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We have a NETGEAR WNDAP350 wireless access point in our network. It works well, but even with external antennas it does not cover the whole area we need. We have a room where the signal from the access point is poor.

I was thinking about buying a second one. I would like to know if there is anything special I need to consider when I have two wireless access points in the same subnet (I do not think it is important, but please note that the DHCP server on the NETGEAR is disabled, we have a central DHCP server.).

I think I just set the same SSID and wireless network parameters and that's it. The connecting device (e.g. notebook or mobile phone) automatically selects the access point with better signal strength, right?

Or is there anything special I need to consider? E.g. anything specific regarding the NETGEAR WNDAP350 I need to consider?

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Advanced Wireless Features

Point-to-point wireless bridge mode
Point-to-multipoint wireless bridge mode
Repeater mode <------------------------------------------------HERE
Simultaneous wireless bridge and access point mode
Wireless Distribution System (WDS)
Adjustable transmit power control (TPC) from 100 mW down to 0 mW

I have just checked out this router, you don't need to have multiple ssid's but if you set them in repeater mode and add a MAC address of AP1 to AP2 and AP2 to AP1, your wifi will expand with 1 ssid, your stations will select the closest and strongest signal.

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  • Hi, The problem is that there is not the repeater mode in the settings. I have checked the admin intereface upside down with no success...
    – user269586
    Commented Nov 5, 2013 at 13:41
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Do consider a wireless range extender; I have a WN3000RP and it works great. This connects to your existing wireless network as a client, and also acts as a base station.

While it is possible to use the same SSID, most people setup their second network with a separate SSID. I have "mynetwork" and "mynetwork_EXT". This lets you have more manual control; for example my laptop had a tendency to connect to mynetwork_EXT network when I could get a better signal off mynetwork, so I told my laptop to forget mynetwork_EXT.

If you use a second router, then you will need to connect it to your first router with an ethernet cable (that's true for most models at least). You can connect the cable to the second router's WAN port, in which case you get two separate networks. But what I prefer is to connect the cable to a LAN port on the second router, using a crossover adapter. For this arrangement, you also need to disable DHCP. I prefer this setup as you get a single network, so you can easily use shared printers, NAS boxes, etc.

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  • Thanks - that looks 1) good 2) cheap. I will give it a try
    – user269586
    Commented Nov 5, 2013 at 13:45

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