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Have had some headaches with setting up wireless in my apartment. My first attempt was to buy a powerful wireless router and just have one in the living room. But the signal was abysmal in the bedroom and that router died after one day. The apartment is 100 square meters so not huge but signals can't pass through the walls well.

So i already have one of these from my isp:

http://www.tp-link.com/us/products/details/?categoryid=241&model=TL-WR700N

which i like because it 'just works' and it gives excellent signal strength everywhere in my living room that is within line of sight. However the signal is horrible in the bedroom once it passes through a wall.

So my question is, if i buy a second one of the above, what is the best way to extend the wireless network keeping the same SSID?

Should i use the second as a repeater and accept half throughput? Would having the throughput be noticeable to my internet experience? (my internet is fiber so fast).

Or should i connect them both to the fios modem via Ethernet cable and just run a long cable to the bedroom? Thanks for advice

Thanks for advice.

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Other question i have is not exactly related but would a 150Mbps wifi router bottleneck my 30Mb fiber? The router that broke was a 300Mbps one... About 8 meters away from the 150Mbps router my windows wifi adapter shows speed: 65Mbps, but in the bedroom this drops to 16Mbps (due to bad signal strength). – Daniel Gratz Nov 1 '11 at 21:07
No, 150 can't be problem for 30 – Lazy Badger Nov 2 '11 at 14:59
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2 Answers

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If you can link them by Ethernet, that is best. Configure them both for the same SSID and encryption key but different channels. You may have a momentary loss of connectivity when a device changes which access point it is associated with, but it shouldn't be a big deal. Devices are smart enough not to move back and forth excessively between APs.

If you're using a router just as an access point, make sure to disable its DHCP server and don't use its WAN/internet port for anything. Connections between routers should all be LAN-to-LAN.

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I plan on plugging both routers via separate cat5 cables into a switch, then plug the switch into my fios modem/router. That'll work right? I'd disable dhcp on both wifi routers as you suggest. – Daniel Gratz Nov 2 '11 at 2:07
It should. Just make sure you connect a LAN port on the router. – David Schwartz Nov 2 '11 at 2:24
You can eliminate Wired-router and have linked Modem-WiFi1-WiFi2: less fewer elements in the chain is more reliable in general – Lazy Badger Nov 2 '11 at 14:58
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You can pair two TP-Link routers with WDS Bridge enabled and don't worry about additional cables

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