Can anyone help a home network problem, please?

[Di Wedd]

Hi there,

I wonder if anyone can help me with a home network issue.

Current Setup
We have two buildings on our property. The main house [building 1] is the primary internet access point. It has a fibre internet line into the house / router. From the router are Ethernet cables and other cables that connect to the TV, PCs etc. It provides Wi-Fi as well. From the router runs a cable also to the cottage [building 2]. For the purpose of this discussion, the SSID for the network in the house is Firehouse.

The cottage, which is used for guests, is connected to the main house / router with the aforementioned cable. It runs into a wireless range extender, which provides Wi-Fi, as well as Ethernet cable connections to a PC and TV. The SSID for the network in the cottage is the same as the SSID in the main house i.e. Firehouse.

You can see the current setup in this image -



The Problem
We have a problem with the network in the cottage. In certain parts of the cottage, when connected over Wi-Fi, a phone/laptop or other devise tries to connect to the router in the main house, not the range extender in the cottage. This is frustrating because the Wi-Fi signal strength on the phone/laptop/devise is poor, resulting in very slow (or at times non-existent). I don't understand why the phone/laptop/devise is connecting to the router in the house and not the wireless extender in the cottage. As I said, it is only in certain parts of the cottage i.e. the parts closer to the main house. How can I stop any devises from connecting over Wi-Fi to the router in the main house?

I thought it would be good if I rename the network in the cottage, but apparently this is not possible because the wireless network extender is an internet access point only. It requires the same SSID as the main house.

If I changed the wireless range extender to a router, can I connect the new router with a cable (as shown in the image) to the router in the main house? And if possible, will this allow me to change the SSID in the cottage?

I know an alternative is to put a separate line into the cottage, but due to the cost, I would like to avoid this for now.

I hope this is clear and makes sense. I am not an IT person, so do not know too much about these things. Please feel free to ask me questions if you need any further information or clarification.

Any help/suggestions will be appreciated.
D

 

[Sp00n]

What is the brand/model of the "wireless range extender" and the router?

Are the settings identical? Encryption is set the same for both devices?

Does this occur when you are in the main house and then move to the cottage or do the devices try and connect (for the first time) to the main house?

If the device is connected to the main house (from within the cottage), if you turn off the wifi and turn it back on, does it then connect to the cottage wifi? (from within the cottage)

Devices don't like roaming very much, especially if both SSIDs are within range of each other.

 

[pepp77]

Same SSIDs on different devices not configured for roaming hand off will often cause this issue, normally when the last network they connected to was the firehouse one, they will try to reconnect to that even if the signal strength is lower than the cottage.

I would replace the extender (if it doesnt let you change the SSID) to a cable router/dedicated AP that can have a different SSID.

the other solution is a proper managed wireless solution that doe's proper roaming handoff - but that will be money

 

[Di Wedd]

What is the brand/model of the "wireless range extender" and the router?

The brand/model is a D-Link DAP-1360

Are the settings identical? Encryption is set the same for both devices?

As far as I know, the settings are identical. I didn't install it, but a family member who works in the Networking field did it. He stated that the settings and encryption is identical. Unfortunately I am unable to contact him to verify.

Does this occur when you are in the main house and then move to the cottage or do the devices try and connect (for the first time) to the main house?

It occurs in the cottage, but only in the part nearest to the main house. So for example, if I have a laptop in the cottage, it connects to the Wi-Fi network in the cottage. If I move the laptop to the part of the cottage closest to the main house, it drops the Wi-Fi from the network extender and connects to the router in the main house. As far as I know, the devices connect the network in the cottage most of the time and certainly initially it connected to the cottage network.

If the device is connected to the main house (from within the cottage), if you turn off the wifi and turn it back on, does it then connect to the cottage wifi? (from within the cottage)

No, it connects to the Wi-Fi in the main house.

It is like the cottage Wi-Fi (which is closer to the devise) is lost. It is frustrating because it is literally just a few feet away from the network extender. The main house router is much further.

 

[Di Wedd]

I would replace the extender (if it doesnt let you change the SSID) to a cable router/dedicated AP that can have a different SSID.

So if I get a router, can I connect that with a cable to the router in the main house and just rename the network in the cottage?

Please excuse my ignorance, but I don't know if a router-to-router connection is possible. I don't want to lose internet access in the cottage if I connect a router from the cottage to one in the main house.

 

[pepp77]

Yes any router (ADSL or cable) will allow this. Just connect from LAN port on main router to a LAN port on the second router - I have 3 routers running Wifi in my house as it was cheaper to reuse than to buy dedicated.

If you bought a cable router (so not one with a modem included) you could even create a dedicated network within the cottage so the house is on say 192.168.1.1 and the cottage is on 192.168.2.1

 

[Di Wedd]

Yes any router (ADSL or cable) will allow this. Just connect from LAN port on main router to a LAN port on the second router - I have 3 routers running Wifi in my house as it was cheaper to reuse than to buy dedicated.

If you bought a cable router (so not one with a modem included) you could even create a dedicated network within the cottage so the house is on say 192.168.1.1 and the cottage is on 192.168.2.1

The answer then for me is to get another router. Thank you so much. I appreciate your replies very much.

 

[Di Wedd]

Same SSIDs on different devices not configured for roaming hand off will often cause this issue, normally when the last network they connected to was the firehouse one, they will try to reconnect to that even if the signal strength is lower than the cottage.

If you could, could you explain this to me. I think I understand what you are saying, but I am not entirely sure.

 

[DIABLO]

If you have a Router lying around then yes but I wouldn’t buy one for the task. If you’re buying new you would buy a Network Switch and a Access Point.

 

[Sp00n]

If you could, could you explain this to me. I think I understand what you are saying, but I am not entirely sure.

Your device basically likes sticking to the last network it connected to if it's in range and given a choice.

 

[Di Wedd]

Your device basically likes sticking to the last network it connected to if it's in range and given a choice.

Thank you, much appreciate.

 

[bledd]

Any decent access point will allow you to pick any SSID you want.

Do you want ethernet ports on the second building? Or is it only WiFi you want?

 

[Di Wedd]

Any decent access point will allow you to pick any SSID you want.

Do you want ethernet ports on the second building? Or is it only WiFi you want?

The wireless extender I have acts as an access point. What I want to do however is to have a different SSID for the cottage, so that the devises don't try and pick of the SSID in the main house (even though they are supposed to pick up the SSID in the cottage, which they do, but in certain parts they connect to the SSID in the main house). My understanding is that I can't rename the SSID in the cottage because the wireless extender is an access point. I was told that you can't have a different SSID if you use an access point. It has to be a router.

The cottage needs Wi-Fi and Ethernet cables (in order to connect to a PC and the TV). The PC can connect to Wi-Fi if I plug in an adaptor in one pf the USB slots, but ideally an Ethernet cable is better. That is the current set-up.

 

[pcfarrar]

Just get a couple of UniFi AP's, put one in the house and one in the cottage. Cost around £200 for 2 x UniFi AC LR's.

Much better this way as with UniFi you can have a Guest WiFi in the cottage and then lock it down with guest policies.

 

[Mariusz]

From reading the thread you want a basic router in the cottage. This will provide ethernet points and WiFi for the cottage.

I've got the same setup at home, router downstairs where phone-line enters the house, then another router in the loft (man cave) hard wired to original router. The second routers ssid is different to the first so i can manually connect to the router with the strongest signal depending on where i am in the house. I'm using a Netgear R6220 in access point mode, original router was a netgear so i wanted them to match

 

[BigT]

So I don't think you need to buy anything.

Your D-Link device will absolutely act as a regular access point and you can give it a different SSID in the cottage to the SSID of the router in the main house. See page 23 of the manual:

http://files.dlink.com.au/Products/DAP-1360/Manuals/DAP-1360_F1_Manual_v6.00(DI).pdf

You've done the hard bit of having an ethernet cable run between the house and the cottage. If you need wired clients as well you put a cheap switch on the end of the ethernet cable in the cottage and plug the D-Link into the switch. If just wifi then plug the D-Link onto the end of the ethernet cable as it emerges in the cottage.

 

[rhysduck]

How does your DAP-1360 provide ethernet connections to the TV and PC in the cottage when it only has one ethernet LAN port?

As long as these two devices are already connected to the network via LAN cable then all you need to do is change the ssid of the cottage access point (exactly like @BigT has stated in his post).

I have the same setup in my house with a DLINK router in Access Point mode in the garage providing wireless and lan connectivity. albeit on a different SSID to the house so I know what to connect to should I have poor signal with either.

 

[bledd]

Two routers is bad advice. (Unless it's set to AP mode)

Check your current AP settings add change the SSID.

Or buy a Unifi access point.

 

[Di Wedd]

Just get a couple of UniFi AP's, put one in the house and one in the cottage. Cost around £200 for 2 x UniFi AC LR's.

Much better this way as with UniFi you can have a Guest WiFi in the cottage and then lock it down with guest policies.

Thank you very much for your suggestion, I will look into this too. I don't know about UniFi AC LR's.

 

[Di Wedd]

From reading the thread you want a basic router in the cottage. This will provide ethernet points and WiFi for the cottage.

I've got the same setup at home, router downstairs where phone-line enters the house, then another router in the loft (man cave) hard wired to original router. The second routers ssid is different to the first so i can manually connect to the router with the strongest signal depending on where i am in the house. I'm using a Netgear R6220 in access point mode, original router was a netgear so i wanted them to match

Thank you for your reply. This sounds exactly like my situation, but just on two different levels. My situation is two different buildings.