do they exist and what are they called please?

I want to link a distant pc without a wireless card to my home network
using network cable connected into a wifi "repeater" as it were - i
already have a wifi router at the base "end".

Could the signal be made directional from such an extension? to limit
potential for snooping (yes I have usual encryption in place already)

tia
Jim K

Jim K ) wibbled on Wednesday 19 January 2011 09:54:

do they exist and what are they called please?

I want to link a distant pc without a wireless card to my home network
using network cable connected into a wifi "repeater" as it were - i
already have a wifi router at the base "end".

Could the signal be made directional from such an extension? to limit
potential for snooping (yes I have usual encryption in place already)

tia
Jim K

WiFi Bridge or Wireless Bridge are the search terms - Linksys (Cisco) make
then and one I've uses is very small.

--
Tim Watts

On 19/01/2011 09:54, Jim K wrote:
do they exist and what are they called please?

I want to link a distant pc without a wireless card to my home network
using network cable connected into a wifi "repeater" as it were - i
already have a wifi router at the base "end".

Could the signal be made directional from such an extension? to limit
potential for snooping (yes I have usual encryption in place already)

tia
Jim K
Wouldn't it be cheaper and easier to add a WiFi card to the computer?
Maybe try a USB device such as the Netgear WG111

http://www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk/Shop...ProductID=1527

Since it is self contained, you could use a USB cable to conveniently
position the device for best results. You could also add a DIY reflector
as well.

http://www.freeantennas.com/projects/Ez-10/

On Wed, 19 Jan 2011 10:10:49 +0000, Rob wrote:

Wouldn't it be cheaper and easier to add a WiFi card to the computer?
Maybe try a USB device such as the Netgear WG111

A USB WiFi dongle would be my prefered approach.

PC powered so goes off with the PC, nothing can hack into something
that isn't powered...

No extra wall wart to find a socket for, no extra power consumed when
the PC isn't on.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On Jan 19, 9:54*am, Jim K wrote:
do they exist and what are they called please?

I want to link a distant pc without a wireless card to my home network
using network cable connected into a wifi *"repeater"

Don't, use a proper Wifi card or Dongle. Repeaters retransmit on the
same channel, halving the network bandwidth. The Belkin one I tried
never worked at all and I used HomePlug adapters instead.

MBQ

Man at B&Q ) wibbled on Wednesday 19 January 2011
10:48:

On Jan 19, 9:54 am, Jim K wrote:
do they exist and what are they called please?

I want to link a distant pc without a wireless card to my home network
using network cable connected into a wifi "repeater"

Don't, use a proper Wifi card or Dongle. Repeaters retransmit on the
same channel, halving the network bandwidth. The Belkin one I tried
never worked at all and I used HomePlug adapters instead.

MBQ

I'm reading that he really means "bridge" and not "repeater" as the PC does
not have WiFi currently...

--
Tim Watts

In article
s.com, Jim K scribeth thus
do they exist and what are they called please?

I want to link a distant pc without a wireless card to my home network
using network cable connected into a wifi "repeater" as it were - i
already have a wifi router at the base "end".

Could the signal be made directional from such an extension? to limit
potential for snooping (yes I have usual encryption in place already)

Yes go 5.8 Ghz for that far less bother then 2.4 Ghz..


tia
Jim K

Suggest you give

http://solwise.com

a ring they are very good at that sort of thing and would know what U
need to do it properly...
--
Tony Sayer

In article ,
Jim K writes:
do they exist and what are they called please?

I want to link a distant pc without a wireless card to my home network
using network cable connected into a wifi "repeater" as it were - i
already have a wifi router at the base "end".

So if I'm reading this correctly, you want a WiFi receiver, then a long
length of cable to reach the distant PC?

You can do this with most WiFi access points (which is a WiFi box without
the router function, or at least where the router function can be disabled).
I have a number of EW-7206APg WiFi access points on different sites which
seem to work well. WiFi access points have got harder to find as everyone
tends to use integrated WiFi/router/modem devices nowadays - I think I
got the last one from an Amazon reseller. They work well with cheap
home-brew power-over-ethernet http://www.cucumber.demon.co.uk/cheapPoE.jpg
I normally use the 12V supply from PC, so there's no separate PSU
for the access points. Internally, it has a switched mode PSU down to 3V
IIRC, so supply voltage drop over a long ethernet cable doesn't matter.
(Real power over ethernet uses 48V to reduce cable losses.)

Any reason not to use cable all the way?

Could the signal be made directional from such an extension? to limit
potential for snooping (yes I have usual encryption in place already)

You can get directional aerials to extend range in a specific direction,
but don't do this from a security perspective. Increasing range also
reduces throughput, and if you increase it enough to overlap other WiFi
units on same or nearby channels which wouldn't otherwise "see" each
other, throughput can dramatically decrease depending on load on the
overlapping WiFi units.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

In article ,
Jim K wrote:
do they exist and what are they called please?

I want to link a distant pc without a wireless card to my home network
using network cable connected into a wifi "repeater" as it were - i
already have a wifi router at the base "end".

You're after a Wi-Fi Client Bidge device. Box with antennae and an
Ethernet socket. Gives the abiltiy to plug one (or more) devices into it.
Some standalone access points can work in this mode.

I use Draytek AP700's for this purpose. They're about £60 depending on
where you buy. (I'm a Draytek dealer so get them direct)

Could the signal be made directional from such an extension? to limit
potential for snooping (yes I have usual encryption in place already)

You can get directional units, but they're much more expensive - yupically
you might look for something with a flat-plate antenna rather than the
usual stubby omnis, but you'll still be at the mercy of reflections, etc.
Better to run a VPN over the Wi-Fi link if you're that paranoid.

Gordon

"Tim Watts" wrote in message ...
Man at B&Q ) wibbled on Wednesday 19 January 2011
10:48:

On Jan 19, 9:54 am, Jim K wrote:
do they exist and what are they called please?

I want to link a distant pc without a wireless card to my home network
using network cable connected into a wifi "repeater"

Don't, use a proper Wifi card or Dongle. Repeaters retransmit on the
same channel, halving the network bandwidth. The Belkin one I tried
never worked at all and I used HomePlug adapters instead.

MBQ

I'm reading that he really means "bridge" and not "repeater" as the PC does
not have WiFi currently...

Wi-Fi dongles are a fiver on Ebay. I assume the PC has USB.

--
Graham.

%Profound_observation%

On Jan 19, 12:25 pm, Gordon Henderson wrote:

You're after a Wi-Fi Client Bidge device. Box with antennae and an
Ethernet socket. Gives the abiltiy to plug one (or more) devices into it.
Some standalone access points can work in this mode.
I use Draytek AP700's for this purpose. They're about £60 depending on
where you buy. (I'm a Draytek dealer so get them direct)

If the OP simply wants a WiFi-to-RJ45 adapter the NetGear WNCE2001 is
cheaper and a doddle to set up:

http://www.netgear.com/landing/wnce2001.aspx

For some reason they seem to market this as primarily for 'home
entertainment' use, but it's perfectly suitable for connecting to a PC
AFAIK.

Richard.
http://www.rtrussell.co.uk/

On Jan 19, 2:34 pm, "Richard Russell" wrote:
On Jan 19, 12:25 pm, Gordon Henderson wrote:

You're after a Wi-Fi Client Bidge device. Box with antennae and an
Ethernet socket. Gives the abiltiy to plug one (or more) devices into it.

On Jan 19, 5:39*pm, Jim K wrote:
http://www.netgear.com/landing/wnce2001.aspx

mmm also appears to be £60 ?

£36 from here (not sure about VAT):

http://www.comeuro.net/webshop/produ...roductid=92925

£44 inclusive from Amazon:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_...words=WNCE2001

Richard.
http://www.rtrussell.co.uk/

On Wed, 19 Jan 2011 17:54:14 -0000, Richard Russell
wrote:

£44 inclusive from Amazon:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_...words=WNCE2001

£42 inclusive from he

http://dropship.weareelectricals.com...t-Adapter.html

Richard.
http://www.rtrussell.co.uk/

"nicknoxx" wrote in message
...
On 19/01/2011 09:54, Jim K wrote:
do they exist and what are they called please?

I want to link a distant pc without a wireless card to my home network
using network cable connected into a wifi "repeater" as it were - i
already have a wifi router at the base "end".

Could the signal be made directional from such an extension? to limit
potential for snooping (yes I have usual encryption in place already)

tia
Jim K

On a related note, I've been meaning to use a spare adsl router to extend
the wireless coverage in the house (the main BT socket and router are
upstairs and coverage downstairs is patchy) and this thread prompted me to
have a go. I had to turn off DHCP but it worked straight away. BUT it was
very slow. Normal broadband out here is about 3500kbps but through the
Netgear router this was reduced to 500 kbps. The two routers were
connected by an ethernet cable. The Netgear router works fine on it's own.
Anybody know why this might be so?

If they are both wireless 2.4G there are only three channels that don't
overlap 1,6,13(?).

In article ,
nicknoxx writes:
On a related note, I've been meaning to use a spare adsl router to
extend the wireless coverage in the house (the main BT socket and router
are upstairs and coverage downstairs is patchy) and this thread prompted
me to have a go. I had to turn off DHCP but it worked straight away. BUT
it was very slow. Normal broadband out here is about 3500kbps but
through the Netgear router this was reduced to 500 kbps. The two routers
were connected by an ethernet cable. The Netgear router works fine on
it's own.
Anybody know why this might be so?

Could be lots of reasons. How does it know the default route is on the
LAN side and not the WAN side (which is presumably disconnected)?
You should probably disable the router in it (and the WAN side) if it
has that as a configuration option. Basically, you are using it as an
Access Point, but it may not have been designed with configuration
options to allow such a setup.

If the WiFi part can be configured as a Universal Repeater, then you
can just stand it somewhere where it can be seen from downstairs and
it can see the main WiFi router, and you don't need any ethernet cable
at all. However, such a configuration option is probably unlikely in
something which was designed to be an ADSL router (more likely in an
Access Point).

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

In article op.vpkhrzz4n5ksl5@richard,
"Richard Russell" writes:
On Wed, 19 Jan 2011 17:54:14 -0000, Richard Russell
wrote:

£44 inclusive from Amazon:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_...words=WNCE2001

£42 inclusive from he

http://dropship.weareelectricals.com...t-Adapter.html

The Edimax EW-7206APG access points which I use (which can be configured
in Station Mode as well as many other modes) is only £23 on Amazon.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

On Jan 20, 12:06*am, (Andrew Gabriel)
wrote:
The Edimax EW-7206APG access points which I use (which can be configured
in Station Mode as well as many other modes) is only 23 on Amazon.

Certainly a good price. The only other points I'd make in favour of
the NetGear are that it's tiny, and can be powered from a spare USB
port, avoiding the need for yet another mains PSU (even though one is
supplied).

Richard.
http://www.rtrussell.co.uk/