Multi access point network?

[dragon]

Am I right if you have multiple Wi-fi AP's with the same SSID and WPA key on the same channel windows would hop between them to maintain the best signal.

Have a homehub sitting on my desk modified to route to the lan port instead of its inbuilt adsl router (using it as my voip phone) its connected connected to an 8 port switch which is then connected to the main router via a pair of homeplug adaptors.


Now my wi-fi coverage is pretty good upstairs anyway but I was just wandering if I turned on its wireless and set the SSID/WPA to be the same as the main AP if the laptops would then hop between them to maintain the best possible signal.

[altis]

To start with, I'd use a different frequency to avoid interference. I'd also use a different SSID to avoid any confusion. Simply register the PC with both networks. I'm not sure if Windows will use the one with the best signal but, certainly, if one connection fails it will switch to the other.

[dragon]

Originally Posted by altis

To start with, I'd use a different frequency to avoid interference. I'd also use a different SSID to avoid any confusion. Simply register the PC with both networks. I'm not sure if Windows will use the one with the best signal but, certainly, if one connection fails it will switch to the other.

I probably won't bother, I've seen it in hotels where they have multiple ap's with the same SSID (you don't notice theres more and one unless you use something other than the windows built in wireless config util)

I didn't know if it was just a case of windows going by the SSID and not worrying about the physcial address or if it required a special sort of hardware to do chain several together and make it appear as if its a single network...

[7@m3 G33k]

Originally Posted by dragon

I probably won't bother, I've seen it in hotels where they have multiple ap's with the same SSID (you don't notice theres more and one unless you use something other than the windows built in wireless config util)

I didn't know if it was just a case of windows going by the SSID and not worrying about the physcial address or if it required a special sort of hardware to do chain several together and make it appear as if its a single network...

I'm pretty sure you were right in your initial question. By all accounts though the wireless client in Windoze is not that clever: I beleive it switches to AP that it's getting the strongest signal from at a particular moment in time (rather than, for example, switching to the AP that has given the strongest average signal over a period of time). Therefore it tends to switch more than is either necessary or efficient and is prone to getting it's knickers in a twist while roaming between APs. That's a technical term by the way...

[Aragorn]

Have a read of the Wiki page on 802.11f (access point roaming).
I guess all access points would need to support 802.11f and be behind the same router. Most large corporate WLAN's will use this.