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Can someone recommend a cheap (up to $15-$20) device that can receive a wireless signal from my main router and transfer it to a classic network wired switch?

I have found bunch of cheap repeaters on eBay, but don't know if any of them can pass a wireless signal to a wired network.

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  • Are you tech savvy enough to flash it with dd-wrt?
    – SeanClt
    Commented Feb 25, 2016 at 13:00
  • I probably could do it, but would rather go with an out of box solution..
    – onedevteam.com
    Commented Feb 25, 2016 at 13:08
  • If you want a faster and more stable connection between the networks, you might also want to look at powerline adapters -- similar price range for 200Mbps.
    – Simon Richter
    Commented Feb 25, 2016 at 14:36
  • Those ratings for hundreds of Mbps on powerline adapters are VERY optimisitic. Homeplug AV, which runs at 200Mbps max, uses so many bits for error correction that the /theoretical/ throughput is only 80Mbps after protocol overhead, and you can easily get a small fraction (1/10th to 1/20th) in noisy real-world scenarios. If you want a powerline adapter that goes the distance, get one of the MIMO Homeplug AV2 adapters rated for 1200Mbps or 1800Mbps (not the ones rated for 500 or 600Mbps!). The MIMO reduces the impact of interference significantly.
    – Reid Rankin
    Commented Feb 25, 2016 at 15:28

2 Answers 2

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I used to use one of these to serve as a wireless receiver for a machine that only had an ethernet port.

TP-LINK-TL-WR702N-Wireless-Repeater

In addition to serving as a "wireless card" for my device it also could have been configured to serve as an access point, a repeater and a few other functions. Once I got it configured it worked well and never gave me any problems.

Edit:

I should add that to configure this I didn't have to do anything fancy, the device came with a small disc that contained some configuration software, I had to install the software and plug it into my computer to do the initial setup which wasn't any different than logging into your router normally would be.

Additionally there is more than one model that has this form factor (the nano size), it would behoove you to make sure the one you are looking at will be able to handle the sort of traffic you plan to run through it.

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I would recommend getting WRT400N It's trending around $15 and you might be even able to negotiate down further. www.ebay.com/itm/172094577410

These are Dual-Band wireless-N Routers, so you can use one band just for bridging between your main router and second band can be used for extending the signal further

Yes, it will pass the signal to wired networks

My Experience

  1. I Bought mine from ecost in January 2012 for $39.99 each and i am still happy with it
  2. Took me few hours to flash them as this was my first attempt at dd-wrt
  3. My main router is downstairs and 2nd router is upstairs(my office) right above the main router physically.

  4. I have a gigabit network switch upstairs that is connected to several machines

  5. Both routers on 192.168.1.x network and all machines connected to any of the routers are able to communicate with each other

DD-WRT Instructions

https://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Linksys_WRT400N

If you have any trouble after these instructions you can always ask for help on Super User.

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