WiFi Extension/Multiple APs

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Oubadah

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#169788 25-Mar-2015 18:27

I purchased a TL-WA801ND access point and it went AWOL in the mail, so I purchased a TL-WA901ND. Now the TL-WA801ND has shown up so I have both, which is probably a good thing because the TL-WA901ND isn't cutting it. I'm hoping that between the two of them I might be able to get better coverage of my section, because I can't walk out into the garden or go into the basement without my streaming radio etc. being interrupted.

These TP-Link APs have a repeater mode, but I have some questions:

In sbiddle's article he said (with regard to WiFi extenders) that: "they will typically halve the maximum speed of your WiFi network". Does this apply to the TL-WA801ND in repeater mode? Does the 'slave' AP communicate only via WiFi with the 'master' AP, or can they take advantage of the fact that they both have ethernet for intercommunication (unlike the usual purpose-built extenders I've seen which just plug into the mains).

Also, in searching on this forum I saw some recommendations along the lines of "give the APs the identical SSIDs, keys and put them on different channels" (both in AP mode). Is this a better method? Will client devices be able to roam between the two APs uninterrupted?

hio77

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Lizard Networks

#1267825 25-Mar-2015 18:33

Configure the second AP to simply serve as an AP alone, no dns, dhcp etc.

Ideally set the settings all the same (Authentication, keys, SSID etc) Aside from the channel, inwhich you want to select a non conflicting channel. Connect back to your Network with Ethernet.

This will give you no loss of performance, unlike repeater modes.

Your devices should roam between access points, although some devices do like to hold onto the signal rather than switching out for longer than others, If your streaming without a buffer there may be a very brief period where the drop in data flow while you switch networks pauses, but it should flow reasonably well otherwise.

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akoni

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#1268758 27-Mar-2015 01:32

make sure that your ap channel will not overlap with each other
channel 1 , 3 , 6 are the channels thats good.

Jase2985

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#1268771 27-Mar-2015 05:46

akoni: make sure that your ap channel will not overlap with each other
channel 1 , 3 , 6 are the channels thats good.

ahhhh 1 and 3 overlap and 3 and 6 overlap

1, 6 and 11 are the channels that dont overlap

michaelmurfy

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#1268788 27-Mar-2015 07:46

Buy a couple of UniFi access points, run Ethernet to the 2nd one and put them into zero handover mode = sorted.

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sbiddle

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#1268789 27-Mar-2015 07:52

michaelmurfy: Buy a couple of UniFi access points, run Ethernet to the 2nd one and put them into zero handover mode = sorted.

Good luck with zero handoff. It still doesn't work properly! (And depending on who you really want to listen to, can never really work well anyway).

michaelmurfy

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#1268794 27-Mar-2015 08:01

sbiddle:
michaelmurfy: Buy a couple of UniFi access points, run Ethernet to the 2nd one and put them into zero handover mode = sorted.

Good luck with zero handoff. It still doesn't work properly! (And depending on who you really want to listen to, can never really work well anyway).

I have had it work really well but the AP's have to be positioned right but do somewhat agree with you.

webwat

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#1269347 27-Mar-2015 22:56

You will definitely be limited by speed and signal coverage if your new AP is in repeater/extender mode. It needs to be in AP mode and connected to a LAN cable to get full benefit. You will probably get a brief dropoff as you move into a new coverage area, but your streaming radio may buffer enough to make it acceptable. As they said, channels 1, 6 and 11 don't overlap, however you may be better off using all the least busy channel if your neighbours are congesting the airwaves...

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richms

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#1269361 27-Mar-2015 23:16

michaelmurfy:
sbiddle:
michaelmurfy: Buy a couple of UniFi access points, run Ethernet to the 2nd one and put them into zero handover mode = sorted.

Good luck with zero handoff. It still doesn't work properly! (And depending on who you really want to listen to, can never really work well anyway).

I have had it work really well but the AP's have to be positioned right but do somewhat agree with you.

I got it working, but still had phones sitting on far away ones showing 2-3 bars instead of the closest one which would have given more than full.

There needs to be excelent signal from the neighbouring AP's where you are placing the ones you want to hand off to. I had a mess in that I had made a U shape of them so that if you walked across the end of the U, it wouldnt hand over, till the phone lost the AP and then did its rescan and even then would often not hand over. Stuck another one to fill the gap in the U and let them all reprovision (takes _forever_ with ZHO enabled) and then it would pass over ok.

Seems they use the signal level from the other APs to decide if something can hand over or not, rather than what the other APs are able to see of the device that is moving.

Back on standard config now with ch 1 and 11 and the extension channels overlapping and things behave much better thruput wise compared to ZHO.

Richard rich.ms

Oubadah

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#1333310 29-Jun-2015 12:46

For the record, I've been trying the two TP-Link APs with identical SSIDs and settings, and ran into a problem yesterday. These APs are so useless that the second one barely improved my area of coverage anyway, however my smartphone and the two laptops I tried had no issue roaming between them. The problem device is the the HP 8 G2 android tablet I just purchased, which seems to get confused by them. It connects fine to start with, but eventually it will disconnect and present an error message if you try to reconnect. The only way to prevent this is to disable the second AP.

UniFi APs are on my "to buy" list, as these TP Link ones are a lost cause regardless of the tablet issue, but I thought this was worth mentioning anyway.

hio77

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Lizard Networks

#1333579 29-Jun-2015 16:50

Oubadah: For the record, I've been trying the two TP-Link APs with identical SSIDs and settings, and ran into a problem yesterday. These APs are so useless that the second one barely improved my area of coverage anyway, however my smartphone and the two laptops I tried had no issue roaming between them. The problem device is the the HP 8 G2 android tablet I just purchased, which seems to get confused by them. It connects fine to start with, but eventually it will disconnect and present an error message if you try to reconnect. The only way to prevent this is to disable the second AP.

UniFi APs are on my "to buy" list, as these TP Link ones are a lost cause regardless of the tablet issue, but I thought this was worth mentioning anyway.

Android can be a little sticky with APs but it shouldnt fail to reconnect if everything is identical. Chances are its trying to reconnect to the other AP and is too far away.

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Any comments made are personal opinion and do not reflect directly on the position my current or past employers may have.