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WirelessGuy0
Premium Member
join:2004-04-24

2 edits

WirelessGuy0

Premium Member

Enabling WDS Mode on the Motorola WR850G

Enabling WDS Mode on the Motorola WR850G Router (5.13 Firmware):

On Networking/DHCP Server Page, disable the DHCP Server on the Router being used as a repeater. Set the second unit to a LAN Private IP Address of 192.168.10.2, subnet mask to 255.255.255.0.

On WIRELESS BASIC Page:

Set both SSID's to the same thing (Capitalization counts)
Set both to the same channel.
Set both Operations Modes to the same thing (Compatibility 802.11b/g)

On WIRELESS SECURITY Page:

Enable SSID Broadcast
Set ESS Authentication to "Open System"
Set Encryption Status to "None"
Disable "Wireless MAC Address Control"

On WIRELESS ADVANCED Page:

Make sure Short Preamble and Frame Bursting are disabled.
Enable WDS Mode (on 4.03 firmware do not check this box as WDS is already enabled)
Enable WDS Restrict Mode
Enter the other routers WIRELESS MAC address in the others WDS Restrict MAC Address Area (Both routers have to have the others Wireless MAC entered here)

Once you have this working you can then turn on security. ONLY WEP is currently supported in WDS Mode (WPA will be supported in the new firmware). When you enable security it must be identical on both units (ESS Authentication and Encryption Status need to be identical, as well as the WEP Key). If you decide to enable "Wireless MAC Access Control List" on the Wireless/Security page, you must enter the Wireless MAC of each router in here as well as the Wireless MAC of any clients (in both routers).

Hope this helps!
Samora
join:2003-01-17
Schenectady, NY

Samora

Member

Thanks. I am pretty sure I have already tried this. Perhaps I missed something. I will try it when I get some time.

adam9280
join:2005-01-02
Rochester, MI

adam9280

Member

I just want to thank you for posting this. I bought two (2) of these routers for just that purpose. I tried (for a couple hours) to get it to work. I couldn't understand why it wouldnt't work until I saw your post and noticed the version number. One of the routers had the 4.03 version. Stupid Motorola doesn't bother telling anyone. Oh well. Thanks again.

Adam
WirelessGuy0
Premium Member
join:2004-04-24

WirelessGuy0

Premium Member

Glad I could help!

adam9280
join:2005-01-02
Rochester, MI

adam9280

Member

Click for full size
I do have one more question. In theory, the WDS is supposed to work without having to change any settings, but is there a way to tell that my laptop is receiving the signal from the second router (repeater)? How can I tell which router is giving me the signal? Thanks

By the way... I have netstumbler and have attached a screenshot of it. Notice the * and + next to the channel number.

Adam
bgeoghegan
Premium Member
join:2004-07-01
Windsor, CT

bgeoghegan to WirelessGuy0

Premium Member

to WirelessGuy0
Thanks, it worked fine with the WEP only note and starting open then applying security. It'll be good to switch to WPA when v6.x firmware arrives.
WirelessGuy0
Premium Member
join:2004-04-24

WirelessGuy0 to adam9280

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to adam9280
Actually in the Motorola Utility under the Site Survey you should see both access points, you will see the signal strength from both as well, you should be able to determine from your Connection Status which access point you are associated with.
ebeighe8
join:2005-03-09
Phoenix, AZ

ebeighe8

Member

I'm not sure why, but I'm fascinated by WDS. Poking around the internet, I found strangely little info about it, but I did find this document that explains things in quite a bit of detail:
»www.orinocowireless.com/ ··· -046.pdf
quote:
Actually in the Motorola Utility under the Site Survey you should see both access points
I would think if you set the ssid the same, you will only see one (the stronger one, i guess?). BUT you do not have to use the same ssid so you can set two differnt ssid's and that way the client can tell, or indeed be forced to connect to a particular one or the other.

I have a WA840G and WR850G set up with WDS and initially had the ssid set the same -- but I just changed one of them, rebooted everything, and the WDS appears to operate just fine, i can connect to one or the other selectively, and see both in the site survey.

Keep in mind you absolutely have to have the same security settings in both.
WirelessGuy0
Premium Member
join:2004-04-24

WirelessGuy0

Premium Member

WDS is very cool.. The ONLY downside to it that I have found is the hit to the bandwidth, and this would really only apply to LAN transfers as even with the bandwidth hit WAN transfers would still be well above most people's Broadband connection speed...

I have a WR850GP wired to a WA840G... I have it wired beause 1) it was in a location easy to wire 2) I wanted to use WPA-PKS/AES security... (6.xx does solve the WEP Only issue in WDS)

I also have a second WR850GP that I am going to set up in WDS Mode and put it near a window and see if I can get a signal at a park that is LoS about 1/5 mile from me and I can surf while my kids play at the park this summer...

I like playing around with this stuff, it is certainly a lot of fun!
ebeighe8
join:2005-03-09
Phoenix, AZ

ebeighe8

Member

"see if I can get a signal at a park that is LoS about 1/5 mile from me"

I'm thinking there is no way that could work with the standard antenna. ? Keep up posted!
my WR850G has a fixed antenna, but i think i heard that some have the connector... my particular WA840G has a removable antenna.
WirelessGuy0
Premium Member
join:2004-04-24

WirelessGuy0

Premium Member

said by ebeighe8:

"see if I can get a signal at a park that is LoS about 1/5 mile from me"

I'm thinking there is no way that could work with the standard antenna. ? Keep up posted!
my WR850G has a fixed antenna, but i think i heard that some have the connector... my particular WA840G has a removable antenna.
I will probably make one of those homemade reflectors for the antenna and see what happens...

All of my WR850G/GP's have removable antennas. From what I understand the v3 WR850G's (the black ones) don't have a removable antenna, but I haven't personally worked with one yet... Here is a link with a little info on the internal hardware... »openwrt.org/OpenWrtDocs/ ··· dware%29

It looks like the v2 & v3's have a 200Mhz processor where as the original v1 had only a 125Mhz processor...

zvolts
Premium Member
join:2005-02-04
Mikado, MI

zvolts

Premium Member

said by WireLessGuy:
From what I understand the v3 WR850G's (the black ones) don't have a removable antenna
I have the v3 and the antenna is not removable.
WirelessGuy0
Premium Member
join:2004-04-24

WirelessGuy0

Premium Member

said by zvolts:

said by WireLessGuy:
From what I understand the v3 WR850G's (the black ones) don't have a removable antenna
I have the v3 and the antenna is not removable.
Well if you are handy, you could always open the case and install an external antenna adapter off of the current antenna connections on the mainboard... That really wouldn't be very hard...

zvolts
Premium Member
join:2005-02-04
Mikado, MI

zvolts

Premium Member

Gee, I wonder if that would void my warranty? ;) Kidding of course.

Do you know of a web site with information on this specific to the MOTO routers?
WirelessGuy0
Premium Member
join:2004-04-24

WirelessGuy0

Premium Member

Nothing really, but it should be a pretty basic unit inside... When you open it, it should be very obvious where you would solder the new pigtail...
MrMotorola
join:2005-03-17
New York, NY

MrMotorola

Member

This unit would no-longer be replaceble under motorola's replacement parts warranty unfortunatly, that is, if you did follow through with this procedure. Also these units's circuits are pre-tested so, with this being stated, the units are already tested to work the most proficient. With the antenna that is provided.
gromer
join:2005-03-23
Cedar Park, TX

gromer to WirelessGuy0

Member

to WirelessGuy0
Are you sure both units need the same SSID? I have a WR850G and a Linksys WRT54G setup with WDS. The Moto unit is the repeater and it's SSID is "repeater" yet the Linksys SSID is different. Everything works fine.
WirelessGuy0
Premium Member
join:2004-04-24

WirelessGuy0

Premium Member

said by gromer:

Are you sure both units need the same SSID? I have a WR850G and a Linksys WRT54G setup with WDS. The Moto unit is the repeater and it's SSID is "repeater" yet the Linksys SSID is different. Everything works fine.
Will your client roam freely between the two? Typically the "Client" will roam based on the SSID and its place on the Preferred Network list. If you main AP is above your repeater on the list, the Client will stay associated with the Main AP as long as there is a usable signal, only after loosing that signal will it switch... If you set the SSID the same on both, it will switch to the one with the strongest signal, even if both have a usable signal...
gromer
join:2005-03-23
Cedar Park, TX

gromer

Member

Oh damn, I didn't think about that. So all I would need to do to change that is make the SSID's the same?
WirelessGuy0
Premium Member
join:2004-04-24

WirelessGuy0

Premium Member

said by gromer:

So all I would need to do to change that is make the SSID's the same?
Yup, that should be it... The should be identical (capitalization counts)
voxtreet
join:2004-09-13

voxtreet to WirelessGuy0

Member

to WirelessGuy0
Thanks WirelessGuy, this answered most of my questions. One last question, though (and maybe it doesn't matter):

What do I do with the WAN interface of the router being used as the repeater? (Not the LAN Private IP address) Should I just disable the WAN interface through "Internet->Advanced"? If not, what is the appropriate setting in "Internet->Basic->Connection Mode"? Cable Modem (DHCP)? Static Assigned? If it's Static Assigned, what do I assign it to (will it interfere if it is on the same subnet as the LAN private IP?), or does it not matter?

I'm going to try disabling the WAP interface and see what happens...

Thanks again! Waiting eagerly for the v6.x firmware! I think with the recent Open-Source firmware release, they must be getting ready...!
meowmeow
join:2003-07-26
Helena, MT

meowmeow to WirelessGuy0

Member

to WirelessGuy0
I have WDS working, with a Moto WR850G and an Apple Airport Express as the remote repeater. Problem is when connecting through the Airport Express my connection is slow. and WEP is very insecure. The Apple supports WPA WDS, why can't Moto yet?

P.S., as expensive as they are the Apple Airport units are some of the best consumer routers around. You get what you pay for.
WirelessGuy0
Premium Member
join:2004-04-24

WirelessGuy0 to voxtreet

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to voxtreet
said by voxtreet:

What do I do with the WAN interface of the router being used as the repeater?
You really don't need to do anything with it, since nothing is plugged into the WAN port of the "Repeater" it really isn't doing anything. You can leave it as is, or disable it... Your choice...
said by voxtreet:

Thanks again! Waiting eagerly for the v6.x firmware! I think with the recent Open-Source firmware release, they must be getting ready...!
This is my thought as well... I am currently running what appears to be the planned "Release" version... In the past, when I have received the "Release" version, it was usually on the web site within 2-4 weeks... I have had the "Release" version about 3 weeks now... (Just as with investing, "past performance is no guarantee of future results", "your mileage may vary")...
WirelessGuy0

WirelessGuy0 to meowmeow

Premium Member

to meowmeow
said by meowmeow:

The Apple supports WPA WDS, why can't Moto yet?
This IS fixed in 6.xx... WPA is supported in WDS Mode...
voxtreet
join:2004-09-13

1 recommendation

voxtreet

Member

OK, finally got it working with my two WR850G's! It wasn't as easy as I thought, but here are some tips I came away with:

1) Remember, if your wireless client PCs are using anything other than Motorola adapters/software, you want to set your WEP security in the routers/APs to "ASCII", and NOT "Passphrase". Silly mistake on my part, but I was pulling my hair out to figure that one out for a while. I could get the routers to talk to each other, but my laptop would never get an IP address (it will let you "connect" to the wireless network, but you won't be able to get on the Net).

2) Just between the routers, I found that I had to be careful about making changes to one router while the other was still on. What I did was I would turn the main router off (unplug it) and then make changes to the repeater router, as described by WirelessGuy in the original post. Make note of all the details like SSID, channel, modes, WEP password, MAC addresses, etc...Then restart the repeater router and let it come up. THEN unplug the repeater router. Power up the main router, and make the necessary changes to match the other one. Restart the router. Let it come up for a minute, then turn on the repeater router. This way you let the main router establish it's network first, then let the second router join the established network (at least that's my non-technical explanation of it). I found that if I would make even incremental changes to even one router (even as simple as changing the admin password) and restarting while the other was still on, I would lose the entire WDS connection, and have to restore to factory defaults and start again.

3) In order to configure the repeater router (which has it's DHCP server disabled), I wired my laptop (I disabled my wireless adapter in the laptop just to be safe) directly into it's LAN ports in the back. But since there's no DHCP server, I needed to configure my wired ethernet connection to have a static IP address within the same subnet as the repeater router, so that I could access the web admin interface. In order to test if WDS was working, I would try pinging the main router (192.168.0.1) from the laptop. Once everything was working fine, I could reset my ethernet connection on the laptop to get it's IP address from DHCP.

Thanks for your help, WirelessGuy! I'm using the repeater router as an access point for my HTPC in my living room.

WirelessGuy0
Premium Member
join:2004-04-24

WirelessGuy0

Premium Member

Glad you got it all working!

WDS is a bit easier in 6.xx, plus the WPA support is VERY nice!
craigg
join:2001-06-04
Princeville, HI

craigg

Member

I just stumbled across this thread and was wondering, when traveling, I have access to wireless unsecured networks, yet the problem is when I am indoors the connection is often weak.

Is it possible to use the Motorola WR850G as a repeater by placing it close to a window or wherever I have the strongest signal and then being able to roam more freely with the extended connection?

If this is possible, how would I configure the connection on my end without having physical access to the primary wireless broadband router?

Thanks in advance for any help
WirelessGuy0
Premium Member
join:2004-04-24

WirelessGuy0

Premium Member

said by craigg:

I just stumbled across this thread and was wondering, when traveling, I have access to wireless unsecured networks, yet the problem is when I am indoors the connection is often weak.

Is it possible to use the Motorola WR850G as a repeater by placing it close to a window or wherever I have the strongest signal and then being able to roam more freely with the extended connection?

If this is possible, how would I configure the connection on my end without having physical access to the primary wireless broadband router?

Thanks in advance for any help
This is an interesting point that I have already thought of (and tried once)... I typically travel with a WR850G router to give me wireless access in my hotel room and to add a hardware firewall to my connection...

The time I tried I wasn't able to get it to work, I didn't have a lot of time to play with it, but basically I set the unit up using the SSID from the system I was receiving and added the other routers MAC address to the restrict MAC Address area.

This should work UNLESS the main router have MAC Address control turned on for bridges, then it will block you... I'm sure it can be done, I just haven't had the time to play with it yet...

As far as using it as a (WDS Type) repeater, I doubt that would be supported by the other router, but you could probably use it as a bridge, or sort of an external wireless adapter...

Hope this helps!