bridging two truemobile 2300 tips

Question

Hi everyone,

I just finished connecting two 2300 together to extend my wireless and wish I had some of these tips before I started (10 hours of troubleshooting). I am assuming everyone who reads this has spent some time figuring out how to do this and is familure with the process so not much detail here....

1. disregard the wireless light (LED). it does not come on when the bridge is established like you would think.

2. put both 2300 in the default state (morphed paperclip in reset button until power light goes out)

3. keep the power off of the 2300 that has the direct (cable to ) the cable or dsl modem (internet).

4. Power on the 2300 you are using as an access point (be sure the other one is off) and configure it as an access point (submit and restart). Disable the DHCP service.(submit) rename your SSID (change from wireless to something more creative) change the channel to 9 (or what ever-not 6)(submit and restart). Go into advanced wireless and click the wireless bridge feature and put in the mac address (it is on the back of the 2300) make sure you are using the LAN and not the WAN mac (submit and restart). Power down the 2300 and then power up and check the settings. Next go to the advanced wireless settings (be bold and ignore the prompt) and go into the IP setting menu. enable the DHCP will assign IP address (submit) at this point you will loose your connection to the 2300 so be sure you have all the settings you want changed such as security.

5. Power up the 2300 attached to the internet go into the advanced wireless settings menu and change the SSID and channel to what the access point is set to. Enable wireless bridging and type in the LAN mac address of the access point (on the back of that 2300).(submit and save). Power down and power up to check the changes.

6. hook up a computer to the access point LAN port and ping 192.168.2.1 to check for a connection or try to browse the internet.

There you go I hope this helps someone. The key seems to be keeping the gateway off while you configure the access point and changing the channel and SSID-go figure. Try to find that tip in any of the forums and documented dell lit.!!!!!!!!

6.

ooky · Answer

Couple questions here, does this extend your wireless range if you bridge like this?

Without the wireless led lit up on the access point, how do you know if you can connect via wireless through it?

I got my 2nd TM2300 last night and the lack of the wireless LED on the access point was driving me nuts, even tho things worked (my method was a little bit off from yours but identical for the most part, I have MAC address filtering on the gateway and have had to add the MAC address of the access point LAN for it to work)

ghammer · Answer

Hi ooky,

Good questions. I'll have the answers for you tonight when I install the accesspoint beyond the rated 300 ft range. Physics dictate I should be able to extend my "cloud" but we will see. I did not try to connect to my wireless access point via my laptop (i was so relieved I got it to work reliabably) so i will have that answer tonight also. Being an optimist when I bring up my laptop I expect both wireless lits to "flame on!"

Sorry

ghammer · Answer

Hi

You may want to check out your routers if you are having any connection problems because my routers do not behave in the manner you discribe. My wireless light has been on for over an hour with out flickering or going off. When I pick up my laptop and move it to the other end of the house (120' ) the other router (gateway) light comes on and my wireless card picks up the signal. One curious thing though. When ever I do this (move from one area to the next) I have to plug in a LAN cable to my laptops nic card to "jumpstart" the internet or I can not browse. Hmmm

ghammer · Answer

FLAME ON!  Well sort of.  It seems that I am doubling my wireless range and depending on which router I am near I get a wireless light.  go figure.   Hope this helps

ooky · Answer

Cool, thanks. I noticed the wireless led lights up whenever it feels like it. For example, when I initially power on the access point, it'll be up, then some few mins later, it'll blink off by its own accord, even when they are still machines connected to it and using the network.

onemilehigh · Answer

Hello.   I've purchased several hundred DELL 2300 wireless routers (my company does wireless networks), but this was my first attempt to 'bridge' two of them together for a client. I read the scant documentation by DELL and looked through this forum for tips.   After making my settings and checking the 'wireless bridge' option in the Advanced wireless option of the Advanced settings for the 2300, I submitted my changes and gave it a try. A wasn't too hopeful that it would work on the first try.   It didn't, but my real surprise was that not only could I not get back into either router with my browser, but neither 2300 router would allow me to reset it to the 'factory defaults'.    I tried holding down the reset button for 3 seconds, 5 seconds and up to 60 seconds with no luck. I then called DELL and they had me try a few more tricks, like holding down the reset while un-plugging and re-plugging in the router. Still neither of the two 2300 wireless routers would reset! They both worked perfectly prior to my attempt to bridge them.   It appears that checking the wireless bridge box, entering a LAN MAC address and restarting them somehow has rendered them both unusable. DELL has agreed to replace them, but I'm a bit worried about attempting the bridging again. I know it will work with the correct settings, and I have seen posts of others having success.   I assume my settings were not correct, but it shouldn't prevent the 2300 from allowing a 'factory reset'! I was working under a deadline for a client and now neither 2300 is usable.   I had another box on the network acting as a DHCP server, so I set both of them up as an 'access point' only (no gateway support). I have seen posts that suggested that one of them may have to be a gateway. I hard coded IP's at 192.168.2.1 and 192.168.2.250. DHCP was turned off on both.   If anyone has comments or suggestions, they will be appreciated.   Thanks, Scott   keywords: wireless 2300 router bridge bridging connect two 2300s together won't reset to factory defaults.

Networking, Internet, & Bluetooth

bridging two truemobile 2300 tips

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