I think that many people have been/are currently/or soon will face the challenge that I have.
First some background - My Internet connection is in the Den on the main floor. My AV gear is located in the basement of my house. I have an existing wireless 802.11n network that works well; connecting the 2 desktops (only 1 is connected by wire to the router) and 2 laptops in the home. My AV receiver, TIVO, Playstation 2, and Apple TV all have Ethernet ports. Only my Apple TV has native wireless and is connected to my wireless N network.
My challenge - How do I connect the numerous pieces of electronics in my AV rack to my home network so that they can connect to each other as well as the Internet? More importantly; how can I do this with the least amount of effort on my part?
The answer is a wireless bridge. The purpose of a wireless bridge is to connect your “wired” gear to your wireless network. Please note; a wireless bridge is DIFFERENT from a wireless Access Point (AP). An AP connects your “wireless” gear to your wireless network, while a bridge connects “wired” gear to your wireless network. You can purchase equipment that can be used as a wireless bridge or a wireless AP, but it can only do one of the functions at any one time. These boxes usually have a physical switch that changes the mode from AP to Bridge.
I looked around and found several different bridges, but many of them only connected a single piece of gear to my network. Many of these single Ethernet port bridges are also called wireless game adaptors. I did not want to buy 3 or 4 of these game adaptors to solve my problem. Talk about clutter; not to mention the increased chance of mutual interference and configuration problems.
After some research I found a solution that worked for me. I chose the D-Link Xtreme N Duo Wireless Bridge/Access Point (DAP-1522). For about the same price of a single port wireless bridge (less than $100), the DAP-1522 allows me to connect up to 4 pieces of gear into a gigabit switch and bridge them wirelessly into my home network. This means that all my AV gear is networked between each other across a gigabit LAN, while they are connected back to the rest of my network at 802.11n speeds. The DAP-1522 can be operated at 2.4GHz and 5GHz. I could not test the 5GHz, as my wireless router only operates at 2.4GHz. Please remember, in order to operate the bridge at 5GHz, your wireless router/access point needs to be capable of operating at 5GHz. D-Link sells a duo frequency router that can be matched with this bridge (DIR-855), or you can use a second DAP-1522 to bridge your network at 5GHz.
Set-up was easy, as my wireless router is also made by D-Link (DIR-655). I followed the prompts and had a fully functioning wireless bridge in less than 30 minutes. The DAP-1522 is compatible with almost any wireless AP using 802.11g or n, but some of D-Link’s proprietary wireless networking enhancements may not be available. Many of these enhancements are designed to improve performance of media streaming. If interested, you can read more on D-Links website. Streaming of audio and video across my network has been seamless. No hang-ups or stutters. I am very pleased.
From an esthetic point of view, the DAP-1522 uses internal antennas (like the Apple TV); so it fits in tight spaces and is more pleasing to the eye. It would be nice if you had an option to dim the LED’s or turn them off in order to help it “disappear”. Time to bring out my roll of electrical tape.
I am very happy with my purchase and with the move towards connecting everything to the home network; even TV’s are being equipped with Ethernet ports, I think multi-port wireless bridges are going to be a requirement for many.
Happy to answer any questions about the DAP-1522 or my configuration.
