Router vs. AP?

[queuebert]

I am trying to better distribute a wireless signal throughout a location. I picked up a second router (both are DLink) and linked them together through ethernet. I thought this would work fine as long as I didn't use the routing functionallity of the second router (which seems like it would be much the same as an AP), but the behavouir seems bizarre. Sometimes I could get a connection to the Internet, sometimes I couldn't. It never worked well at any rate, so it was more or less a bad configuration.

I got this to work successfully at a different location using one router and several access points, so I guess my first question is, do I have to use access points; are routers incapable of acting like access points? If that's so, is it a problem to use a different brand of access point?

Even when the Internet connection did work, the signal distribution didn't seem to work as I would have imagined. If I stood by the new router, it would connect to that, but as I got further from that, and closer to the original, it would hold on to a really weak connection with the new router and ignore the stronger signal from the original. I saw a thread on this forum that touched upon a simlar subject, and there was some advice about setting the density, but my DLink DI 624s don't seem to have similar options. Is there no way to just get it to connect to the strongest signal?

And just to verify, to accomplish this, I should be using the same SSID, correct?

 

[MaxPipeline]

Basically from what you are describing, it sounds like you are looking to have the other DLink routers act as range extenders or repeaters. DLink does make Access Point that can act as repeaters. But this only seems to work with other DLinks so you are in luck there. My understanding is the 802.11b/g standard doesn't actually have a provision for repeater functionality. Thus DLink may be using proprietary technology to act as a repeater.

Look at the DLink DWL-800AP+ or DWL-G800AP instead of their wireless routers.

 

[stonelegends]

queuebert

Some mfr's allow routers and access points to work together to allow roaming. My experience was with Linksys (wap54 & wrt54), and for them to work properly the access point had to attached to one of the ethernet ports on the router (direct wire connection, not via network switch). If that's the case with dlink then you might think of a "star" or "hand" layout with the router being the center of the star, and the access points (4 max?) connected via wire to the router. In an open sort of environment that should generate a pretty large wireless "pond".

use the same ssid and channell and allow the router to assign the ip addresses for the USERS, but assign a fixed ip in the routers range for each access point.

Hope this helped

 

[queuebert]

hmm, don't think I was ever notified of MaxPipeline's reply, so I didn't see it until just now. Thank you both for the helpful information. And it's actually still relevant, as I've been dragging my feet in getting this done. I will look into the APs, per your suggestion.

stonelegends, that is the behaviour I would have expected, but it doesn't seem to work that way. I actually called DLink tech support and they informed me that (at least with their routers) the SSIDs should be distinct. Quite the pain, considering what I'm trying to do with it, so I guess I need to follow their "repeater" implementation.

 

[stonelegends]

queuebert - You might try at least one additional call to D-Link tech support - three calls to Linksys gave me different reponses

the first guy reccommended a firmware upgrade (done) and to assign distinct names and channells for all routers/access points - for the sake of mapping ranges and strength - then go back and reset all to the same ssid and channell.

In fairness, he was also the one that told me I could plug configured access points any where on the existing ethernet network- not the case.

It was the third guy that told me that I could plug into any ethernet port on the network....as long as it was one of the four on the linksys router