Ad-hoc tunnels down the streets?

Say I wanted to give wireless 802.11b internet access to a large area *BUT*
I don't want the expense of having a bunch of access points with their own
internet connection. Instead, I set up one access point with broadband,
enable internet connection sharing, and setup an ad-hoc SSID. Then, could I
route the internet through a series of ad-hoc access points to all the
access points in the network (assuming they all overlap)? Now, is it
possible to have each of those access points be a standard (non-ad-hoc) SSID
for the general public to access? (e.g. I don't want the public to have to
use ad-hoc mode to browse the web since they might not want to forward
packets for everyone). Does this make any sense at all? :-)

Thanks for your help,
Mitchua

Mitchua wrote:
> Say I wanted to give wireless 802.11b internet access to a large area *BUT*
> I don't want the expense of having a bunch of access points with their own
> internet connection. Instead, I set up one access point with broadband,
> enable internet connection sharing, and setup an ad-hoc SSID. Then, could I
> route the internet through a series of ad-hoc access points to all the
> access points in the network (assuming they all overlap)? Now, is it
> possible to have each of those access points be a standard (non-ad-hoc) SSID
> for the general public to access? (e.g. I don't want the public to have to
> use ad-hoc mode to browse the web since they might not want to forward
> packets for everyone). Does this make any sense at all? :-)
>
> Thanks for your help,
> Mitchua
>
>
You can have one access point as the main one serving not only normal
users but also other access points. The best way for the other access
points is to have two AP's back to back at each location, one serves as
a client to the main access point, the other serving as an access point
with the data fed to it by the first. You can cut costs by having one
access point at each location. Put each in repeater mode and then they
serve as access points to other clients. The big drawback is that speed
is cut to less than half because each AP is receiving and transmitting
the same data.

"Rôgêr" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Mitchua wrote:
> > Say I wanted to give wireless 802.11b internet access to a large area
*BUT*
> > I don't want the expense of having a bunch of access points with their
own
> > internet connection. Instead, I set up one access point with broadband,
> > enable internet connection sharing, and setup an ad-hoc SSID. Then,
could I
> > route the internet through a series of ad-hoc access points to all the
> > access points in the network (assuming they all overlap)? Now, is it
> > possible to have each of those access points be a standard (non-ad-hoc)
SSID
> > for the general public to access? (e.g. I don't want the public to have
to
> > use ad-hoc mode to browse the web since they might not want to forward
> > packets for everyone). Does this make any sense at all? :-)
> >
> > Thanks for your help,
> > Mitchua
> >
> >
> You can have one access point as the main one serving not only normal
> users but also other access points. The best way for the other access
> points is to have two AP's back to back at each location, one serves as
> a client to the main access point, the other serving as an access point
> with the data fed to it by the first. You can cut costs by having one
> access point at each location. Put each in repeater mode and then they
> serve as access points to other clients. The big drawback is that speed
> is cut to less than half because each AP is receiving and transmitting
> the same data.
>

I didn't understand the part about "repeater mode". Is that a setting on
cards that lets them be ad-hoc and one-to-one at the same time?

--Mitchua

Mitchua wrote:

> "Rôgêr" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>
>>Mitchua wrote:
>>
>>>Say I wanted to give wireless 802.11b internet access to a large area
>
> *BUT*
>
>>>I don't want the expense of having a bunch of access points with their
>
> own
>
>>>internet connection. Instead, I set up one access point with broadband,
>>>enable internet connection sharing, and setup an ad-hoc SSID. Then,
>
> could I
>
>>>route the internet through a series of ad-hoc access points to all the
>>>access points in the network (assuming they all overlap)? Now, is it
>>>possible to have each of those access points be a standard (non-ad-hoc)
>
> SSID
>
>>>for the general public to access? (e.g. I don't want the public to have
>
> to
>
>>>use ad-hoc mode to browse the web since they might not want to forward
>>>packets for everyone). Does this make any sense at all? :-)
>>>
>>>Thanks for your help,
>>>Mitchua
>>>
>>>
>>
>>You can have one access point as the main one serving not only normal
>>users but also other access points. The best way for the other access
>>points is to have two AP's back to back at each location, one serves as
>>a client to the main access point, the other serving as an access point
>>with the data fed to it by the first. You can cut costs by having one
>>access point at each location. Put each in repeater mode and then they
>>serve as access points to other clients. The big drawback is that speed
>>is cut to less than half because each AP is receiving and transmitting
>>the same data.
>>
>
>
> I didn't understand the part about "repeater mode". Is that a setting on
> cards that lets them be ad-hoc and one-to-one at the same time?
>
> --Mitchua
>
>
Don't get too hung up on the "ad-hoc" term. Some access points allow a
setting of "repeater" in which they are a client of another access point
and re-transmit everything they receive from that access point and
surrounding clients. Besides of the speed drop because it obviously is
doing everything twice, you also have to have it on the same channel and
can use just one antenna to do all this. Only occasionally is this a
good solution.

The two access points back to back I spoke of is generally thought of as
a way of "back-hauling" the data to an access point, is a much better
way of doing the job. This way you maintain full data rate and can
receive on one channel with an appropriate antenna and transmit on a
different channel with the apppropriate antenna.