Question Google Wifi + D-Link AC1200 Wifi Range Extender

[rfk]

Hello,

I would appreciate your help with a proper configuration of Google Wifi + D-Link Wifi Extender.

My home setup looks like this:
- Internet is provided over Fiber by Orange (FTTH) with FunBox (router) from Orange. WIfi on that device is disabled.
- All rooms in house have ethernet sockets, and those sockets are connected to Orange FunBox.
- We used to have just one Google Wifi covering all necessary rooms with wifi
- now my kids need stronger wifi in their room and I am not able to buy another Google Wifi to have mesh network, but I was able to get a D-Link AC1200 Wifi Extender.
Here is a picture of current setup described above: https://ibb.co/3Yn3W8X

My dream scenario would be to have just one wifi network from both Google Wifi and D-Link - so all devices would reconnect to the strongest signal source within the same network.
But when I set up D-Link with the same Wifi Name as given from Google Wifi - some devices are "confused" and are unable to connect to this network.
At the moment I had to give D-Link another SSID to avoid this "confusion".

Could you please let me know if there is a way to have it working as one seamless network under one SSID, so that devices would be able to switch to the strongest signal from closest access point?
Does this require some work on channels maybe?

Thanks!
rfk

 

[mxnerd]

No. Unless they support EasyMesh tecnology.

A new Wi-Fi standard could let different mesh routers work together

You’ll be able to mix-and-match router brands... eventually

www.theverge.com

 

[SamirD]

You typically can't get seamless roaming from other access points. This is why the 'mesh' concept is so popular.

But that being said, since it is only the kids area that needs stronger signal, why not just put the dlink in their area and assign an ssid just for them? Otherwise, a better solution would be to simply wire whatever devices are having bandwidth issues since you have wired ethernet jacks.

 

[Aeonsim]

Part of the problem is your probably running two different networks with this setup. Your router is most likely running it's DHCP service and assigning IP addresses (probably 192.168.0.x) to anything plugged into to the wired network. Then your google home (unless you set it to bridge mode) is also running it's own DHCP server and assigning it's own range of IP addresses to any wifi clients (probably 192.168.87.x). Which means you have two networks one running through the google home then the router and the other through the router. Now if previously everything was connecting through google wifi this wasn't an issue as they all had google IP addresses and could thus happily talk to one another.
The problem comes when you add the repeater, and set it to the same name as the google wifi network. As the repeater connects via the network to the router and get's it's IP address from there. Now your wireless devices are on a different network depending on if they're connected to the google wifi or the repeater.

If this is the cause of the problem you have three or four options.
1) Change the google wifi into bridge mode, you'll lose most of the smart functionality including the mesh network features (not that your using those), but then google will give out IP addresses from the router rather than creating it's own.
2) Move the google wifi and plug it in between the router and the wired network (green socket for router, grey for wall socket/network). Now google controls the wired network, and thus the repeater will get it's IP addresses from google rather than the router unifying the network. You may need to turn down the signal strength on the repeater so it only covers the bedrooms it needs to to help with the roaming (if you can).
3) Plug the wifi extender into the google wifi's grey port. Either directly using a cable or if you've got a managed switch at the center of the wired network you may be able to do it virtually by forcing it so that the repeater can only talk to the google wifi.
4) Unplug the repeater from the wired network and place it somewhere that has good signal from GWF but is closer to the target rooms and set it up to be wireless only, connecting to GWF via wifi (hopefully the 5G band) then repeating that signal out to the bedrooms.

This is assuming that the problem is with the dual networks, there is a chance the repeater is just not compatible with the google wifi, though I don't think that should be the issue. I've used repeaters in conjunction with GWF using the same network name before with out issue.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Hey, Welcome @Aeonsim , that's a pretty decent first post! Thanks for the info! Hope that you find your stay here enjoyable. (Stay out of P&N... for your own good, and your own sanity. Just IMHO.)

 

[razel]

Long time onHub/GWiFi/Nest WiFi user here. That's awesome you're wired up! Just sell the DLink Extender and buy another GWiFi since you'll be using it as intended and want one SSID. It also supports wired backbone. GWiFi's used tend to be $60-$70. Even Google's refurb store sell a three pack for ~$170.

You can step up to the Google Nest WiFi and use the GWiFi where the extender would have been. NWiFi's coverage is better and is one of the few that can reach gigabit over wireless since it supports 4 streams (1732AC = 4 x 433mb/s) in my last benchmark. You can actually see the link speed and MCS buried in the diagnostic page of gWiFi.

By the way, if you didn't already, you can enable WPA-3 support for GWiFi if you set it up using the Google Home app.

 

[Aeonsim]

If you can buy another Google wifi unit, or Nest Wifi Point setting them up in wifi mesh mode would by far be the easiest solution, it's simply buy a unit plug it in then go to the app and add an extra unit/point.
Note that if you got a Google Wifi point you wouldn't be able to use the ethernet backhaul to connect the second google wifi unit to the primary one with the current network setup, you would need to move your primary google wifi unit between the router and the house network as described in option 2 above. Otherwise you'll have two google wifi's thinking they're creating there own network.

Adding one in the WIFI mesh mode would be the simplest option and both the original Google wifi units and the new Nest Wifi points are compatible with this setup.