When using multiple access points for one network.

[thecoolnessrune]

I was just looking at my college's internet system and noticed that there is a wired infrastructure with some of the connections linking to access points. I was wondering that if a laptop is going through those large rooms, if an access point gets to the end of the range of that access point, will it automatically jump to the next access point? What if the access points are on different channels?

Thanks for the answer.

 

[spidey07]

Yes. The client will normally roam to the access point with the best signal to noise ratio. If the wireless network is done properly you will not even notice that you roamed to a different AP as the roaming occurs in under 100 milliseconds.

The roam decision is strictly the responsibility of the client and some clients will tend to "stick" to an access point and won't roam to better available ones. Some drivers even allow you to change this behavior.

 

[thecoolnessrune]

Alright, thank you for the answer spidey. I was looking to implement it here. I have a WRT54GL and a WRT54GS both flashed with DD-WRT. I've had the WRT54GS up at college while I left the GL down here with my parents for their laptop. I was thinking of changing the GS into an access point because there's a remote spot in my bedroom area where wireless becomes very spotty. But we have an ethernet cable linking to the GL router in the room next to my bedroom. I figure if I change the router to an access point and hook it in there that I can then get seamless wireless through the house. But I would definitely need it to be able to switch back and forth for it to be comfortable use.

Know anything about the Intel 4965AGN wireless in the notebooks to know if those drivers would support an automatic switching?

 

[spidey07]

Intel cards and drivers are among the best and allow you to change roaming/stickiness behavior.

 

[wlee]

since you've already flashed with DD_WRT, reducing the ack timing to a very low distance might also help reduce the "stickiness" of the roaming.