Magic box :>

I wonder if anyone can help ? I'm looking for a "magic box" which will
allow me to connect to a wireless network while pretending to my laptop
that it is seeing a pure Ethernet LAN. Here's why:

I've recently become an employee again, and the company has given me a
laptop which connects to the corporate VPN over my home broadband
connection. However, for security reasons, it has had its wireless
card disabled so I have to I plug it direct into my router using an
Ethernet drop cable.

Now, this is not very convenient as the router is in my front room but
my home office is in an outbuilding about 10m from the house...

So, the "magic box" would be an 802.11g device I could site in the home
office (the signal strength is acceptable in there) with an Ethernet
port I could plug the laptop into. As far as the laptop was concerned,
it would be plugged into the router direct.

Does such a magic box exist ? Can anyone recommend one ?

Thanks in advance,

Nick

<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) ps.com...
>I wonder if anyone can help ? I'm looking for a "magic box" which will
> allow me to connect to a wireless network while pretending to my laptop
> that it is seeing a pure Ethernet LAN. Here's why:

You could buy something like an Apple AirPort Base Station which lets you
extend a wireless network and then gives you an aditional ethernet port at
the base station.

Therefore: HomeOffice--->ethernet--->Base station--->wireless--->router

however u would need a mac computer to do the initial configuration.

Try other products such as Belkin wireless range extender which may even
give you 4 ports at the home office

Darren

(E-Mail Removed) hath wroth:

>I wonder if anyone can help ? I'm looking for a "magic box" which will
>allow me to connect to a wireless network while pretending to my laptop
>that it is seeing a pure Ethernet LAN.

It's not magic. It's called a "wireless bridge", "wireless ethernet
client adapter", or "game/media adapter". Also "workgroup bridge".
They all do the same thing. They bridge between an ethernet
connection and a wireless connection.

Typical examples are:
Linksys WAP54G, WAP54GP, WET54G, and the various game and
media adapters at:
| http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satel...VisitorWrapper

There is one potential problem. Some of these will bridge only one
MAC address while others will do more than one. If you're planning on
putting more than one computah behind this device (with an ethernet
switch), then check how many clients they can handle.

>I've recently become an employee again, and the company has given me a
>laptop which connects to the corporate VPN over my home broadband
>connection. However, for security reasons, it has had its wireless
>card disabled so I have to I plug it direct into my router using an
>Ethernet drop cable.

Very common problem. Check if the ethernet interface is setup to get
its IP address from a DHCP server, or if it has a static IP address.
The static IP address can be utilized, but will require renumbering
your home networks IP addresses to match that of your workplace.

>Now, this is not very convenient as the router is in my front room but
>my home office is in an outbuilding about 10m from the house...
>
>So, the "magic box" would be an 802.11g device I could site in the home
>office (the signal strength is acceptable in there) with an Ethernet
>port I could plug the laptop into. As far as the laptop was concerned,
>it would be plugged into the router direct.

Yep. Any of the aformentioned will work. I'm a bit hesitant about
the various game and media adapters simply because I haven't used or
played with them.

>Does such a magic box exist ? Can anyone recommend one ?

Any sufficiently advanced technology, once placed in the hands of
marketing, is indistinguishable from magic.

--
Jeff Liebermann (E-Mail Removed)
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

On Mon, 25 Sep 2006 10:03:28 -0700, Jeff Liebermann wrote:

> (E-Mail Removed) hath wroth:
>
>>I wonder if anyone can help ? I'm looking for a "magic box" which will
>>allow me to connect to a wireless network while pretending to my laptop
>>that it is seeing a pure Ethernet LAN.
>
> It's not magic. It's called a "wireless bridge", "wireless ethernet
> client adapter", or "game/media adapter". Also "workgroup bridge".
> They all do the same thing. They bridge between an ethernet
> connection and a wireless connection.
>
> Typical examples are:
> Linksys WAP54G, WAP54GP, WET54G, and the various game and
> media adapters at:
>| http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satel...VisitorWrapper
>
> There is one potential problem. Some of these will bridge only one
> MAC address while others will do more than one. If you're planning on
> putting more than one computah behind this device (with an ethernet
> switch), then check how many clients they can handle.
>
>>I've recently become an employee again, and the company has given me a
>>laptop which connects to the corporate VPN over my home broadband
>>connection. However, for security reasons, it has had its wireless
>>card disabled so I have to I plug it direct into my router using an
>>Ethernet drop cable.
>
> Very common problem. Check if the ethernet interface is setup to get
> its IP address from a DHCP server, or if it has a static IP address.
> The static IP address can be utilized, but will require renumbering
> your home networks IP addresses to match that of your workplace.
>
>>Now, this is not very convenient as the router is in my front room but
>>my home office is in an outbuilding about 10m from the house...
>>
>>So, the "magic box" would be an 802.11g device I could site in the home
>>office (the signal strength is acceptable in there) with an Ethernet
>>port I could plug the laptop into. As far as the laptop was concerned,
>>it would be plugged into the router direct.
>
> Yep. Any of the aformentioned will work. I'm a bit hesitant about
> the various game and media adapters simply because I haven't used or
> played with them.
>
>>Does such a magic box exist ? Can anyone recommend one ?
>
> Any sufficiently advanced technology, once placed in the hands of
> marketing, is indistinguishable from magic.

I prefer the term "magic box" !