Question Huawei Router/Modem with Asus AC68U Router on same network AP vs Extender Mode?

[lukaspechar]

Hi,

I've recently changed ISP who have installed an LTE-based router-modem as a main gateway. I also have an extra Asus AC68U router (which I highly recommend!) and I have achieved the following network setup: Current Setup. The secondary 192.168.1.2 router is connected in AP (Access point) mode. I have tried the Extender mode but there are two very thick walls between the routers which are dropping the signal by roughly 30% which is why an ethernet cable is connecting the routers through the wall.

What I would like to do is have the same Wifi SSIDs but make sure the secondary router is getting it's "internet juice" from the ethernet cable not from the Wifi signal from 192.168.1.1 which is I believe what the Extender mode does. I think this is what I've almost achieved (with the exception of equal SSIDs) but I read I should not use the same channels for the WIFI networks both 2.4GHz and 5GHz. Any guidance to what these channels should be once I use the same SSID on for 2.4 and another for 5Ghz? The Huawei router is operating 5GHz on channel 56 (Auto channel selection mode) and 2.4GHz on channel 5 (Auto channel selection mode). The Asus is set to Auto channel selection mode as well. There are a lot of channels available and I'm not sure how they differ. How will the Wifi connected devices switch to the optimal signal or this something I cannot control?

If you suggest an alternative approach please do not hesitate to suggest it. Feel free to edit the diagram if necessary

Many thanks in advance

 

[bill001g]

Having the same of different SSID is mostly a matter of preference. Having the same SSID does not mean the devices will roam between the 2 radio sources as you move. It mostly works but at times it will stay connected to a poor radio source and you will have to start and stop the wifi to force it to change.

You have much less radio channels than you think. On 2.4g the channels represent only 5mhz of bandwidth and the radios want to use 40mhz....ie 8 channels...and there is only 60mhz total so you will overlap no matter what you do. On 5g the channels are 20mhz wide but 802.11ac uses 80mhz. This is a block of 4 channels. There are only 2 block that size available so you can manually map them but this assume you have no neighbors also trying to use wifi. The new tri band routers people have have 2 5g radios so a single device will use almost all the 2.4g and 5g bandwidth. You have people putting in those mesh systems which put multiple radios on all the bands.

You pretty much just have to blindly set radio channels and hope it works today and see if your neighbor changes something tomorrow that breaks it.

Just one of those things you live with. Your design is as good as your are going to get it. Trying to run in wifi repeater mode would just make the radio issues even worse.

 

[Ralston18]

Note: Current Setup/Flowchart link resulted in "Error Loading File", "Access is denied". Could not see the central area of the network setup.

That said:

Just an open question/suggestion: would powerline adapters be at all viable in some manner?

 

[lukaspechar]

Having the same of different SSID is mostly a matter of preference. Having the same SSID does not mean the devices will roam between the 2 radio sources as you move. It mostly works but at times it will stay connected to a poor radio source and you will have to start and stop the wifi to force it to change.

You have much less radio channels than you think. On 2.4g the channels represent only 5mhz of bandwidth and the radios want to use 40mhz....ie 8 channels...and there is only 60mhz total so you will overlap no matter what you do. On 5g the channels are 20mhz wide but 802.11ac uses 80mhz. This is a block of 4 channels. There are only 2 block that size available so you can manually map them but this assume you have no neighbors also trying to use wifi. The new tri band routers people have have 2 5g radios so a single device will use almost all the 2.4g and 5g bandwidth. You have people putting in those mesh systems which put multiple radios on all the bands.

You pretty much just have to blindly set radio channels and hope it works today and see if your neighbor changes something tomorrow that breaks it.

Just one of those things you live with. Your design is as good as your are going to get it. Trying to run in wifi repeater mode would just make the radio issues even worse.

Thanks for you quick reply. I'm glad I practically nailed the network layout. I will probably stick with the different named SSIDs like that I can switch manually. No big deal doing that

 

[lukaspechar]

Note: Current Setup/Flowchart link resulted in "Error Loading File", "Access is denied". Could not see the central area of the network setup.

That said:

Just an open question/suggestion: would powerline adapters be at all viable in some manner?

Thanks for your reply, I tried the link and it is working. Probably some geo-blocking? I've thought of that, the issue is the plugs are not on the same circuit. The apartment I live in has an old electrical system so no luck there.