[SOLVED] 2 WAP’s in home.

[Wildduk]

Hello. I my modem/router in the basement. 1 want to set up a WAP on the 2nd and 3rd floors. I will probably use routers that can be configured as WAP’s. Is this the right was to go about getting better WiFi throughout the house?
If I do this, do I make the WiFi name and passwords the same?

Thaks

 

[kanewolf]

Hello. I my modem/router in the basement. 1 want to set up a WAP on the 2nd and 3rd floors. I will probably use routers that can be configured as WAP’s. Is this the right was to go about getting better WiFi throughout the house?
If I do this, do I make the WiFi name and passwords the same?

Thaks

Do you have ethernet cabling to the basement to connect your APs back to your primary router ?

You can make the WIFI SSID and passwords the same or different. There are benefits and drawbacks to both approaches. If you make them unique, then you can target nearby devices to a specific AP. If you make them the same, then you don't have to pick which WIFI you connect to for a phone or tablet. BUT, just because you have the same SSID and password, is no guarantee that a device will choose the nearest AP. You will have to experiment. If you can turn DOWN the power on the APs, that will help. Too much overlap is where devices get confused.

 

[Ralston18]

And I will add that you can also control Roaming Aggressiveness on individual devices as well.

Experimentation - yes!

 

[Wildduk]

Do you have ethernet cabling to the basement to connect your APs back to your primary router ?

You can make the WIFI SSID and passwords the same or different. There are benefits and drawbacks to both approaches. If you make them unique, then you can target nearby devices to a specific AP. If you make them the same, then you don't have to pick which WIFI you connect to for a phone or tablet. BUT, just because you have the same SSID and password, is no guarantee that a device will choose the nearest AP. You will have to experiment. If you can turn DOWN the power on the APs, that will help. Too much overlap is where devices get confused.

Yes, there is Ethernet cable running from basement to connect devices......

Would I be better off buying a AP or is buying a wireless router and using as an AP just as good.....

Thanks...


Ralston, what is Roaming Aggresiveness?.

 

[kanewolf]

Yes, there is Ethernet cable running from basement to connect devices......

Would I be better off buying a AP or is buying a wireless router and using as an AP just as good.....

Thanks...


Ralston, what is Roaming Aggresiveness?.

If you have to buy something, that is a more difficult question. Purpose built APs have more features, but are usually more expensive. There are some great last generation routers on E-Bay for low prices. Asus RT-AC68U is a good example.

Take a look at Ubiquiti webpage and the UniFI system. That is what I have in my house. That would be an example of a WIFI "system". You can have a single dashboard and configure everything in multiple devices from that dashboard. You can start with a single AP or a single AP and POE switch (that is what I did). You can run the controller software on a laptop to do the device configuration. Then you can expand. Budget and WAF (wife acceptance factor) may be your discriminators.