Scenario:
My friend has a PC upstairs needs internet access, but no money spare for some wireless kit.
I have an old Wireless Access Point ( WAP ) and a Wireless USB adapter spare, but no router.
The downstairs PC is connected to the modem by USB, so the network port is available.
Solution:
Downstairs USB Modem already has a fixed IP of 192.168.1.1
Downstairs Network Card set to fixed IP of 192.168.2.2 and standard subnet mask of 255.255.255.0
Wireless Access Point is connected directly to Network Card by using a cable with a Cross Over Cable Adapter
Downstairs Wireless Access Point set to fixed IP of 192.168.2.1
The downstairs Network Card and USB Modem connections were selected and then set to be bridged
Upstairs Wireless USB Adapter is set to fixed IP of 192.168.2.3, standard subnet mask, Default Gateway and DNS set to the IP of the USB Modem
Problems Encountered:
The Network Card must use a different subnet from the modem otherwise the internet stops working.
The WAP was setup to get an IP from DHCP, so to access the configuration, I temporarily ran http://tftpd32.jounin.net/
Toggling Internet Connection broke the link between the two PC, so instead connection bridging was used.
Thoughts:
It was a good learning experience for me, but buying a Wireless Router is far more sensible.