Home Network Deadspot Solution

Hi. I’d be grateful for your help. I’m tired of buying the wrong thing or getting incorrect advice from Curry’s salespeople.

I have a Cat-6 extension going from my router to a wifi deadspot in my house. I’d like to get a repeater/booster (and I think this may be where I’m going wrong because I don’t know the correct terminology) that repeats the wifi signal in their – so the whole house is still on the single wifi SSID and it’s seamless moving around the house (up to now I’ve only been able to get boosters that broadcast the Ethernet/Cat-6 signal BUT as a new wifi network).

What do I need and can anyone recommend a particular device? I live in a rural area and consequently have poor broadband (11Mbps) so although I‘ve future-proofed with the Cat-6, I don’t need Gbps+ solutions for now – or at least until Elon Musk comes to my part of Yorkshire.

Thanks for reading this far and any ideas you have.

Cheers,

Ian

You'll need a "whole home" wifi solution to get the same SSID and "roaming" between hotspots. That means both access points will need to be compatible and you'll likely need to replace the original one.

My parents got a BT kit one for their house which was good value and seems to work well.

https://shop.bt.com/learnmore/bt-branded-products-an...

If you have a wired extension from router LAN port, all you need is a dual-band access point (5GHz plus 2.4GHz, Wi-Fi 5 or better) presenting the same SSID, passphrase and security type but on different channel numbers from your main router.

The client devices take care of choosing from the available APs. When the SSID is the same the client regards it as the same network.

Don't set a different SSID because clients can't treat them with equal preference, and will either have an ordered list of SSIDs or prefer to hold onto the last one they were told to join.

Would never take advice from Curry's (or any other retail store) about technology because there is no ongoing support contract / SLA nor any consequences for wrong advice, but mainly because they are there to shift boxes.

The general terminology around so-called repeaters and boosters is largely unhelpful as you have found and encourage magical thinking about just plugging a thing in anywhere to make a signal go further, especially when it can also refer to very different tech such as powerline extenders.

Edited by prlzx (Sun 29-Aug-21 00:56:51)

Thank you @Cockroach and @prlzx.

I think I've managed it. As I said - one of the reasons I was struggling was because I don't know the proper terminology. "Access point" was the answer I was looking for!!! I have an old router and I've changed that to an access point with the same SSID and password as my main router, different channel and there was an IP conflict - and now everything seems seamless.

Many thanks to you both again - have a good Bank Holiday.

Cheers,

Ian

Thanks for updating us

I didn't want to propose a particular item without knowing what you might have available for re-use.

Many on these forums have repurposed existing routers as access points such after upgrading their main router or retaining items from previous ISPs with some useful life left.

As you've already found the most common steps beyond the earlier advice is that a router acting as access point
- should use a LAN port and the WAN will normally remain empty
(unless its AP mode explicitly changes the assignments of the ports)
- should not provide DHCP if the main router is already doing it and
- should have a different IP from the main router but remain in the same subnet and
- both routers should have IP addresses not included in the pool being handed out to clients

Depending on the model some routers have an "access point mode" which automatically takes care of some of the above.

With everything working properly a client device IP should not change as you move between APs, and you should be able to log on to either router regardless of which you are connected to (or even wired). Indeed, you should not even have to think about what you are linked with.

On that last point while a second router is more than is needed for an access point, people do appreciate having additional wired ports at the second location and often will use to connect a smart TV, games console or printer, as each item that can be wired in helps save bandwidth for the more portable items.

The reference to the whole house stuff has its place but you only need to stick with the same vendor when you expect multiple items to mesh over the air or want a single control system for larger groups of APs or multiple sites.

Cheers!

While a "whole home" wifi solution can have its benefits, you don't need to do that. You can get very good results with just a second access point on the same SSID but on different channels.

It can also help to turn the power down on the access points, to encourage clients to roam to the closer access point. Some experimentation is required...

In reply to a post by IanX1129:

Hi. I’d be grateful for your help. I’m tired of buying the wrong thing or getting incorrect advice from Curry’s salespeople.

I have a Cat-6 extension going from my router to a wifi deadspot in my house. I’d like to get a repeater/booster (and I think this may be where I’m going wrong because I don’t know the correct terminology) that repeats the wifi signal in their – so the whole house is still on the single wifi SSID and it’s seamless moving around the house (up to now I’ve only been able to get boosters that broadcast the Ethernet/Cat-6 signal BUT as a new wifi network).

What do I need and can anyone recommend a particular device? I live in a rural area and consequently have poor broadband (11Mbps) so although I‘ve future-proofed with the Cat-6, I don’t need Gbps+ solutions for now – or at least until Elon Musk comes to my part of Yorkshire.

Thanks for reading this far and any ideas you have.

Cheers,

Ian

By far the best way of getting ideal WiFi coverage is to do as you have done, and run data cable to where you wish to position an access point (AP). Ideally if your home has thick stone walls, covers a larger than typical two-up-two down footprint or otherwise suffers dead-spots as you have found, its beneficial to have several such AP's that work together.

In this way as I think one poster mentioned, you can fine tune the system using lower power (the exact opposite of what most people intuitively are inclined to do, ramp up the power) output to encourage clients to roam to the strongest AP, rather than holding onto an AP that will result in poorer WiFI throughput. Its a balancing act.

Running several AP's of the same make, rather than a heterogenous mix of old gear that has been re-purposed allows the whole shebang to be centrally managed, allows easier changes and makes it far more seamless, which beyond 2 or 3 AP's becomes a valid consideration.

Good luck with it all.