Using old access points to make a mesh network

[Dhermesh]

I live In a 4 story all concrete and cement house, and to counter the fact that our wifi becomes really slow when you're behind a wall, we have wired access points in every room. Right now we have multiple wifi SSIDs like -"a's room", "b's room", etc. Is there any way i can turn these access points in a giant wifi mesh with just 1 SSID? kinda like how hotels do it.
Our main router is the Linksys Max-Stream EA7500 http://amzn.in/2rcrqQ9 its in the basement.
I am planning on getting new access points, because the ones i use now the D-Link DWL-G700AP http://a.co/i4V1yL6 are really old and don't go over 40mbps. I get about 150mbps wired, and am planning to switch over to a gigabit connection in a couple months. So any new access point suggestions would be really helpful.
Thanks for your help

 

[bill001g]

I suspect you can't do what you really mean.....I want seamless roaming so I can walk between rooms and it will just switch.

To a point you can do it by setting the SSID and key passwords the same. All that does is though is prevent you from having to manually change the connection.

Problem is the end device now does it and it is really really stupid. Actually the problem is it only has a single radio and it can not scan for other networks while it is being used. It will stay connected to the first device it find and will not search for another until the signal level drops below some value. You can connect to one AP walk to the other room and place it on top of the second AP and if the signal is even partially usable from the first it will not switch over.

Even most the so called "mesh" system have this problem. The problem is not in the router/ap side of things it is because the end device not the router/ap is in control of this function.

In most cases when it chooses wrong you have to stop and restart the wifi on the device and it will pick the closest one...most the time. I tend to prefer different SSID so I know exactly where I am connecting but that is purely a personnel choice.

You have to ask yourself how often do you actually walk around your house doing something that you can not just reset the wifi. I always envision the idiot staring at his phone and falling down the steps.

The closest system that is affordable is from ubiquiti. Their AP can be controlled by a central software. They give this controller program away for free. The high end systems from say cisco or alctel have much more advanced controls but also cost as much as a large car.

The system from ubiquiti though is not actually seamless you will take a couple second glitch. All it does is when it thinks a different AP would be better it will force a disconnect to the end device. The end device then scans and hopefully picks a better one. It really is just a automated way of you stop restart the wifi.

 

[failboat]

I'd buy new wifi APs if you have 150Mbs. old stuff will bottleneck it.
mesh is for when you don't have wires. avoid this.
I second the unifi aps. You can configure one and push to all.
their newest ap just came out. it's kinda pricey. the $80 ap lites are great.
2x2 and 4x4 mimo aren't on a lot of devices. neither is mu-mimo or ac wave2.
if you buy the high end phones it might be worth it to go for the nanohd.
singles come with POE injectors. packs don't.

https://help.ubnt.com/hc/en-us/articles/221321728-UniFi-Understanding-and-Implementing-minimum-RSSI

run congestion and adjust power to avoid overlap. RF mapping looks really cool too.

https://unifi-nanohd.ubnt.com/

https://www.techrepublic.com/article/6-things-you-need-to-know-about-802-11ac-wave-2/

 

[androbourne]

Yeah you have to realize that APs use different signals and types to connect. So just putting a bunch of old APs together wont allow you to obtain a MESH\Seemless connection.

This is why APs like Unifi have both a standard and a MESH version. Mesh version is more costly but does a few things. Ontop of allowing a Mesh network it also allows for an AP to also be a repeater for another AP. Which you can't do with a standard unifi AP.

I have deployed the Unifi AP Mesh and would definitely recommend it over most other APs (Unifi and Rukus are great).

 

[Dhermesh]

I suspect you can't do what you really mean.....I want seamless roaming so I can walk between rooms and it will just switch.

To a point you can do it by setting the SSID and key passwords the same. All that does is though is prevent you from having to manually change the connection.

Problem is the end device now does it and it is really really stupid. Actually the problem is it only has a single radio and it can not scan for other networks while it is being used. It will stay connected to the first device it find and will not search for another until the signal level drops below some value. You can connect to one AP walk to the other room and place it on top of the second AP and if the signal is even partially usable from the first it will not switch over.

Even most the so called "mesh" system have this problem. The problem is not in the router/ap side of things it is because the end device not the router/ap is in control of this function.

In most cases when it chooses wrong you have to stop and restart the wifi on the device and it will pick the closest one...most the time. I tend to prefer different SSID so I know exactly where I am connecting but that is purely a personnel choice.

You have to ask yourself how often do you actually walk around your house doing something that you can not just reset the wifi. I always envision the idiot staring at his phone and falling down the steps.

The closest system that is affordable is from ubiquiti. Their AP can be controlled by a central software. They give this controller program away for free. The high end systems from say cisco or alctel have much more advanced controls but also cost as much as a large car.

The system from ubiquiti though is not actually seamless you will take a couple second glitch. All it does is when it thinks a different AP would be better it will force a disconnect to the end device. The end device then scans and hopefully picks a better one. It really is just a automated way of you stop restart the wifi.

This actually made me want to drop the idea of trying to make a mesh network, I don't carry anything other than my phone when i walk around the house and i reckon switching it to a new network manually isn't that big of a deal.

 

[Dhermesh]

I'd buy new wifi APs if you have 150Mbs. old stuff will bottleneck it.

Can you recommend some good APs? preferably something that gets as close to gigabit speeds without breaking the bank
Thanks

 

[Dhermesh]

I came across dd-wrt while looking for the answers, is it possible to use it to try to create a mesh network?

 

[bill001g]

The key feature a AP has that a router running as a AP does not is most true AP are PoE powered. Since you don't have to find both a ethernet jack and a power connection PoE gives more flexibility in placement. Most other feature there is not much difference between running a router as a AP and using a actual AP.

If you want actual AP ubiquiti ones tend to be the cheapest, that are about the cost of a mid priced router with similar radio features.

You will find no wifi that can even close to a gigabit. Most get in the 350mbps range on many of the testing sites. Even this is not a real number since only 1/2 the wifi connection. Your end device is the other half and most do not have 4 antenna and support for things like mu-mimo and other features routers use to get the high speeds. Now days the majority of the restrictions are because of the end device....I was surprised the number of brand new cellphones that do not even support 802.11ac.

Almost all the fancy features in dd-wrt are related to the router part of the box. When you run in AP mode all that functionality is not used. The vast majority of the wifi radio function is done by the radio chips themselves. The router OS loads firmware to the radio chip. This is a binary file that comes from the chipset vendor. The FCC has really cracked down on the ability do anything with the software that runs in the radio chips. People used to do bad things like change the power levels to illegal values.

 

[failboat]

I came across dd-wrt while looking for the answers, is it possible to use it to try to create a mesh network?

mesh is using wireless to connect two aps instead of wiring them to the same switch.
this will congest 33-66%+ of your band due to rebroadcasting. not to mention your wireless doesn't go through your walls well.
if you want 1Gbs primarily for wifi, then I'd wait on upgrading. unless you have a brand new $1000 phone with ac wave2 it's probably only going to hit 150Mbs.

ddwrt is nice for routing smaller Mbs internet. it adds in a lot of features not commonly found on cheaper routers. it's not going to be good for 1Gbs. Unifi APs will have much better wifi.

 

[androbourne]

You might be better off getting something like a Linksys router with Wifi and then purchasing a wifi extender if the coverage area and connected devices isnt too much.

With this method you can obtain something similar to a mesh\seamless setup for cheap. But of course with limitations.

I personally use a Linksys AC router with a Linksys extender to cover the living room area. Works great and is seemless due to how the connection integrates with the Linksys router. (since they are the same manufacture and the Linksys AC\AP router has this feature built in).

Really depends on the coverage area you need and how many devices you are planning to connect to it. If its just a few. This option is cheap and it works.