Connect two buildings

Hopefully a simple question: I have one house that is wireless with a
cantenna that shoots its signal to house #2 (about 500 meters). At
that house, I have another cantenna to receive. Here is where I need
some help.

At house #2 I would like to have "something" that can repeat house
#1's signal so that all my clients (ie laptops and desktops) can be
connected on house #1's network. The clients would connect to the
access point in house #2 which then connects to house #1s access
point.

Is this hardware called a repeater, access point, bridge, ????? What
hardware configuration will accomplish this task? And any software
"things" that I need to know like do you have to have the access
points on different channels, etc?

I know it's a general question, but any help would be appreciated.
Thanks.
Sean

(E-Mail Removed) (Sean) wrote in message news:<(E-Mail Removed). com>...
> Hopefully a simple question: I have one house that is wireless with a
> cantenna that shoots its signal to house #2 (about 500 meters). At
> that house, I have another cantenna to receive. Here is where I need
> some help.
>
> At house #2 I would like to have "something" that can repeat house
> #1's signal so that all my clients (ie laptops and desktops) can be
> connected on house #1's network. The clients would connect to the
> access point in house #2 which then connects to house #1s access
> point.
>
> Is this hardware called a repeater, access point, bridge, ????? What
> hardware configuration will accomplish this task? And any software
> "things" that I need to know like do you have to have the access
> points on different channels, etc?

Are the clients in house 2 wired, or wireless? There are a few
different possible scenarios here.

AP1....AP2--ethernet switch--wired clients

This is a bridging scenario. Both of these devices should probably be
wireless bridges, or access points which allows bridging mode;
depending on model, you may be able to use one bridge and one AP, but
check the docs first.

AP1....AP2....wireless clients

This would be a repeater scenario, except that it won't work in this
case. If you're using directional antennas to get a good link from AP2
to AP1, then you're not going to have any adequate coverage pattern
for the rest of the house. Also, your total available bandwidth drops
dramatically in a repeater configuration, since your repeater has to
forward all conversations back to house 1 on the same channel that is
being used by your wireless clients. Instead, you ought to do this:

AP1....AP2--AP3....wireless clients

Put the third AP onto a different channel from the first two, and have
omnidirectional antennas on that one instead of the cantennas. Connect
AP2 and AP3 with a crossover cable, or hook them both up to a switch
if you have one lying around. This is another bridging solution so
your APs (or at least AP1 and AP2) will need to allow bridging mode.

-Gabriel