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By 'seamless' I mean that a host can travel throughout the coverage area of the wifi, moving from one router or AP to the next without the connection dropping.

I have: a),b) 2 routers with dd-wrt firmware installed

c) the cable gateway from Virgin media, which also acts as a router, with wired hosts attached to it

d) another router, which works but can't use dd-wrt.

e) one powerlink adapter which can connect two devices together

I can't connect two devices by ethernet, as I can't drill holes in the walls, and two devices in the same room would not extend the range usefully.

Device (c) has to stay where it is.

Devices a) & b) have the following possible modes:

  • AP
  • Client
  • Client Bridge (routed)
  • Adhoc
  • WDS station
  • WDS AP

There's also an option to set up something called a 'virtual AP'. Apparently a limitation of the Atheros chipset that these routers can't be set to repeater or repeater bridge mode.

In the past I used d) to extend the range of wifi by changing the SSID to the same as c) and setting them to broadcast on different channels. I can't remember whether that was seamless or not though.

To get necessary coverage, I think I'll need at least 3 routers, if not all four. What's the best way to do this seamlessly?

edit: I want to do this with what I already have, not buy more stuff. I would like the wired hosts attached to c) to be on the same subnet as all the wireless hosts.

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5
  • I have a wireless Router (not the ISP router) in my home office network location. Then I added a Ubiquity Access Point to the second floor. Coverage is seamless and I can move all my devices anywhere without losing coverage. Ubiquity can be expanded with more AP devices.
    – anon
    Commented Apr 22, 2020 at 14:48
  • That looks interesting -- I should have mentioned I want to try to achieve this with what I already have.
    – Ne Mo
    Commented Apr 22, 2020 at 14:52
  • I understand. I moved Ubiquity because ordinary equipment that I have used does not allow devices to move seamlessly
    – anon
    Commented Apr 22, 2020 at 15:01
  • Do you still need help with this? You can most certainly achieve what you want with the equipment you have.
    – Tim_Stewart
    Commented May 10, 2020 at 19:21
  • Yes, please. If you know how please tell me.
    – Ne Mo
    Commented May 10, 2020 at 22:23

3 Answers 3

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Set A or B into AP mode, and connect it to C with the power line adapter. Have them all on the same SSID, but different channels. I have a similar set up (but with a powerline wifi extender) and my devices hop between them as seamlessly as you could hope for.

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  • Could you list the devices that are working? Are you using DDWRT? I think newer devices intelligently hop to AP within closer range whereas I think there is an enterprise feature (not sure if its in DDWRT, but I think Ubiquiti has) that guides old devices to closer AP (maybe by disconnecting them from old/far-away AP)
    – gregg
    Commented May 13, 2020 at 20:28
  • @gregg assume your comment was directed at me. I have a couple of TP Link power line extenders, one with a built in WAP. Not using DDWRR but I believe it can be installed on my extended.
    – Darren
    Commented May 13, 2020 at 21:13
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Expanding on Darren's answer:

What you did before with device D is OK if done properly and it's the way to go:

  1. Choose a couple of access point (this is, in AP mode). The APs should have at least one LAN port.

  2. Prepare your access points: set them up with their own IP address within your network. Disable DHCP and DNS in your APs, as we want them to be APs only.

  3. Configure the Wi-Fi: set up the same network name (ESSID) and the same authentication scheme and password (PSK) for all your access points. Set them to different channels, if possible.

  4. Connect your APs to your switch (the Virgin Media device?) using the LAN ports only on both sides. You may need crossover cables. Use the powerline adapters as a virtual cable to get around drilling holes. The electricity grid should serve as a hub.

I am assuming that your powerline adapter is just a powerline adapter and does not have additional functionality built in.

Now, to elaborate a little more: it is important to know the difference between BSSID (Basic SSID) and ESSID (Extended SSID). Think of it like this:

  • Basic SSID: identifier for an access point. It looks like a MAC address. No two access points will have the same BSSID and they come already set and usually unchangeable.

  • Extended SSID: identifier for the local network behind the access point. This is sometimes simply called SSID and it's chosen by you.

Wi-Fi clients, like your phone, know this. If they see two access points (this is, two BSSIDs) with the same ESSID, the clients know that if they switch between the two, it will still be connected to the same local network. This implies that it will keep the same IP address and not drop any connections. They will roam seamlessly. All devices, wired and wireless in the same network will communicate as if they were in the same switch (the same broadcast domain).

I recommend you test it before using the powerline adapter by setting up the APs next to each other, connecting to the network and then turn off one of the APs down. Your phone sould continue any transfer without Wi-Fi disconnections. Then add the powerline adapter as needed.

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Im thinking something like below image should work for you, Basically use ddWRT as wireless repeater bridges and standerd router as main AP connected to your DSL Router with powerline devices. link to help with ddwrt configurations.. https://blog.flashrouters.com/2018/02/19/how-to-set-up-a-repeater-bridge/

Network image

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  • sorry i missed that your devices might not work in these modes, let us know what you come up with. more info on above link to set up client bridge mode
    – Andy
    Commented May 16, 2020 at 9:52

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