Need info on wireless access points

[Bill Bogstad]

On Sun, Dec 28, 2008 at 3:13 PM, Bill Horne <bill-CIZd1d4GmLheoWH0uzbU5w at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> Thanks for reading this.
>
> My sister has moved into elderly housing, and she's in need of an
> internet connection. She has a neighbor who's willing to share a WiFi
> setup, and thus she needs an access point that can be used as a client.
>
> I'm looking at the Linksys WAP54G, since I believe it can be set to use
> only one antenna, and that's important because it might take a "pringles
> can" antenna to make it from my sister's apartment to her neighbor's
> house. I've used a WAP54B in the past, and liked the ease-of-use.

It's not completely clear to me what you are trying to accomplish or what your
sister's neighbor already has.

The typical scenario is that her neighbor has some kind of Internet
(DSL/Cable modem)
connection to which a NAT-based wireless router is currently attached.
 If this is the case
then I don't understand why your sister can't just act as a client
which connects to her neighbor's
router.  If her neighbor doesn't have a router then, you are depending
the neighbor's ISP being
able/willing to support more then one IP address per account which is
often either not available
or adds monthly fees.  If you think you'll need a directional
connection from your sister's client machine, you might look into USB
connected adapters.  I've seen all in one units with USB cables
and directional antennas built in which should allow you to orient it
to point appropriately.

Bill Bogstad