You may be able to program the television to use a fixed IP address
rather than rely on DHCP to set the values properly. Using a wireless
repeater instead of a second router may be the way to go here, and fixed
addressing may speed up the connection process. Another idea to explore
if your house wiring is up to snuff is to use a pair of adapters to
tunnel Ethernet over power. I haven't tried it myself to see how
reliable it is, but I've heard reports from tech friends of mine locally
in Phoenix that suggest it's worth a shot. The one caveat to Ethernet
over power that I've heard about is that it can be affected by voltage
changes on the line, i.e. brownouts and surges. I hope one of these
ideas will prove useful.

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [PCBUILD] Bridging Wireless Routers/Access Points
From: Tom Mayer SC <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Tue, January 26, 2010 1:43 pm
To: [log in to unmask]

I have purchased two identical white box (generic) 802.11b/g/n wireless 
routers/access points and a white box 802.11b/g/n card for a laptop. I 
have successfully installed one wireless router/access point between the

Verizon modem and two wired computer connections. And I have the laptop 
card set up to communicate with 128 bit WEP with the router. The LAN is 
being managed by Network Magic without any issues. Now comes the 
challenge and the place where the non-extensive written instructions
stop.

The second router/access point is intended to be connected to a new 
Panasonic TV with "Viera Cast" for direct connections to on-line 
services. I normally would wire the TV to the primary router, but it 
would take about 70 FT of cable as well as several holes in the ceilings

and walls and an undesirable trip through a cramped attic even though 
the TV is only about 30 FT from the primary router with no obstructions 
between them. The written directions with the TV simply says to use a 
"wireless router" to connect to the internet. The referenced schematic 
shows the TV connected to a "wireless repeater" which is communicating 
with the primary "wireless router". So far I have researched the 
Internet and tried numerous settings without success in having the two 
routers/access points communicate wirelessly with each other. I believe 
the term is "bridging". The reason I use the term router/access point 
rather than just router is that the two devices are advertised that way 
and they each have a manual switch to chose either "router" or "AP". 
Each device also has a button labeled "WPS" and a "reset" button.

With the various settings I have tried on the secondary router/AP, the 
TV error messages have varied but have primarily been associated with 
not acquiring an IP address or a DNS address. I have the TV set to 
automatically acquire both. I also have the TV set to automatically 
adjust for the LAN speed. The only other adjustable setting on the TV 
has to do with proxy settings which does not apply in this case.

As to the router/AP settings, I have set each device with its own IP 
address. I have set the ESSID, channel, and WEP to be the same for both.

I have the firewall enabled on both. Both have Dynamic IP "enabled" and 
Dynamic DNS "disabled". On the primary router/AP, the manual switch is 
set to "router". Internally I have the "mode" set to "AP" (default). The

other mode options are "AP Bridge - Point to Point", "AP Bridge - Point 
to Multi-point", and "AP Bridge - WDS". On the primary router/AP the 
DHCP Server is "enabled" and "WPS" is "enabled". I do not know what 
"WDS" is and "WPS" is "Wi-Fi Protected Services".

I have tried the setting "AP Bridge - Point to Point" on only the 
secondary router requiring the primary router/AP MAC address to be 
entered. I have also tried both devices set to "AP Bridge - WDS". Most 
times I had the DHCP "disabled" on the secondary router/AP. I just have 
not hit upon the right combination of settings and I need some guidance.

I could give up on trying to bridge the two wireless routers/access 
points, return one of the routers/access points and purchase a "wireless

bridge" or a "wireless repeater". I am just not there yet. I have found 
conflicting information on whether bridging two wireless routers/access 
points can be done, with those articles which explain how to accomplish 
it having tech authors who obviously primarily communicate with other 
techs and have lost linguistic touch with us simple lay persons.

Thanks to all who completed reading this entire post.

Tom

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