Wireless bridge acting up, really strange issue?

Question

I set up my network as follows (I do not have a need for different VLANs or to segment/subnet my network as I only have about 10 clients on the network). I have a router/firewall that is assigning IP addresses via DHCP (running ClearOS), to this I have attached a wireless router acting as a switch (just broadcasting SSID with no regard to assigning addresses, it's acting like a "dumb switch" merging the wireless clients right into regular network traffic). On the router (ClearOS) I am running a RADIUS server (I use WPA2 Enterprise for the wireless network). This works fine, except in one situation: I attempted to create a wireless bridge to connect a downstairs printer (ethernet) to the network. The wireless router I used has a "Bridge Repeater Mode", I can see the router perfectly at all times however the printer's reliability is crappy at best. The printer is sometimes accessible from client PCs, but not at all times. I would like to be able to access the printer at all times (I know I can access the router at the times when the printer is malfunctioning). The router is assigned an IP address, as is the printer, and I can ping the router from my machine (the one I wish to print on) but not the printer. I can also ping the printer from the wireless router it is connected to. Anyone have any idea what's going on? Hopefully someone can help me figure it out. Thanks!

Update:

I understand that a wired connection is much better. However, I have no alternative, there are no cables running to where the printer is, I guess I could cut a phone line and crimp a 10mbps cable from it (just throw an RJ45 instead of the other head). However, I would prefer to be able to use the wireless connection, it works perfectly fine all the time from desktop PCs, but for some odd reason won't work from a laptop (printing via wifi).

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

Your initial setup is totally wrong. You are better to either use a wireless router only plus a network switch for expansion of LAN ports, or  plain router plus a switch and then a wireless access point. Your setup will always run slower and can cause conflicts because of the double routing the second one will create. Ideally you can use a wired connection to the most central place for the access point. If there is a range problem the wireless bridge is useless. You need a wireless repeater which is standalone and only requires power. In which case you might want the router nearer one end of the building and the repeater nearer the other.

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Wireless bridge acting up, really strange issue?

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