Archive for January, 2006|Monthly archive page
Setting up the Zyxel P330W router as a wireless bridge
Comments (5)I’ve been trying for some time to link wirelessly my entertainment gadgets with my wireless LAN. For years I was using an Airlink AP411W as a bridge, but unfortunately it only works with WEP encryption. Thus, my network was less secure than necessary, since WEP is easily hacked nowadays. This is especially true with the large amount of data flowing wirelessly as MP3s or video data. I tried setting up another Linksys WRT54G with Tofu 11 in WDS, but couldn’t get it to work at all. I also tried the CompUSA 802.11g router that was sold after New Years for $2.99 after rebate in WDS, but again couldn’t get it to work. When I returned it last week, I saw that my local CompUSA had one of the Zyxel P330W wireless routers that was advertised to work in both bridge and wireless ISP modes for only $20 without rebates. Being the incessant gadget addict, I had to buy one.
Tonight I finally had a chance to set it up. First a decision had to be made: bridge or wireless ISP mode. Bridge mode links together two LAN segments, while wireless ISP mode uses the wireless LAN module to connect to another access point as if it were the WAN port. Because I want bidirectional communication between the entertainment clients like the MP101 and Sling Box, I chose bridge mode. Setting up the Zyxel in bridge mode was incredibly easy, using the instructions by janderso1 in this thread on dslreports.com. Here are the steps that I took:
- After connecting my laptop to the Zyxel via ethernet, I changed the IP address to 192.168.0.254 so that it’s on the same subnet as my WRT54G.
- Turned off the Zyxel’s DHCP server in the LAN screen (The Linksys will be serving up the IP addresses to the entertainment clients.)
- Set the Zyxel’s SSID to the same as my WRT’s.
- Set the Zyxel to bridge mode in the Operation Mode menu.
- Set the Zyxel’s wireless to client mode.
- Set the encryption to WPA PSK and entered the same passkey on both the Zyxel and Linksys.
- Went to site survey on the Zyxel, clicked on the radio button for my Linksys, and clicked connect.
That was it! My laptop got an IP address after a release/renew sequence and I was surfing! After moving the Zyxel to the entertainment rack and plugging it in, it immediately connected to the wireless LAN of my Linksys, and I was streaming video from my sling to my PC, albeit using a much more secure WPA encryption compared to the WEP used on the Airlink. Plus, I can connect up to four entertainment clients to the Zyxel unlike one on the Airlink (without adding a switch). So here’s what my network looks like now:
