Toronto. There is, as you can see, a download speed difference, and if I'd been using my Wireless N modem, it might be even more severe. WAP54G/WRT54G repeater mode; Reply. Subscribe to RSS Feed; Mark Topic as New. I jumped right in to configure WAP54G as a wireless repeater, in order to get a 'wired' signal to a couple computers in my.So take a repeater for what it is. You might also note, though, that using Speed. Test's Android app, I actually received better download speeds from my office through the repeater than through the main router. Get the model number off the label, and write down the MAC address, while you're at it. Type the first few characters of your model number into DD- WRT's router database, and look for your model to pop up. If you get any kind of green . You may not end up using all of them, but once you've taken your router offline, even if it's not your main router, you'll want to have all your files available offline. You'll usually see a link on the same page as your firmware files; if not, go ahead and search the wiki. If you don't have a printer, or hate wasting paper, use a print- to- PDF tool like do. PDF or the Nitro PDF Reader for Windows, or the built- in PDF functions in Mac or Linux. The reason, again, is that you want to be prepared in case you lose internet connectivity on one or more routers during the flash process. Even so, you do not want to rush things, or load the wrong file at the wrong time. Doing so opens the potential for a . That's not going to happen to the patient, cautious firmware flasher, though. Get Started. As stated above, different routers will take different paths to installing DD- WRT. There are some common procedures, and a general path, to getting it installed, though, so you can read along as I follow the DD- WRT Wiki's instructions for a WRT5. G version 6 installation. It seems a bit excessive, but trust me. How do you do this in your computer, without the router being accessible? Head to Windows' Network and Sharing Center, usually by right- clicking on your network connection icon in the system tray, or heading there through the Control Panel. In the left- hand panel, click . Under the Network tab, select the . Now in the General tab, change the first radio switch button to . Connect the Ethernet cable between your computer and the router. Turn off any wireless connection to your main router, unplug any broadband cellular modems, and so forth. In the case of my WRT5. G ver. 6, I had to create a customized flashing image for my router, with a designated MAC address written in. The MAC address is a supposedly unique identifier given to all computer hardware that can access the internet, one that allows networks to allow and block hardware based on this address. Your internet provider and the the cable modem they provided also tracks the MAC address of your router, and can deny service if a different router than the one the modem is used to servicing suddenly appears. So I followed the instructions for downloading GV5. Flash. zip, unpacking its contents, then running the vximgtoolgui application and filling in the MAC address I wrote down from underneath my router, and pointing the app at a place to drop the resulting . Now you're going to pull off one of those . When you're done, wait a few seconds, open your browser (making sure your computer's still connected by cable), point it to http: //1. The default for my router in this mode is . After entering that combo, you should see the default router screen. A Linksys default usually looks like this: In most cases, you're next going to head to the Administration section (circled in the pic), then click the Firmware Upgrade sub- section. It's usually a simple affair: a Browse button to find the file you want to upload, and an OK/Apply button to set it in motion. From here on out, unless you have my same exact router, you'll possibly have a different set of one or two files to upload, in a very particular order. In general, though, you'll be doing a procedure along these lines: Uploading a . Select your specific DD- WRT firmware (a micro build, in my case), then set the retries to 9. When your TFTP app has a green light and success message, wait another full five minutes, then come on back. Undo the static IP setup you put in place on your computer from the Network and Sharing settings. Unplug and re- plug your cable, then open a browser. If you can connect to 1. DD- WRT, do a (final) 3. If so, you're all set up! Setting Up the Repeater. Now that you've got your oldie- but- goodie router set up with DD- WRT, you can set it up to pick up the signal from your primary router and re- broadcast it within its own radius. Here's how to do that. With your computer still hooked up to the now- secondary router, head into the DD- WRT setup screen. It will ask you to set a better password and username at first, so go ahead and do that. Once you're in, your setup screen will look something like this, as my Micro setup on my Linksys appears: First up, click on the Wireless tab, then choose Basic Settings. Don't worry about the bridged/unbridged radio buttons. If you prefer an access point that doesn't broadcast its name, save that for switching off later. You'll see two interfaces again. You might need to jump back into your primary router settings to confirm these. The main thing to do here is slightly alter the . If you connect to your main router at 1. Hit (you guessed it!) Save. Finally, head to the Security tab up top, and in the Firewall section, disable the . Finally, head over to Administration, double- check that you've got your administrator password written down or remembered, and hit . Your router will reset itself now, so give it time to do so. Unplug your computer's Ethernet cable, turn on a wireless device, and see if you can find your new repeater bridge. Connect to it, use the same password you'd use for the main router, and you should have success. If not, run through the steps and double- check your settings. DD- WRT's wiki page for WLAN Repeaters has a good deal of troubleshooting advice, so check there too. You've now got a second Wi- Fi station in your house that picks up signal from the main router and offers it out to devices that are farther out. It's likely not as fast a connection between devices. Then again, at this point, there are very, very few services or streaming applications that make full use of Wireless N's crazy bandwidth potential, so your Hulu streaming, web browsing, and other usual internet life will likely be unaffected. In my own case, my wife and I don't have to use modern- day divining tricks in our very non- linear Victorian home to keep a spotty Wi- Fi signal to an i. Pod touch or Android phone, and a side patio has just become a preferred secondary home office for the summer. As a bonus, my closest neighbors now know that I'm a serious, serious nerd when they fire up their laptops. Here's hoping you find similarly fun and free uses for a Wi- Fi repeater. How is your repeater working out for you? Do you have any suggestions on making the repeater more convenient, or another guide for DD- WRT, Tomato, or another firmware? We'd love to hear your comments, questions, and tips in the comments!
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November 2016
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