Hey Stu,
I don't think this will work as the 871w will only work as a RootAP.But the 871w does have good coverage that should reach most areas of the house especially with the use of external antennas. Have a look;
The Cisco 800 Series Integrated Services Routers are interoperable with the other Cisco wireless products and Wi-Fi certified products. ISRs will always work in Root AP mode and do not support Wireless Uplink to another AP.
802.11b basic range is 50 to 100 feet, and a 300-ft maximum. Within a typical office environment, most access points can provide good wireless coverage up to 150 feet. 802.11b uses the same radio signaling frequency---2.4 GHz---as the original 802.11 standard.
To extend the coverage of integrated access points in the Cisco 870 Series, customers can choose from different externally mounted antennas to allow the router to be located in one area (such as behind a counter) while coverage can be focused and extended to other areas (such as wall or ceiling placement).
From this good Q&A doc;
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/routers/ps380/products_qanda_item0900aecd8028a982.shtml
Hope this helps!
Rob
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