Wireless network bridge solutions?

[Grimwell]

What I have: Linksys wireless gaming adapter connected to a Linksys switch.
What's connected to it: Xbox360, desktop PC.
Why: I picked up the gaming adapter to get my 360 on the FiOS wireless network without running 50' of cable. When I built the PC for my TV (Netflix, gaming, etc.) I broke out the switch to make things easy. The gaming adapter is configured to pick up the network, and the switch lets me put the two devices on it through the one adapter. I had the switch so it was cheaper than a new wireless card for the PC.

The Problem: My gaming adapter won't hold a signal for shit now.

The Challenge: Not to piss away another $80 - $100 on another "gaming adapter" when a real networking device will work. I'm hoping that I can find a wireless network aware bridge that will let me connect the Ethernet devices (by switch or direct) just as I have with the gaming adapter. Back when wired was king a simple switch would work - now... it seems like wireless costs more and does less and I want to be sure of my purchase before I commit to a mistake. Also, I'm being cheap. I can't believe that I really need to pay in the triple digits for this. It's not like the device is doing brain surgery...

Is my dream an impossible dream? Or does someone have better experience making wireless networks do sane things instead of spending mountains of cash on stupid items with one button configurations that are more limited than the average bear thinks.

Ideas?

[vex]

I do wireless meshing/bridging for a living and I'd probably run a cable but that said I can think of a couple of options.

You could put that wireless card in the PC now and use ICS.  I've done this with my 360 using my laptop before though I'm not sure what kind of latency that introduces since I was just trying to get some content.

You could also acquire a Linksys WRT54GL or older used compatible model and load DD-WRT on it.  With DD-WRT it can run in client mode and it would essentially do what you gaming adapter and switch are doing now.  This is probably what I would do if the cable is out of the question.

I don't know what your current router is but you could load DD-WRT on it and a new WRT54x and set up  WDS though this would probably be more complicated and provide minimum value.

What is wrong with gaming adapter?  Did it just die or did things move around between it and your AP to cause signal loss?  Can you locate your AP closer or possibly put a higher gain antenna on the gaming adapter?

[Grimwell]

The game adapter died.

I just find it silly that I can't find the equivalent of a hub for wireless networks when I could back in my wired days. All I want is to drop a station with a few Ethernet ports that is tied back to the network via wireless (wires is not an option). Also, I don't want to monkey with the device. It seems like there was some kind of regression instead of progress here ;)

[Trippy]

They do exist as dedicated devices, it's just that you don't want to pay the money for one. Another option if you don't want to hack firmware is to find a cheap wireless router that supports wireless bridge mode that's compatible with your existing wireless router.

[Salamok]

Sounds like dd-wrt on a linksys that vex is suggesting would be the most bang for the buck.

Also, maybe my terminology is outdated but I've always been under the impression that a bridge is a device for routing traffic between 2 subnets...

[ffc]

Sounds like dd-wrt on a linksys that vex is suggesting would be the most bang for the buck.

I did this exact thing for my Xbox. It was pretty easy despite having no clue what I was doing regarding dd-wrt or bridges. I think I had a Linksys WRT54G v.8 and I had to use dd-wrt lite or micro.

Now I use Tomato (on an Asus WL-520GU, Tomato was too big to install on my Linksys version) instead of dd-wrt and it feels more (novice) user friendly.

[vex]

I forgot about wireless traveler routers and I have a 3Com one I don't use.


TRENDnet TEW-654TR
D-Link DWL-G730AP
TL-WR543G

[Grimwell]

They do exist as dedicated devices, it's just that you don't want to pay the money for one. Another option if you don't want to hack firmware is to find a cheap wireless router that supports wireless bridge mode that's compatible with your existing wireless router.

Point granted. They didn't cost hundreds of dollars back in the days when you had to go wired or nothing. I don't see why they need to cost hundreds now for the joy of wireless. Everything I've found is at enterprise cost instead of end user. I agree, I'm a cheap bastard and unwilling to pay $200+ (the prices I've seen) for something that should cost < $80.

[veredus]

Are the PC and Xbox next to each other? If so here is my setup.

Media PC with wireless card and on board nic
Wireless on PC connects with modem
Xbox wired to the PC
Bridged the two connections

Works decent enough. Only issue is sometimes need to start then restart the xbox for internet to work.

Had the same issue, wireless game adapter died and was not going to buy a new one. The wireless card I picked up was just a $15.00 usb card. No lag issues when playing online either.

[Trippy]

They do exist as dedicated devices, it's just that you don't want to pay the money for one. Another option if you don't want to hack firmware is to find a cheap wireless router that supports wireless bridge mode that's compatible with your existing wireless router.

Point granted. They didn't cost hundreds of dollars back in the days when you had to go wired or nothing. I don't see why they need to cost hundreds now for the joy of wireless. Everything I've found is at enterprise cost instead of end user. I agree, I'm a cheap bastard and unwilling to pay $200+ (the prices I've seen) for something that should cost < $80.

$90

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?Item=N82E16833127256

[Grimwell]

Dude.