Problem setting Ap1242ag as a repeater

amb1s1

Hi, I have a Fios wireless and I have a cisco access point ap1242. There is a part of my house that the Fios wireless does not reach and I would like have the ap1242 as a repeater. I went into the al and I setup the express setup, the ssid with the same ssid as my fios and I enable the dot11radio 0 interface. At this point I can see the dot11 interface up, but as soonest I change the setting from access point to repeater the interface goes down. When I see the log I'm getting the following message:
No infrastructure SSID configured. Dot11radio 1 not started.
I can see that I created an SSID, so I don't know why I'm getting this. This is probably an easy fix, but wireless is not my cup of tea.

Chris:/*

This should help you:
https://supportforums.cisco.com/thread/333320?tstart=0&viewcondensed

Cisco Support Community is really your best resource for Cisco specific configuration issues.

tiersten

Other thread here about this

Repeater mode and bridge mode need Cisco APs at both ends. Repeater mode also disables the Ethernet interface on the AP.

tiersten

Chris:/* wrote: »

Cisco Support Community is really your best resource for Cisco specific configuration issues.

Pffft...

Chris:/*

@tiersten are there better sources that amb1s1 could use online. Would you care to elaborate on "Pffft..."

tiersten

Chris:/* wrote: »

@tiersten are there better sources that amb1s1 could use online. Would you care to elaborate on "Pffft..."

The CCENT and above people in the Cisco portion of this site I'd say would be a decent resource but I guess you don't consider them to be of any use.

Chris:/*

No absolutely not the people in that portion of the forum are very knowledgeable. Though when it comes to already discussed problems the Cisco Support forum has a huge repository. Typically I would look there first when I have networking problems before I ask people for help, but that is me.

Cheers

amb1s1

That post on the cisco support didn't help. I got eerything working with a wrt54 linksys wireless router with a dd-wrt firmware. I just can't believe that a linksys with dd-wrt do more than a cisco ap1252

Chris:/*

I would not say it does more it is just easier to configure and troubleshoot.

tiersten

amb1s1 wrote: »

That post on the cisco support didn't help. I got eerything working with a wrt54 linksys wireless router with a dd-wrt firmware. I just can't believe that a linksys with dd-wrt do more than a cisco ap1252

You can do what you want just it has to be hardware that supports the Cisco Aironet extensions. Your hardware doesn't. If you're deploying Aironet hardware then it fairly reasonably assumes that you'll be using all the same vendor. The benefits being much greater control and the ability to do things like seamlessly roam between APs, VLANs etc... A WRT54G with DD-WRT won't be able to do that.

Repeaters are a horrible idea anyway. They're something you only use as a last possible resort as they'll significantly reduce the speed of your wireless network. Each additional repeater will reduce it as well.

JDMurray

Is the AP centrally located in your house? Or is there some sort of material that is reflecting or absorbing the signal? And can you boost the output power of the AP? If the AP is located at one end of the residence, a directional antenna would be a better solution than setting up a repeater that just ends up cutting your wireless bandwidth in half.

amb1s1

The ap (Fios wireless) is located in the first floor and the cisco ap is in the second floor. I don't mind cutting the bandwidth in half. I just want to know how to use the repeater at this point. I just want to know for education purpose not for the best use purpose.

tiersten

amb1s1 wrote: »

The ap (Fios wireless) is located in the first floor and the cisco ap is in the second floor. I don't mind cutting the bandwidth in half. I just want to know how to use the repeater at this point. I just want to know for education purpose not for the best use purpose.

As with everything else, it is in the Cisco Aironet configuration guides.

It won't work properly with your FiOS AP as it doesn't support Aironet Extensions though.

Chris:/*

This is really not the best situation to use a repeater. Using a repeater is generally not recommended but, using it to expand the coverage area between floors is going to give you more problems than you bargained for.

When spanning floors you typically want an AP on each floor using different channels connected to the DS (Distribution System) or Ethernet LAN.

tiersten

What Chris said reminds me. WDS for Cisco APs doesn't mean Wireless Distribution System like it does for consumer level APs where you can bridge multiple APs together. It is Wireless Domain Services which is something completely different.