wifi to LAN bridge

[Cimbian]

I have recently moved from having a separate office to having one in my rented house.

The internet is supplied by Sky through one of their modem/routers and it works...ish.

My router is downstairs in the lounge and my office is now shoe-horned into a small upstairs bedroom and I have several devices in the office that are connected to each other via an Ethernet switch (which was fine in the old office where I had direct access to the router's LAN port).

I now need to get the switch on the LAN reliably connected to the router.

So far I have a mains-routed extender and this works okay but there is a fault with them in that they often lose the LAN connection. It is a known fault that I learned of AFTER buying them.

I cannot run CAT5 from the office to the router and I cannot reposition the router. Somehow I need to bridge my office LAN, via WIFI to the Sky router.

Buying a new router and associated bits is not out of the question but I have yet to ask Sky for the settings (their router came ready configured).

Any suggestions?

Steve.

[Cimbian · Accepted solution]

To close the loop on this thread. I bought a TL-WA860RE and that seems to work just fine in this role.

I never did find a Netgear solution.

[netwrks]

Try a powerline solution (google search) to go from the router to your switch. You could hang a WAP off of the switch if required.. Also, use minimum CAT5e cables. 

[Cimbian]

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

I already have a TP Link power line system, which works, but it drops connection several times a day and it seems to be a known issue.

So a wireless AP could connect my switch to the wireless router?

[michaelkenward]

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@Cimbian wrote:

I already have a TP Link power line system, which works, but it drops connection several times a day and it seems to be a known issue.

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I would investigate that. What does "a known issue" mean?

Powerline would be a more reliable solution than wifi. Maybe you just need better plugs.

Powerline  technology has come a long way in recent years. You can now get plugs that have 1000BASE-Tx LAN. First generation was 100BASE-Tx at best.

You could even get a pair of plugs that delivers wifi to the office as qell as the LAN.

[Cimbian]

Hi,

I have a TL-WPA8630PKIT Gigabit setup and the forums report the dropouts to be very common, over several generations. Many have contacted TP-LINK but the problem persists.

My plug sockets are direct, no extensions or multiways and the TL-WPA8630PKIT is a wireless plus LAN unit, the reason I bought them. When it is working, it works very well, but the dropouts are a significant issue for me as I work from home and use a VOIP system for the phone.

Wireless is not an option for the number of non-wireless devices I have. I need something to connect to a switch, or similar.

Steve.

[michaelkenward]

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@Cimbian wrote:

I have a TL-WPA8630PKIT Gigabit setup and the forums report the dropouts to be very common, over several generations. Many have contacted TP-LINK but the problem persists.

Check the Netgear powerline forums. Dropouts are not a persistent issue here. Maybe Netgear has just got the technology right. Then again TP-LINK has a reasonable reputation.

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@Cimbian wrote:

Wireless is not an option for the number of non-wireless devices I have. I need something to connect to a switch, or similar.

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I was just suggesting that a wifi enabled powerline plug in the office would add an extra link in the chain. It should be more reliable than connecting from your office to the router.

The thought of using a wifi-to-wifi-to-LAN link fills me with dread.

[Cimbian · Accepted solution]

To close the loop on this thread. I bought a TL-WA860RE and that seems to work just fine in this role.

I never did find a Netgear solution.