Help needed from Wireless Guru's...Airport 'bridge' mode.

[Undrpsi]

Currently I have a Linksys Wireless "G" with speedboost router. It's connected to our iMac and supports 5-6 laptops, an HP 1610 wireless printer, and an Xbox 360. Works great in 80% of our house.

I am getting another XBOX for my 2 younger sons for Christmas and they have spotty (1-2 bars) service in their room (far end of house from current router) so I decided to upgrade and extend my wireless network.

I purchased both an Apple Extreme (dual mode) base station and an Apple Express (with N band) access point / router. I also ponied up for the wireless N Xbox adapters.

1. I plan on putting the AEBS in place of the current Linksys router. The express will be my bridge (or extension if you will) and will be placed closer to the other end of the house. This will expand my wireless footprint and give me N band access to the XBOX's..right? (how hard is this to set up?)

2. My macbooks (black version-Core 2 Duo) and my Macbook Pro (early 2008) are all N band upgradeable for a few bucks...er...right?

3. I want a simple security setup. Not so much worried WHAT the local teens are stealing but just don't want them on taking my bandwidth. it must be simple for even my wife to negotiate (can you say Luddite?) ideas??

Anyone using a similar setup? I have heard of a few problems with the XBOX and the Airport Extreme (but there is a medium hardness fix for it).

Any input would REALLY be appreciated...sure I can figure it out but you guys on here rock for 'lessons learned' info...

Thanks!

Jay

[olnacl]

Here's some reading material to get you started with the AEBS and AE

[cbelt3]

What the 'ol salt said. I will put in my $0.02, tho. I prefer to bridge routers with Cat5e rather than WBS or equivalent.

For security, you can simply not broadcast your SSL as the simplest level. That will, however, require everyone to know your SSL.
Next level is a 'password' on the DHCP. Which gets messy with devices like Xboxen.
Next level is a wireless security protocol, which requires you to use odd passphrases like "listentoyourmother" (hey, make it memorable). the good news is you usually only need to set it up once for each device that comes into the house. The bad news is that visiting devices need to go through the setup.

I personally run an open wifi setup to avoid any hassle. The bandwidth stealers all live in my house :banghead:

[Undrpsi]

cbelt3 wrote:
I personally run an open wifi setup to avoid any hassle. The bandwidth stealers all live in my house :banghead:

Yeah, I've told my older teen boys to go buy a playboy...the porn creates lag issues when I am playing Modern Warefare 2....Me likey the AC-130 deathstreak

Ah...the kids don't know how easy they have it...just log on and instant gratification. None of that driving two cities over to purchase a Hustler....and still wind up running into someone you know while counting out the change. Those were the days... :oldfogey:

Jay

[cbelt3]

Und-

The BEST solution to that sort of situation is opendns.org

I set it up and denied everything except the stuff I wanted to look at. It was a 'Dogbert' moment.. ("It's like doing surgery without getting gooky stuff on my paws") The wails could be heard for blocks.

The second best solution would be even MORE evil. Set up a wireless access point (perhaps your old Linksys). Lock it down with strong security. Then plug (via ethernet) your Apple access point into it, and lock THAT down with opendns.org. Your Linksys becomes an unblocked zone for you and those you deem worthy. The rest of the low level scum have to go on the blocked system.

Then sit back and play Bach on your large organ and laugh. Mu ha ha ha ha !!!

[silvarios]

You actually need a Y configuration with three routers to properly isolate the two differing security levels.

Do not hide your SSID…it does nothing for security but makes other things harder.

Just use a WPA2 (AES) 64 character HEX password if your devices will support it. Otherwise WPA2 (AES) 63 ASCII password. Try grc.com/passwords for a true pseudo random password.


Nathan

[Dick Moore]

I second the idea of running CAT5e or CAT6 ethernet cable between the Apple boxes, even though I have a WDS using 3 Buffalo routers. The signal on ethernet is always 100% and is fast. Best to remove as many chole points as possible, especially given the loads you'll be seeing.