Networking question...

OK, so I have a wireless router, and I am cheap. Not all my computers (there are many) have wifi cards, yet. The folks upstairs have a wireless router too, and we've been talking about sharing the connection to make it cheaper for everyone (ie scrap our internet connection, everyone uses theirs).

Here's my Q. Can I have my computers connected (wired) to my router, and have my router connected (wireless) to THEIR router, and get net that way? Can I hop through two routers? Seems like it should be possible.

Yes it's possible, but it depends on the router(s). What you're looking for is a wireless bridge. Most SOHO routers have a bridge mode (or a couple of variations of bridge modes). I can't give you step by step since I don't have a SOHO router -- I use only wireless access points and my home-built Linux router/gateway/firewall box -- but Google is your friend. ;)

It'll involve basically setting up your router in bridge mode and configuring it with the SSID, encryption keys, etc. of the remote router. Of course this is assuming the two routers can see each other. You'll probably be running on a different IP subnet from the neighbor's LAN, as your router will likely be NATing to their router which will be NATing to the internet, but I think that will depend on the specific bridging configuration.

^ what he said. Shouldn't be a problem at all.

What model router do you have?

Hm, I don't think my router can do it (WRT55AG Linksys). No bridge option. Might have to go wifi card shopping.

[quote277f8c278f="JennyWren"]Hm, I don't think my router can do it (WRT55AG Linksys). No bridge option. Might have to go wifi card shopping.[/quote277f8c278f]
What about an option for wireless repeater? In fact a repeater might be closer to what you want. There are some subtle differences between a repeater and bridge but most folks just lump them together and call it all bridging.

I'd be surprised if it didn't support one or the other. But if not, there's always one of the aftermarket, open-source firmwares like DD-WRT that run on Linksys routers/AP's and add lots of extra functionality -- I know DD-WRT supports both bridge and repeater configurations.

fwiw, this isn't permitted under the TOS of your ISP, generally, but I find it hard to believe any ISP actually monitors this.

[quote92a4d9f231="doylnea"]fwiw, this isn't permitted under the TOS of your ISP, generally, but I find it hard to believe any ISP actually monitors this.[/quote92a4d9f231]
Doylnea = Wet Blanket. Do you mind? I'm trying to score geek points here with t3h laydeez. Sheesh... roll

I think most of those restrictions are aimed at preventing re-selling of residential ISP services. Generally, in my experience they don't much care what you do with your bandwidth as long as it doesn't impact them legally or exceed their capacity. Most people who bridge are doing it internally, between areas not easily serviced by wires (common in upstairs + basement installations, or across large offices, for example). There is no way for them to detect the difference in two neighbors doing this, and one customer doing it between rooms of his home. So there. P