I have a laptop that sometimes connects to the
distant router (low signal) rather than the Airlink
Range Booster. To prevent this I tried to set
the SSID inside the booster to a different value.
When I do that I can connect properly, but
cannnot get to the internet. The laptop is
using Vista Home Basic, the Router is DI-524, and
the Range Booster is Airlink AP311W. Some folks
have told me to set the wireless card in the
laptop to only connect to a specific MAC (range
booster), but that is not possible according to
Dell. Why will the router not allow access to
the internet when the range booster has a
different SSID than the router?
Any other suggestions on how I can FORCE the
laptop to only connect to the range booster and
ignore the router signal?
I figured it out - set the MAC filter on the
router to deny access to the WIFI MAC in the
laptop. Therefore the laptop is forced to gain
access only through the Range Booster.
I have tried to make my network more secure by
only allowing the known MACs connect and by
limiting the number of static IPs the DI-524 can
issue to six (set IP range from 100 - 105).
It appears that with the IPs limited to only the
3- PCs, NAS disk, net printer, and the range
booster, the D-Link Media Player (DSM-520, wireless)
still connects to the network WITHOUT
any IPs available for issuance.
How can that be? Does the range
booster open up the network to an unlimited number
of devices that can attach as long as they
know the encryption key?
posted on 30/5/08 at 11:03