If this device exists, what's it called?

Soldato
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I'm looking to add wireless to an existing wired network, but not quite sure how to. The terminology in this post will be a touch eccentric, as I don't really know what I'm doing yet.

I have a dhcp router with a spare ethernet port. Instead of connecting this to a switch, to which I connect a couple of laptops to with wires, I'd like to connect it to a "black box", to which a couple of laptops connect wirelessly. Aside from a probable decrease in bandwidth, I'd like it to behave identically to the simpler wired layout.

I'll worry about securing the wireless network after I've found out what I need to do to achieve this. I imagine it's possible to limit connections via the dhcp server in the router even if encryption is unavailable.

I'm fairly sure I can take a generic wireless router, tell it to behave as a switch, run a cable to it's wan port then leave the lan ports empty to achieve this result. This feels excessive though, as such a device is far more complicated than I'd need it to be.

Please name my desired "black box" to make Google a little less difficult for me :)
 
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wireless access point

I did something similar quite a few years ago when we first wanted to start having more than one computer on the net at a time without an ethernet cable trailing all over the house. Already had a netgear wired router & no need to buy a new router.

The thing is... to get a decent one, you're looking at practically the cost of a standard router anyway - so would be best to just replace the whole thing... or is there a reason you really don't want to do this? (for example, is your current router a decent cisco or something?)
 
Soldato
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Ah, brilliant. Many thanks. It seems D-link make something appropriate here, though I agree the pricing seems rather high. Supply and demand I suppose.

Current router is something of a work in progress, a diy box made from spare parts running Debian. If I can get it to behave I'll migrate to an embedded system running one of the bsds. Neither BSD nor Debian have a strong track record with wireless, so keeping that in a different box makes life easier. Doubtless Cisco would be leagues better, but I don't understand how so wont loose any sleep over it.

Thanks again :)
 
Soldato
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Congratulations on not understanding the term "wireless access point".

A second router isn't (and for most home users is never) needed.

I understood the problem perfectly and a second router with wifi such as one on that page will fix his problem for £20, I doubt he can get a wireless access point for £20 these days. If he can make a DIY Linux based router he can configure one of those cable ones to do the job he requires
 
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Soldato
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We use Linksys WAP54G-UK here, around £40-£50 per unit. Plug it in, use the CD to configure or connect to 192.168.1.242 and set it up on the same IP range as you're existing network. Configure the wireless security and Bob's your uncle, you have a wireless network on top of your current wired setup :)
 
Soldato
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Thanks for the suggestions. Using a standard wireless router seems to be the cheapest option, with the possible exception outlined by Chaos. Thank you for that document, it's the best work I've read on the subject so far.

Cheap and easy, expensive and easy, or cheap and difficult. Food for thought certainly.

Cheers
 
Caporegime
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Thanks for the suggestions. Using a standard wireless router seems to be the cheapest option, with the possible exception outlined by Chaos. Thank you for that document, it's the best work I've read on the subject so far.

Cheap and easy, expensive and easy, or cheap and difficult. Food for thought certainly.

Cheers

Cheapest option if you buy from here. Loads of wireless access points available between £17 and £30 if you look around.
 
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