Xbox and ReplayTV downstairs, cable modem upstairs, get them talking?

After a brief and unsuccessful attempt to run wires through my old
house (it was ugly, you don't want to know), I've decided I have to go
wireless. My goal is to have my Xbox and ReplayTV in the living room
hooked into my internet connection which is upstairs in a bedroom.

I'm currently using a cheap Linksys hub with a server PC for my little
office network (two wired NICs in the PC and software NAT). Right now
my Xbox does not have any internet ability and the ReplayTV uses the
phone line.

My plan:
Buy an 802.11g wireless router, like the D-Link DI-624 or the Netgear
WGR614 (any advice?). I don't need VPN, but I would like a decent
firewall. I love my software firewall, Kerio's Tiny Personal
Firewall, and I need something that can be configured with port
forwarding for various game servers behind the router.
Take the cable modem from NIC#2 (in fact, I won't need the second NIC
anymore at all...) and plug it into the router.
Buy an 802.11g wireless access point, like the Linksys WAP54G or the
Netgear WG602 (I assume the brand of the WAP doesn't have the match
the router).
Configure the AP as a bridge (client bridge? ad hoc? I've searched
the faqs but I'm still confused).
Plug the Xbox and ReplayTV into the WAP.
Drink until it works or I don't care anymore.

I'm looking to spend between $250 and $300 on both sets of hardware,
and I've done some homework but there doesn't seem to be much
information on the configuration I've described. I'd really rather go
with 802.11g than 11b because of the size of the ReplayTV files I'm
planning on moving around, but is 11a a better choice? Why do
wireless routers not have bridging ability, and why do routers (which
seem to be more complicated) cost less than the WAPs? Where can I see
if a WAP has more than one port (seems like very few product
descriptions include the number, do they normally have just one?)?

Thanks for any help.

(E-Mail Removed) (Haggis) wrote in message news:<(E-Mail Removed) om>...
> (E-Mail Removed) (Haggis) wrote in message news:<(E-Mail Removed) om>...
> > After a brief and unsuccessful attempt to run wires through my old
> > house (it was ugly, you don't want to know), I've decided I have to go
> > wireless. My goal is to have my Xbox and ReplayTV in the living room
> > hooked into my internet connection which is upstairs in a bedroom.
>
> > My plan:
> > Buy an 802.11g wireless router, like the D-Link DI-624 or the Netgear
> > WGR614 (any advice?). I don't need VPN, but I would like a decent
> > firewall. I love my software firewall, Kerio's Tiny Personal
> > Firewall, and I need something that can be configured with port
> > forwarding for various game servers behind the router.
> > Take the cable modem from NIC#2 (in fact, I won't need the second NIC
> > anymore at all...) and plug it into the router.
> > Buy an 802.11g wireless access point, like the Linksys WAP54G or the
> > Netgear WG602 (I assume the brand of the WAP doesn't have the match
> > the router).
> > Configure the AP as a bridge (client bridge? ad hoc? I've searched
> > the faqs but I'm still confused).
> > Plug the Xbox and ReplayTV into the WAP.
> > Drink until it works or I don't care anymore.
>
> A followup: Apparently there is no such thing as an 802.11g version
> of a bridge that will work with a router. The Linksys WAP54G will
> only bridge with another unit in dedicated bridge mode (in other
> words, I'd need a WAP54G downstairs and a WAP54G upstairs, and would
> still need my software router to handle NAT), and the Netgear WG602
> won't bridge. Is that a 'feature' of the .11g standard, or just a
> side effect of the relatively young technology?
>
> Looks like my only option is to get a wireless router (probably an
> 802.11g for future use) for the office and an 802.11b WAP/bridge like
> the Linksys WET11 connected to a hub or switch (since the WET11 does
> not have a built in switch), and then plug the ReplayTV and Xbox into
> the hub.

Well, I was wrong. The Linksys WGA54G is the 802.11g version of the
WET11 (and soon, the Belkin F5D7330 it appears). So, I bought a
Belkin F5D7230-4 router, hooked it up to the computer, plugged a
second computer into the WGA54G to configure it, and off I went.

After much hair pulling I got them talking, and now my ReplayTV and
Xbox are happily talking to the internet and my local network. My
experiences for future generations:

The WGA54G must be in infrastructure mode. The WGA54G did not like to
save settings when using the quick start disk, it would almost always
lose the SSID and usually change it's mode to Ad Hoc. There was also
no way to manually set the channel when using the infrastructure quick
setup. I used the "head to head" (i.e. ad hoc) quick setup, selected
manual mode, and set the SSID and channel. Then I used the web
interface to set the other parameters like WEP, mode, etc.

The Belkin router needs to have bridging turned on, and be fixed to
the WGA54G's MAC address. This was the critical step, and the
features of this bridging function are not identified or documented
anywhere. Much trial and error with turning bridging on, off, fixed,
open, etc.

The Belkin has a good manual but it's not current as the new bridging
feature is not even mentioned. The Linksys manual is terrible,
essentially "plug it in and you're done!" Riiiiiight... there's also
a switch on the side of the Linksys marked Ad Hoc and Infrastructure,
but I was able to force it into either mode in the web page regardless
of switch setting. I have no idea what the switch does, and it's only
mentioned once in the manual.

> > > After a brief and unsuccessful attempt to run wires through my old
> > > house (it was ugly, you don't want to know), I've decided I have to go
> > > wireless. My goal is to have my Xbox and ReplayTV in the living room
> > > hooked into my internet connection which is upstairs in a bedroom.
[snip]
> Well, I was wrong. The Linksys WGA54G is the 802.11g version of the
> WET11 (and soon, the Belkin F5D7330 it appears). So, I bought a
> Belkin F5D7230-4 router, hooked it up to the computer, plugged a
> second computer into the WGA54G to configure it, and off I went.
>
> After much hair pulling I got them talking, and now my ReplayTV and
> Xbox are happily talking to the internet and my local network. My
> experiences for future generations:
>
> The WGA54G must be in infrastructure mode. The WGA54G did not like to
> save settings when using the quick start disk, it would almost always
> lose the SSID and usually change it's mode to Ad Hoc. There was also
> no way to manually set the channel when using the infrastructure quick
> setup. I used the "head to head" (i.e. ad hoc) quick setup, selected
> manual mode, and set the SSID and channel. Then I used the web
> interface to set the other parameters like WEP, mode, etc.
>
> The Belkin router needs to have bridging turned on, and be fixed to
> the WGA54G's MAC address. This was the critical step, and the
> features of this bridging function are not identified or documented
> anywhere. Much trial and error with turning bridging on, off, fixed,
> open, etc.
>
> The Belkin has a good manual but it's not current as the new bridging
> feature is not even mentioned. The Linksys manual is terrible,
> essentially "plug it in and you're done!" Riiiiiight... there's also
> a switch on the side of the Linksys marked Ad Hoc and Infrastructure,
> but I was able to force it into either mode in the web page regardless
> of switch setting. I have no idea what the switch does, and it's only
> mentioned once in the manual.

More talking to myself:
The Linksys WGA54G toggle switch MUST be in infrastructure mode. This
caused me a lot of grief, as the settings in the web interface were
being overwritten. Must've bumped the switch...

Also I thought I had both the Xbox and the ReplayTV talking, but my
first setup had the ReplayTV plugged directly into the WGA54G (worked
fine), then I hooked up a hub (WGA54G into the upling, ReplayTV into
the hub), and that worked fine. Then I plugged the Xbox into the hub,
and it worked fine, but apparently it took out the ReplayTV.

I could not get the ReplayTV and the Xbox to communicate through the
hub to the WGA54G. It was one or the other, and after many reboots
and reconfigs and wasted time I gave up. Any suggestions?

(E-Mail Removed) (Haggis) wrote in message news:<(E-Mail Removed) om>...
>
> Also I thought I had both the Xbox and the ReplayTV talking, but my
> first setup had the ReplayTV plugged directly into the WGA54G (worked
> fine), then I hooked up a hub (WGA54G into the upling, ReplayTV into
> the hub), and that worked fine. Then I plugged the Xbox into the hub,
> and it worked fine, but apparently it took out the ReplayTV.
>
> I could not get the ReplayTV and the Xbox to communicate through the
> hub to the WGA54G. It was one or the other, and after many reboots
> and reconfigs and wasted time I gave up. Any suggestions?

I had a similar problem with my WGA54G Gaming Adapter. I have a
WRT54G wireless router in the living room, and I wanted to use the
WGA54G as a wireless bridge in my study, connecting it through a
switch to the two non-wireless computers in that room. However, I
found that only one of the two computers could connect to the network
at a time. I contacted Linksys technical support and asked them about
this. Here is their reply:

"I have verified from our Engineers that the WGA54G can be connected
on a hub or switch but only one computer could utilize it. You can't
run multiple devices at the same time. Sorry for the inconvenience
this may cause you."

I pointed out that the WGA54G manual shows multiple wired clients
connected to a single WGA54G through a switch, and their reply was
basically, "Sorry."

So for anyone considering purchasing the WGA54G Gaming Adapter and
hoping to connect two wired devices to it, *beware*. It won't work,
regardless of what the manual says.