Two WAPs in Close Proximity

[BirkenVogt]

I have recently set up my network using two WAPs inside two neighboring buildings about 4000 sq ft each. For acceptable coverage I had to put one central WAP in each building. Plus I have another building across town on the same VPN where there is another WAP.

I am using mixed WPA/WPA2 PSK encryption because I have some older computers. Thus far I have set up all three WAPs on the same channel with the same pass phrase and the same SSID and all settings identical. So there is only one profile in each computer. However I am concerned that the two that are close may interfere. Putting it on a different channel seemed to require that I set up a new configuration or something. So far they seem to be sharing the airwaves just fine though.

One guy however was using his computer about midway between the two and though it was reporting it could see both, it was picking the weaker one with 8% signal vs the stronger one with 43% signal. It seemed to be working fine though.

Is this the optimal way to do this or should I set up multiple profiles in each computer or something else?

Birken

 

[Clarksville]

I thought (from some limited experience) you should be able to set the WAPs to different channels with same SSID, WPA-PSK and only require a single computer profile to roam between WAPs.

I also think you want to put adjacent WAPs on non-overlapping channels (1,6,11) to ensure no interference between them.

 

[BirkenVogt]

FWIW I have since the message set them all up with individual SSIDs to avoid any more confusion since I was getting unpredictable results. I have some computers using Netgear, some using Linksys, some using Intel, and some using the Windows software...everything behaves differently.

Birken