newb question about WDS and access points

[usrvartmp]

I've been killing myself running up and down stairs trying to get wireless set up in my home. Still haven't gotten it to work. I am an absolute networking newb, so I would appreciate getting some sense knocked into me. I have so many questions, I don't know where to start. Please bear with me.

I have a Dlink DGL-4300 wireless router and a Dlink DWL-2100AP access point. The router is in the basement and the signal dies off about half way across the first floor of the house.

I ruled out using the AP as a repeater because I want to use WPA-PSK.
I ran cat5e to the other end of the basement and put another AP there. This is where I'm stuck.

1. Was the Cat5e overkill? Could I have gotten away with using WDS-AP as the repeater mode and still have the WPA-PSK security? (the dwl-2100ap has both Repeater and WDS-AP as separate modes.) Though on paper this would halve my throughput.

2. If I need to set it in AP mode with hardwire, how do I ensure that I can roam between the zones and have smooth transitions and no drops in connectivity? Same SSID? MAC address of AP in the MAC filter list of the router? Same channels? Different channels? Same WPA key on both AP's?

3. At one point, I plugged in the dwl-2100ap while set to WDS-AP mode into the router and it killed all connectivity (wired and wireless). Is this because WDS means it was expecting the hardwire on the AP to be on a different lan?

 

[nweaver]

What you are looking for isn't really supported in SOHO gear. If you want seamles roaming between AP's, then look at commercial gear. Cisco has several fast roaming options that allow roaming in about 25ms

 

[JackMDS]

If the 2100AP can not do WPA as WDS there is nothing you can do about it, the same appllies to Repeater.

If you use a wire you must to set the device as a regular AP.

As for roaming you have to try same SSIDs, different SSIDs, and channels etc., and see what works best for you.

Entry Level Wireless does not support well seamless roaming.

 

[usrvartmp]

nweaver & JackMDS,

Thanks for your help. Can't tell you how much time you both just saved me.

Dealing with consumer-level gear, would DHCP basically be one of these "try it to see if it works for you" kind of things in terms of benefits over static IP?

and

What would be the best performance I could hope for for trying to get smooth roaming capability?

Thanks so much!

 

[nweaver]

DHCP normally works fine. Roaming depends on the exact setup, the client card, etc. Hard to say.

 

[JackMDS]

Start with both units configured with the same SSID.

One unit at Channel 1, and the other channel 11.

 

[usrvartmp]

Thanks for the help again. Got it working last night. Should have done some better research to know that consumer-level wireless products are horrible with roaming.

I can now go from "excellent" connection to "poor" just by walking across the first floor from one AP towards the other. But unless the "poor" becomes "unconnected", the client won't switch over to the other AP. Basically have to do it manually by "repairing" the connection.

I only wish it would have said somewhere in the manuals that "roaming" is not synonymous with "seamless" and that its not possible to change the threshold of the signal strength from the client side to actively seek other AP's. (I tried changing wireless AP power level but it makes more sense to have a contiguous area of wireless coverage.)

So in the end, it doesn't matter whether the SSID's, channels, etc are the same or different. For SOHO it pretty much still means you have to change AP's manually...

 

[JackMDS]

Yeah it is sad, 🙁I do not know what makes computer enthusiasts different then Motor Vehicle enthusiasts.😱

You would not see complains in Motor Vehicle forums that Austin Mini Cooper cannot be used as a Bulldozer.😉