Adding A 802.11b To 802.11g

[miloo]

Hello. I read here and there all the problems people have with their zaurus and wifi 802.11b cards that connect badly to access points when in mixed b/G mode. They fix the problem by forcing b-mode only.
As I have an 802.11g AP (linksys WRT54g) that I want to keep as g-mode since I use it at max speed, I would want to know if it would be possible to add a 802.11b access point that would be connected to it, that would be dedicated to b-mode connections only, so that accessing my internal network with the zaurus with a 802.11b wifi card (like a planex cf11x or ambicom wl1100c for ex.) would not prevent from using the main access point as 802.11g.

PS : I ask this because I plan to buy a wifi card but I don't want to be bothered by such problems and am ready to buy a 802.11b AP if it can help me.

Eric

[InSearchOf]

One easy way is it set the AP connect to the specific ESSID and/or set it to only look on the specific channel the 802.11b AP is set to...

[Hrw]

miloo: read about WDS (Wireless Distribution System) where few AP work with same essid and settings - you will make one G-only and second B-only.

[Lurker]

Miloo:
The Linksys WCF54G Wireless-G CompactFlash card is hoped to be working with OpenZaurus in the near future (see this thread)

Thanks again, Hrw!

[bluedevils]

I do have two AP (one g and one .  I have no problems with any of my Zs connecting to the b.  A g card would be cool......

[Sketch]

miloo: read about WDS (Wireless Distribution System) where few AP work with same essid and settings - you will make one G-only and second B-only.
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The problem with WDS is it works by making both routers act as repeaters.  Any traffic one receives, it sends to the other.  Having B clients degrades performance on a G network, so performance will always be degraded because the two routers are always going to be repeating to each other.  This rather defeats the original poster's purpose of having a seperate network so as not to degrade the G network's speed.

You'd want to link both AP's to a wired network instead, and make sure they are using different frequencies (and SSIDs) so they don't interfere with each other.

[miloo]

One easy way is it set the AP connect to the specific ESSID and/or set it to only look on the specific channel the 802.11b AP is set to...
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Thank you for all answers. It seems that's not so obvious ...

InSearchOf : so you wire the 802.11b AP to the 802.11g, and using a different ESSID for the 802.11b, the zaurus should connect to it, and thus be connected to the network without having effect on the speed of the 802.11g AP ? Is that true ?

[bluedevils]

just a little tidbit I found at toms hardware

toms hardware as tips on this

You'll need to do the following to set this up:
- Use only channels 1, 6, or 11 and set the 11b and 11g APs to different channels.
- Disable 11b protection on the 11g-only AP (this is frequently called 11g-only mode)
- Set each AP to a different SSID (not essential, but helps for troubleshooting purposes)