Best setup for multiple APs

[wayner]

I have most of my house wired with ethernet but, of course, wireless is still very useful, especially with mobile devices and we have a lot of them in my house. My ethernet wiring terminates in the basement where I have placed my cable modem and router. This isn't the greatest spot for a router/WAP to maximize the wifi range, and I have a very large house, so I have placed three additional routers, acting as Access Points (DHCP turned off and static IPs assigned from 192.168.1.2-192.168.1.4), in various parts of my house.

What is the best setup with respect to SSIDs? Currently each router has its own SSID (BasementLinksys, KitchenNetgear, 2ndFlrDlink) but should I use the same SSID on all of them? This would make it easy to configure new devices as you wouldn't have to enter the password for each SSID. If so is there any way I could change from one to another when the signal is very low?

 

[thiggins]

If you want to control how clients connect to APs, you need the unique SSIDs. Yes, it's a pain, but it's the only way to ensure that dumb consumer wireless clients connect to the AP with the strongest signal.