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Two APs, same SSID

Full Speed

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Jul 8, 2009
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Paradise, Newfoundland
Just got a new house and the only place Bell could install their wi-fi router was in the corner room in the basement without doing a big tear up or having me rent an extra TV box in a room I didn't need it. So on the top floor in rooms on the opposite side of the house the signal was pretty slow and weak.

I had a dlink wireless N router in storage that I wasn't using and there is an ethernet jack ran from the basement to the bedroom. The bell router is set to 192.168.2.1, so I manually set the dlink to run with the same SSID, password, and wireless channel. I changed the dlink to 192.168.2.2, disabled its DHCP, and connected it to the bell router using a LAN port.

Things seem to be fine and I'm getting 5 bars all over the house now, but I'm just wondering if this setup could cause any problems in the future. Is there a better way I should have set this up?
 

SugarJ

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Langley, BC
I have 3 wireless AP's in my house (one on each floor), but I use different SSID's. My devices pick the SSID with the strongest signal on wake up.
 

Full Speed

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That's how I had my old house setup, but now that I use laptops and tablets more often and move through the house with them, I'd rather try with something the doesn't require manually switching the wi-fi network. I'll try this for a while and see how it goes.
 

Caldezar

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Aug 21, 2008
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Edmonton Area
Your set up should be fine. But if you connect a device to the Bell router, then wander upstairs with that device, it will likely have weak signal until you disconnect and reconnect to wireless. This is because your setup likely won't allow for wandering between AP's until the signal from the initial AP is so weak that it's forced to search for a new connection. Smooth wireless repeating has always been a pain in the arse for me on home grade products. Even the DDWRT solutions are not perfect. There's some nice enterprise solutions, but that's a little on the expensive side.
 

Full Speed

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Paradise, Newfoundland
I've found that about half of my devices will automatically switch over when I move away from one and closer to the other, but things like iPads need the wireless turned off and back on again. Either way this seems like the ideal solution for now.
 

ChiliCheese

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Nov 9, 2014
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I did pretty much the same thing. Except the old router i configured as an AP is connected via powerline. They're on separate channels and it works just fine :)
 

Varroa

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Nov 26, 2007
Messages
791
Location
National Capital Region, Canada
I fooled around with multiple access points for a while. Some where using Powerline ethernet to connect to the main router, some where directly connected via a cable. In the end I junked all those and went with a single Ubiquity unifi access point. Now I have excellent coverage all over the house and no handoffs to worry about. Best $100 I ever spent (for the regular N version which is more than fast enough for regular internet, especially when you consider you get full throughput on it when compared to residential internet routers). I am planning on upgrading to the faster one eventually but for the first time in years I have been happy with my wifi in my house so I am in no rush to upgrade,,,,,,,,,yet,,,,,,
 

Full Speed

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Location
Paradise, Newfoundland
Some devices are not connecting properly. PCs and laptops may loose connection to the printer and streaming video from a mobile device to Apple TV or Chromecast only works half the time. I may look at getting a stronger AP for upstairs and just shutting off the wireless downstairs.
 

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