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I was able to set up a LAN with the following configuration :

  • A main computer (Windows PC) with a DHCP and DNS server, who is configured to have a static IP address
  • Three devices (embedded Linux) who communicate with the PC using its IP address
  • Each device is connected to the main computer using Ethernet (3 Ethernet links)
  • There is no Internet

I want to switch this setup to a WLAN. This is what I thought I would do :

  • The PC will be connected to a wireless access point (Wi-Fi link).
  • Each device will be connected to a wireless repeater (Ethernet link), and each wireless repeater will communicate with the PC through the WAP.
  • There is still no Internet connection.

My questions are then :

  • Can the above configuration work ? I mean is it possible to integrate a WAP without having an internet connection ? Can all WAP handle this ?
  • Is it simplier to use a Wi-Fi router instead of a WAP ?

Thanks. :)

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  • Be aware that range extenders cut your bandwidth by at least half because the radios cannot both send and receive at the same time. Also, those and your "Wi-Fi router" are consumer-grade devices that are off-topic here.
    – Ron Maupin ♦
    Jan 9, 2020 at 1:06
  • Yes. Sure. Even have the WAP act as the DHCP server(some have the capacity).
    – Avocado_man
    Jan 10, 2020 at 4:15
  • Did any answer help you? If so, you should accept the answer so that the question doesn't keep popping up forever, looking for an answer. Alternatively, you can post and accept your own answer.
    – Ron Maupin ♦
    Dec 17, 2020 at 14:55

2 Answers 2

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Yes. A wireless access point is just a layer-2 device, comparable to an Ethernet switch (assuming you enable peer-to-peer communication). There is no requirement that you have internet connectivity. In fact, you may already have been in situations where your home internet went down but you were still able to access the printer via the WiFi.

The only complications are:

  1. Providing DHCP (or some other way of assigning IP addresses) to the clients on your WiFi network
  2. Some home WiFi devices -expect- the internet to be functional and may “helpfully” alter their behavior when the internet is not available.

With enterprise gear you could provide DHCP addresses and designate a subnet without a default route on the WiFi. That way if some of your hosts had a different default route to the internet they would still function. Some consumer WiFi routers might give you enough knobs to do this.

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Yes, you can! Provided that those devices belong to the same subnet, there is no need for a router. Depending on the DHCP server you are using, you can configure your DHCP server without a default gateway or a dns server.

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