LaFonera Software Wireless-Bridge

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The Wireless Bridge

There are actual two ways at the moment to use the LaFonera as a wireless bridge.


1. Two LaFoneras WDS linked (AP not sending out SSID, a bug at the moment)

2. One LaFonera in WDS AP mode and the other in WDS Station mode

2. One wireless router in AP mode and one LaFonera in Client bridged mode -new! - still in beta stage, reports claims not working as expected!


As you can see, to get this up and running you need to have two LaFoneras, or one LaFonera in Station mode and another DD-WRT equipped router. This is because both ways use an alternative WDS solution, with 4 fielded ethernet frames to make the bridging work. (not the case anymore, newly implemented client bridge mode exists)

Most wireless routers stock firmware does not support WDS, but I will test WDS Station on a LaFonera and standard AP mode on a D-Link, to see if it works.

Now to the configuration, i will write down the steps for the second solution, WDS AP/Station mode, the first solution with WDS linked routers can be found here and have worked for me with the LaFonera: http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/WDS_Linked_router_network

STEPS

1. The best thing to do is to restore the routers to DD-WRT defaults, under "Administration" tab. This to make sure that there isnt an old setting hiding somewhere that could interfere with the new configuration.

2. Start with one LaFonera and enter the DD-WRT webinterface, go to "Wireless" tab and setup your WLAN in the subtab "Basic Settings". Choose WDS AP as the mode and check the "Bridged"-radio button. Save it. 1. Follow step 1-2 above, with the exception that this time you would want to set the wireless mode to "Client bridge mode". Type in the same SSID, wireless channel and network mode as on your first LaFonera.

2. Go to "Security" tab and disable encryption, just like on your first LaFonera.

3. When saved it should not take long, approx 2-3 min. at the most, then under "Status" tab you should see that your LaFonera is connected to your primary router/AP.

4. Now finish by going to "Basic" tab and give this router an local IP adress in the same subnet as your first, i.e 192.168.1.3. This time set the gateway and DNS to 192.168.1.2 (assumed to be your primary router in this setup) and disable "Internet connection" and DHCP. Finally save the setup.

5. Change gateway mode to RIP2 (may or may not work without it, but RIP2 is the best in this configuration) under Advanced routing tab.

6. Disable the firewall (of course) under Security tab.

7. Double check under "Status" tab that your still connected. Finish with rebooting both routers, then connect the PC/X-Box to the Fonera ethernet port, setup static or DHCP ip on the client and aquire a IP address. You should receive a IP address from the remote AP, in the same subnet. Finish with trying to ping the gateway, any other networked PC on the other side of the wireless bridge, and of course try surfing the web.

There is still a issue left, the Fonera with static local IP cannot get reached (only its client), it doesnt respond to pings and it doesnt respond on port 80. Also when extra switches are used on the main router, they will not be accessible by the Fonera client

That would be it!