Wireless and wired network question

[jkgoblue]

I have a wired network throughout my house and I would like to supplement that with a wireless one. My question is can I just plug a wireless router (airport or any wireless router such as a linksys) into one of the ethernet jacks in one of my rooms or do I have to do something else? I can't seem to find out how to add a wireless router to my existing wired network.

 

[Fleetwood Mac]

Unless you have a custom setup with the current wried network, this should work just fine.

 

[2nyRiggz]

I always get more when I read about it myself so heres a link about wireless networking and maybe you can hook your system up

http://www.5starsupport.com/tutorial/wireless.htm

And to break it down....yes you can...Just add the wireless router/ap to your modem and you are off to a good start.

Bless

 

[Westside guy]

I have a wired network throughout my house and I would like to supplement that with a wireless one. My question is can I just plug a wireless router (airport or any wireless router such as a linksys) into one of the ethernet jacks in one of my rooms or do I have to do something else? I can't seem to find out how to add a wireless router to my existing wired network.

The only problem with this is your wired computers won't have ready access to the wireless ones, unless you do a lot of port forwarding. Going the other way isn't a problem though.

You might be able to tell the wireless router to act more like a switch, meaning it doesn't do any NATting and your wireless devices will pull their DHCP/NAT addresses from the main wired router in that case. That would solve the issue.

 

[aquajet]

To expand on what Westside guy said, your best bet is to use your current wired router for IP address distribution and network address translation. Then, use a wireless router configured as an ethernet-to-wireless bridge (or maybe use just a standalone ethernet-to-wireless bridge). Basically, this setup would assign the routing duties to just one router, in this case, your ethernet router. The purpose of doing this would be to allow all computers on the same subnet, thus allowing them to see each other.

I'm fairly certain you can do this with most wireless routers. With Airport Extreme, for example, you simply open the Airport Admin Utility, click on the "Network" tab, and turn off the "Distribute IP addresses" option. When an Airport base station is configured in this manner, connected to an ethernet router, the Airport merely acts as a bridge between your wired network and your wireless network. All IP address assignments and network address translation is handled by the ethernet router.

 

[jkgoblue]

Thanks guys, that's exactly the information I was looking for. I'll try it when I open my surprise Christmas present You been a great help!