How do WiFi repeaters work?

[Robert Moskowitz]

On 10/03/2014 09:48 AM, Timothy Murphy wrote:
> I have a no-name chinese repeater (model WN518N)
> which by sheer fluke I have got working.
>
> As far as I can see, I have now lost contact
> with the repeater itself,
> as packets simply pass through it.
> (Wireshark shows a lot of STP packets passing through.)
>
> But I'm not sure if I set it up correctly.
> My WiFi LAN is on 192.168.2.*
> and I set this repeater's IP address to 192.168.2.40 .
> Should I actually have set it to a different LAN,
> eg 192.168.10.* ?
> (I guess I could press the Reset button and start again.)
>
> Any elucidation gratefully received.
>
A real WIFi repeater is a layer 2 relay, not even a bridge.  It's IP 
address is only for configuration; it is NOT an IP router.

Note:  I work on 802 wireless standards, but do not build any of the 
equipment...