I have now moved in to my new (to me) home and am hoping broadband will
spring to life "before midnight" as promised by Plusnet.

Wired networking will be a pain and it seems powerline networking may
cause interference.

A lot of my kit needs a wired connection, what would I need to pick up the
WiFi signal and feed it to a device via a network cable? I have been
Googling "WiFi bridge" but all the results are several years old and refer
to kit that is no longer available.

Can anybody give me a steer as to what I need to look for please?

--
Jeff Gaines Wiltshire UK
There is absolutely no substitute for a genuine lack of preparation

In article <xn0ncva6u38liia007@news.individual.net>, jgaines_newsid@yahoo.co.uk
says...
>
> I have now moved in to my new (to me) home and am hoping broadband will
> spring to life "before midnight" as promised by Plusnet.
>
> Wired networking will be a pain and it seems powerline networking may
> cause interference.
>
> A lot of my kit needs a wired connection, what would I need to pick up the
> WiFi signal and feed it to a device via a network cable? I have been
> Googling "WiFi bridge" but all the results are several years old and refer
> to kit that is no longer available.
>
> Can anybody give me a steer as to what I need to look for please?

A lot of Wireless Access Points can be configured in bridge mode, which may be
why you don't see dedicated bridges advertised now. Pick a WAP, find the
manual, and see what modes it offers!

--

Phil, London

On 14/01/2022 17:43, Jeff Gaines wrote:
>
> I have now moved in to my new (to me) home and am hoping broadband will
> spring to life "before midnight" as promised by Plusnet.
>
> Wired networking will be a pain and it seems powerline networking may
> cause interference.
>
> A lot of my kit needs a wired connection, what would I need to pick up
> the WiFi signal and feed it to a device via a network cable? I have been
> Googling "WiFi bridge" but all the results are several years old and
> refer to kit that is no longer available.
>
> Can anybody give me a steer as to what I need to look for please?
>

You say
> Wired networking will be a pain and it seems powerline networking may
> cause interference.

Have you had experience of the said interference, or have you deduced
that it would.

I have a powerline adaptor here and AFAIK there is no interference to
any of my other equipment or devices

On 15/01/2022 in message <j4fiifF9ij2U1@mid.individual.net> RobH wrote:

>On 14/01/2022 17:43, Jeff Gaines wrote:
>>
>>I have now moved in to my new (to me) home and am hoping broadband will
>>spring to life "before midnight" as promised by Plusnet.
>>
>>Wired networking will be a pain and it seems powerline networking may
>>cause interference.
>>
>>A lot of my kit needs a wired connection, what would I need to pick up
>>the WiFi signal and feed it to a device via a network cable? I have been
>>Googling "WiFi bridge" but all the results are several years old and
>>refer to kit that is no longer available.
>>
>>Can anybody give me a steer as to what I need to look for please?
>>
>
>You say
>>Wired networking will be a pain and it seems powerline networking may
>>cause interference.
>
>Have you had experience of the said interference, or have you deduced that
>it would.
>
>I have a powerline adaptor here and AFAIK there is no interference to any
>of my other equipment or devices

I have had no interference but the radio amateurs aren't keen on
powerline, I have just had quite a long discussion in the digital TV group
about it. I am happy with WiFi, it's a small property, but I need wired
connections for most of the kit in the HiFi cabinet.

--
Jeff Gaines Wiltshire UK
Remember, the Flat Earth Society has members all around the globe.

Am Samstag, 15. Januar 2022, um 09:30:55 Uhr schrieb RobH:

> I have a powerline adaptor here and AFAIK there is no interference to
> any of my other equipment or devices

Powerline creates interference on the shortwave radio bands and affect
broadcast and also ham radio. The cables carry that signal to the
neighborhood too. Also they act like an antenna and radiate.

On 15/01/2022 11:23, Marco Moock wrote:
> Am Samstag, 15. Januar 2022, um 09:30:55 Uhr schrieb RobH:
>
>> I have a powerline adaptor here and AFAIK there is no interference to
>> any of my other equipment or devices
>
> Powerline creates interference on the shortwave radio bands and affect
> broadcast and also ham radio. The cables carry that signal to the
> neighborhood too. Also they act like an antenna and radiate.
>

It's a problem either way I think, as ham radio signals also create
interference on tv and radio stations. I know as I was a ham radio
operator for about 15 years on hf and vhf, and had to supply filters to
my neighbours who were affected by me when I operated on some HF bands.

I didn't know that about powerline adaptors, as I don't have any ham
radio operators in my local neighbourhood

On 14 Jan 2022 at 17:43:38 GMT, ""Jeff Gaines""
<jgaines_newsid@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

>
> I have now moved in to my new (to me) home and am hoping broadband will
> spring to life "before midnight" as promised by Plusnet.
>
> Wired networking will be a pain and it seems powerline networking may
> cause interference.
>
> A lot of my kit needs a wired connection, what would I need to pick up the
> WiFi signal and feed it to a device via a network cable? I have been
> Googling "WiFi bridge" but all the results are several years old and refer
> to kit that is no longer available.
>
> Can anybody give me a steer as to what I need to look for please?

Many 'mesh' wifi units have one unit wired to the router, then the
others connected by their own wireless network. The units may have their
own ethernet ports that you can hang a computer or switch from.

Tenda units do this, just put a triplet of Tenda MW6 in at my sister's
house - one cube connected to the house router, one cube upstairs, one
in the attic, each with a PC or a switch hanging off them. Neat and easy
and more reliable than powerline stuff in my experience.

Cheers - Jaimie
--
Remember, if something is on the news that means
it's rare enough that you shouldn't worry about it.
It's the things that _don't_ make the news due to
being so common that you should worry about.
-- Stephen Sprunk

Am Samstag, 15. Januar 2022, um 11:42:08 Uhr schrieb RobH:

> It's a problem either way I think, as ham radio signals also create
> interference on tv and radio stations. I know as I was a ham radio
> operator for about 15 years on hf and vhf, and had to supply filters
> to my neighbours who were affected by me when I operated on some HF
> bands.

Also a problem, but they don't interfere entire bands by design.
Powerline is designed to use the shortwave bands, so you can't do
anything against the inference by it without switching it off
completely.

> I didn't know that about powerline adaptors, as I don't have any ham
> radio operators in my local neighbourhood

But maybe shortwave radio listeners that are disturbed by your
Powerline transmitter.

On 15/01/2022 in message <j4fu26FbmfuU1@mid.individual.net> Jaimie
Vandenbergh wrote:

>On 14 Jan 2022 at 17:43:38 GMT, ""Jeff Gaines""
><jgaines_newsid@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>
>>
>>I have now moved in to my new (to me) home and am hoping broadband will
>>spring to life "before midnight" as promised by Plusnet.
>>
>>Wired networking will be a pain and it seems powerline networking may
>>cause interference.
>>
>>A lot of my kit needs a wired connection, what would I need to pick up the
>>WiFi signal and feed it to a device via a network cable? I have been
>>Googling "WiFi bridge" but all the results are several years old and refer
>>to kit that is no longer available.
>>
>>Can anybody give me a steer as to what I need to look for please?
>
>Many 'mesh' wifi units have one unit wired to the router, then the
>others connected by their own wireless network. The units may have their
>own ethernet ports that you can hang a computer or switch from.
>
>Tenda units do this, just put a triplet of Tenda MW6 in at my sister's
>house - one cube connected to the house router, one cube upstairs, one
>in the attic, each with a PC or a switch hanging off them. Neat and easy
>and more reliable than powerline stuff in my experience.
>
> Cheers - Jaimie

Many thanks Jaimie :-)

I found a "howto" video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LJdp5YmosI

It seems to do what I want, connect one to my modem/router, put one in the
lounge for the HiFi kit and one in the study for the computer kit.

He does recommend only connecting one bit of kit to each module, I would
want to connect a switch then several items to the switch. Did you do
that? If so was performance OK? The reality is not everything is going to
want to speak to the Internet at the same time but things will want to
speak to each other - i.e. Computer to NAS or NAS to Roku box.

Thanks again.

--
Jeff Gaines Wiltshire UK
There are 10 types of people in the world, those who do binary and those
who don't.

In message <20220115140815.45568254@ryz>, Marco Moock <mo01@posteo.de>
writes
>Am Samstag, 15. Januar 2022, um 11:42:08 Uhr schrieb RobH:
>
>> It's a problem either way I think, as ham radio signals also create
>> interference on tv and radio stations. I know as I was a ham radio
>> operator for about 15 years on hf and vhf, and had to supply filters
>> to my neighbours who were affected by me when I operated on some HF
>> bands.
>
>Also a problem, but they don't interfere entire bands by design.
>Powerline is designed to use the shortwave bands, so you can't do
>anything against the inference by it without switching it off
>completely.
>
>> I didn't know that about powerline adaptors, as I don't have any ham
>> radio operators in my local neighbourhood
>
>But maybe shortwave radio listeners that are disturbed by your
>Powerline transmitter.

These days, any interference caused by amateur radio transmissions to TV
and radio (and also audio and all sorts of other electronic equipment -
including internet) is almost always a result of some inadequacy in the
affected equipment. Nevertheless, amateurs do have to take reasonable
precautions to minimise the possibility of such interference.

Powerline and phone-line internet use frequencies that were already
allocated to radio etc, and for the interconnecting wiring not to
radiate rely on the cables being well-balanced RF-wise. With mains
wiring this is rarely (even never) the case, and it is truly a
fortuitous act-of-God if radiation does not occur. However, whether in
practice such radiation causes an actual problem essentially depends on
whether there is anything near enough to be interfered with, and whether
the level of interference is bad enough to cause a problem.
--
Ian

In article <MPG.3c4c105b93a6da0598999c@news.eternal-september.org>,
thiswillbounceback@you.com says...
>
> In article <xn0ncva6u38liia007@news.individual.net>, jgaines_newsid@yahoo.co.uk
> says...
> >
> > I have now moved in to my new (to me) home and am hoping broadband will
> > spring to life "before midnight" as promised by Plusnet.
> >
> > Wired networking will be a pain and it seems powerline networking may
> > cause interference.
> >
> > A lot of my kit needs a wired connection, what would I need to pick up the
> > WiFi signal and feed it to a device via a network cable? I have been
> > Googling "WiFi bridge" but all the results are several years old and refer
> > to kit that is no longer available.
> >
> > Can anybody give me a steer as to what I need to look for please?
>
> A lot of Wireless Access Points can be configured in bridge mode, which may be
> why you don't see dedicated bridges advertised now. Pick a WAP, find the
> manual, and see what modes it offers!

I see you're still considering options, so I looked on Ebuyer for a cheap
Wireless Access Point, and looked up how to connect it in "Client" (seemingly
now more common terminology for "bridge") mode. Looked up the manufacturer's
site for a manual - found this neat little video (1:4):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioLArt5GZ44
https://www.ebuyer.com/974287-tp-link-tl-wa901n-450mbps-wireless-n-access-
point-fixed-antennas-multi-mode-tl-wa901n

You'll see that this model only has one Ethernet port - some (possibly not TP-
Link's current WAP range) will have four, which might be enough for you.
Either way, a simple switch (4, 5, 8 or above ports) will allow for more
connections if you can't find a multi-way WAP you like.

HTH

--

Phil, London

On 15/01/2022 in message
<MPG.3c4d0dc11e4f414798999d@news.eternal-september.org> Philip Herlihy
wrote:

>You'll see that this model only has one Ethernet port - some (possibly not
>TP-
>Link's current WAP range) will have four, which might be enough for you.
>Either way, a simple switch (4, 5, 8 or above ports) will allow for more
>connections if you can't find a multi-way WAP you like.

Many thanks, Philip, much appreciated :-)

--
Jeff Gaines Wiltshire UK
Those are my principles – and if you don’t like them, well, I have others.
(Groucho Marx)

On 14/01/2022 in message <xn0ncva6u38liia007@news.individual.net> Jeff
Gaines wrote:

>Can anybody give me a steer as to what I need to look for please?

My broadband sprung to life last night so I followed Jaimie and put a
triplet of Tenda MW6 cubes in. Caused me some panic because I think I
connected an input from my router to the main node whereupon all the
lights went out on the router. Worse every time they started to come on
again they went out. I reset it and managed to get it going again and this
time it worked.

I have put it in bridge mode so security, DHCP is. is provided by my
router. Since I am now using the mesh WiFi presumably I can turn off the
router WiFi? I'll have to reconnect some kit but it won't be a bad thing
as I recently ran out of places to allocate MAC addresses max is 32) and
I'm sure a lot of the kit died a long time ago!

Anyway all seems to be OK, many thanks for all the input, if it continues
to be OK it will save a lot of hassle.

--
Jeff Gaines Wiltshire UK
Every day is a good day for chicken, unless you're a chicken.

On 18 Jan 2022 at 13:28:33 GMT, ""Jeff Gaines""
<jgaines_newsid@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

> On 14/01/2022 in message <xn0ncva6u38liia007@news.individual.net> Jeff
> Gaines wrote:
>
>> Can anybody give me a steer as to what I need to look for please?
>
> My broadband sprung to life last night so I followed Jaimie and put a
> triplet of Tenda MW6 cubes in. Caused me some panic because I think I
> connected an input from my router to the main node whereupon all the
> lights went out on the router. Worse every time they started to come on
> again they went out. I reset it and managed to get it going again and this
> time it worked.
>
> I have put it in bridge mode so security, DHCP is. is provided by my
> router.

Ideal.

> Since I am now using the mesh WiFi presumably I can turn off the
> router WiFi?

Yep! Or keep it as a backup I guess, but it only takes a moment to turn
back on if you ever needed it.

> I'll have to reconnect some kit but it won't be a bad thing
> as I recently ran out of places to allocate MAC addresses max is 32) and
> I'm sure a lot of the kit died a long time ago!
>
> Anyway all seems to be OK, many thanks for all the input, if it continues
> to be OK it will save a lot of hassle.

Hurray! And to answer your other question, the middle floor Tenda at my
sis' has a full 8 port switch hung off it.

Cheers - Jaimie
--
"History repeats itself. Has to. No one listens."
-- Steve Turner

On 19/01/2022 in message <j4rl55Fjdf0U1@mid.individual.net> Jaimie
Vandenbergh wrote:

>Hurray! And to answer your other question, the middle floor Tenda at my
>sis' has a full 8 port switch hung off it.

So does the one in my HiFi cabinet, the one in the study only has three
connected devices :-)

--
Jeff Gaines Wiltshire UK
Every day is a good day for chicken, unless you're a chicken.