Adding Linksys WAP onto existing Network.. HELP!!

[civic619]

Hello great gods of computing...

I am in need of some advice and direction. My good friend, who is also my neighbor would like to join my network at home. I currently have 3 PC's connected on a Linksys Router (ethernet). We purchased a Linksys Wireless AP Router w/4 port Switch last night as well as a wireless card for his newly built PC.

I havent tried to install the WAP onto my existing network because I am somewhat unclear as to how this should work.

Here is my assumption:

On my existing linksys router, there is a UPLINK port, Should I connect that port with a regular Cat 5 to the WAP WAN Port?

But then I cant configure the WAP since my existing router is already there.... Im not sure if you can have TWO routers on a network...

So basically my question is, how can I add the linksys WAP (that has the built in 4 port switch) to my existing router???

and how many wireless PCS can access this WAP???

Thank you all for your kind info!!!

[Midknyte]

Why did you get the combination router/WAP when you already had a router? having 2 routers in the network will mess you up. you should have gotten just a WAP and chained it off of the old router.

If you want to keep the new router/wap, then just swap it out for your old router.

what model of linksys wap do you have?

[AllGamer]

The old Router can be configure to act just as a repeater / Gateway / Switch to keep things simple

:t

[civic619]

Originally posted by Midknyte
Why did you get the combination router/WAP when you already had a router? having 2 routers in the network will mess you up. you should have gotten just a WAP and chained it off of the old router.

If you want to keep the new router/wap, then just swap it out for your old router.

what model of linksys wap do you have?

We purchased BEFW11S4

Thank you for your responses...How many PCS can connect onto one WAP?

[AllGamer]

253

it's limite by the amount of IP addreses actually

:t

[Midknyte]

The total pcs is 253, but wireless clients are limited to 32.

[cat5e]

You made very good choice. A regular Router + an Access Point (AP), is much better and more powerfull than Wireless Cable/DSL Router.

Explanation in this link: Wireless Cable/DSL Router or Access Point – What should I get? (http://www.ezlan.net/APvsRoute.html)

You can connect many computers Wireless But it gets clogged very fast. Since the actual bandwidth of Entry Level AP is 4-7 Mb/sec. (as opposed to the advertised 11Mb/sec.). So you should not worry about how many computers can be connected.

The AP should connect via a straight CAT5 to a regular port on the Router (cross over if you use the uplink).

Since you have a Router it is important to disable the DHCP on the AP. (Regular Network can not have more than one DHCP server on).

Good Luck.
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[Midknyte]

The BEFW11S4 is a combination router/switch/WAP. It's easier to just pull out the old router and stick the BEFW11S4 in its place. Since the old and new routers are both Linksys, they have the same default IP.

You can disable the dhcp on the old router and use it as just a regular switch if needed.

[civic619]

Just a question... would it be possible to disable the routing features on the BEFW11S4 and just use its WAP features?? and just use my old router in its place????

The reason why I ask is because I would like to run this WAP/ROUTER on the roof and it would make it much more simple to run one cat 5 rather than 4 wires...

[Midknyte]

I guess you could, but it would be better to just get a WAP11 at that point. the IPs would need to be changed so that both aren't 192.168.1.1. Can't you return the BEFW11S4 and exchange it for a WAP11?

[civic619]

Yea i could.. thanks for your info..

which in fact i should...

but lets just say I decided to keep it..

Woudl I just run a regular cat 5 cable to one of the ports on the WAP from my router port 4? or how would I go about and putting that WAP ROUTER on my network???

[civic619]

I assume I cant treat it as just a WAP11 since it has routing capabilties....

[Midknyte]

the WAP is supposed to act like a wireless hub. The WAP11 has a LAN port, not a WAN port.

I don't have both boxes in front of me right now, but I have a feeling that you would need to plug a cable from the a regular switch port on the BEFW11S4 and plug that into the uplink port on the other router. That would probably work. I can't really try it out right now.

I still think you should return the BEFW11S4 and get a WAP11. use the extra money towards a signal booster or something.

[kwebb]

Thank you for your responses...How many PCS can connect onto one WAP?

253. it's limite by the amount of IP addreses actually

Client associations to AP's have nothing to do with IP's. Controlled by MAC address. Varies from Vendor to Vendor. Cisco AP's for instance can have 1024 associations in theory. Obviously that is an absurd number but that is the spec. SOHO AP's tend to have more "modest" association limits. 32 as Midnyte suggested sounds about right for a budget AP. You wouldn't really want to put that many clients on one AP unless all you were doing was sharing a broadband connection for surfing.

In answer to the original problem, you would just use the uplink port of the switched LAN ports on the router/AP combo. Don't use the WAN port at all and disable the DHCP server service on the router. Wa-La. You have an AP. Might want to assign a static private IP to the AP so you can manage remotely via browser.

[cat5e]

Link:How do I use a Wireless Cable/DSL Router as a Switch with an Access Point? (http://www.ezlan.net/router_AP.html)
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