Same SSID or Not? ASUS Roaming Assistant work well? ... two AC68R in same home

[Livin]

I appreciate if those who have, can share experiences accomplishing seamless roaming with SSID and/or ASUS Roaming Assistant

I have two AC68R routers running Merlin firmware.

1st unit (Router mode) is in my basement under the stairs... center of the house
goal to supply:
... Media Room in basement
... back yard (back yard on walk-out basement level)

2nd unit (AP mode) is on the main (center) level, on far end of home
goal to supply:
... bedrooms having connectivity issues (bedrooms are one level up)
... front yard (front yard on same level as main floor)

We move around the house, a lot! All our devices are Android, 4.x or higher.

Should I...

1) use different SSIDs on the AP (and use Android app that helps switch SSIDs as signlas change)
2) use same SSID and ASUS Roaming Assistant setting in routers

 

[goldenegg]

You're missing an option ...

Using different SSIDs with Roaming Assistant enabled. That way you can always validate you're on the correct access point, which makes troubleshooting easier.

 

[sfx2000]

Just use a common SSID/Passphrase across all radios on both AP's...

You'll be fine - if you need to debug, you can always search the system logs by the MAC address of the client of concern..

 

[fax]

Yeap, same SSID/Passphrase, working very well... recommended.

 

[Livin]

Are you guys using the ASUS setting, Roaming Assistant? If yes, what level are you telling it to cutoff?

Also...
I have some non-phone devices very near the center of the two APs.
- is there a way to ensure a device only connects to a specific AC68R?
-- my Windows PC's network adapter has a setting to force association only to a specific MAC address, so this works on he client side. But devices like FireTV don't.
... Is there a way to tell the router to not accept connections from specific MAC addresses? Like a black list in router settings?

 

[sfx2000]

I don't use the roaming assistant - I tend to find things like this to be, perhaps, too helpful