Wireless repeaters, set same SSID or not?

Pulsedriver · 7 Oct 2013 at 11:17

Hey folks,

I have a BT Home Hub 4 and the range is...Average, so I decided to buy a Wireless repeater/extender to help boost the range.

I always assumed it was best to set exactly the same SSID/Passphrase as the router (in this case the HH4) so that devices automatically just use it when within range, is this wrong? As it seems like it works intermittently? That could just be the HH4 being rubbish though...

If I set the repeater as a wireless repeater with a different SSID will I not have to manually connect to it within range? Or are devices (iPhone/iPad) intelligent enough to switch to the higher signal?

tom_e · 7 Oct 2013 at 11:23

Set them up exactly the same, and it may not be the HH being crap it's probably the wireless repeater a lot of them aren't that great and give flakey performance.

Pulsedriver · 7 Oct 2013 at 11:44

Ah I see, I had a Billion 3100SN combined with the 7800N Router and after a bit of tinkering it worked well, but that was a while back, when we got the HH4 I sold the 7800N and the 3100SN needed a degree in networking to configure, and even then, didn't seem to work with the HH so I gave up and got a Netgear wireless extender, which was simple to configure but doesn't seem as good.

Will maybe try a different channel and see if it helps

unleashed · 7 Oct 2013 at 13:01

Same SSID different channels that do not overlap, say 3 and 9, is the way to go.

JAzz · 7 Oct 2013 at 19:09

I tried having them as the same but found that my iPads and iPhones usually don't switch over when I move around the house which is quite annoying. Was using two Asus routers with the superhub in modem mode.