What should I buy to extend SAME wi-fi SSID using prewired CAT 6 throughout house?

[Wolfspawn]

I already have my house prewired with CAT 6. I want to plug in some sort of extender in a corner of my house, plug that device basically directly into the router (via prewire) and extend the same signal. Everything I see is powerline (which i dont need because i have more reliable prewires).I dont want an "extender" that takes a bad wifi and rebroadcasts it. I have tried to buy another router and setting it as an access point (i am not very good at that stuff) and after 2 nights of playing with it, I realized it didn't appear compatible to do it because it on had a bridge and router mode and no "AP" mode... Can anyone give a decent solution?

 

[jkhoward]

You can setup another router and use the same SSID on a different channel. You will need to plug the ethernet cable into one of the switch ports (1-4) and not the "Internet" port. Configure the signal to use the same SSID and make sure that the channel is set to at least 5 different from the other. It it best to use channels 1, 6, and 11. I would also recommend downloading a Wi-Fi scanner to identify which signals would be best to avoid your neighbors signals. Router b should NOT handle DHCP, that should be handled by router A. You also want to assign a static IP address outside of the DHCP scope to router a and b.

This setup basically turns router b into a wireless switch.

 

[Wolfspawn]

Ok. I just need to find a router that has "access point" as an option, which I failed to do last one I bought.
What is outside the scope (static IP). I just thought I chose 192.168.1.2 for router B. What should I set it too?
Thank you for your reply

 

[photonboy]

You would buy a "Wi Fi Range Extender".

It plugs into the wall for power, but has an Ethernet connection. So you would run a small ethernet cable to connect those two.
Example:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/netgear-universal-wi-fi-range-extender-with-ethernet-port-white/2733324.p?skuId=2733324

(Having said that, you may not need the extender to get sufficient wi-fi bandwidth. I have a cheap $20 USB adapter and can get 7MBps which is enough to stream BluRay video uncompressed)

 

[photonboy]

Ok. I just need to find a router that has "access point" as an option, which I failed to do last one I bought.
What is outside the scope (static IP). I just thought I chose 192.168.1.2 for router B. What should I set it too?
Thank you for your reply

NO.
As I just said, you would buy a Range Extender. Buying a router can do the same thing but it costs more and is more complicated to setup.

Again though, make sure you NEED it. Your bottleneck may be elsewhere such as the ISP allocated bandwidth.

 

[Wolfspawn]

It's more of desire. My router was kind of forced to be installed in a closet and the opposite end of the house gets barely a bar and I'd like to be able to access it easily outside in the yard as well.
I avoided the range extender because I thought it just took the existing bad signal and boosted it (kind of like rebroadcasting a crappy static signal just making louder static).
So, the range extender you linked takes the hardline signal from my prewired ethernet and broadcasts a full signal from where it is plugged in?

Thank you so much

 

[jkhoward]

They do make extenders that run off of Ethernet cables. I have had nothing but bad experience with these devices which is why I recommended a router.

The DHCP scope is a range of IP addresses that a router can assign to devices. Generally, a home router will have 100 addresses within the scope and 100 outside of the scope. For example, 192.168.1.100 - 192.168.1.200. Anything outside of that scope is static, and wont conflict with DHCP. If you assigned router B a 192.168.1.110 address DHCP may assign that same address to your phone and muck things up.

 

[kanewolf]

Home WIFI gear won't allow seamless roaming between WIFI sources in most cases. Having the same SSID has some positive and some negative aspects. I recommend using unique SSID for each WIFI source and allowing the user of the device (who is MUCH smarter than WIFI software) to choose the appropriate WIFI source.
I personally like Asus routers because the firmware has a one button option for toggling from router to access point mode. I don't recommend anything that is billed as an "extender". You want an access point.

 

[nigelivey]

Just buy an access point and save all the fuss.

 

[Wolfspawn]

Thank you Kane. I bought an extender like a previous poster suggested and.... just like I was fearing, it just extends a crappy wifi signal, the ethernet port does not take the signal from my router.... ugh... have to return it.
I will buy a router and set as AP... thank you all..

 

[nigelivey]

Ok. I just need to find a router that has "access point" as an option, which I failed to do last one I bought.
What is outside the scope (static IP). I just thought I chose 192.168.1.2 for router B. What should I set it too?
Thank you for your reply

NO.
As I just said, you would buy a Range Extender. Buying a router can do the same thing but it costs more and is more complicated to setup.

Again though, make sure you NEED it. Your bottleneck may be elsewhere such as the ISP allocated bandwidth.

Thats just very poor advice sorry.