I’ve been trying to find ways to extend my wireless network to the backyard and possible to the adjacent building. There have been three great challenges: (1) I don’t want to buy any more networking gear while I am renting; (2) the rental has limited - aka old - infrastructure; and (3) I want to maintain as high a level of security and isolation as possible. To address #3, I wanted a separate subnet from my primary home office. To address #1, I had to use some combination of my DSL Modem + Wireless G Router, a Netgear Wireless G Router, a Netgear Wireless Print Server, and an old D-Link Wireless B Router. I attempted this on previous occasions but it always failed. It may have been some of the different behaviors Linux has with these various pieces of hardware. This time around, I was only running Windows for the tests.

My theory (now proven fact) is that I should be able to use the Wireless Print Server as a bridge and then run the Wireless B Router off of the bridge. It worked ! Here is how …

1. connect a PC to the DSL Modem + Wireless G Router
2. get network connection information including the Gateway address (usually something like 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1) as well as the primary and secondary DNS server IP addresses from the internet service provider
3. configure the DSL Modem + Wireless G Router to use channel 1
4. disconnect from the DSL Modem + Wireless G Router
5. connect a PC to the Printer Server / Bridge
   • the Printer Server / Bridge should be assigned an IP address (via DHCP) from the DSL Modem + Wireless G Router
   • the PC should be assigned an IP address (via DHCP) from the DSL Modem + Wireless G Router (via the Printer Server / Bridge)
6. determine the IP address assigned to the Printer Server / Bridge (it will be different from that assigned to the PC)
   • if you have WAP or WPA encryption (as I did) the above gets a bit more difficult but the user guide will walk you through the necessary steps
7. assign a static IP address to the Printer Server / Bridge - this IP address will be in the subnet range established by the DSL Modem + Wireless G Router
8. disconnect the PC from the Printer Server / Bridge
9. connect the PC to the Wireless B Router
   • the PC should be assigned an IP address (via DHCP) from the Wireless B Router
10. configure the Wireless B Router to use a different subnet than the DSL Modem + Wireless G Router (the default is usually 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1) - if the default for the DSL Modem + Wireless G Router is different from the default for the Wireless B Router then this step is not needed
11. configure the Wireless B Router to use channel 11
12. configure the Wireless B Router to use the Gateway address of the DSL Modem + Wireless G Router as the host address, and set the DNS server primary and secondary IP addresses to be those of the real internet service provider.
13. connect the Wireless B Router to the DSL Modem + Wireless G Router using an Ethernet cable
14. test connectivity to the internet (aka can you get to www.google.com)
15. disconnect the Wireless B Router from the DSL Modem + Wireless G Router
16. move to the second floor, attic, or other remote location which has “acceptable” connectivity to the DSL Modem + Wireless G Router
17. plug everything in (an exercise left to the reader)
18. connect the Printer Server / Bridge to the Wireless B Router using as long an Ethernet cable as possible (to maintain maximum separation of the two wireless signals)

If everyhting has worked thus far, a laptop should be able to connect wirelessly to the Wireless B Router which in turn connects to the Print Server / Bridge which in turn connects wirelessly to the DSL Modem + Wireless G Router and finally out to the internet. In my test case, this gives me two solutions I hoped to achieve. First, I have a secure separate subnet from my home office which I can permit visitors to connect to for internet access while keeping them off my home office network and away from my servers, printers etc. Second, it greatly extends my network (to about 500 feet now) without installing Ethernet wiring (which was not an option given this is a rental property).

BTW: if you are still puzzled by the graphic for this post, it was adapted from a clipart in MS Office.

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