Wireless router bridging

[The Muppet Surgery Special]

By using Two wifi routers, the main router is connected to the internet provider. The other router separates off a private network (mine) so local activities are not flooding the main router (I use multiple machines). So, I have currently a mobile router (ASUS handy thing) set to account sharing (effectively a wireless bridge mode).

I am planning to replace this with a dedicated full size router as a bridge (no need to modify the main router). Each will have different SSID's and passwords. So only traffic destined for the internet goes via the main router.

What kind of traffic delay would this cause? Slight but would it be major? Also, the 802.11ac routers with bridge mode (they call it a media bridge but it is the same thing), I simply just configure it to connect to the main wifi router's SSID and password, then it gets allocated it's IP via DHCP (yes I know but I don't access the main routers configuration), and then I administer the second router (mine) as I see fit.

So questions are is that fine with most major routers ( I am looking at 802.11ac with media bridge (bridge mode)), and what latency would it add? And also which router brand/model would you recommend to do this? Also, say the main router is N and mine is AC would it drop back to N when bridged?

I am not messing with static IP's and subnets on the main router or cables (I wish to leave that intact). Both are wireless and DHCP. I have it working with an old ASUS WL-330N3G in account sharing mode ( bridge mode I guess ), but obviously it is for mobile use I want a proper router wiht this capability.

This would let my local inter-machine tasks (Software KVM, and other file sharing between machines tasks) work fine even when the main router is heavily used. and so I don't overload it whilst I work locally on my own local wireless "network" but I still get to use the main internet when need be (due to the router to router bridge).

[_I_]

to make is simple, just set the 2nd router to be a repeater/bridge for the first
then both will be on the same lan
*set its ip to 192.168.x.254 (outside the ip assigning range of the router on same subnet)
it should disable dhpc on the 2nd to allow the first to assign ip addresses

[The Muppet Surgery Special]

Publicado originalmente por _I_:

to make is simple, just set the 2nd router to be a repeater/bridge for the first
then both will be on the same lan
*set its ip to 192.168.x.254 (outside the ip assigning range of the router on same subnet)

The second router will automatically get assigned whatever IP the main router gives over DHCP.


I DO NOT want a repeater. I want a separate SSID network bridging to the first SSID network.
I DO NOT WANT TO change the main router configuration, so DHCP as it is is necessary.

That is how my ASUS WL-330N3G 6-in-1 router works.

I am asking to be sure because some high performance routers are quite expensive.

For example, my ASUS router is in account sharing mode (bridge), it got assigned via DHCP from the main router 192.168.220.1, then I can use anything from 192.169.220.208 for one of my local PC's and 192.168.220.114 for my other (the ASUS is using DHCP currently but no matter). But I can control that with static on my local router (now in bridge mode).

That is easy enough to do on new routers right? Same procedure and concept? So my understanding of "media bridge" is basically the same thing as what I am doing now (a router bridge).

So, with all these assumptions, what would be a decent gigabit (802.11ac) wireless router to use at a decent price (not the high gamers tax prices) for this purpose (bridge mode is a must obviously). I do like ASUS but they're VERY expensive. Also not a huge beast of a router box either. Something practical. Interference is not a problem (up a mountain :) ).

Also, if the main router is on 2.4 Ghz, can I have my router on 5 Ghz and bridge to 2.4 Ghz?

I can get higher local bandwidth on 5 Ghz.

Can I set a router in bridge mode to use as many 5 Ghz bands as I wish or is it limited to 2 or 3 bands?