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a bridge too far

All I want is a highspeed wireless network in my house.
That's all.

Problems:
* Linksys 802.11b WAP slow, maybe flaky
* Linksys hardware firewall maybe flaky, now totally dead
* PowerBook G4 wireless antenna is sh*t
* PowerBook can't use USB wireless

Replaced Linksys WAP with D-Link 802.11g

Ok so no problem, to bridge the vast 2 metre distance between my laptop and my WAP, I'll just get a wireless bridge. Should be easy right? Packet in wireless interface, send to wired interface. Packet in wired interface, send to wireless.

So after massive research I got a Linksys WET54GS5. Super powerful bridging industrial signal extender.

Which won't pass DHCP.

Or to be more accurate: it wouldn't pass DHCP repeatedly until somehow it magically got wedged and worked fine. However, the death of my hardware firewall (which was providing DHCP) followed by (probably unwisely) a reset-to-defaults of the bridge means that now not only won't it pass DHCP, I can't seem to get it to pass ANY packets of any kind.

So not so much a bridge, as a wall.

So I see if there are other bridges out there now.
Sure. No problem. Oh, except bridging has been replaced with Wireless Distribution System (WDS). Oh, except, WDS is not actually a standard, so good luck trying to find two compatible devices.

Could I get say a D-Link DGL-4300 and an Airport Express in WDS bridge mode to work?
Maybe. Impossible to find definitive answer.

What about the Zyxel X-550? Oh it's great. Except you can't buy it in Canada. Oh and it's practically impossible to find a US vendor that has it in stock and ships to Canada. Oh and it's not clear what it's compatible with, either.

I hate computers.

So basically, in the 21st century, the simplest possible networking technology, a network bridge, is... impossible.

I should just string f-ing telegraph wires all over my house.

Oh, and blogger still has the f-ing http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif bug.

Labels: computer networking, computers suck, rant, wireless

posted by Richard at 08:45 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)