Creating a single network from access points

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Manaknight

Supreme [H]ardness
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OK so a while back I set up my office for wireless. The guy above me was pleased, and it works alright. I used some recert netgears we got for cheap, switched them into access points and put them on our back end. Good range, full coverage etc.

The big IT boss...now decides he doesn't like having to pick which access point to use. and that signal strength bars are too confusing.

My task is now to turn the wireless into one invisible network. as in instead of seeing the various access points, just seeing "company name wireless" and being able to connect to it and keep a seemless-ish transition regardless of where you go in the office.

Is there any way to do this with what i have to work with? or on the cheap? I know what he wants but i'm not particularly familiar with how to do it at this level of business and equipment.
 
can't you just set them to the same ssid on different channels and let the wireless client roam to the strongest signal?
 
So long as the units are configured as aaronearles mentioned along with the same WPA2 configuration...(You are using that, right?)...you should have a passable setup.
 
oh ok, i knew it was going to be something dumb.

i'll set that up and make sure it works.
 
aaronearles said:
can't you just set them to the same ssid on different channels and let the wireless client roam to the strongest signal?
Click to expand...

yes and no. Theoretically it will work, but...

when you get far enough away from the AP you are associated too, it will stay connected until signal strength from that particular AP is literally 0. Then it will reassociate with a closer one.

So while you can "roam," it most likely will not be "seamless" and there will be blips in connectivity while the computer reconnects to another AP.

Also, if somebody decides to stop somewhere, where the signal strength is horribly low, it will stay that way until they actually move far enough away. So while they're sitting with almost zilch signal strength, it will be slower than molasses until they actually move far enough away to completely lose signal from that AP.
 
serbiaNem said:
You could configure them to work as wireless repeaters?
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you could do that also, but it essentially cuts the theoretical bandwidth in half.

although you would also still have the same issue. Plus if each WAP currently has a hard line connection already, there's no sense. Repeaters are more for increasing range without having to run new drops. And I believe you would still have the same issue as setting all WAPs to the same SSID.
 
j-sta said:
yes and no. Theoretically it will work, but...

when you get far enough away from the AP you are associated too, it will stay connected until signal strength from that particular AP is literally 0. Then it will reassociate with a closer one.

So while you can "roam," it most likely will not be "seamless" and there will be blips in connectivity while the computer reconnects to another AP.

Also, if somebody decides to stop somewhere, where the signal strength is horribly low, it will stay that way until they actually move far enough away. So while they're sitting with almost zilch signal strength, it will be slower than molasses until they actually move far enough away to completely lose signal from that AP.
Click to expand...

What he said....just pull the config file from one of the routers and restore it the all the other ones. Easiest way to ensure they all match...
 
Yes, there are cons, but I don't think there's any better way to do it considering you said "switched them into access points" so I'm assuming you're using consumer wireless routers with dhcp and wan disabled.
 
aaronearles said:
Yes, there are cons, but I don't think there's any better way to do it considering you said "switched them into access points" so I'm assuming you're using consumer wireless routers with dhcp and wan disabled.
Click to expand...

yeah pretty much, my tech budget is always really low.

the SSID works fine, its not necessarily needed for roaming, its more needed so if a user brings their laptop in and needs to use it instead of the wired desktop, they can access net from their office without being confused by having multiple choices to connect to.
 
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