Connecting wired devices to existing wireless network.

[meson1]

Okay, folks. This is probably an easy one for you.

I have a D-Link DIR-655 wireless 'N' router upstairs in what passes for an office. What I want to do is wirelessly connect two pieces (and in the future a third) of the AV equipment in my lounge downstairs to my wireless network.

I'm getting a little befuddled as to the difference between an access point and a bridge. What I want is something that has a gigabit wired switch that I can hook my AV devices to, that will then use wireless 'N' to connect to my existing wireless network.

I'm looking for are specific product(s) that will do the above, please.

Thank you in advance.

 

[bill001g]

You want a device that can run in client mode. This is normally called a bridge.

Your best bet if you want multiple devices hooked to it is to buy a router that has the feature. A router will have at least 4 lan ports where a device sold as a bridge generally only has 1. Even average level routers can act as bridge but you need to check the feature list.

Be very careful if you expect to stream data from one device to another in your house over wireless. Wireless is very susceptible to random interference and you will see the issue much more in a video stream that can not tolerate much packet loss or delay.

 

[meson1]

OK. Thanks, I have a better idea of what I need to do now. Streaming is something that I'd like it to be capable of even if that isn't going to be the immediate application. The A1 solution would be a pair of Asus RT-AC66U 802.11ac's. But that's a bit expensive.

Perhaps I should be looking at using a top 'N' router in bridge mode, but I'm not sure my DIR-655 is up to the job of sustained streaming. My other option is to wait a bit for 'AC' options to become a little more commonplace and cheaper.

None-the-less, thank you for the advice.

 

[bill001g]

Assuming you can get good signal levels your router should have no issues even with a 1080p stream. It depends on the codecs used but the number commonly used for 1080p streams is 22m which is well below even the very basic rate 802.11n