My plan for a stronger WIFI signal

[Joe C]

I recently retired my old Linksys gear witch consisted of a BEFSR81 router and a WAP54G access point. The router was in the basement in the media closet and the AP was on the main level in a corner. Wireless signal was strong in all needed areas house and even the yard.

I now have a ASUS RT AC68U wireless router up and running in the media closet. The wifi signal is not as strong coming from the basement as it was on the main level. My plan was to buy another ASUS wireless router, maybe the RT AC66U and use it in AP mode on the main level. The Ethernet cable to connect the 2 is already in place from the previous equipment.

Can I use the exact same SSID on the new AP and the router and not have problems ? Will the various connected devices be able to move about the house and yard and see this as the same network ? Am I missing anything?

 

[RampantAndroid]

I recently retired my old Linksys gear witch consisted of a BEFSR81 router and a WAP54G access point. The router was in the basement in the media closet and the AP was on the main level in a corner. Wireless signal was strong in all needed areas house and even the yard.

I now have a ASUS RT AC68U wireless router up and running in the media closet. The wifi signal is not as strong coming from the basement as it was on the main level. My plan was to buy another ASUS wireless router, maybe the RT AC66U and use it in AP mode on the main level. The Ethernet cable to connect the 2 is already in place from the previous equipment.

Can I use the exact same SSID on the new AP and the router and not have problems ? Will the various connected devices be able to move about the house and yard and see this as the same network ? Am I missing anything?

In my experience, this "kinda" works. I did it at my Mom's house when I was there for the holidays. As long as you're on the same channel, SSID and turn DHCP on for only ONE of the routers, it'll work. Whether your devices intelligently transition seamlessly is another matter.

Also, I would suggest you go research the Merlin fork for the AC68 (or how to edit your CFE) on smallnetbuilder. I won't say why...you need to figure that out

 

[Joe C]

Rampant,

Thanks for the tip on Merlin, I did not know that was possible. I will have to thoroughly research this as it may be above my "skill set".

 

[RampantAndroid]

If you're on the Merlin Fork builds, they have pretty good instructions on how to do things (and Merlin himself is active on those forums.)

 

[Joe C]

Yes, they do have pretty clear instructions, I think...

One question though, using Putty, after entering user name/ pass I'm at /temp/home/root#

Is this where the code gets pasted or do I have to navigate to another area ?

 

[Joe C]

Update.. I put the code at /temp/home/root#, rebooted after each block of code was entered and its working great.

 

[RampantAndroid]

Update.. I put the code at /temp/home/root#, rebooted after each block of code was entered and its working great.

Good.