Belkin Repeater

Hi guys,

Was hoping one of you gurus could maybe give me some advice with
extending wireless range?

I've bought a Belkin Wireless G Range Extender which connects to a
Buffalo Air Station Router (in repeater mode, so via wireless) in the
hope of getting better connection at the other side of the house.
However, it seems that none of my machines are connecting to the repeater.

The repeater is definitely associated to the router, because the MAC
register tells me so. I am using WEP and have set the ID to the same on
each, as well as the SSID.

How I know they aren't connecting to the repeater is by switching it
off, and there is no change in connection quality (i.e. poor.)

So, my question really is, how can I tell for definite if my laptop is
connected to the repeater and not the router? Also, any pointers if my
laptop is not connecting to the repeater?

Thanks for your time guys,
B

Bob <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Hi guys,
>
>Was hoping one of you gurus could maybe give me some advice with
>extending wireless range?
>
>I've bought a Belkin Wireless G Range Extender which connects to a
>Buffalo Air Station Router (in repeater mode, so via wireless) in the
>hope of getting better connection at the other side of the house.
>However, it seems that none of my machines are connecting to the repeater.
>
>The repeater is definitely associated to the router, because the MAC
>register tells me so. I am using WEP and have set the ID to the same on
>each, as well as the SSID.
>
>How I know they aren't connecting to the repeater is by switching it
>off, and there is no change in connection quality (i.e. poor.)
>
>So, my question really is, how can I tell for definite if my laptop is
>connected to the repeater and not the router? Also, any pointers if my
>laptop is not connecting to the repeater?

I had the same problem with a D-Link DWL-G700AP set up as a repeater, to
increase the signal from a Trendnet access point (TEW-510APB) and using
WPA BTW. The client would connect to the Trendnet access point instead
of the repeater.

I solved the problem by using a client that would didplay the MAC
addresses so I could choose the repeater instead of the access point.
That's the only way to tell them apart as both were on the same channel
and had the same SSID.

Don't know what you mean by "the ID" though.

On 1 Apr, 23:25, Axel Hammerschmidt <h...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Bob <n...@nowhere.com> wrote:
> >Hi guys,
>
> >Was hoping one of you gurus could maybe give me some advice with
> >extending wireless range?
>
> >I've bought a Belkin Wireless G Range Extender which connects to a
> >Buffalo Air Station Router (in repeater mode, so via wireless) in the
> >hope of getting better connection at the other side of the house.
> >However, it seems that none of my machines are connecting to the repeater.
>
> >The repeater is definitely associated to the router, because the MAC
> >register tells me so. I am using WEP and have set the ID to the same on
> >each, as well as the SSID.
>
> >How I know they aren't connecting to the repeater is by switching it
> >off, and there is no change in connection quality (i.e. poor.)
>
> >So, my question really is, how can I tell for definite if my laptop is
> >connected to the repeater and not the router? Also, any pointers if my
> >laptop is not connecting to the repeater?
>
> I had the same problem with a D-Link DWL-G700AP set up as a repeater, to
> increase the signal from a Trendnet access point (TEW-510APB) and using
> WPA BTW. The client would connect to the Trendnet access point instead
> of the repeater.
>
> I solved the problem by using a client that would didplay the MAC
> addresses so I could choose the repeater instead of the access point.
> That's the only way to tell them apart as both were on the same channel
> and had the same SSID.
>
> Don't know what you mean by "the ID" though.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

Hi, thanks for the advice. Incidentally, which client did you use that
displays the MAC address?

Regarding the ID, I'm not sure either now that I read it. I think I
meant the WEP code was the same on both (mentioned to indicate I had
checked this)

Thanks again
B

On ma, 02 apr 2007 06:20:56 GMT, (E-Mail Removed) wrote in
alt.internet.wireless:

<snip>

> Hi, thanks for the advice. Incidentally, which client did you use that
> displays the MAC address?

Some do, and many don't. If your present client doesn't, you'll have to
experiment. Many, usually older clients work with other cards than the
one they come with. It depends on a lot of things like the chipset used
etc.

The Netgear one(s) look promising.

Try one of the early ones (for the v1) if your card has a Prism chipset:

http://kbserver.netgear.com/products/WG511v1.asp

Or the newer one (the v2 - don't know what chipset it uses, maybe some
Googling will tell you) here:

http://kbserver.netgear.com/release_notes/d102576.asp

McAfee may (still?) have (I haven't looked recently) a link for a free
client. Search their site. Maybe their client will show the MAC address.

If these don't do the job, look for some more.

I use a Philips client, for their SNN6500 a/b/g card (Atheros chipset)
and the client there displays the MAC addresses.

> Regarding the ID, I'm not sure either now that I read it. I think I
> meant the WEP code was the same on both (mentioned to indicate I had
> checked this)

OK.

On Sun, 01 Apr 2007 18:46:27 GMT, Bob <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
<76TPh.11515$(E-Mail Removed)>:

>Was hoping one of you gurus could maybe give me some advice with
>extending wireless range?
>
>I've bought a Belkin Wireless G Range Extender which connects to a
>Buffalo Air Station Router (in repeater mode, so via wireless) in the
>hope of getting better connection at the other side of the house.
>However, it seems that none of my machines are connecting to the repeater.

Your best bet is to buy an extender from the _same_ manufacturer as your
wireless access point -- otherwise you can run into compatibility
problems.

--
Best regards, FAQ for Wireless Internet: <http://Wireless.wikia.com>
John Navas FAQ for Wi-Fi: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi>
Wi-Fi How To: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_How_To>
Fixes to Wi-Fi Problems: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_Fixes>

<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> On 1 Apr, 23:25, Axel Hammerschmidt <h...@hotmail.com> wrote:

<snip>

> > >So, my question really is, how can I tell for definite if my laptop is
> > >connected to the repeater and not the router? Also, any pointers if my
> > >laptop is not connecting to the repeater?
> >
> > I had the same problem with a D-Link DWL-G700AP set up as a repeater, to
> > increase the signal from a Trendnet access point (TEW-510APB) and using
> > WPA BTW. The client would connect to the Trendnet access point instead
> > of the repeater.

As an alternative, if the repeater is positioned reasonably close to
your computer, you could try and run a cable from the computer's
ethernet connector to the RJ45 connector on the repeater. I don't think
it has to be a crossed cable. But that probably depends on one or both
of the connectors being auto-sensing or not.

In my case (having configured the DWL-G700AP as a repeater) this
resulted in the repeater acting like a "wireless game adapter" and
provided a wireless connection from the repeater to (in my case) the
access point (the TEW-510APB, which in turn is connected to a router -
that again was connected to an ADSL modem). Connecting to the repeater
through a hub also enabled more than the one computer to get online
wirelessly at the same time in this way.

This will however (probably) reduce the speed of the connection compared
to if you were using a dedicated "wireless game adapter" by a factor 2 -
or 4 with two computers connected in this way.