Extending Wireless Network

[Everyones Hero]

My dad has one of those old Linksys wireless routers & it's on the other side of the house. As a result my wireless connection is always dropping. Sometimes I have to go to the kitchen to get a decent connection.

My younger brother ran an ethernet cable under the house to a hub in his room. I ran another ethernet cable from his room to mine & it's attached to another hub which is only connected to my 360.

The ethernet port on my laptop is messed up so I can't run it wired & don't want to get a new ethernet adapter for it because I'd prefer to keep it wireless.

I would like to get something to plug into or replace my hub so I have a good, strong signal right in my bedroom.

Would something like this work:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...22016

or is there something else I would have to get? We have DSL & my laptop is pretty slow so there's no point in getting a wireless N router or anything like that.

[IT GUY]

How comfortable are you configuring routers?

2 wireless routers is going to be kind of a hassle.
Hell two routers on one network, or two WAPs aren't any fun separately.
You'll be turning off DHCP on one (yours) and setting it's gateway to the point at the other router (parents). Although not using the uplink/internet port is better.
You'll have to switch wireless channels of one so it doesn't interfere with the other. And I'm sure some other stuff I'm leaving out...

I usually use a wireless access point rather than a wireless router in these situations. It's a little easier to configure. Also switches are preferred to hubs.

Depending on how much signal you are getting right now in your room, a booster antenna on your parents wireless router may solve the issue. Or a wireless repeater/range extender.

[Everyones Hero]

Turns out what I posted is a POS. I just need to find something that is going to do the job without breaking the bank which is looking to be next to impossible. I think I'm just going to say screw it & get a PCMCIA NIC.

I haven't configured a router in a long time. If you really want to confuse some people, especially CISCO teachers & IT guys write a .txt file that says:
erase run
y
erase start
y
erase nvram
y
(I think there might have been a 2nd prompt that required another 'y'")
restart

Our local network is 192.168.1.0/255.255.255.0 & the gateway is 192.168.1.1. I'd have to set the port connected to my parents router to something like 192.168.1.2/255.255.255.0

Hubs are just repeaters & don't filter at all while switches filter by MAC address & routers filter by IP address.

My current setup is like this: Router in parents'- cable under house- switch in brother's room- cable run to my room- hub. So there's only 2 devices (360 now & laptop when ethernet port worked) connected to it.

[IT GUY]

why would that .txt file be confusing?

You're right, you're probably better off with just a new wired card for the laptop.

[fifthgearonline]

get this to extend the wifi
http://www.linksysbycisco.com/...AP54G

ANd also throw away that hub. I have an 8 port gigabit switch i'll mail you for free

[Everyones Hero]

Quote, originally posted by IT GUY »

why would that .txt file be confusing? You're right, you're probably better off with just a new wired card for the laptop.

Because erase start erases the current running configuration
erase run erases the start up configuration
erase nvram erases the non-volatile ram, or the area on the router where the OS is stored
restart restarts the router

If the router has no operating system it just becomes a box. I guess that would be like trying to update the firmware on a cheap home router & it failing, causing it to be "bricked." And if you're an IT person & you have no idea why a router is not responding at all, even through the console, then you don't really know what's wrong.

Quote, originally posted by fifthgearonline »

get this to extend the wifi http://www.linksysbycisco.com/...AP54G ANd also throw away that hub. I have an 8 port gigabit switch i'll mail you for free

I have no need for it man. All that's attached to it is my 360 & soon my laptop. It's attached to a switch one room over.

[IT GUY]

Quote, originally posted by Everyones Hero »

Because erase start erases the current running configuration erase run erases the start up configuration erase nvram erases the non-volatile ram, or the area on the router where the OS is stored restart restarts the router If the router has no operating system it just becomes a box. I guess that would be like trying to update the firmware on a cheap home router & it failing, causing it to be "bricked." And if you're an IT person & you have no idea why a router is not responding at all, even through the console, then you don't really know what's wrong.

nvram is where the startup config is stored. you've essentially run the same command twice.

running config is in RAM and is deleted every time the router is rebooted/powered off. no biggie.

even without a running config or startup config the router normally has one or more IOS images in flash memory which makes it pretty easy to recover.

even if you go further and delete the flash memory, the router can still be recovered in ROMmon mode. You'll see the router boot into ROMmon when connecting through the console even when all of the other storage/memory has been erased. this is of course for cisco routers, but why would you be using anything else? lol

even bricking a linksys home router with bad firmware can usually be fixed

Quote, originally posted by Everyones Hero »

I have no need for it man. All that's attached to it is my 360 & soon my laptop. It's attached to a switch one room over.

as long as you're only using one device at a time (laptop or 360) you won't notice the hub much.

[Everyones Hero]

Maybe I used erase flash.

Regardless I deleted everything from the router & none of the teachers could figure out what was wrong with it. From the console port all you got was a white screen. You could type anything you wanted but it wouldn't do anything. Basically looked like you had opened notepad.

[fifthgearonline]

you could try upgrading the firmware and seeing if that fixes it

[Everyones Hero]

I went ahead & got a new laptop. Since I got the new laptop it hasn't dropped the signal yet.

I guess the wireless card in the old laptop wasn't very good.

I was going to get my brother to go halves with me & get a b/g/n router for the house but his laptop is only b/g compatible.