Can a wireless router/access point be used to connect to another wireless station/ap?

I have a belkin wireless router/access point and was wondering if it
was possible for it to act as an access point by "grabbing" the
internet connection from another wireless station?

Our street doesn't have high-speed yet but my friend's does and he has
a wireless lan set up. Can I use my router/ap to connect to the
signal and rebroadcast it at my house? I didn't think this would work
without actually being hard wired to the internet.

First of all, anything is possible with the right equipment. Still,
in an attempt to answer your question, yes, the your Belkin can act as
an access point. However, in your situation, if I'm not mistaken,
there need to be another device that will connect your AP to your
friend's WLAN, especially if there's a great deal of distance between
the two. You may want to look at a wireless bridge or a repeater. I
doubt that an ethernet cable will do the job for you. I'm assuming
that your friend lives on another street. If the distance is far
between your house and your friend's house, you might be able to use
your wireless card and access his WLAN directly. If I'm mistaken, I
apologize. I'm quite sure someone in this group can further assist
you. Take care.


On 1 Aug 2004 17:40:16 -0700, (E-Mail Removed) (superkid)
wrote:

>I have a belkin wireless router/access point and was wondering if it
>was possible for it to act as an access point by "grabbing" the
>internet connection from another wireless station?
>
>Our street doesn't have high-speed yet but my friend's does and he has
>a wireless lan set up. Can I use my router/ap to connect to the
>signal and rebroadcast it at my house? I didn't think this would work
>without actually being hard wired to the internet.

I should probably clarify. My internal network card can get the
signal from my neighbor's WLAN but barely. It isn't strong enough to
keep a good connection and it drops constantly. I was wondering if
the access point can find a signal from another network, and if it can
and connect strong enough, can it be "rebroadcast" at my house without
actually being plugged into the internet via wires?


Doug Jamal <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:<(E-Mail Removed)>. ..
> First of all, anything is possible with the right equipment. Still,
> in an attempt to answer your question, yes, the your Belkin can act as
> an access point. However, in your situation, if I'm not mistaken,
> there need to be another device that will connect your AP to your
> friend's WLAN, especially if there's a great deal of distance between
> the two. You may want to look at a wireless bridge or a repeater. I
> doubt that an ethernet cable will do the job for you. I'm assuming
> that your friend lives on another street. If the distance is far
> between your house and your friend's house, you might be able to use
> your wireless card and access his WLAN directly. If I'm mistaken, I
> apologize. I'm quite sure someone in this group can further assist
> you. Take care.
>
>
> On 1 Aug 2004 17:40:16 -0700, (E-Mail Removed) (superkid)
> wrote:
>
> >I have a belkin wireless router/access point and was wondering if it
> >was possible for it to act as an access point by "grabbing" the
> >internet connection from another wireless station?
> >
> >Our street doesn't have high-speed yet but my friend's does and he has
> >a wireless lan set up. Can I use my router/ap to connect to the
> >signal and rebroadcast it at my house? I didn't think this would work
> >without actually being hard wired to the internet.

superkid <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> I should probably clarify. My internal network card can get the
> signal from my neighbor's WLAN but barely. It isn't strong enough to
> keep a good connection and it drops constantly. I was wondering if
> the access point can find a signal from another network, and if it can
> and connect strong enough, can it be "rebroadcast" at my house without
> actually being plugged into the internet via wires?

Some wireless routers can act as bridges between two networks, but most
cannot. You don't mention the Belkin model that you have.

If you can make a marginal connection to your friend's WAP as it is, maybe
he could add a reflector or external antenna, or you could add an external
antenna. You don't mention what kind of card you are using.

(E-Mail Removed) wrote in message news:<celqpn$rbu$(E-Mail Removed)>...
> superkid <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> > I should probably clarify. My internal network card can get the
> > signal from my neighbor's WLAN but barely. It isn't strong enough to
> > keep a good connection and it drops constantly. I was wondering if
> > the access point can find a signal from another network, and if it can
> > and connect strong enough, can it be "rebroadcast" at my house without
> > actually being plugged into the internet via wires?
>
> Some wireless routers can act as bridges between two networks, but most
> cannot. You don't mention the Belkin model that you have.
>
> If you can make a marginal connection to your friend's WAP as it is, maybe
> he could add a reflector or external antenna, or you could add an external
> antenna. You don't mention what kind of card you are using.

My internal wireless card is a Dell TrueMobile 1150 Series and the
router/access point I have is a Belkin F5D6231-4. After looking at
the configuration interface for the router, I doubt it can act as a
bridge as well.

(E-Mail Removed) (superkid) wrote in message news:<(E-Mail Removed). com>...
> (E-Mail Removed) wrote in message news:<celqpn$rbu$(E-Mail Removed)>...
> > superkid <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> > > I should probably clarify. My internal network card can get the
> > > signal from my neighbor's WLAN but barely. It isn't strong enough to
> > > keep a good connection and it drops constantly. I was wondering if
> > > the access point can find a signal from another network, and if it can
> > > and connect strong enough, can it be "rebroadcast" at my house without
> > > actually being plugged into the internet via wires?
> >
> > Some wireless routers can act as bridges between two networks, but most
> > cannot. You don't mention the Belkin model that you have.
> >
> > If you can make a marginal connection to your friend's WAP as it is, maybe
> > he could add a reflector or external antenna, or you could add an external
> > antenna. You don't mention what kind of card you are using.
>
> My internal wireless card is a Dell TrueMobile 1150 Series and the
> router/access point I have is a Belkin F5D6231-4. After looking at
> the configuration interface for the router, I doubt it can act as a
> bridge as well.

I just found out it won't matter as we are finally getting high-speed
set up on our street as well through airwired.net. Thanks for the
willingness to help though.