Upgrade/improve home network with 3 AP's

Nick1881

Nick1881

Nick1881

Soldato
Joined
4 Feb 2007
Posts
9,899
Location
Nuneaton, UK
I'd like to improve my home network, possibly replacing almost everything.

I currently have a BT VDSL modem connecting to a Netgear router, this has a couple of devices connected then there's a cable run to the garage, here there is a switch with another router connected acted as an access point and other devices, then another run to another part of the house with the same configuration again. The other routers are different models and makes.

I did have the same SSID and password on all 3 AP's, but sometimes my phone would stick on one that was out of range, so I changed all the AP's to different names.

The first router has rubbish wifi range, I'm thinking about buying the Asus N66U and maybe 2x N900 AP's. DO you think it would be better having them all the same brand? Or not worth the outlay? I will probably buy the N66U anyway and set the other 2 the same SSID, not sure they will be able to do the same encryption though.

Any advice would be great.
Thanks
 
Roaming is something that the APs have to support - an access point / router designed to go in your house is normally the only one, so it holds onto clients for as long as possible. Enterprise APs know they operate as a system, so when one AP sees the client better than the AP that it's currently connected do, they kick the client off so it hops onto the next one.

You won't have a great experience just setting a bunch of APs to the same SSID for this reason, you're much better off going with something that works as a system. The Cisco WAP561 is a decent option, they cluster together to be managed centrally, are dual-band concurrent units (despite what a lot of the internet says), and are from the Small Business range so don't have the ongoing licensing costs of a lot of the Cisco range.
 
Thanks for the reply Caged, very informative.

The WAP561 would work out too expensive to buy 3 of them. I've order the Asus N66 and guess I'll just leave the other routers as they are, or maybe use the Netgear is place of one of the others.
 
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