Setting Up 2 APs (Access Points) To Same SSID

[Azndude263]

I live in a small 3 bedroom apartment but for some reason, the signal here is terrible no matter what router I use (I've tried several different routers).

I have my comcast modem connected to a Netgear router inside the 2nd bedroom (between the master and 3rd bedroom). The signal is great in the hallway, 3rd bedroom and master bedroom but once I go to the living room/kitchen area, I'm down to like 3-4 bars. To my knowledge, 3-4 bars is still pretty good for streaming simple youtube videos but the internet is so slow, I can't even watch simple youtube videos without waiting for the videos to buffer 🙁. I don't know why but it's the same case with different routers I've tried like Linksys, Netgear, Trendnet, and Medialink. So my conclusion is, it must be how the apartment is built.

My brother has his computer in the living room connected to my Netgear router inside my 2nd bedroom via a Cat5 cable (30 ft long cable -_-).

So what I'm planning to do is, buy another router, hook his cat5 cable to the new router, then disable DHCP on the new router and give it a static IP, then hook his computer to the new router with another cat5 cable

My question is, if I set up the new router with the same SSID, encryption type & passcode (AES WPA2), will that give me a problem? Will this setup basically give my home 1 super SSID that I can use throughout the apartment? Since I still get 3-4 bars in the living room/kitchen area, will I be able to roam smoothly wherever I go? Or do I need to set the 2nd router with a different SSID and manually switch whenever I roam?

 

[drtweak]

The only issue you will have is that it may have trouble switching between the two AP's which ever one it detects first doesn't matter how close it will connect to that one first.

 

[Azndude263]

That's what I was wondering 🙁 because since both will give me at least 3 bars, I don't know if when I roam, it will actually switch

 

[bill001g]

It is hard to make them roam. They do it based on signal strength which you can change in the network settings. The default setting is to pick the strongest and then not change until the signal gets unusable and then again pick the strongest. The risk you take setting the point that it goes and looks for a new signal is it may flap back and forth. The flapping itself would not be a issue if the PC did not have to renegotiate the encryption keys which can take a few seconds.

Generally if you have skilled users you are better off using different SSID and let the person make the choice as to which is best and when to switch. It is not hard but some people would rather not be bothered learning how to change networks so in those cases you just live with PC not always using the best connection.

 

[Azndude263]

So you think I should just let up the 2nd router with a different SSID and switch between the 2 SSIDs manually when I roam?

 

[drtweak]

Yea i would do that. I had one client who had a router and a SP in the same office with the same AP name. Even though his laptop was 2 feet from the AP it kept picking up the very weak signal from the router. I then renamed the two different SSID's

 

[jakeBauer]

I live in a small 3 bedroom apartment but for some reason, the signal here is terrible no matter what router I use (I've tried several different routers).

I have my comcast modem connected to a Netgear router inside the 2nd bedroom (between the master and 3rd bedroom). The signal is great in the hallway, 3rd bedroom and master bedroom but once I go to the living room/kitchen area, I'm down to like 3-4 bars. To my knowledge, 3-4 bars is still pretty good for streaming simple youtube videos but the internet is so slow, I can't even watch simple youtube videos without waiting for the videos to buffer 🙁. I don't know why but it's the same case with different routers I've tried like Linksys, Netgear, Trendnet, and Medialink. So my conclusion is, it must be how the apartment is built.

My brother has his computer in the living room connected to my Netgear router inside my 2nd bedroom via a Cat5 cable (30 ft long cable -_-).

So what I'm planning to do is, buy another router, hook his cat5 cable to the new router, then disable DHCP on the new router and give it a static IP, then hook his computer to the new router with another cat5 cable

My question is, if I set up the new router with the same SSID, encryption type & passcode (AES WPA2), will that give me a problem? Will this setup basically give my home 1 super SSID that I can use throughout the apartment? Since I still get 3-4 bars in the living room/kitchen area, will I be able to roam smoothly wherever I go? Or do I need to set the 2nd router with a different SSID and manually switch whenever I roam?

If your going to run two Wireless routers/APs under the same SSID you want to place one SSID in a different Channel.

A device will connect to the strongest signal also some devices have roaming.