WiFi Problems

[The Psychedelic Socialist]

Just wondering if there's any networking wifi buffs who can help with a coverage problem we're having at home.

We've currently got three TP-Link EAP245 access points set up around the house, all hardwired back to the central switch over cat5e. They all run one SSID for seamless roaming around the house and are managed centrally (Omada) with them broadcasting on separate channels.

They all work fine for the most part, but we have a couple of rooms in the house that don't get great signal from any of the APs, most frustratingly in the living room.

I don't really want to run any more cables around the house so I'd thought to fix this buy getting a couple of wife extenders (e.g. a TP-Link RE450 / AC1750 like the APs).

Is this likely to solve the problem or will we now have five separate APs around the house, crowding out the spectrum even more, with devices spending all their time hanging on to a poor connection from another room rather than switching onto a more reliable / closer AP?

 

[Gavin.]

Turn down the transmit power of the broadcast and see if it helps with roaming between the AP’s. Sounds like devices are staying attached to one of the other ones rather than the one most local.

 

[Toby]

I have the AC1750 in our Kitchen and the range is really good. I'm purely router and extender though, no access points.

Can you tell me why you have it set up like that at home? I thought you would only see a set up like that in larger buildings/work places.

When we have finished our extension I am considering an access point or a double router setup and still use the extender.

Future plans included internet at the bottom of the garden in a pub/shed.

 

[Gray]

I had a similar issue in our new home using 3 x TP-Link RE300's in a mesh configuration.

Ended up reducing the coverage / broadcast power (Max coverage was default), as @Gavin. mentioned devices where staying attached to single AP's despite moving around the home.

 

[The Psychedelic Socialist]

I have the AC1750 in our Kitchen and the range is really good. I'm purely router and extender though, no access points.

Can you tell me why you have it set up like that at home? I thought you would only see a set up like that in larger buildings/work places.

When we have finished our extension I am considering an access point or a double router setup and still use the extender.

Future plans included internet at the bottom of the garden in a pub/shed.

Problem is that we have quite a large old house with some really thick interior stone walls. I've wandered around the place with a wifi analyzer on my phone and the drop off in signal is huge.

I'll definitely try the reduced signal strength as we originally had the 3 x AP setup with older / lower-tech APs in place (can't remember the brand / model) so maybe the AC1750s will perform better anyway.