Your typical wireless router has four function stuffed into one box:
Router (not needed by us in most configurations).
Multiport Switch.
DHCP server (not needed if you assign a static IPs to the DL1608 and iPads).
Wireless Access Point (or two if dual band).
It's quite possible to have those functions in separate devices.
Just for yucks I decided to switch over to a wireless AP instead of using a wireless router. I got it running tonight.
I'm now running a 5 GHz wireless AP (Buffalo WLAE-AG300N) - no router or DHCP server. The AP's web I/F is at 192.168.11.100 , I'm running these settings so I can configure it from my iPads:
DL1608 IP=192.168.0.168 Mask=255.255.240.0 Gateway=192.168.0.1
Ipad2#1 IP=192.168.0.169 (same Mask and Gateway)
Ipad2#2 IP=192.168.0.170 (same Mask and Gateway)
IpadMini IP=192.168.0.171 (same Mask and Gateway)
My biggest issue in getting it going was that I had to set a static IP on my laptop to configure the AP via wired and Windows 10 doesn't let you set static IPs (yet?). I borrowed my wife's laptop and got the WiFi turned on. Dunno why the DL1608 asks for a gateway since AFAIK it will never try to use one? Had a bit of trouble until I set the Masks the same, maybe something to do with what IP discovery (broadcast) uses? i could "see" the DL but it would say "DL1608 - Disconnected" if I tried to connect until I set the Mask in the DL the same.
I did get a second identical AP as a backup, I'll have to configure it next. FYI I paid $24 shipped for the first one and $14 shipped for the second one. Nice thing about these is no wall warts
- bad thing is they can't run both 2.4 and 5 GHz simultaneously
, not something I do anyways
.