Hi guys, I don't want to hijack a different thread where this came up, but it's interesting nonetheless.
BACKGROUND: DIR-655 upstairs attached to comcast modem. Another Zyxel router in AP mode downstairs since the DIR-655 wasn't making it through the stone walls very well, even though "downstairs" is only 20-30 feet in a straight line...
Anyhow, there's a wireless printer downstairs, and my wife always prints to it from her laptop (wireless, of course). In fact, the printer not picking up the DIR-655 signal consistently was the main reason for getting the Zyxel. So all has been well for months. The wife just got a new laptop- hooked it up to the downstairs SSID; all is running well, printing, internet, etc. Then one day she can't print. Figured it was a windows 8 issue. Monkeyed with the new-to-me OS. Finally figured out that she couldn't even ping the printer, and it didn't even show up in her ARP table. Still thinking it's an OS problem, though. After every OS lead was exhausted, I set my sights on the DIR-655. Both devices show logged in via DNS reservations. Why can't they talk to one another??
So I reboot the Zyxel just for completeness' sake. Same thing. I upgrade the Zyxel firmware. Same thing. So I'm ready to buy another new DIR-655, remembering a past weird problem that was fixed via new hardware. So I figure I'll take the Zyxel out of the picture altogether to see if that helps. I wasn't too optimistic. Powered off the Zyxel; changed the laptop and printer to both attach via the DIR-655 and...it printed!! So WTF is wrong with the Zyxel???
I start hunting through the Zyxel config page, and I notice this flag which is unchecked: "
Communication between wireless clients with different SSIDs". No, that can't be it, I say- the devices couldn't see each other when they were both attached to the Zyxel SSID. AND, since I'm running the Zyxel in AP mode, I thought that all routing would go through the DIR-655 anyway. But what the heck. I check the box, attach them both to the Zyxel SSID again and...printing!!
Now, this doesn't make sense on a couple levels for me- it had always worked before (with no intervening changes) and my "ass"umption is that in AP mode communication would be done at the router, not the AP. But it's now working, the wife is off my case (about this anyway) so I'll leave well enough alone....