[SOLVED] Connect mesh network to existing router?

[ackoman]

Hello,

I'm finding my current router (a Nighthawk 4XS) is unable to provide WiFi coverage for my entire house. I've tried using other additional routers, connected to the main one via ethernet cable, to create additional WiFi zones but I've found that devices such as my phone, ipad, etc. are not capable of switching networks as you walk through the house with them, and you have to do it manually - which is a pain.

It has been suggested to me that all my problems could be solved if I invested in a mesh router and a couple of nodes dotted about the house.

This is probably a noob question - but if I were to do this, could I still keep my Nighthawk as the "main" router, dealing with all the DHCP etc? I don't really want to ditch it since I have a USB 3.0 SSD harddrive connected to it which I effectively use as a media server, which I find really useful. I don't know whether mesh routers enable you to do this. Also, I only bought the Nighthawk a year or so ago, and I am loathe to ditch it - but I would be prepared to complement it with a mesh network if they can work together.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

jra505

 

[Ralston18]

This:

"It has been suggested to me that all my problems could be solved if I invested in a mesh router and a couple of nodes dotted about the house. " Source?

Mostly marketing versus meaningful networking design/configuration.

Powerline adapters are likely to prove more viable.

My thoughts: Look into possible performance issues within the existing network.

Do you have multiple networks/subnets? If so, how are they configured.

Wireless: Frequency and channels being used?

Check the Roaming Aggressiveness on your mobile devices.

How many networked devices do you have: wired, wireless?

Are you sure that all networked devices have only one network adapter enabled (either wired or wireless - not both at the same time)?

[Side bar: I have found that attaching a USB NAS to my router (LinkSys WRT1900 AC) really slowed my network. Try temporarily disconnecting the USB NAS and do some testing over a couple of days.]

That all said remember:

Mesh (nor anything else for that matter) is a solution until the problem(s) is/are identified.

 

[SamirD]

I don't think you have to buy anything as I think you just have your other routers not set up correctly. If you have them configured as access points, you can set the ssid to be the same. Then, turn down the transmit power on all your access points until you have gaps in signal between them. Then increase it just enough that they will overlap in those gaps. Then walk around and admire your seamless roaming.

 

[ackoman]

I don't think you have to buy anything as I think you just have your other routers not set up correctly. If you have them configured as access points, you can set the ssid to be the same. Then, turn down the transmit power on all your access points until you have gaps in signal between them. Then increase it just enough that they will overlap in those gaps. Then walk around and admire your seamless roaming.

I thought I had read somewhere that Android phones were not able to work with this as a solution, as they are not "clever" enough to swap one router for another. Not without momentarily dropping altogether anyway?

 

[bill001g]

Yes that is partially true and some new fancy mesh router makes no difference at all. It is the end client that is in full control of what it connects to. It is not like a cell phone tower where the tower tell the end device what to connect to. All the so called mesh system can do is force a disconnect and hope the device will pick the correct AP. The problem is the mesh network has no idea how strong the different signals are the client can see it can only guess.

For most people it works mostly ok going from room to room. The signal level gets low so the device looks for a new one. The problem comes when people put in too much wifi and there is too much overlap. If it has a sorta average/poor signal it will not go looking for a better signal to avoid constantly bouncing around. You need to adjust the transmit power so you have the minimum overlap. This is wifi design 101 used in enterprise install.

You will never get no drop no matter what system you use. It takes time to renegotiate the encryption keys so you will always have some data loss. That is where there is some very small improvement for end devices that support so called roaming. But it is really a feature used for enterprise installs where this key renegotiation can take a couple seconds. In home use with preshared keys even without the support for roaming the key renegotitation is under 1 second. You still get data loss during that 1 second.

The main question is what are you doing that is so important that you can not tolerate these small losses. I hope you are not one of those people who thinks its a good idea to walk down the stairs staring at their phone.

The devices will generally switch to the other source if you have laid things out correctly. Even if they don't you just stop and start the wifi radio and it will connect....you are just forcing the disconnect rather than some silly mesh controller.

 

[SamirD]

I thought I had read somewhere that Android phones were not able to work with this as a solution, as they are not "clever" enough to swap one router for another. Not without momentarily dropping altogether anyway?

Technically, every device will have to drop and re-connect. The problem is that usually the signal levels are so high that they don't know to drop and connect to another. It's like Tarzan having two long vines--he'll keep riding the long one never seeing where the other one even is because it's on the ground, lol. But with two appropriately sized vines, he flies through the air with the greatest of ease. 😀

Different devices are more and less stupid, but if they have a signal--even if they can't use it--they typically won't drop it. That's the point in signal overlap, so they'll drop one and pick up another.