[nemanirc]

Is there a repeater available that will work with WiFi? I have my AirPort in my office, which is in the front of my house. I need to improve reception in the back of the house. Is there a repeater I could plug in somewhere to boost the signal? I cannot move the AirPort from its current location.

[aaanorton]

Which Airport do you have? If it's a new AE, you can use another AEBS to wirelessly bridge them together.

[ghporter]

Actual wireless network repeater equipment qualifies as commercial hardware. It's available, but you have to have VERY deep pockets, and probably a highly qualified IT tech to configure and manage it. You probably didn't actually mean "repeater," though, since you want to simply expand the range of your wireless network.

In addition to wireless bridging, you can set up a roaming network by installing multiple access points in different areas and connecting them via cable to a common switch. There are lots of options for extending your range that are similar to wireless bridging and roaming.

[nemanirc]

I have a Graphite base station connected to my DSL modem. Adding more base stations is not feasbile in my 109 year old house. If I had AE, I could just add more base stations, which is what I may end up doing. I was hoping to find something for $75 to $150 that I could plug in somewhere else to grab and rebroadcast the AirPort signal.

[ghporter]

Actually it is less of a challenge than you might think to run a single Cat5 cable; under floors, over ceilings, following telephone wires, etc. are all easy ways to get from point to point. However, if you're sure you can't, then you're looking for a bridging solution.

Note that all it takes is 802.11b compliance-you don't need an Apple product to get the job done. Because of that, you can shop around and save a lot of money.

One potential solution that I just thought of is a combination of equipment. You keep your Graphite base connected to your modem, and then get a wireless to ethernet bridge (such as the Linksys WET11) and a wireless access point (lots of brands!). The WET11 would pick up the wireless signal (as if it were a chunk of Cat5 cable) and feed the distant end access point. The distant access point would then act as an access point-probably best on a different channel but with the same network name (or SSID), effectively giving you a roaming setup.

[schalliol]

Wouldn't a standard bridging WAP make more sense than the WET11? I believe that the WET 11 can only receive wirelessly and is about $100 at minimum. Whereas a bridging WAP, like the WAP11, is less and allows the bridge and allows you to use the router for roaming I think.

Would I be right in my assumption that if you have wired and wireless devices you wanted to connect to a bridging wap (that would then connect wirelessly to the main wireless router) you could get wired and wireless devices using the network through the router that has been bridged? Then could people use active roaming between the two WAPs (one a router, one not) that are connected together without a cable, but wirelessly?

----Correction

I just called Linksys, you actually need dual bridging compatible WAPs, like the WAP11 to do what I'm talking about. I was previously under the impression that you could use nearly any wireless router to accomplish this, as long as the WAP11 was the un-wired unit. That is not the case.