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Setting up a wifi repeater woes - all advice appreciated!

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Leveller

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First off, setting up a wifi repeater is one of the most ridiculously painful experiences I have ever had with tech hardware.

The needs:

... to be able to repeat the wifi output of my Netgear DG834N v1 ADSL/router to the upper floor of my house through the Edimax wireless 300M Range Extender (EW-7416APn v2). To enable my iPad2, 3DS, laptop and anything else that roams to maintain connection and not suffer dropouts.

The questions:

1. How do I know that the roaming devices are using the repeated signal from the Edimax extender and not just grasping on to the weak signal from the DG834N downstairs?

2. Some advice on the net suggest the router and the extender share the same SSID, which seems logical. However some suggest that the router and extender need to be on different SSIDs - but if this were the case surely the devices would only connect to the same SSID and ignore the other SSID?

3. If they use different SSIDs will the devices automatically pick the strongest signal and switch to whichever SSID that is?

4. Some advice suggests using the same channel number for both router and extender, which seems logical. Some advice suggests using different channel numbers for the router and extender - if using the same channel number, does this create too much data and make the connection worse?

5. If using different channel numbers, will the roaming devices automatically choose the right channel number based on connection strength?

6. While using the program WirelessMon I can see both the router and extender and their respective signal strengths, channel numbers and SSIDs - but there is no way of telling if the repeater is in fact repeating the routers signal - is there any software that will show that?

7. Is there any one trusted source for setting up a wifi repeater?

8. Will my hair grow back?
 
The questions:

1. Can't say for sure. but it should pick the stronger one by default, and swap when it gets to the stronger one.

2/3. I used a router in a shared house to get the wireless to my room better. I used a different SSID as I had trouble setting it up as just a repeater. It worked well for strength, but to swap between them you would disconnect from one, and connect to the other. Your wireless software should pick the stronger one.

4. Since you're repeating, you need to use the same channel. In businesses their wireless access points are wired to the network and can use separate channels. Because of this, there could be areas of overlap between your devices that cause lower wireless performance.

5. They would.

6. Not that I know of, but they would both show the same SSID.

7. What do you mean?

8. Probably.
 
Thanks Hybrid.

I think a lot of confusion on the net comes from people who assume a repeater is the same as an access point.

My reasoning for wanting the wifi signal repeated is so I don't have to manually disconnect and reconnect to a better signalled access point when the device won't automatically do that itself. Hence the repeating signal and no need to auto or manually reconnect.

7. Basically websites dedicated to wifi, specifically repeating, but I am generally interested in all things home network anyway. It just seems that a lot of what I've read already is confused - I'm not - but the information is. It seems a battle of wills between those talking about repeating and those misguided and talking about access points.
 
1. If they are repeating on the same SSID then the strongest one will be the one it will connect to, if not then it will pick the one you tell it to.
2. The repeater can be called anything.
3. yes, they can work without the same SSID
4. Same channel worked fine for me. choose the channel which nobody else uses and put both on that
5. only if the same SSID. or if they loose connection to the first SSID they'll switch to the second
6. No it is automatic. the devices will connect to the strongest AP.
7. If you can post some pics of your repeater setup page i can help you. Im using a sitecom repeater and it works fine
 
Bo$$ are you sure about the SSID bit? It doesn't make sense because the device will see 2 separate SSIDs but you are only connecting to the 1st. Surely it does need to be same SSID to repeat? Two different SSIDs would indicate an access point rather than a repeater?

Extender/repeater, and access points are two different subjects?
 
I have it set up in my house with 2 SSIDs, the benefit is that the devices wont keep switching between APs you can force it to connect to one of them.

With one SSID it should work too, just enables automatic switching...
Also try and post a picture of the repeater config page, ill help you set it up if you need help.

Access point is anything that can trasmit and recieve WIFI signals. (includes routers and repeaters)
Repeater can spead the internet connection/connectivity from one router to wireless devices further away.

All that needs to be done on the repeater is enter your SSID and password and set the same channel and it should work perfectly.
If you have issues i dont mind helping you out!
 
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Leveller said:
First off, setting up a wifi repeater is one of the most ridiculously painful experiences I have ever had with tech hardware.

The needs:

... to be able to repeat the wifi output of my Netgear DG834N v1 ADSL/router to the upper floor of my house through the Edimax wireless 300M Range Extender (EW-7416APn v2). To enable my iPad2, 3DS, laptop and anything else that roams to maintain connection and not suffer dropouts.

The questions:

1. How do I know that the roaming devices are using the repeated signal from the Edimax extender and not just grasping on to the weak signal from the DG834N downstairs?

2. Some advice on the net suggest the router and the extender share the same SSID, which seems logical. However some suggest that the router and extender need to be on different SSIDs - but if this were the case surely the devices would only connect to the same SSID and ignore the other SSID?

3. If they use different SSIDs will the devices automatically pick the strongest signal and switch to whichever SSID that is?

4. Some advice suggests using the same channel number for both router and extender, which seems logical. Some advice suggests using different channel numbers for the router and extender - if using the same channel number, does this create too much data and make the connection worse?

5. If using different channel numbers, will the roaming devices automatically choose the right channel number based on connection strength?

6. While using the program WirelessMon I can see both the router and extender and their respective signal strengths, channel numbers and SSIDs - but there is no way of telling if the repeater is in fact repeating the routers signal - is there any software that will show that?

7. Is there any one trusted source for setting up a wifi repeater?

8. Will my hair grow back?
Click to expand...

1. you won't know. devices will choose the strongest signal automatically

2. if you are covering mobile devices (gadgets, laptops - moving location) it would be better of to use the same channel & SSID.

3. nope, AFAIK, that's not how it works.

4. i suggest u use the same channel & SSID. it won't make the connection any worse.

5. nope.

6. easy. your router connects to internet. if you get an internet connection from upstair, it means your repeater/extender is working properly

7. IDK, i believe i'm far far away from your location, so i can't tell

8. not likely.
 
1. You wont know unless you look at the AP's mac

2. Done the right way they use the same SSID and multiple channels.

3. N/A same SSID

4. The AP's don't both send the same data simultaneously so being on the same freq is not beneficial and creates overlap and will hurt range and performance.

5. They will chose the AP with the best signal

6. There should be some piece of software that lets you view more detailed info on your wireless connection that will show you the MAC address of the AP your connected to
If you connected to an AP with the MAC of the repeater and everything is normal then its working properly.
 
Adding to this because actually there are ways to work this. I've done something very similar with my setup at home and this thread comes up in Google for people looking to do this kind of thing.

1. With most repeaters you can actually set the SSID differently. That way you can connect the devices to the network with the new SSID. Easypeasy!

2. They can be set the same or they can be different. Internally your devices are really just dealing with the MAC address so the SSID won't matter to it.

3. By default most stick to whatever one you tell it to until the signal drops in which case it will swap to a second network - in this case between your AP and repeater.

4. This largely depends on the area around you. Mix and match a bit between channels and see what works best for you. Most have an automatic setting but I don't seem to get much success from using them.

5. See 3

6. Whatever you use to setup the repeater will show you. If you don't trust it for whatever reason turn off your router and see what happens to the repeated signal.

7. Personally I used Wifi Repeaters Boosters and Range Extenders which had reviews on models and guides on setting them up.

8. It will unless you try to do it with an old Netgear repeater. In that case you're in for more problems. ;)
 
They have to use the same channel and also you need to match the channel width as well. (20/40/80mhz)

DO NOT USE 40MHZ IN CROWDED AREAS.

however.. Range extenders will halve your b/w so keep that in mind.

Be sure to use non congested channels. Use amped analytics to help you. Configure as indicated.
 
I was looking for some information on this and finally came up with a couple good answers that aren't listed above. The easiest thing you can do is from command prompt. Go to Start -> type 'cmd' -> hit enter. This will bring up a black window that is the standard command prompt. Type in the following and hit enter.

netsh wlan show interface

The results will indicate some information about the wireless signal you're connected to. Of specific interest is the line BSSID. This is the MAC address of the router you are connected to. Compare it to the MAC address on main router and the repeater and see which it matches.

Another utility I found is called WirelessMon. It is a utility you can download that is free for 30 days. It allows you to see all the wireless networks within range and gives their vitals and a plethora of other information. Here you can see all the routers broadcasting your network (if they are in range) and their respective strengths. This utility also discloses the MAC address for each router which you can compare as above. This utility will also allow you to connect to the various networks allowing you to connect to a different repeater than just the one with the strongest signal.
 
Easiest way I found was with another DD-WRT router.

Same SSID. Same Channel. Device will connect to the strongest. You will only see 1 wifi signal, but your devices will register a changer in strength depending on which you are close to.

There are a few good guides out there showing how to do this on DD-WRT. If I can find the one I used, I'll update this post.

Edit - I think this is what I used, but I set it up a long time ago and backed up my config so I only had to do it the once.

http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Client_Bridged

There might be specific instructions for different routers on DD-WRT, I think this was the 2nd more specific one that I found:

http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=72478
 
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