Networking & wireless forum: Wireless repeating...

Ha! I don't doubt it! I dig why there're two network SSIDs showing, one for the main and one for the repeater (which in some scenarios, the instructions say to use the same SSID for both - but in my case I've found it doesn't matter and it will name it for you anyway so what's the point!), but I don't understand why the third is there, in my case the third is Netgear which you can't access anyway. Seriously, what the hell is that? If one is my base and one the repeater, why is that third one showing because it's not worth anything? Can it be turned off somehow or am I destined to always see it wondering why it's there?

Not all, there is a setting like this "Show only preferred networks."

However you can imagine this makes a mess of what we need when you go to free WiFi hotspots.
Bob

Let this madness end! So after almost three days of bliss with my repeater actually repeating like it should, today I have nothing. It was working just fine for those three days and now even though I can see a signal from the router on my "available networks," it has no connectivity. Thoughts? Gee, and I thought I finally had it working.

But if you find a cable to the WAN port of a router you want to be used as a WAP, you know to ask more questions.
Bob

Depending on which set of instructions one chooses to follow, some say have them both on the same channel while others say have them on different. I had the base and the repeater on different channels, one 11 and the other 6. That was just fine for the three days everything was cool, until today of course. Now I have them both on the same, channel 11, and everything for now is copacetic. What the hell?! Does this mean in another couple of days I'll have to change it back or to something different or just throw them both out the window?

That rule rules them all. I have my setups that we use at the office and other places and if you are to support a system then you select or set the rules.
Bob

Everything seems to be working just fine, as much as it can I suppose.

I've come to question the point of all this fuss. Seriously, just because I now have a supposed "stronger" signal on that half of the house, it doesn't mean things are going to download any faster or make Netflix give me a better shot at holding an HD quality video. It's the same as it ever was whether I'm connected to one side or the other. I guess I thought a more solid signal would mean faster and stronger. No! At least that's what I'm seeing right now.

I've seen repeaters fail so often that the office won't deploy them. Sure, they are sold a lot but since we get the calls on what we install, we choose carefully.

A strong signal does not mean anything about quality. And if through a repeater, it is going to be about 1/2 the speed. Do you need to know why?
Bob

Do tell. Why is that?

The repeat receives the packet at say 54Mbps. OK, it has to get the entire packet then resend that out the other radio. That's half the speed in that scenario.

If the system/protocol is to ack each packet then the ack goes the repeater, then it's relayed later back to the router.

A streaming video where packets are lost differs but most folk don't use or like that.
Bob

Figured it was something like that. So then why is repeating a good idea? I guess it's really not.

And by now you know that our office doesn't use it. We have powerline networking, routers as WAPs at the end of a long Ethernet cable (or the powerline bridge) so with so many solutions you can choose yours.
Bob

Yeah, too many, I may not care anymore. So what's an Extender going to do that making a router a repeater won't?

Yeah, too many, I may not care anymore. So what's an Extender going to do that making a router a repeater won't?

Let's say a client insists it be an "extender". We might have to get one of those with the right word on the box. There are no word police when it comes to labeling.
Bob

So what you're saying it that an Extender does the same thing as making a router a repeater, which as far as I can tell does nothing?

Well, it depends on the model. I'd have to compare 2 products to see if anything differs, but repeaters can extend and extends do have to repeat.
Bob

Call the word police.

Yes, it's mine all right. Strange why it's there. Maybe the routers feel left out of the naming process so they made their name known. Power to the routers!