Is Wifi hotspot really different form repeater?

Best option for wifi repeater WITHOUT losing 50% bandwidth - DD-WRT or tomato and back-2-back AP's ?

• Sorry about that, it is not east to explain the salient points on one headline very coherently. I need to extend a wifi signal several times (different fields with static caravans / laptops in deck chairs) and I know how I would like to do this - but need to check my thinking through. I know I can use a single AP (linksys etc) to work in repeater mode but the problem here is that each time the signal is repeated / handed on, the available bandwidth decreases by 50% After several hops, this could be a bit grim - especially if distance reduces initial rate to 11 (or worse) MBs to start with. I have googled (heavily) to try and check if my idea is valid - but can find nothing relevant. My thought is that each repeater "box" has TWO APs, linked by Cat5 but housed in the same box, each on a different channel - eg: 1 and 6. So Base station sits on Ch 1, this serves local caravans and also the nearest repeaters have a yagi giving a signal to drive AP 1 - this basically just working purely as a bridge - but then immediately dumps the output into AP2 - which provides service to local caravans but also provides a signal for the next repeater to point a yagi at. I have checked through both DD-WRT and tomato information (such as I can find) and I can find nothing quite like this - yet it would appear to be a simple, workable solution. I joined the DD-WRT community board and after spending an hour or so trying to search its user base, I clicked on technical support to be told to use the XXX search button. Joy. So in summary:- There might be a cluster of caravans almost a mile away, which will connect to repeater No. 9 - repeater 9 gets a signal from repeater no 6 which gets a signal from repeater no. 2 which has a feed from the main building. As there are several hops, I do not want to use the "one radio re-broadcasting on the same channel and halving the bandwidth" approach, by the time it reached a distant caravan, it might be down to 1/16 of the original connecting speed - bad news if only 5.5 mbs to begin with. While I know I could issue each van with a yagi and USB adaptor with external aerial port- and have them all link back to base, this stops folks pottering about with their laptops. As lots of mature trees and different fields on different heights, LOS back to base is not always there anyway - so again the repeaters are needed. Although security is not much of an issue - free wifi and no WPA, it would be nice if the repeaters only try to repeat the signals they are supposed to - ability to lock onto a set SSID on a set channel would be really helpful - is this part of DD-WRT or tomato? If anyone has done what I am trying to do (or knows why it is a bad idea) please let me know - I am happy to flash to either DD-WRT or tomato firmware if it helps. Thanks for reading this - a bit long winded I know, but I know when I am trying to help someone it is frustrating not to have a reasonably clear picture of what is needing to be done. Phew! Mark

• Answer:

  You can do what you depict using bridges for the "backhaul" but there is still some loss of speed. Setup MAIN --->Bridge--AP --> Users it does work. there are units made to do this (not your off the shelf items but a little heavier duty like Zinwell and Ubiquty or even better router boards. etc.) The router boards let you put both radios on one board so you have backhaul and AP on one single board. http://routerboard.com/ In the situation as you descibe it, the best solution is to use a MESH network. There is still some slight speed loss, no where near 50%, but then the signals are all still very stong for all users. Just do a quick search for Mesh Network. A little reading should get you on the correct track