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Bruck · Aug 31, 2007, 01:54 AM

Hey,

I currently have a cable modem that runs to a netgear router, and of the 4 ports on it, 1 goes to linksys router in the other end of the house, and the other 3 are used by bedrooms in this end of the house. Both routers serve the entire house with some wireless signal.

Its working pretty well. But I have had a few issues. First of all, the gigabit worthy router I started with is crap, and past its return date. I even bought another one and it had the same problems. I am now running a G Netgear (older) router as the first one, and still using a G (linksys) router as the second one.

I'd like to switch to a 3 router setup (and possibly a 4th in the future). I am curious how well 3 or 4 airport base stations would work together. I have no experience with apple's software config, but I was hoping it would do the following:

- Make the configuration easy
- Allow all 4 routers to think they are on the same router, so itunes and printer shares work
- Allow for easy config changes to all 4 (and a super bonus would be added if it recognized what I was doing and allowed me to just change the config in one place)
- Make the port forwarding easier, as ichatting can be a pain.

Components using this setup
- 7 Macintosh OSX Tiger computers
- Entertainment switch box (Which connects x360,wii,ps2)
- 1 Slingbox
- 1 Pc laptop

I have heard that I can name all the SSID's the same and make sure each one is on a separate channel and then the computers would just network hop as signal got strong/weak. Is that true? Or should i give them sequential names and just choose based on where I am in the house? (this is not the biggest problem as only 1 or 2 of the computers are mobile)

Thanks for any thoughts

Bruck · Aug 31, 2007, 01:55 AM

fyi: my current setup works fine, its just not as fast as gigabit ethernet would be, or N signal from apple.

mduell · Aug 31, 2007, 05:47 AM

Originally Posted by Bruck

I have heard that I can name all the SSID's the same and make sure each one is on a separate channel and then the computers would just network hop as signal got strong/weak. Is that true? Or should i give them sequential names and just choose based on where I am in the house? (this is not the biggest problem as only 1 or 2 of the computers are mobile)

You want all the SSIDs to be the same, so you can walk around the house and not lose the connection.

As I understand the Airport Base Stations, your plan should give you what you want. Another option would be to buy one Linksys WRT330N and install a high-gain omni antenna to cover the entire property. Although with the improved range of n (about twice the range of g), you may not even need the high-gain antenna.

ghporter · Aug 31, 2007, 08:12 AM

To get the roaming coverage you want, you need all the SSIDs to be the same and each base station's manually selected channel to be different. It's usually a good idea to space the channels at least 3 or 4 channels apart.

Bruck · Aug 31, 2007, 10:22 AM

what about the modes required to make these do what I want? Will I need to use 1 of the 3 wired ports on each of the satellite AEBSs for the connection OR can I use the WAN port?

Trying to figure out how many wired ports each will give me

desertmac · Sep 9, 2007, 09:36 PM

Originally Posted by ghporter

To get the roaming coverage you want, you need all the SSIDs to be the same and each base station's manually selected channel to be different. It's usually a good idea to space the channels at least 3 or 4 channels apart.

GHPorter: Is this true even if the second AEBS (fast ethernet) is only extending the range of the network created by the first? Different channels for each Base Station?

peeb · Sep 9, 2007, 09:41 PM

Yes.

desertmac · Sep 9, 2007, 10:00 PM

Ok. Glad to try this, but how do I change the channel for the second base station? When I open Airport Utility and click on manual setup, it shows that the channel is set automatically. I have it set to Extend an existing network. and to Bridge mode (per recommendations of the Apple techs). Is there any way to manually change the channel?

Bruck · Sep 10, 2007, 12:02 AM

the channel off automatic.

For the record, I ended up going this route, I bought 3 AEBS and set up the entire network. I AM SO HAPPY TO BE USING APPLE ROUTERS. they work beautifully!!!

desertmac · Sep 10, 2007, 08:16 AM

Congratualation Bruck. Glad it's working well for you. I love the simplicity of Apple's AEBS.

Regarding changing the channel manually: I have my second AEBS set to extend the network. With this setting, there is no option to change the channel.

I tried switching the setting on the second AEBS to create a new network. That then revealed the channel option; I selected a different channel, and then went back and changed the first setting back to Extend the Network, and updated. The second AEBS reverted back to the channel of the first AEBS.

SO: the two options are Extend the Network and keep the same channel for both AEBS, or create a WDS. But I previously could not get a WDS to work between two AEBS stations. Apple tech support recommended the Extend the Network option and that has worked. So did you successfully create a WDS with more than one AEBS?

Thanks for your help (or any others' who have some advice). And congrats again on getting the network working in your home.