Help on double wireless networks

[flamer7]

Hey there guys, for the past few days I've had a tough time trying to figure out how to get my wireless repeater to work, and I finally did it, and now there are two wireless networks in different parts of my house. I have all my devices: laptop, ipad, phone connected to both networks. However, when I moved from one part of my house to another, my laptop and phone do not switch to the stronger network. Even though the further network still has 2 bars of connection, the nearer one has 4 bars. So is there any way to have it constantly switch on its own, according to the strength of the signal?

 

When I was trying to get the repeater to work, I set both the main router and repeater to the same SSID, which caused many problems, such as getting absolutely terrible signal in one room because it did not automatically change the network, however now there are two different networks, which allows me to change. However, how do I make it change automatically?

 

(Sorry for two similar paragraphs)

[skywake]

 

Ideally you should be using the same SSID. There's a good article on smallnetbuilder about this here:

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/basics/wireless-basics/32751-snb-answer-guy-how-many-ssids-is-too-many

 

this is the most relevant part of it with the really important bits in bold:

Many AP's offer the ability to set a second SSID for the 5 GHz radio. This is indeed an option and one worth considering. With the additional AP's discussed in Level 3, we can assign even more SSID's. Some folks have legitimate reasons for explicitly controlling which STAs associate with which AP's. This is a valid approach, but brings on additional complexity when additional AP's or wireless extenders are deployed to improve coverage.

 

The challenge here is when using unique SSID's, one is telling the client that there are many networks out there. So moving from one SSID to the next now becomes a very expensive (in time) transition. The client has to detach from the current ESS/BSS, join a completely new BSS and request new routing information. Clients generally don't want to do this. So they'll camp on the current BSS until they lose its signal completely, then go back into system selection and find a good BSS to join up with.

 

Note there are some STAs that just refuse to move when one would expect them to. Or they select a band in a dual band deployment that they perhaps shouldn't. This is a bug. You can try updating the client drivers/firmware perhaps and if this doesn't fix things, report a bug to the vendor.

 

I know that saying "your devices aren't behaving" doesn't help much but that's just how it is. That said some devices let you control how aggressively they roam. In Windows for example you can dive into your adapter settings and change it pretty easily. There are also apps in Android that do the same but I personally haven't had much luck with them. iOS and other devices? I think you're out of luck entirely.

 

Another thing you can maybe do is restrict the number of devices that can connect to one of your access points. The extender for example, you could set it so only 3-5 devices can connect to it if it has that option. Or do some MAC address filtering so that particular devices won't connect to one AP or the other. 

[EIijah]

How is the repeater setup? surely you could have it act as the same network

[flamer7]

 

Ideally you should be using the same SSID. There's a good article on smallnetbuilder about this here:

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/basics/wireless-basics/32751-snb-answer-guy-how-many-ssids-is-too-many

 

this is the most relevant part of it with the really important bits in bold:

 

I know that saying "your devices aren't behaving" doesn't help much but that's just how it is. That said some devices let you control how aggressively they roam. In Windows for example you can dive into your adapter settings and change it pretty easily. There are also apps in Android that do the same but I personally haven't had much luck with them. iOS and other devices? I think you're out of luck entirely.

 

Another thing you can maybe do is restrict the number of devices that can connect to one of your access points. The extender for example, you could set it so only 3-5 devices can connect to it if it has that option. Or do some MAC address filtering so that particular devices won't connect to one AP or the other. 

 

 

 

How is the repeater setup? surely you could have it act as the same network

Yes, at first, it was set as the same network. However, I don't think it changed on its own at all, because my sister's room, which is RIGHT BESIDE the room where the repeater is, was getting 1bar, and may not even be one bar sometimes. So it was hopeless, the only way was to create two different networks.

[skywake]

Yes, at first, it was set as the same network. However, I don't think it changed on its own at all, because my sister's room, which is RIGHT BESIDE the room where the repeater is, was getting 1bar, and may not even be one bar sometimes. So it was hopeless, the only way was to create two different networks.

Basically you can have one or the other but not both. You can have multiple SSIDs and live with the fact that your devices will hold onto an average signal for as long as they can. Alternatively you can have a single SSID for the ability to roam freely and accept that some devices don't play nicely with multiple APs. Those are the options

[flamer7]

Basically you can have one or the other but not both. You can have multiple SSIDs and live with the fact that your devices will hold onto an average signal for as long as they can. Alternatively you can have a single SSID for the ability to roam freely and accept that some devices don't play nicely with multiple APs. Those are the options

The thing is, when I have only a single SSID, the phone does not connect to the nearer, stronger connection, and instead stays on the terrible faraway router connection. How do I fix this? I would much rather have just one SSID!

[techguru]

The thing is, when I have only a single SSID, the phone does not connect to the nearer, stronger connection, and instead stays on the terrible faraway router connection. How do I fix this? I would much rather have just one SSID!

disable any security on the wireless ap's...and test it

[flamer7]

disable any security on the wireless ap's...and test it

What do you mean disable security? Like, make it an open network instead of WPA2? That's not very safe though?

[techguru]

What do you mean disable security? Like, make it an open network instead of WPA2? That's not very safe though?

yes..totally disable security on the router and ap and test if the connection works properly

also..maybe reset the router to defaults

and upgrade its firmware

 

if its ddwrt compatible...flash that to it to

[skywake]

The thing is, when I have only a single SSID, the phone does not connect to the nearer, stronger connection, and instead stays on the terrible faraway router connection. How do I fix this? I would much rather have just one SSID!

As I said earlier some devices refuse to roam. They'll just remain connected to the first AP they connect to until the signal drops completely. If you have an iPhone then there's not much you can do about it. If you have an Android device you can get apps that will force your phone to move to a better signal quicker but personally I've found them to be more trouble than they're worth.

 

There's no simple solution to it but I would still recommend going with just one SSID. If you're having trouble roaming with just one SSID then adding a second is only going to make things worse.

[flamer7]

As I said earlier some devices refuse to roam. They'll just remain connected to the first AP they connect to until the signal drops completely. If you have an iPhone then there's not much you can do about it. If you have an Android device you can get apps that will force your phone to move to a better signal quicker but personally I've found them to be more trouble than they're worth.

 

There's no simple solution to it but I would still recommend going with just one SSID. If you're having trouble roaming with just one SSID then adding a second is only going to make things worse.

Yeah it's so dang troublesome. Now I'm having terrible spikes in my games, and my skype calls won't even work! I dont think the issue is on the providers side, so it probably is due to my routers. 

 

My routers are Linksys E1200 and Asus RT-N12HP. The Asus is the repeater, and I have no idea what the user and password for the Linksys is. Can you help?