How to connect to AP repeater only

[fizikz]

One of my laptops frequently switches between connecting to the repeater and the router, and I suspect this is causing the network drops I'm getting. How can I specify to connect only to, say, the repeater to avoid these drops?

 

[thiggins]

Since a repeater uses the same SSID, you can't really control this easily. If your client has a setting controlling roaming, you can try changing it.

 

[fizikz]

Thanks, that gave me some ideas.

My first approach was to have my laptop (client) request a static IP on the network and set the default gateway IP to that of the repeater. This seemed to work for a while, but for some reason it isn't any more.

Now, I also saw an option in the network connection settings (in Ubuntu) to specify the BSSID of the desired wireless AP. The connection is then locked to that device only. I found the BSSID of the repeater by typing into the terminal: sudo iwlist scanning

Let's see how well that works.

 

[stevech]

I don't think that IP based scheme will work - because the WiFi WDS repeater is a layer 2 device (bridge). Its IP address is used only to admin it, I think.

If the WDS repeater must have the same SSID as the router, I don't think there's a way to force the client to choose best-signal or whatever - without proprietary software such as from Cisco or Aruba.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the WDS repeaters don't permit a different SSID to be used on the access point function of the repeater, versus the repeater's role as a client of the WiFi router's built-in access point.

The best solution is to replace the WDS repeater with a WiFi access point (AP) which can be a re-purposed generic router. The AP connects to the router via HomePlug or MoCA (or cat5 cable if viable). Use of an AP is the common way to improve coverage. And each AP can have a unique SSID.

 

[fizikz]

Your post made me realize the difference between a WDS repeater and an AP. My current setup is a WDS repeater. I will set up an AP when I can, but right now that's not possible.

The IP method didn't work, but so far the BSSID method is working. That seems to have fixed the network dropping issues as well.

Using inSSIDer on the laptop which was having the dropping issues, the following image http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/9701/screenshotinssider1.png shows the signal strength of the router (blue line) which in the basement and the repeater (light orange line) which is on the first floor. The laptop is on the second floor. All three devices are nearly on top of each other. The repeater's signal has fluctuations of 10-20 dB or more. Maybe this could explain why the laptop kept switching which device it connected to. The more important question is, is it normal for the repeater's signal to vary so much?

 

[sfx2000]

Since a repeater uses the same SSID, you can't really control this easily. If your client has a setting controlling roaming, you can try changing it.

As Tim suggests - check roaming aggressiveness in the adapter properties on the client PC. Broadcom based adapters, these I know have this setting, and if I recall, so do intel client.

You might have to go into device manager and check the properties there if you're using the default Windows client manager

 

[sfx2000]

Your post made me realize the difference between a WDS repeater and an AP. My current setup is a WDS repeater. I will set up an AP when I can, but right now that's not possible.

The IP method didn't work, but so far the BSSID method is working. That seems to have fixed the network dropping issues as well.

Using inSSIDer on the laptop which was having the dropping issues, the following image http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/9701/screenshotinssider1.png shows the signal strength of the router (blue line) which in the basement and the repeater (light orange line) which is on the first floor. The laptop is on the second floor. All three devices are nearly on top of each other. The repeater's signal has fluctuations of 10-20 dB or more. Maybe this could explain why the laptop kept switching which device it connected to. The more important question is, is it normal for the repeater's signal to vary so much?

Move the repeater a few feet over... if you're lined up in a vertical stack you're likely in the weakest part of the antenna pattern...

You might also consider changing your channel to 1 based on the screenshot...

 

[fizikz]

This laptop is using an Intel wireless adapter, but it is running Ubuntu linux, not Windows. However, now that it has been set only to connect to the repeater, there are no more drops.

The router and repeater are not exactly on top of each other. They are about 5 feet apart, on different floors, when viewed from above. I will still try moving the repeater around a bit, but that magnitude of signal strength variation seems less than ideal...

I'll see about changing channels. When I first set it up this was the best channel, but a lot of wireless networks appear/disappear around here.

 

[thiggins]

As the OP pointed out, the IP/gateway method won't work.
If you can lock to a BSSID, that would work, which it appears to do.