Wireless routers

[D. Hugh Redelmeier]

| From: Chris F.A. Johnson <chris-E7bvbYbpR6jSUeElwK9/Pw at public.gmane.org>

|    I am moving into a new apartment and the rent includes wireless
|    access through the landlord's system. I need something that allows
|    me to connect to the 'net.

How many devices (and what devices) do you want to connect to the
'net?  Is it just a desktop computer or just a notebook?

Connecting one device is an easier problem than connecting several.
Most other people's suggestions handle multiple devices.

======================================

In the case of only one device, just get it a wireless interface.  Most 
notebooks have that built-in.  For desktops, you can easily find a PCI 
card on USB dongle that is a wireless interface.

In the case of multiple devices, you need one wireless interface per 
device OR a way of sharing a single interface.

======================================

The normal way of sharing one wireless interface would be a router.  But 
this isn't the normal off-the-shelf use of a router.

Ordinary consumer wireless routers have a single internet-facing side (the 
WAN (Wide Area Network) port) and a set of client-facing ports (LAN (Local 
Area Network) ports).  The wireless port is normally just one of the LAN 
ports.

You would like the wireless port to function as thw WAN port.  This
may be supported by some wireless router's supplied firmware but I'm
unaware of it.  Surely an OpenWRT installation could be configured to
do this but it sounds as if you don't yet have the knowledge to
configure it.

WiFi interfaces can be used in "ad hoc" mode and "infrastructure
mode".  You will be using infrastructure mode: your landlord's wirless
interface will be the AP (access point) and your interface(s) will be STAs
(Stations).  Off-the-shelf wireless routers want their wireless
interfaces to be APs.

In theory, what you want is a Wireless Distribution System (WDS).  I
don't think you actuall want this because it would require changes on
the part of your landlord and WDS isn't standardised (according to
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_Distribution_System>)

This complex article covers what you might want to do.  There might be
a simpler one but I've not put the time into looking:
<http://wiki.openwrt.org/doc/howto/clientmode>
To be honest, I don't know the jargon for what you want to do, so I
don't know the best way to google.  Here's a dd-wrt page that is more
specifically about your case:
<http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Client_Mode_Wireless>
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