Ask the Wi-Fi Guru: Range Extension, Bridging, Mixing WPA and WPA2 (you can't)

"A: Few home users may be familiar with WPA-Enterprise—the corporate variation on WPA security. In an Enterprise configuration, passkey authentication is not performed by the router, but is handed off to an external machine running a RADIUS server. In a situation like Dennis's, this is done so that the authentication is tied into the organization's Windows domain controller.

"Some wireless clients do not support WPA-Enterprise mode, the Linksys WVC200 IP camera being one such example. Not to be flippant, but the easiest solution is probably to buy a new camera—one with WPA-Enterprise support.

"But if we want to get all MacGyver about it, one idea does spring to mind. A router running DD-WRT or Tomato could be configured as a wireless bridge to the company's network. In this setup, the bridge router would authenticate via WPA-Enterprise. Any devices wired to the bridge router—say, this camera—should then be online. Of course, if you don't already have a router lying around that supports DD-WRT or Tomato, buying one simply to bootstrap this old camera may be seen as a stretch over in Accounting."

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