WPN824v2 Bridge Repeater question

[Swell]

Hi,

I'm new here, and as the title suggests I've been trying to set up my WPN824v2 as a bridge repeater. My main router is a Virgin Media Superhub, which works well as for wired gigabit LAN, but is not so good on the wireless side. So rather than buy a new router, it seemed to make sense to use my WPN824v2 as a bridge repeater to boost the wireless side of things.
I've set it up according to the excellent guide here:

http://vpncasestudy.com/download/use...cess_point.pdf

It works well, though there are a couple of issues:

1. I tried using the same SSID, username & password for both routers to make it appear as just one, which worked, except that it was clear that the WPN824v2 was not contributing to the performance/signal strength, which was in-line with just the Superhub alone. If I change the SSID to something slightly different, the 2 routers appear separately, with the WPN824v2 having a stronger signal than the Superhub. This is ok, as I can just use the WPN824v2 for wireless and the Superhub for wired, but ideally I'd like the combined effect of using both routers wirelessly under one SSID. Is there a reason for this happening?

2. I can no longer log onto the WPN824v2. I've changed the IP address so that it falls outside of the DHCP subnet range of the Superhub, and it works as described above, but if I need to change any settings I have to reset the router and set it up again. Not Ideal. Again, is there a reason for this?

Any help would be very much appreciated!

[Swell]

Sorry, the link in the above post is no good. Try this:

http://vpncasestudy.com/download/use...cess_point.pdf

[jmizoguchi]

1. I tried using the same SSID, username & password for both routers to make it appear as just one, which worked, except that it was clear that the WPN824v2 was not contributing to the performance/signal strength, which was in-line with just the Superhub alone. If I change the SSID to something slightly different, the 2 routers appear separately, with the WPN824v2 having a stronger signal than the Superhub. This is ok, as I can just use the WPN824v2 for wireless and the Superhub for wired, but ideally I'd like the combined effect of using both routers wirelessly under one SSID. Is there a reason for this happening?

mixing two different models are can cause this issues.

2. I can no longer log onto the WPN824v2. I've changed the IP address so that it falls outside of the DHCP subnet range of the Superhub, and it works as described above, but if I need to change any settings I have to reset the router and set it up again. Not Ideal. Again, is there a reason for this?

Should work... always works..

[Swell]

Many thanks for the reply.

Point 1. Fair enough. I'll just use the WPN824v2 as my wireless router and the Superhub as my wired gigabit router. What I actually do is have certain fixed devices within easy range logging on to the Superhub and mobile devices logging onto the WPN824v2 which has better coverage. All-in-all a good setup!

Point 2. I notice on the admin setup for the WPN824v2 there are 2 places where an IP address can be specified. I think one is in the Basic Settings, and one is in the IP LAN settings, which is also where the DHCP settings are. Which is the one to use for this setup? I'm not clear whet the difference is. Maybe one is for a static IP?

[jmizoguchi]

Point 1. Fair enough. I'll just use the WPN824v2 as my wireless router and the Superhub as my wired gigabit router. What I actually do is have certain fixed devices within easy range logging on to the Superhub and mobile devices logging onto the WPN824v2 which has better coverage. All-in-all a good setup!

using same SSID is a good idea but again unless you are "roaming" in the house you may pursue for the best setup by placing using same model of the unit or just using different SSID to split devices at each location

Point 2. I notice on the admin setup for the WPN824v2 there are 2 places where an IP address can be specified. I think one is in the Basic Settings, and one is in the IP LAN settings, which is also where the DHCP settings are. Which is the one to use for this setup? I'm not clear whet the difference is. Maybe one is for a static IP?

only one place. under lan setup.

basic setting is for internet port and will NOT be used

[Swell]

Originally Posted by jmizoguchi

using same SSID is a good idea but again unless you are "roaming" in the house you may pursue for the best setup by placing using same model of the unit or just using different SSID to split devices at each location



only one place. under lan setup.

basic setting is for internet port and will NOT be used

I have a feeling that I've changed the IP address under Basic settings, which is clearly wrong. Could that explain why I can't log onto my router's admin setup?

I have disabled DHCP server in LAN settings, but I think the IP settings in the LAN setup are unchanged. Interesting that it works at all. Maybe it's assigning an IP address automatically, which is why it's working in the way that it is. Do I need to assign a static IP address, and if so what Gateway etc. settings should I use?

[jmizoguchi]

that is your problem

you do NOT NOT use basic setting

under LAN SETUP ONLY> specify static IP OUTSIDE of DHCP range

[Swell]

OK, thanks for all the help. That's my job for later!

[jmizoguchi]

good luck ......

[Swell]

Just thought I'd update on this one.

It turns out I had set the IP address in the right place, so my setup was in theory correct, but there were those issues. However, I updated the firmware of my WPN824v2, and the 2 issues above seem to have been improved:

1. I'm now getting a stronger signal by using a shared SSID, so it now seems to be a combined signal strength of the 2 routers.

2. I found I could log onto the router set-up wirelessly, but still can't via ethernet cable. This is very odd as I can't see why this would be the case. However, its a lot better than before.

So updating the firmware seems to have ironed out those issues.

Just worth pointing out that this is actually a very simple arrangement, provided you're ok going into a slightly more detailed set-up of your router. It seems to increase wireless coverage, and evens out the load on the system, which is useful if you use the network internally e.g. for streaming video & file transfer via PCs or NAS drive, as opposed to just accessing the internet. I'd also recommend using a combination of wired and wireless wherever possible.