The D-Link DWL-800AP+ as a wireless repeater to extend wireless range – Part 1
I’ve got a single access point for my wireless network layer at the house and unfortunately have at least one real “dead spot” in the house. As luck would have it that dead spot is at the couch… so for some time I’ve looked at ways to extend the wireless network range or other ways. One such possibility of course, is a repeater. These days, most wireless repeaters I see either only work with their brand access point. (So a linksys repeater would only work with certain models of linksys access point…) Or… the repeater would only repeat 802.11g *(the newer wireless) traffic. Given that everything I’ve got is still 802.11b I didn’t really want to do a new round of hardware for ALL the wireless devices (the access point still works….) So… looking for a repeater I went.
I couldn’t find anything currently on the market that looked like it would work with “most any” access point AND support repeating 802.11b so… I took a gamble on an older piece of hardware from D-Link. This is the D-Link DWL-800AP+ and was designed as a small access point but can also work in repeater mode.
I say it’s a gamble because from the reviews I saw, it would work as a repeater with “most any” access point, but some peoples experience seemed mixed. It was unclear if my Linksys wap11 would be in the “most any” category. The linksys is a WAP 11, v. 1.1 so, it is older, but it works and I’ve never really had trouble with it. So, in this series I’ll take a look at setting things up and how things worked.