How to set up a spare Linksys WRT54Gv2 as a wired access point network extender

[Liam O'Connor]

I realize most of you home repair and wireless router gurus probably already know all of this; but, it took me quite a while to figure out (from various sources) how to set up a spare Linksys WRT54Gv2 home broadband router as a wired access point, so, I post my generic notes here for the benefit of whomever might need these details.

How I set up a spare Linksys WRT54Gv2 as a wired access point:

Note: The Linksys WRT54Gv2 can NOT be set up as a wireless AP without flashing the software with DD-WRT or equivalent; so I opted for the wired access point which required running a cable under the house from the main router wall plate to the spare router.

HOME WIRING:

- Connect the primary home broadband router numbered port to the wall plate

- From the primary wall plate, run a cat5 cable to the secondary wall plate

- The wiring order was as follows for both ends of all cables: (1) solid brown, (2) striped brown, (3) solid green, (4) striped blue, (5) solid blue, (6) striped green, (7) solid orange, (8) striped orange

- From the basement wall plate, connect to a numbered port on the spare WRT54Gv2

ROUTER RESET:

- The spare Linksys WRT54Gv2 firmware was at Firmware Version v1.02.8

- Disconnect all connections on the spare Linksys WRT54Gv2 router

- Tape shut the Internet WAN port of the spare WRT54Gv2 router

- Connect the power supply to the spare Linksys WRT54Gv2 router

- Hold the reset button for 30 seconds (keep holding the reset button)

- Remove the power for 30 seconds (keep holding the reset button)

- Power the router back on for 30 seconds (keep holding the reset button)

- Finally, let go of the reset button when the third 30 seconds are up NOTE: This is often termed the 30:30:30 factory-reset procedure.

ROUTER SETUP:

- Turn off the wireless NIC on the laptop (usually by a hardware switch)

- Connect an Ethernet cat5 cable to the laptop eth0 port

- Connect that cat5 cable to a numbered port on the WRT54Gv2 router

- Set the laptop eth0 IP address to 192.168.1.X (anything higher than 1.1) (e.g., on Ubuntu, I used: $ sudo ifconfig eth0 92.168.1.2)

- Make a note of the MAC address of the laptop wlan0 network interface card (e.g., $ sudo ifconfig wlan0 | grep HWaddr) ==> 00:A0:00:9B:88:C1

- Log into the WRT54Gv2 using http://192.168.1.1 (blank/admin) Make a note of the MAC address of the spare WRT54Gv2 router LAN ports (the sticker on the bottom of the spare WRT54Gv2 says 00:16:B6:88:A0:8A) (the spare WRT54Gv2 Setup->MAC Address Clone reports 00:16:B6:88:A0:8B)

- Setup->Basic Setup->Internet Connection Type->Automatic Configuration - DHCP

- Setup->Basic Setup->Network Setup->Router IP->Local IP Address=192.168.1.200 (where 200 is anything unused on the primary router's network, and also outside the primary router DHCP range of 192.168.1.100 to 192.168.1.150)

- Setup->Basic Setup->Network Setup->Router IP->Subnet Mask=255.255.255.0

- Setup->Basic Setup->Network Setup->DHCP Server=(o)disable (This makes the primary router the only DHCP server, for all connections)

- Wireless->Basic Wireless Settings->(set up the same as the primary router) (i.e., SSID = whatever, Security = WPA2-PSK [AES] with the same passphrase) (If the primary router is on ch1, then put the secondary on ch6 or ch11)

- Change the spare WRT54Gv2 default administrator name & password as needed. Administration->Router Password->Password=snafu (repeat) Note: There is no way to set a WRT54Gv2 username (i.e., use a blank username)

- Disconnect the wires, and now the spare WRT54Gv2 is a wired access point

TESTING AP:

- Turn on the wireless switch for the WiFi NIC on your laptop

- Select the spare router SSID (which is the same as the primary router SSID)

- No need to enter the passphrase if this is the same SSID as the primary router

- Connect to the Internet, as desired! NOTE: The SSID & security is the same on both routers; so, the only difference is the signal srength and the channel. Your equipment should roam seamlessly.

DOUBLECHECK SETUP:

- While wirelessly connected to the spare Linksys WRT54Gv2 router ...

- Using any web browser on the laptop, log into http://192.168.1.200

- Enter the previously set blank username and "snafu" administrator password

- Check to ensure you're actually connected to the spare router SSID AP $ nm-tool Reports the primary access point SSID strength of 58 (84:1B:5E:AF:89:A4) Reports the secondary access point SSID strength of 100 (00:16:B6:88:A0:8F) Reports that I am connected to the (stronger) secondary access point SSID Note that nm-tool will place an asterisk next to the SSID you're connected to. Note the two duplicate SSIDs will have different frequencies listed. Note the two duplicate SSIDs will have different MAC addresses listed. Note the two duplicate SSIDs will have different signal strengths listed.

In summary, the procedure above will enable you to wire a spare Linksys WRT54Gv2 router, using default Linksys firmware, as a wired access point.

Well, at least it did, for me. :)

[Kaz Kylheku]

???

So, like, you're saying that Linksys two antennas on it, but don't support the feature, leaving that to the open source third parties to support?

Whatever ..

TL; DR

[Bob_Villa]

Pointless and waaay OT! I have the same router (flashed with DD-WRT) bought it for $5 at Goodwill, but I joined this forum for tips/questions:

{8¬)>

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, dd-wrt is the way to go. Just don't brick it flashing. My current Netgear R7000 is on dd-wrt until Netgear put their act together with their firmware. Join the dd-wrt forum and there are all the help you need. Having same SSID is not a good idea like two houses having same address. It'll work but can cause confusion.

[Tony Hwang]

Hi,

192.168,1,2, right?

[Liam O'Connor]

My old Linksys WRT54G v5 has only 2MB of RAM, so it can't be flashed with the "standard" DD-WRT; but it can be flashed with the "mini" DD-WRT, both of which will give it the ability to act as a wireless repeater.

But, since I didn't reflash it (I've never installed DD-WRT before), I simply set it up as a wired range extender.

I had a few problems with the kid's PS3, but, I'm working through them separately (it's complaining about DNS servers but the laptops and mobile devices have no problems).

It turns out there aren't any DNS server settings that you can set, with the default Linksys software in this configuration, so, it's getting all DNS from the primary router.

[Liam O'Connor]

I had been wondering about having the same SSID versus having two different SSIDs.

On the one hand, having the same SSID (but on different channels at leasat 5 channels apart) allows for seamless switching to the strongest signal (one would hope).

I'm not sure what the disadvantage is of having the same SSID though, at least not in my wired configuration.

NOTE: It's confusing, to me, how the same SSID operates in a wireless repeater situation; but mine is wired.

[Liam O'Connor]

My mistake. It was a typo.

The second router should be set up as 192.168.1.(anything that is not 0 or 1 or 255 or 100 to 150).

Reading a bit more, most people put the secondary router on 192.168.1.2 instead of 192.168.1.200 like I did.

Since the primary router is probably set up as a DHCP server, it reserves, by default, 100 to 150.

Both 0 and 255 are reserved, and the primary router is usually on 192.168.1.1.

[Liam O'Connor]

I found a better command for reporting, on Ubuntu, the signal strength, frequency, and channel.

$ sudo iwlist wlan0 scan

This reports the SSID, channel, frequency, signal quality, the signal strength in decibels, the MAC address, etc.

The key piece of data is the signal strength, such as

-45 dBm, which allows me to compare the two duplicate SSID signal strengths apples to apples.

In my situation, with a state-of-the art router as the primary router and the old Linksys WRT54G V5 as the secondary router, I get both (duplicate) SSIDs all over the house, but with vastly different power levels.

For example, at a point roughly midway in distance between the two routers, the iwlist command reports:

SSID=FOOBAR ch1 2.412GHz Quality= 42/70 Signal= -68dBm SSID=FOOBAR ch6 2.437GHz Quality= 59/70 Signal= -51dBm

The difference of 17dB is astoundingly huge at 50 times the energy level based on results from here:

[Liam O'Connor]

Actually, I just installed the InSSIDer app on my Android phone, and walked around the house, from one end to the other.

InSSIDer freeware (which also works on PCs, but I don't know about iOS) will show me the channel and the MAC address so I can watch the signal strength go up and down from one to the other.

It seems that the Android phone switches from one SSID to the duplicate when the difference in signals is just about 15 to 20 dB (which is huge).

It might be the absolute magnitude, and not the difference ... but the main point is that, with an Android phone, I was able to walk all about and watch the relative signal strengths see saw, and, at the point of swiching I could see that happen.

So I highly recommend InSSIDer freeware. If it works on iOS, that would be a plus.

[Liam O'Connor]

As has happened so many times in the past few weeks, what is freely available on Android & Windows, is nowhere to be seen on iOS.

Do you know of any InSSIDer replacements for iOS?

[DevilsPGD]

It's actually a bit more complicated: Do the access points form one network, or two? Do you get the same IP on each, and if so, can you ping machines on the other network?

If so, using the same SSID is appropriate, but if not, you should use a different SSID so that the device knows to obtain a DHCP lease, clear the ARP cache and otherwise reconfigure itself to the subtle differences between networks.

The practical difference is fairly insignificant, although devices do obvious jump between two access points with the same SSID far more frequently than to a new SSID.