re: Wifi Extender or Access Point to alleviate bad Wifi connection in home?

quote:

---

About this..we are remodeling right now and plan to add an outdoor kitchen/TV area in the spring. The plan now is to just get a few APs to wire from our current router. Is there a lot of network know-how to required to get it all on the same said or will each ap have a diff name?

---

They're not difficult to setup but yes you want to configure them with the SSID of the wifi network you are using.

quote:

---

Is there a lot of network know-how to required to get it all on the same said or will each ap have a diff name?

---

In general, regardless of brand, you must know how to:
1) plug a computer directly into the ethernet port and go to the router's default IP to access its features. Some routers have software that can do this from the desktop without typing an IP. All except the Apple line of routers/APs (to my knowledge. There could be a handful of others that are desktop-software only but I don't know about them) have their own "web page"

2) first/main router needs to have DHCP enabled with a range set to exclude at least as many addresses in one subnet as AP's

-assuming you buy cheap wireless routers and not dedicated access points:
3) you have to be able to find the router's "mode" in its settings and set it to Access Point

3.5) turn DHCP off if it does not automatically turn itself off in AP mode or doesn't have a default AP mode

4) set AP's static IP to an address outside the range you set in 2 (but in the same subnet, so the first 3 numbers are the same (ie: everything is 192.168.1.xxx)

5) must set ssid to same ssid as main router

6) must set same security protocol for router + APs


If all of that made enough sense to you that you could at least Google your way into figuring out the parts you didn't understand, you're fully capable of setting up the network you're describing. And it would be the best option for max throughput (available bandwidth at each subsequent access point, essentially) in the entire network.