Mutliple G-only AP's

[Mediaman]

Provided multiple access points have their own SSIDs, is there any downside to having 2 or 3 APs vs one? All would be on 801.11g.

Reason I ask: When in the office I am say -20db on NEtStumbler ; but in the basement I am -50db. Any harm adding another AP in the basement to raise those levels?, ie would it interfere with or degrade my other AP's???

 

[tipstir]

Provided multiple access points have their own SSIDs, is there any downside to having 2 or 3 APs vs one? All would be on 801.11g.

Reason I ask: When in the office I am say -20db on NEtStumbler ; but in the basement I am -50db. Any harm adding another AP in the basement to raise those levels?, ie would it interfere with or degrade my other AP's???

Just have to make sure they have static IP and add that to your router to reserve that IP in the DHCP Clilent table. I do the same here with wireless router using G-only and 2 - WAP G-s I am migrating over to Draft-N 300mbps 20dbm max power very soon. But right now it's G wireless network here. I use the same SSID though right though. Passmark Wireless Mon is what I use to monitor the connections also Net Stumbler, but Wireless Mon is better you can try it out for 30 days.

 

[Mediaman]

I use the same SSID though right though. .

Same SSID? Really? I thought they had to be unique? One SSID would be easier I guess, ie a virtual AP throughout the house.

Right now I have the 655 plus one other AP, two sepereae SSIDs....and when I connected to the 655, it asked for my PIN, etc....so how would all this work with a single SSID? How would it know which router is which?

 

[tipstir]

Same SSID? Really? I thought they had to be unique? One SSID would be easier I guess, ie a virtual AP throughout the house.

Right now I have the 655 plus one other AP, two sepereae SSIDs....and when I connected to the 655, it asked for my PIN, etc....so how would all this work with a single SSID? How would it know which router is which?

I've been doing it that way since 2005 prior to Belkin Wireless AP add wireless to a wired network and added another access point in 2006 and 2007. In 2008 DIR-655 A3 was added to replace prior wired Dlink model. I course I've tested Buffalo N WRZ2-300N wireless router 10/100 ports with 500MHz gave nothing but trouble. Had DIR-615 A1 had the same CPU as the Buffalo N but it had 32MB of RAM also gave me issues. Then got the DIR-655 no problems, but not like the other two routers did. But with all of them I did the same setup for SSID as shown below.

Example:

SSID: Mediaman
NameID of WAP: MediamanWAP1

What do you mean it ask you for the pin each time.

Each connection for me is like this: Just logon to the network. Each NIC is set to SSID: Mediaman for you, passcode pin that is what you assign the WPA AES key to. WPA AES for G, if I use WPA2 AES then the G band would drop badly. That's it.

You shouldn't be getting that extra pin code though have you changed anything else?

 

[Mediaman]

What I mean by the PIN was this:

With seperate SSIDs,

a) when I set up my first one, (router as AP) , eg I selected SSID-1 from the list of available networks, logged in etc.

b) when I set up my second one (the 655 as main router), is was similar , ie I selected SSID-2 from the list of available networks, logged in. As well , for the first login only , for SSID-2 only, it asked for a PIN# ( not the key, but the PIN on the bottom of the unit)

So, when you suggested as single SSID for both routers, such than I would only see and select SSID-MediaMan. I as curious as t how it would know which was which?- If I had two 655's , how would it now which PIN request was for which router?

Perhaps you are saying, set them each up individually, then come back to each and change there SSID to a new common value. Is that what you meant?? ....or are you saying even if I used the same SSID name in both installs it would have been fine?

 

[tipstir]

What I mean by the PIN was this:

With seperate SSIDs,

a) when I set up my first one, (router as AP) , eg I selected SSID-1 from the list of available networks, logged in etc.

b) when I set up my second one (the 655 as main router), is was similar , ie I selected SSID-2 from the list of available networks, logged in. As well , for the first login only , for SSID-2 only, it asked for a PIN# ( not the key, but the PIN on the bottom of the unit)

So, when you suggested as single SSID for both routers, such than I would only see and select SSID-MediaMan. I as curious as t how it would know which was which?- If I had two 655's , how would it now which PIN request was for which router?

Perhaps you are saying, set them each up individually, then come back to each and change there SSID to a new common value. Is that what you meant?? ....or are you saying even if I used the same SSID name in both installs it would have been fine?

If you use two DIR-655 one would be the main with DHCP and WAN, NAT enabled the second would be just your wireless access point with DHCP and WAN, NAT disabled. It would also use a static IP, subnet mask and default gateway which would be first DIR-655 main wireless router. The second DIR-655 could not be use as WDS hopper you would have to use Ethernet cable from the first router to the second as wireless access point. Or better yet use external switch to better throughput.

Wi-Fi Protected Setup for WPS pin you're talking about this.. What brands are those AP you have?

 

[thiggins]

You can set up your APs either with the same or different SSIDs.

If they are all set to the same SSID, you can't pick the AP that you associate with. The client will do that. The problem is that most consumer clients are set to be very "sticky". That means that once they associate with an AP, they hang onto it until they can't see it anymore instead of switching to an AP with a stronger signal.

"Enterprise" clients like Cisco and Proxim stuff used to (maybe still) have controls in the clients that let you control this behavior because they were designed for multiple AP environments.

Consumer WLAN client applications generally don't let you futz with the client settings if you use their supplied client utility. This is because the companies are trying to minimize support calls. You generally need to go into the network properties and try to see if there are any controls that look like they control roaming behavior.

With different SSIDs, you manually get to pick the AP you associate with. If you're running secured, you'll need to go through the security key dance once. Then your client will have the SSID and its associated security key stored and you will be all set.

 

[Mediaman]

Provided multiple access points have their own SSIDs, is there any downside to having 2 or 3 APs vs one? All would be on 801.11g.

Reason I ask: When in the office I am say -20db on NEtStumbler ; but in the basement I am -50db. Any harm adding another AP in the basement to raise those levels?, ie would it interfere with or degrade my other AP's???

I think we went off tangent a bit re SSID - my orginal post was really to ask if a few APs in the house can do more harm than good - ie can they end up degrading each other. On one had its nice to have high signal strength in every room...but on the other hand one often reads on how 'crowded' the 2.4ghz band is. There are typically about 6 neighboring APs in my connection list. So, in home, is three a crowd for one home to ensure good signals everywhere, or am I better off with fewer and accept the weaker signals?

Got two going now - working well, but I do now see some weaker spots, which adding a third AP to an existing LAN wire can easily solve...

 

[jdabbs]

If you are using 20MHz bandwidth, your APs can use channels 1, 6, and 11 without significant overlap.

 

[Mediaman]

Actually only 2 of the neighbours are using Ch 11, so I should be ok.

Also, I just walked the house, while connected to the main router in the office, and I got attached following results, so looks worthwhile pursuing.