General home configuration - I've moved and not sure what my setup should be

[db9]

Well we have moved from a single story to a 2 story home.The 'old' setup was pretty simple DSL in to 54 GL and everything hard wired (PC and Xbox) plus a WiFi to the laptop.
Now with 2 floors I have low signal to the 2nd floor (this is the main 'laptop area) and the PC would also be located here.
I do not have the possibility of hard wire to the 2nd floor.
I bought a MoCA 1001 (thinking that this is what I needed to go from 1st to 2nd floor) and I have been given a Dlink 825 by a friend and I am not sure how I should configure the house now.

Im thinking that I can ...
1) I can use a MoCA 1001 to connect the upstairs and downstairs
2) turn off the 54GL WiFi and use the 825 to cover the first floor
3) add another dual band router connected to the MoCA to cover the 2nd floor
4) How should I configure the routers so that the laptop can can connect anywhere (assuming I have coverage) What I mean - do I have the 1st router as 2.4 'N' with password and SID on, say channel 1, and have the 2nd (upstairs) router on the same password and SID on channel 1 - or the same password and SID on another channel - or is it some other configuration?

Does this make sense?
I will be adding another PC and laptop soon as well


Thanks for taking the time to answer..

 

[stevech]

I use MoCA to bring LAN connectivity to a room where the's a TV coax but no easy way to get cat5 there. The MoCA device in that room can connect to a re-purposed WiFi router - being configured as an Access Point (AP), to provide better coverage in that area.

 

[thegreattriscuit]

MoCA is definitely the way to go, since you've already got the hardware.

Depending on your end-state, you might even consider making your upstairs the "hub" of your network, where you modem/router/etc reside, with a MoCA "spoke" that goes downstairs to service your XBox or whatever.

However, if you really want even 802.11 coverage throughout your house, you'll probably need to use a second AP. Without using any special hardware, you would PROBABLY need to just go ahead and stick them on different channels and give them different SSIDs ("upstairs" and "downstairs") so that you can manually switch them as you move about the house, as necessary.

I'm not positive about that last bit though.

 

[stevech]

MoCA is definitely the way to go, since you've already got the hardware.
...Without using any special hardware, you would PROBABLY need to just go ahead and stick them on different channels and give them different SSIDs ("upstairs" and "downstairs") so that you can manually switch them as you move about the house, as necessary.

I'm not positive about that last bit though.

Ideally, they'd be the same SSID. But some client PC devices are too stupidly implemented to choose "best signal"; often they choose first-heard. So using separate SSIDs can allow YOU to manually direct which access device the client uses.