If you want to preserve the subnets, you will have to use LMHOSTS files on the clients for both subnets, and use static IPs.

It is strongly recomended that you just use a single subnet for Windows-based networking, then:

. disable DHCP on the second router
. give the second router a static IP in the non-DHCP scope of the first router; likely 192.168.1.2 is non-conflicting, or choose any value from 192.168.1.2 -- 192.168.1.99, or 192.168.1.150 -- 192.168.1.254
. connect the two routers from an uplink port on one to a regular, not WAN, port.

Done.

Thanks for the suggestion, bcastner (from reading through some of the threads I thought you might be the one to respond!)

I didn't describe the scenario sufficiently: The two routers are in different buildings, and I would like to use the secondary router as a kind of wireless network client to the primary router (which acts as an access point for the secondary router); I hope that makes sense. Is this possible with the hardware I mentioned (Linksys WRT45G routers)?

I don't actually need to have the two subnets, as you suggest. I just want the two groups of computers networked and have the group of computers on the secondary router access to the internet.

Regards,
Tom Wolfe

I would use third-party firmware for the WRT54G from Sveasoft: (Read more here. The best firmware requires a $20 annual subscription):

http://www.sveasoft.com/modules/phpBB2/index.php?sid=499a3fc08e8b91ab74887d5dfc139901

The sveasoft WRT54G firmware would allow you two choices:

. A true client mode, where the second WRT54G could be used as a wireless bridge to the first router.  You would need a inexpensive switch at the second site (for wired clients), or an AP or third WRT54G (if wireless at site #2);

. Sveasoft allows for true WDS (Wireless Distributed Services), so that only your existing equipment would be needed.  There is a throughput hit on the second WRT54G in this role, as it is acting as both AP and repeater, but it likely is sufficient.

The other advantages of using third-party firmware:

. Output power can be increased from 18mw (the default) to 84mw;
. Antenna diversity can be modified from the defaults, which is usefull if you need to attach a larger or sector antenna to the device to get a good bridging signal between the buildings and the two devices.  With the Sveasoft firmware you can select the status (transmit, receive) of each antenna individually.  So you could have a small sector antenna at site 1, focused on a small sector antenna at site 2, and the second antenna on each site can be set to diversity mode for the local LAN.

Note:  I have no financial interest in Sveasoft, I just use the stuff.

Bill Castner

Third-party firmware?
Didn't know it was possible, very interesting.

MCSE CCNA CCDA

dearingkr,

When Linksys/Cisco released the underlying unix kernels used, the field opened up.

This has made the WRT54G/GS and now the WAP54G/GS the most adaptible routers and APs on the market.

Some notable sites for further information:

. The BroadBandReports Linksys site, a must:  http://www.broadbandreports.com/forum/equip,16

. Seattle Wireless, a must:  http://seattlewireless.net/?LinksysWrt54g#head-91dd746949e966913289a582d93a153b26b9a987

. The Sveasoft site mentioned above

. Wi-fi Box:  http://wrt54g.sonycrx2xx.org/

For the WAP54G there are some new firmware alternatives, see the BroadBandReports site for further links.  Sveasoft has a WAP54G/GS firmware alternative as well.

Very interesting indeed. I'll let you know how things turn out.

Regards,
Tom Wolfe

I should note a pre-answer to the most likely question:  "I cannot use hacked firmware in a commercial/business site."

Well, you pre-anticipated the problem.  Linksys/Cisco itself is using as some core elements of the firmware from Open Source projects and modules.  Both Sveasoft and Wi-Fi Box have sites on Open Forge.  The source code, except for the subscriber only versions, of Sveasoft is available from Open Forge, as is all of Wi-Fix Box.

The Open Source stuff was sufficient for the original Linksys/Cisco developers.  It is in the main, with testing, sufficient for me to use in my commercial sites.

To me it has made the WRT54xx/G/GS series the most adaptable wireless router on the market today.  I buy them in quantity for around US $70.  I now buy the /GS series for around US $100, and so can you.

You can always revert the firmware backwards if it does not work as you planned.  But what the Open Source, and Sveasoft for a modest fee, have done with the Broadcom family of chips is incredible.

And by this time next year there will be "two-radio" chip implementations for the same price that are even more incredible for WDS, Repeater and other uses of new devices.

WDS has always been in the standards for 802.11x, and were are at an evolutionary/revolutionary phase in which it not only can work, but with a two-radio chipset work well.  Five years from now a wired connection will be a relic, I believe, but a heckuva lot has to be done during those years.  I can assure you that a ton of work is being done encryption, authentication, and AP density now, that in the 2006 timeframe will make this is very safe prediction.

My opinion,
Bill Castner

Top-notch information from bcastner, as always.
Thanks

MCSE CCNA CCDA

To wet the interest of others willing to explore what is now possible with the WRT54xx series, note the following are usually regular features of alternative firmware versions:

. True antenna assignments
. Output transmit power changes from the default of 18mw to variable settings up to 84mw (and yes, it is legal);
. Static DHCP - you continue to use DHCP, but assign by MAC address for certain clients that they obtain the same address always.  Great for port forwarding requirements
. Local DNS server.  Most of the firmware changes allow you to implement a local DNS server.  Great for workgroups where Netbios has name resolution issues.
. VPN - Use the WRT54G as a VPN endpoint.  Also, a ton of fixes to PPtP and IPSEC issues with existing firmware.
. Port Forwarding and UPnP: you have with third-party firmware a much larger range of forwarding options, including "fixed" UPnP and H.232, and larger tables. If you are familiar with Linux, the whole IPTable function is exposed.
. Telnet to the router
. A Busybox Linux shell

Play, learn, enjoy.  In certain firmwares you can use some/all of these features for routers based on the Broadcom chipset; Buffalo is supported by some, and likely others.

That's it, now you've done it.

Now I have to go and buy one tomorrow so I can play.

Actually, I have a couple of wireless site surveys to do in the next 2 weeks. My normal business-class solution is Cisco, 3Com, or Nortel products dependig on customer requirements. This may give me another option.

MCSE CCNA CCDA

Dearinkgkr,

And I did not mention again true WDS.

Play, test, read.

For the residential user, the Wi-Fi Box offerings are very good.  At commercial sites I use Seavsoft.

At both sites they have done the job.

Play, test, read my links above.

Best to you sir,
Bill Castner

One feature I forgot to include is the Sveasoft implementation of bandwith shaping.

If you intend to use VoIP, or have a rotten 13-year old who loves P2P applications such as Kazaa or eDonkey, then being able to shape the bandwidth for these applications is a blessing.

OK, I know it's been a few weeks, but here is my experience with the Sveasoft stuff.

1. Everything Bill says about Sveasoft's firmware seems to be true. After a couple of days of fiddling and orienting my brain to a new type of networking I have true WDS up and going with two WRT54Gs. When all is said and done, it's a very simple process, but my steep learning curve stood in the way of what would have otherwise been a 2-minute change in settings.

2. Unfortunately Sveasoft's documentation is currently a little dated and general and assumes a pre-existing basic understanding of WDS (do a Google search and that should fill in the gaps...). From the Sveasoft site mentioned by Bill above, do a Forum search, simply for the keyword "WDS" and you should find some good stuff.

3. You really should purchase the USD$20 membership in order to download the latest and greatest pre-release and get support. The nomenclature of the releases is a little strange, but you're looking for the most recent one, currently "pre-3.0" or ".10" or something like that--available under the Private download link if you are a member. Caveat non-emptor if you choose not to buy in. The older releases require you to do some command-line stuff every time you power-cycle the units.

4. My version of how to set up WDS with the Linksys WRT54G version 2 with Sveasoft's latest beta/pre-release firmware upgrade (with main as the router connected to the internet, and repeater as a repeater) is as follows:

a) If your computer is prone to connecting automatically to wireless networks, disable this feature on the computer you'll be working on for now so that you don't confuse yourself...

b) Configure your computer so that it has two static IP Addresses on your NIC/Ethernet card. I used the following: 192.168.1.5/255.255.255.0 and 192.168.2.5/255.255.255.0 -- I do this so that it's easy to work on both routers at the same time once you've changed repeater's IP address (if necessary).

c) Put both routers on your desk and power them up. Run a cable from one of the Ethernet ports (not the Internet port) on main to your computer's Ehternet card. If they have not been reset, then do so by holding the reset button in for an incredibly long time (until all the LEDs flash simultaneously a couple of times).

d) Go to a web browser and log onto the main WRT54G by entering 1923.168.1.1 in the address bar and using the password admin (any username seems to work...)

e) Make sure of the following:
- Leave DHCP on,
- rename this router as main,
- leave the default IP as 192.168.1.1/255.255.255.0
- leave the gateway as 0.0.0.0
- Go to Security and disable Firewall, uncheck "Block Anonymous Requests"
- go to the [color blue]Status->Wireless[color blue] dialogue and take note of the MAC Address (i.e. write in on a slip of paper or cut and paste it into a handy file). This is known as the "Wireless" MAC address of the WRT54G and is different from the MAC address that is found on the box itself!! Take heed!!

f) Now unplug the cable from the main router and plug it into an Ethernet port on the repeater router.

g) Again, log on to repeater as d) above.

g) Make sure of the following:
- Change repeater's IP Address to a different subnet, e.g. use 192.168.2.1/255.255.255.0
- leave the gateway as 0.0.0.0
- rename this router as "repeater"
- turn DHCP OFF...
- Go to Security and disable Firewall, uncheck "Block Anonymous Requests"
-  go to the Status->Wireless dialogue and take note of the MAC Address as in e) above

h) Now for the fun stuff. Go to the Wireless->WDS dialogue. On the first pull-down box that says "Disable" change that to LAN. Now enter the Wireless MAC Address you got from the main router here (the first one you jotted down on that slip of paper). Don't get it wrong. Remember to hit "Save Settings"

(for that matter, always remember to hit "Save Settings" throughout this process or else... your settings won't be saved!)

i) Now, unplug repeater, plug in main and log on (192.168.1.1, from your browser). Go to the Wireless->WDS dialogue and... Select LAN from the first pull-down and enter in the Wireless MAC Address you got from the repeater router as you did in h). Hit "Save ..."

This should do it. You can now use repeater as a repeater and main as the main router/gateway plugged into the Internet or WAN.

Things you can change:
- You can switch to B-only
- You can switch to G-only
- You can enable WEP
- You can disable SSID broadcasting

Things you might be able to change:
- You might be able to enable the firewall security. Try it and see--it works for me either way, but some posts hinted at troubles. You might want to try it disabled first and then enable it to see if it works later.

Things you definitely cannot change:
- You cannot use Afterburner

Things you really should change:
- You should remember to change your password

Things you may have to change:
- I connect to the Internet here through a gateway. This might make a

Things you should keep in mind:
- I am definitely not an expert in this. Join the Sveasoft Forum and post your questions there if you have any major issue.
- The MAC Address you use in the WDS dialogue MUST be the "MAC Address: XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX" that you see on the first line of the Status->Wireless dialogue!!!

Thanks again Bill for turning me on to Sveasoft.

If there are any errors or additions to what I've written above then please let me know!

Regards,
Tom Wolfe
Canmore, AB

PS: For those of you wondering how to flash the firmware... this is a simple process: a) Download and save the blah.pre-x.blah.bin file from Sveasoft's site. b) Then log on to the router, c) go to Administration->Firmware Upgrade, d) browse for the firmware upgrade file you just downloaded, e) then click "Upgrade". You should do this with a hard connection to your router, not wirelessly, as apparently you can break your box. That said, I've done it without a hitch wirelessly, and I've had my wired connection break--neither caused me any grief.

Oh, and a final note. Yes, Sveasoft's firmware does allow a power increase, apparently, but the idea of 13 mW to 84 mW might conjure up visions of sharing your internet connection with your buddy across town... in fact I would say that the practical increase in terms of distance is perhaps 50% from my experience. Still better than nothing.

Regarding resources, relatively speaking BroadBandReports Linksys and Seattle Wireless pale in comparison with Sveasoft.

Regards,
Tom Wolfe

sawbuck,

A niceley done guide.

Best,
Bill Castner

Sawback,

I've read your excellent step-by-step instructions on configuring two Linksys routers as repeaters, and I have a question that I was wondering if you, or someone else, could possibly answer here.

I have two Linksys wrt54g routers; one that’s in use within my home, and the other one is just sitting on a shelf (it was a freebie from a friend). Originally, I wanted to see if I utilize the second wireless router as a bridge, but I could never figure out how this could be done, and some of the early information that I saw on the web indicated that this couldn’t be done.

Recently, I’ve learned that my second Linksys wireless router can be turned into a bridge if both routers have been upgraded with the firmware from Sveasoft.

I tried to read and understand the generalized instructions on the Sveasoft site, but I can’t recall anything dealing with my issue. I was wondering if those same step-by-step repeater instructions can be used to make the second wireless router into a bridge, and make it communicate with the primary wireless router, or are there some alterations to those repeater instructions that need to be made for this to happen? Thanks.

Forum member sawbuck has contributed on the Sveasoft site a very well done WDS FAQ, essentially a rewrite of what he posted above.

jwbarrington, a bridge vs. repeater are exclusive modes for the router.

Perhaps you can provide more details to let us help you with one mode or the other?

Or see what member sawbuck has written, and other helpers:

http://docs.sveasoft.com/
http://www.sveasoft.com/modules/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=11

My primary wrt54g has a desktop connected directly to it, and it has two other computers connected wirelessly. The other wrt54g is just sitting on a shelf, and not in use at the moment.

I have a ReplayTV unit that has an Ethernet port that allows the unit to upload or download information, but it’s in an area of the house where it would be difficult to run a cat5 cable. I was seriously thinking about buying a wireless bridge for it until I learned that the wrt54g can be turned into a bridge through a firmware upgrade from Sveasoft.

Although I feel that I’m pretty decent around computers, I’m weak in the field of networks. Playing with my home system has helped me considerably, but I’m still very far away from knowing all the lingo.

Hi jwbarrington:

It sounds like you should be able to use your second router as basically a client. To do this:

1. Plug your computer into the 2nd linksys router's ethernet port.

2. Log on to the linksys' GUI

3. While you're at the Setup tab, either disable the DHCP server (I'm not sure this will work, Bill can clarify) or set the DHCP range outside of the range provided by the main Access Point (your primary linksys). For example, Starting IP Address: 192.168.1.200 Maximum Number of Leases: 5.

4. Click on the Wireless tab.

5. Under the Basic Settings tab, change Wireless Mode from AP (Access Point) to Client.

6. Now change the linksys Client's IP Address to something different on the same subnet, e.g. 192.168.1.2

7. Now you can try hooking up your ReplayTV unit to the Client linksys. If your ReplayTV picks up its IP address dynamically/from DHCP then it should get a 192.168.1.xxx number from one of the routers (default is anything in the range of 192.168.1.100-149; the example I gave for the secondary router would give IP range 192.168.1.200-204), otherwise you'd have to give it one in this subnet, e.g. 192.168.1.5.

That should work, assuming that you are in the same house. Correct me if I'm wrong, Bill.

If you're finding that the signal strength is not strong enough then you can go the Sveasoft route for a stronger signal on both WRT54g's... For $20 you get good firmware and excellent/almost instant support for any of your questions.

Regards,
Tom Wolfe

Oh, and if your ReplayTV has a static IP address assigned to it then you either have to change your entire network over to that subnet or do some fancy networking stuff. Personally, with only a couple of computers, I'd go with changing the subnet.

E.g. if your ReplayTV has a static IP of 192.168.5.100 then you should change your entire network's subnet to 192.168.5.xxx

Good luck,
Tom Wolfe

I strongly believe that users help other users.  I have starred Forum Member sawback's contributions above.

Just great stuff, and appreciated.

Best wishes,
Bill Castner

My question is...

Can both solutions listed above be implemented on the same "repeater" router?  In other words, can you configure the repeater router to act as a range extender for an existing wireless network as well as a wireless bridge for an ethernet device?  

My situation is that I want to hook my xbox up to the repeater via cat5 (on the 2nd floor of the house) and have it communicate with another box on the lan through the main router via the wireless link (both on the first floor).  Other wireless computers on the lan on the second floor cannot communicate with the main router on the first floor due to signal strength issues.  I have already tried pumping the transmit power up some, which doesn't seem to help.  I would like the wireless computers on the second floor to use the repeater as a range extender for the router on the first floor, while using the repeater as a wireless ethernet bridge for the xbox at the same time.

Is this possible?  If so, are there any steps you could provide to make this work for me?

Sawback,

Many thanks for this great post! I found it via Google last night and it was instrumental in helping me get my system up and running!

In case anyone has a setup like mine, I’ll document the slight differences here.

First, my situation: I recently moved my family to a new home and planned on setting up the kids PC’s on the 2nd floor with my wired Barricade SMC7004BR router and Adelphia Scientific-Atlanta Cable modem. But my office PC and Xbox were to go in the finished basement. To avoid running CAT5, I stopped by Best-Buy where I found the WRT54G on sale. I picked up two figuring I could put one in the basement, one on the second floor, and they would be a “wireless” bridge...here's what I planned:
 
2nd floor
WRT54G lan port 1 --> lan side “wired” SMC Broadband Router (DCHP on), wan side -> Cable modem
WRT54G lan port 2 --> PC 1
WRT54G lan port 3 --> PC 2
WRT54G lan port 4 --> for future expansion

Basement
WRT54G lan port 1 --> PC 3
WRT54G lan port 2 --> PC 4 - Laptop without Wireless card
WRT54G lan port 3 --> XBOX
WRT54G lan port 4 --> for future expansion

After stuggling, and searching the web it looked like I would need 3rd party firmware, and might have problems with two+ devices on the basement WRT54G.

But after finding Sawback’s post, I decided to give those settings a shot:

Preliminary Setup Notes:

Before finding Sawback’s post, I had previously made the following changes in the WRT54G’s

-       Updated firmware on both routers to WRT54GV2_3.01.3_US_code firmware
-    Enabled WEP security on both
-    Gave both routers same key
-    Gave both routers same ssid
-    Set Main (2nd floor) router IP to 192.168.100.100 / 255.255.255.0
-    Set Repeater (basement router) 192.168.100.101 / 255.255.255.0
-    Turned DCHP off on both since my SMC router was the DHCP server at 192.168.100.1, serving addresses .2 to .20 (not conflicting with 100 and 101)
-    Under Setup - Advanced Routing - changed OPERATING MODE to ROUTER, and RIP to LAN & WIRELESS on both units

Changes to Sawback’s steps

a)    No change – didn’t yet have any other wireless devices besides 2 WRT54G’s
b)    I left Control panel open and manually switched back and forth as needed
c)    Did same but did not reset
d)    Same but …100.100 (see notes above)
e)    Same except leaving DHCP off, and …100.100 IP address (see notes above)
f)    Same
g)    IMPORTANT: Changed basement "Repeater" router to 192.168.200.100 – a different subnet as per Sawback’s notes!
h)    Did not need to do – not a selection in factory firmware
i)    Did not need to do – not a selection in factory firmware

I then took both routers to their new spots on the second floor and basement, powered them up and presto! The 2 test PC’s downstairs plugged into the WRT54G router with the 192.168.200.100 /255.255.255.0 address STILL received 192.168.100.x addresses from the SMC router on the second floor, and were able to connect to the Internet!

Strange as it seems, it worked. I think the key was the Advanced Routing settings, and Sawback’s suggestion to make the second router's IP address a different Subnet.

Hope someone finds this helpful – now going to go test Halo 2 online and will post if any problems arise.

Shawn Michael Tierney
There is Zero A.I.

I looked over the postings on this forum, and it seems people have similar problems as me. Here's my setup

1ST FLOOR
DSL MODEM > WAN PORT ON WRT54G

2ND FLOOR
DI-524 LAN PORT 1 > xbox

The WRT54G with the SVEASOFT firmware detects the DI-524 in the survey. But I cannot get the DI-524 to see the WRT54G. Is it possible for this setup to work?

PS - In my setup the XBOX works great online with Halo 2 - until I boot the PC - eventually one gets knocked off so I now only use one at a time.

Shawn Michael Tierney
www.shawnmichael.com

I have the same setup as sawback and bcastner have described above (way above).  However, I have intermittent connection problems from my repeater router to the main router.  Is there a 'time out' limit on the wrt54g?

Also, I can ping each router pretty much all of the time, but I can't get out the the net from the repeater through the main router.

I decided to go out and buy another WRT54G the other day. The wireless setup is working for LAN, but the computers from the repeater cant access the internet and the ones from main can. I updated to the newest linksys firmware after i found myself not getting far with the SVEASOFT firmware. Any suggestions?

Only thing I can think of is if you didn't change "Repeater" router to a different subnet (as per Sawback’s notes - in my case 192.168.200.100). Also, I still have my wired router serving ips. Also, if I have two wired pc's on repeater at same time they keep knocking each other off every five minutes - I'm at the point of getting a USB Wireless card for the PC. Good luck

Shawn Michael Tierney
www.shawnmichael.com

Bill Castner,

I'm trying to bridge my parents' wireless network with their neighbors' wireless network using a directional parabolic antenna on each of their roofs. I plan on using WDS with two WRT54G's and the latest Sveasoft firmware. I read your idea of using antenna diversity to assign one antenna to be long-range (i.e. parabolic on the roof) and the other to tx/rx for each local network. In the Alchemy options I see TX antenna is left/right/auto and the same for the RX. Can you elaborate on how you would set this up?

Thanks!

Try it first as Auto on both sites.  The WRT54G will then discriminate each connection based on the highest signal/lowest noise connection it receives in each case from measurements taken at both antennas.

Thanks for the quick response. I just want to make sure this will work before I invest $150+ on equipment :) What I'm worried about is the idea that if the "slave" WRT54G decides the parabolic is the best way to connect to the "master" WRT54G then it will lock out the wireless users on the slave side, or vice versa. Check out
http://www.tomsnetworking.com/FAQ-50-Antennas-0.php#478
... both groups of users (my parents and their neighbors) will both be using the internet at the same time. What do you think?

The choice of antenna is made for each connection, and is not a global selection.

Hello I would like to use the wrt54gs as and end point for a point to point vpn between two wrt54gs routers.  Does anyone know which third party firmware supports the p2p vpn, not ipsec pass through but a router to router vpn?

I know Sveasoft alchemy offers a true PPTP VPN server:  http://www.sveasoft.com/content/view/3/1/

Well it's been a few days since anyone posted, so I'll jump in with a question and hope no one minds.  I reviewed a few sites and other threads in this forum, but this thread seems to be the most cogent.  I'd like some opinions on whether the desired plan will work or other recommendations.  Specifically, my question concerns VoIP over wireless residential hardware such as Linksys equipment using the WRT54GP2A.

My current set up is (using the documenting scheme from above):

Main floor:

Belkin WAN port <-- Comcast Cable Modem
Belkin (DHCP on) lan port 1 --> PC 1 (DHCP client)
Belkin (DHCP on) lan port 2 --> future
Belkin (DHCP on) lan port 3 --> future
Belkin (DHCP on) lan port 4 --> future
Belkin Wireless (DHCP, WEP, MAC filtering) --> .11b laptop in attic

Attic:

I'd like to add an attic router/bridge (associating the above laptop with the attic Linksys device and NOT the Belkin router):

WRT54GP2A lan port 1 --> PC 2
WRT54GP2A lan port 2 --> PC 3
WRT54GP2A Phone Port 1 --> VoIP
WRT54GP2A Phone Port 2 --> future
WRT54GP2A Wireless (?) --> .11b laptop

The attic equipment (PC2 and 3, VoIP phone) needs internet access and I'd like "decent" quality on the VoIP phone.  Very few if any of the attic devices will be used concurrently.  Current speeds are about 1.2Mbps download/750Kbps upload as measured on the wireless laptop about 25 feet away (floor/ceiling and one wall in between).  Suffice to say this would be by far the easiest arrangement; however, if ABSOLUTELY necessary, I can replace the Belkin router with the Linksys VoIP router and move the phone next to it.  Most PC's run Win2K, the laptop runs WinXP Pro, a Linux (Debian) PC will join the circus at some point.

Ideas (please)?

You will find the VoIP fussy about its requirements.  I believe it demands to be in the role of primary router.

Well, maybe I answered my own question after a bit more reading.  I was under the impression, given the similarity in product names, that the WRT54G was similar enough to the WRT54GP2 to use modified firmware (like Sveasoft's) in support of bridge mode.  However, on another site, a user mentions the two devices, despite an outwardly similar physical appearance, have absolutely nothing in common internally.  I think I'll go the route of a WRT54G with a PAP2 (I'm planning on trying Vonage).  If anyone has other knowledge on the topic, I'd appreciate hearing it.

bcastner:  Thanks for responding.  On the Vonage site they list the VoIP router preferentially, as you do, as being "first", but they also show it connected to a "secondary" router in an "alternate" installation plan.  I presumed this was so the Vonage box could do its own QoS prioritizing.  Since the Sveasoft firmware with the WRT54G now (?) has QoS, I thought it might work in the configuration I was planning (if it doesn't, I'm not out megabucks).  The primary router in this case (the Belkin router) has very little to do being that PC 1 is seldom used and I was planning on having the wireless laptop associate with the secondary router (under QoS control).

This is what I'm trying to set up, now realizing I'll probably need to change the WRT54GP2 into a WRT54G + PAP2.  Pictures are worth a thousand words, but I didn't see anyway to edit my prior posts.

Okay, things are working... mostly.  To simplify things I got a WRT54G (the regular router, not the Vonage-provisioned WRT54GP2) because the latter will simply not accept the Sveasoft firmware (due to different hardware internally).  The WRT54G is running Sveasoft firmware, per recommendations here, and set into Client Mode with the latest Alchemy revision 6.0rc6a (which now supports multiple devices on the client router).  I plugged a Linksys PAP2 into one of the client ports, a laptop and another PC into two other ports and all are able to use the client router to talk with the Belkin router (and internet) wirelessly.  The VoIP/Vonage thing was a real easy task and took about 10 minutes to setup.   

So, in summary, the updated Sveasoft firmware for the WRT54G (v2.2) works great and now supports multiple LAN ports on a client router (I'm sure magic is involved).  VoIP works on the client router while sharing a connection with other PC's.  The "limited" bandwidth of 802.11b is sufficient for this (so far, but it hasn't been put through the ringer yet--voice latency is an estimated 200-500 milliseconds on a "quiet" network as tested by talking on the VoIP-connected cordless phone in one hand and listening to a cell phone simultaneously).  No buzz or hiss was heard (I mention that since many others have mentioned an annoying background noise on the VoIP end).

The following diagram illustrates:

Thank you for keeping us all informed.

hello---this is one of the better chains i've found...

I'm trying to do something a bit different and hope someone here can help me out....I've purchased 2 WRT54g's....I've put the Alchemy software on box 1 and selected the client mode so I can use it to connect to a variety of other networks (I'm on a boat and change harbours so need to access different WIFI sites)....that appears to work just fine as I can use a PC connected to one of the lan ports just fine.....I just need to select the appropriate ssid and enter it in the wireless config spot for box 1.....

My problem is when I try to plug box 2 into box 1 so that it can provide me with wireless router capability....I use a standard ethernet cable plugged into the wan port of box 2 and one of the lan ports of box one.....for some reason this does not appear to work (even though I've been told it should).....I've ensured box 2 is on a different channel than any other WIFI sites in the area and I've given it a different SSID.....still no luck.....do I need to change the IP ranges or something else??? Any help much appreciated!!!

hi, its one of the most usefull threads I found in google... I have to notice I am not IT but might find IT help later on - although there is no much experience around with wi-fi
here's my 'problem':
it's 3 of us living in nearby residential buildings (triangle 50 meters distance only one tree in between - otherwise visible). I plan to purchase a WRT54G so i can connect with ADSL and another neighbour (through the switch) - Thinking how to connect other two friends - one of them will get WRT54G for his home PCs (2) and for the third one we plan to get WAP54G (he has only one PC). The question is: will we be able to connect and share files and ADSL(considering sveasoft firmware if necessary)?

Hi....I have another question for everyone.  There are a lot of smart people here, so hopefully I can get an answer.  Sorry if my request seems unrealistic..... Here's the situation.  Both my neighbor and I have wireless routers connected to a cable modem and DHCP for LAN computers.  Is there any way to allow our individual LANs to see each other.  Due to the fact that there are two separate main routers, and neither one can be a slave to the other (due to our separate ISP connections), I don't know if it is even possible.  Thanks for any help and/or insight!!