Multi APs in a house

[dalben]

I'm in the midst of renovating a new house and in my quest for keeping the tech at a high WAF, I bought 3 Engenius EAP9550 APs (smoke detector looking access point/repeater/WDS).

I can get power and a LAN cable to each Unit. Ideally I'd like to set them up with the same SSID / Security which would allow a wireless client to wander around the house and automagically collect to the best AP without any disconnect or handshaking.

Is this possible or have I fooled myself into thinking life can be that easy ?

Also, while I am at it, does anyone know how to configure a DIR-655 so it acts purely as a switch and AP ? I got the switch part working (don't use the WAN port, just one of the 4 LAN ports of the cable in) but the AP part didn't seem to send clients back to the main router/DHCP for an address.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

On the Engenious units.....unique LAN IP for each, same SSID, same security, use different non-overlapping channels (example...put one on ch 1, put second on ch 6, put third on channel 11.

For your DLink to be used as a switch/additional AP, also give it a unique LAN IP, disable DHCP on it...configure your wireless, and uplink using one of its LAN ports.

Example of unique LAN IPs I use, say for example your primary router is 192.168.1.1. Common IPs for access points are up in the 240 and 250 range...so for example, make your first access point IP 192.168.1.254, make your second access point have an IP of 192.168.1.253, third 192.168.1.252, etc etc.

 

[tipstir]

Yeah those APs have to have different channels don't use the same one like mentioned above. DIR-655 DNS Replay issues might cause you trouble. Is that Hardware A3 or A4 and which firmware do you have?

 

[dalben]

On the Engenious units.....unique LAN IP for each, same SSID, same security, use different non-overlapping channels (example...put one on ch 1, put second on ch 6, put third on channel 11.

For your DLink to be used as a switch/additional AP, also give it a unique LAN IP, disable DHCP on it...configure your wireless, and uplink using one of its LAN ports.

Example of unique LAN IPs I use, say for example your primary router is 192.168.1.1. Common IPs for access points are up in the 240 and 250 range...so for example, make your first access point IP 192.168.1.254, make your second access point have an IP of 192.168.1.253, third 192.168.1.252, etc etc.

Thanks StoneCat, pretty much answers everything. Quick question on non-overlapping channels. How far apart should the channels be ? Just wondering what other channels might be in use around the house so would 1 - 4 - 7 be far enough apart ? Is there a rule ?

 

[dalben]

Yeah those APs have to have different channels don't use the same one like mentioned above. DIR-655 DNS Replay issues might cause you trouble. Is that Hardware A3 or A4 and which firmware do you have?

Don't use the ones above ? Do you have any other advice other than "don't" use ?

I have 2 DIR-655s at the moment, an A2 and an A4. Not sure how long I will keep either as at the new place all I need is a non-wireless router where the internet comes in, then an 8 to 10 port switch. The DIR-655s might be relegated to adhoc APs/Switches if needed.

 

[stevech]

APs do not have to be on different channels.
Doing so spreads the traffic load among all your clients across different channels. For semi-adjacent APs, service to client A and B if both make millisecond level simultaneous requests for traffic, and do so very actively, can slow throughput.

But in a typical home use case, without streaming video, putting all APs on the same channel (1, 6 or 11) has little negative impact.

It doesn't hurt to spread APs around among ch 1, 6 and 11.

 

[dalben]

OK, cheers. The APs will be on different floors. Any video streaming will be over wire. I would prefer 1 channel so as to not annoy the neighbours too much.

I guess I can achieve what I want, but I'll have some things to test and play with once they are installed to find the best setup.

 

[tipstir]

Don't use the ones above ? Do you have any other advice other than "don't" use ?

I have 2 DIR-655s at the moment, an A2 and an A4. Not sure how long I will keep either as at the new place all I need is a non-wireless router where the internet comes in, then an 8 to 10 port switch. The DIR-655s might be relegated to adhoc APs/Switches if needed.

I had the DIR-615 A1 500MHz WNPU really better than the DIR-655 in wireless , but DLINK doesn't support that hardware. DIR-655 A3 I have that in a crate in the garage, firmware had taken that out of the network scope!

From there two Belkin N+ replaced DIR-655 since Belkin has AP mode that was a blessing. But again hardware wise I decided to get two ESR-9850 one is the main DHCP and the other one is the AP. So far so good. Since now I moving more into HD streaming, I get to see what's not working on the network.

So here comes back Trendnet TEW-673GRU 680MHz WNPU, 64MB of RAM 32K-i / 32K-d caches dual band @ 5GHz max. I'll be running that on 5GB 1080p HD over wireless 802.11(a,n) ESR-9850 just chokes to death, but wired it's okay! I can stream my 1080p HD on ESR-9850 but those files are not in GB size though only 15 minutes. On my best B-Ray Laptop with 64-bit W7HP I can stream 802.11n okay on smaller 1080pHD but not on the larger ones.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Thanks StoneCat, pretty much answers everything. Quick question on non-overlapping channels. How far apart should the channels be ? Just wondering what other channels might be in use around the house so would 1 - 4 - 7 be far enough apart ? Is there a rule ?

5x apart so you're on non-overlapping channels. WiFi signals are 20MHz wide. Each channel takes 5 MHz, so say you're set on channel 6...you're also spilling over into ch 5, ch 7, 1/2 of ch 4, and 1/2 of ch 8.

 

[dalben]

5x apart so you're on non-overlapping channels. WiFi signals are 20MHz wide. Each channel takes 5 MHz, so say you're set on channel 6...you're also spilling over into ch 5, ch 7, 1/2 of ch 4, and 1/2 of ch 8.

great, thanks for that.

 

[stevech]

Right, in the US, the channels to use are 1, 6 or 11

 

[hceuterpe]

Collectively, only channels 1, 6, and 11 do not overlap in 2.4Ghz. If you are gunning for speed, you really should go with 5Ghz. Also they will work better if they are interconnected via ethernet.

 

[dnguyen800]

I’m glad this topic appeared when it did, I was about to ask the same question. Would it be possible to do a similar setup (router + wireless AP connected by wires but broadcast same wireless network) but using different router brands? I have a D-Link DIR655 as the main router upstairs and a Buffalo WHR-G125 router (flashed with DD-WRT) downstairs acting as a wireless AP and wired switch. I need the D-Link because of the gigabit ports but want to avoid buying another DIR655 as much as possible, so could I use my Buffalo to broadcast the same wireless network? Is it possible to do it with one router configured forwireless N and G while the other supports wireless G only? If not, I’ll just set both routers back to G speeds.
Also, would this setup also have the wireless repeater issue where the wireless transfer rate is halved due to wireless clients having to go through repeater-->wireless router?

I realize that with DD-WRT I can setup up a wireless repeater in the settings, but I would rather have the repeater connected to the network wired instead of wireless for fastest access to my network. I’ve also tried using the repeater setting with my Buffalo and another Airlink DD-WRT enabled router and failed several times (transfers data successfully for a few minutes then clients unable to connect to network). I’ve tried to research this on DD-WRT website but I guess not many people try this configuration.

Any thoughts are appreciated, thanks!

 

[icerabbit]

Dalben,

Are you still happy with the EAP9550 s you purchased?

I'm considering buying some to have better wifi coverage throughout the house over multilple floors.

 

[icerabbit]

Plus, quick question with regards to orientation and coverage.

I haven't found any info yet about which way to place / orient these ideally.

Do you hang them on a wall and they cover a 180 deg horizontal spread? 360deg circle? 360 deg xyz?
Do you hang them on the ceiling and they cover 360 deg on that floor?

Appreciate your experience.

 

[thiggins]

I’m glad this topic appeared when it did, I was about to ask the same question. Would it be possible to do a similar setup (router + wireless AP connected by wires but broadcast same wireless network) but using different router brands?

How To Add an Access Point to a Wireless Router


No problem using different brands or setting one AP to G only.

 

[dnguyen800]

awesome, thank you Tim.

 

[stevech]

Too bad IEEE / WiFi elected to number the channels like that. With 802.11 there are only three non-overlapping channels. But most consumers think of channel numbers like non-overlapping TV channels.

The numbering scheme was done before 802.11 came about with 20MHz wide signals.

 

[Juggler00]

This is a very helpful thread as I'm looking to do something similar. Would appreciate any comments/suggestions...

I'll be installing 2x Netgear WNDR3700 in my house (both with DD-WRT and used as APs, not routers), each hard-wired to my LAN. I would like to offer a seamless WiFi experience for both G and N client. Is the best set-up as follows:

• AP_1
  
  G - channel 1, SSID = wirlessG
  N - channel 7, SSID = wirelessN, frequency 5.8 (40MHz BW)​
• AP_2
  
  G - channel 6, SSID = wirelessG
  N - channel 34, SSID = wirelessN, frequency 5.8 (40MHz BW)​

I don't want to use WDS or a reapeter-type set-up as I don't want to reduce my wireless BW.