Is 'gaming router' a new name for 'wireless ethernet bridge'?

[miamicanes]

Are the devices now marketed as "gaming routers" really the product that in the ancient past was known as a "wireless ethernet bridge"? In other words, if I buy something with the words "gaming router" on the package at Best Buy or Circuit City, can I feel reasonably confident that I can plug its ethernet output into the uplink port of a 10/100 switch, and have the switch behave as if its uplink port were directly connected to the WRT-54g downstairs in the laundry room?

Alternatively... has anyone tried the hacked firmware for the WRT-54g that allegedly allows it to act as a wired-to-wireless bridge rather than a router? I tried it ~2 years ago, but it never worked right or reliably, and I ended up bricking the router during one of my attempts at getting it to work (I still have it in a box, because it's not technically dead... just its bootloader... if I ever get a hold of a real JTAG, I can theoretically resurrect it).

 

[bfisher]

I'm not the expert... but I don't think they are the same thing. I believe "Gaming Routers" are designed so you can assign specific ports higher priority to ensure family members don't ruin your ping in a game by downloading an iTune (for example). Many of these routers are wireless, but you still need the other side of it... the adapter that connects to the ethernet port and converts to wireless signals.

 

[kinkeads]

Are the devices now marketed as "gaming routers" really the product that in the ancient past was known as a "wireless ethernet bridge"? In other words, if I buy something with the words "gaming router" on the package at Best Buy or Circuit City, can I feel reasonably confident that I can plug its ethernet output into the uplink port of a 10/100 switch, and have the switch behave as if its uplink port were directly connected to the WRT-54g downstairs in the laundry room?

Alternatively... has anyone tried the hacked firmware for the WRT-54g that allegedly allows it to act as a wired-to-wireless bridge rather than a router? I tried it ~2 years ago, but it never worked right or reliably, and I ended up bricking the router during one of my attempts at getting it to work (I still have it in a box, because it's not technically dead... just its bootloader... if I ever get a hold of a real JTAG, I can theoretically resurrect it).

I'm no expert, but I think hardware wise a gaming router is just like any other router. What makes a gaming router unique is the firmware. They are easily configured to work the most popular on-line games. Just pick the games you play in the router's setup menu and it opens the correct ports for you.

I don't think a gaming router gives you any guarantee that it will connect to other wireless routers, although many may. Best to read the reviews. I highly recommend the D-Link DGL-4300. Mine has been operating flawlessly for 6 months without a reboot.

 

[twilo123]

i am not sure if this is what you are referring to but i take wrt54g and add another wrt54g or linksys access point via cat5 to extend the wireless. the 2nd access point just passes of any local/wireless packets off to the original router via cat5 to process. if you use 2 wrt54g then make sure you turn off the dhcp on the 2nd one, give a static ip out of the range of the 1st scope, and configure for bridge mode. i have connected them directly or via an 8 port linksys switch with both plugged into ports on it. switches just forward packets based on destination ip/mac and they each have their own so there should be no problems. i probably wouldn't recommend using an uplink port though. just a regular port should do.

 

[miamicanes]

Well, here's what I'm specifically trying to accomplish:

When I had my cable modem installed last week, I had him run the cable to the laundry room at the rear of the first floor. My computer room is at the front of the second floor. Between then and now, my conduit plans went up in smoke, and I'm stuck with wireless for now. Unfortunately, I have practically a Faraday Cage between the two rooms, because the second floor sits on a suspended concrete slab with steel pan decking. So... I want to at least put the computer room's antenna in a spot where it (more or less) has (almost) direct line of sight visibility to the router -- at the top of the open stairway (which happens to be on the other side of my computer room's closet).

As far as I know, you can't use a ~20 foot cable to connect an external WiFi antenna to a PCI 802.11g card... and I don't want to use a USB interface, because they rely on the host CPU to do signal processing and drag down system performance (mostly due to lots of blocking busy-waits). That basically leaves connecting the antenna (in the stairwell) to a bridge (through a hole in the wall), connecting the bridge to a 10/100 switch, and connecting the PC itself to the same 10/100 switch.

 

[electron]

Another name for a wireless bridge is a gaming adapter, maybe that's where the confusion is.

 

[Chakara]

I knew that was the concept of what they did, but always wondered if they only bridge one MAC address - so you can only have one device on the far end of the link. Has anyone here taken one and hooked a switch to it and with multiple devices on the remote end?

-Chak

 

[electron]

I personally would get another Linksys router which is DD-WRT compatible, and setup WDS (check this WDS tutorial for more information). I am pretty sure some game adapters do support multiple MAC addresses, but it is not advertised, so unless someone compiled a list, it will be costly to find out.