Dual RT-N66U's with same SSID's?

[RustyPitchfork]

Long story short, I am relocating my wiring closet and am thinking about having Dual AP's. I'm wondering if I have to N66U's if they are smart enough to figure out how to manage the same SSID's on different channels.

 

[thiggins]

Depends on what you mean by "manage". Consumer routers have no intelligence built to distribute client load or auto-adjust transmit power.

Clients are pretty dumb, too. You can't control which router clients connect to except by assigning different SSIDs to each one.

 

[theirongiant]

The Wi-Fi spec is designed for multiple access points with the same SSID, as long as they're all connected by the same LAN backbone. It's also encouraged to put the devices on different channels. Even Cisco advises network administrators to do this.

As far as I understand it, Cisco APs with central management are able to perform load-balancing by booting clients off of one AP to join another that may be less crowded or have a better signal.

 

[jlake]

Here's what Linksys has to say on the matter. Read the "quick tips" in the links below.

I'll try to summarize here.

1. LAN-to-LAN cascade-----it doesn't matter. synchronize or don't synchronize

2. LAN-to-WAN cascade-----it doesn't matter. synchronize or don't synchronize

3. Bridge mode (AP Mode)---it matters. SSID's must be different.

Personally, I always use different SSIDs and different non-overlapping channels regardless of which cascade method that I use.

http://kb.linksys.com/Linksys/ukp.aspx?pid=80&vw=1&articleid=3733

http://kb.linksys.com/Linksys/ukp.aspx?pid=80&vw=1&articleid=24583