Home Hotspots

[anne-h]

Hi, I have Home Hotspot 600 set up to extend wifi around the house. Extender and two Hotspots. Works well as far as it goes, but still not adequate in some rooms. Can I add more hotspots from another set? If so would they work with the first Extender or would I need to install another full kit of Ext and 2x HS? And would they all clone to the one router name?   TIA!

[imjolly]

if you add more extenders you need to pair them to the existing set  you cannot run 2 separate sets

[licquorice]

You can only have one extender with multiple hotspots, you cannot add an extra extender but you can add extra hotspots. I personally think its a bad idea to give hotspots the same ID as each other and the router as you don't know where your device is connecting to and it might also hold on to a weak signal rather than move to a stronger signal. If they have different IDs you can manually switch connection.

[anne-h]

Thanks. See what you mean but do like to move seamlessly between adjacent rooms with tablet!

[Keith_Beddoe]

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@anne-h wrote:
Thanks. See what you mean but do like to move seamlessly between adjacent rooms with tablet!

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That will not work, as a device will simply hold onto the last wireless connection until the signal is totally lost. Separate SSIDs and wireless channels for each unit can help, but its not perfect.

The only way you will get true roaming is with a wireless mesh. I use the Tenda Nova MW3, which although one of the cheapest, works very well, and is dual band.

A wireless mesh uses the same SDID and password for each node, and determines the best connection node for each device, depending on its location.

[licquorice]

Having the same ID doesn't make it seamless,  although it may appear so, the signal still has to drop from one source and connect to the other. The only true seamless system is a mesh wifi system.

[anne-h]

It does appear seamless to me though, as devices auto connect to same ID. Thank you for the info but mesh sounds like a step too far for one non-techie in a rather sprawling house!

[Keith_Beddoe · Accepted solution]

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@anne-h wrote:
It does appear seamless to me though, as devices auto connect to same ID. Thank you for the info but mesh sounds like a step too far for one non-techie in a rather sprawling house!

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They are actually quite simple, but each node has to be in wireless range of at least one other node. The more nodes it can "see" the better it works.

If you are happy with what you are already using, and it does not cause any conflict with your BT home hub wireless, then simple add an extra hotspot.

Unfortunately, I think you have to buy the hotspot 600 units as a pair, so you would have to keep the extra "master" unit as a spare.

[anne-h]

First Extender failed and had to get new set, so already have extra Hotspots. Will try a third for now and consider mesh for future. Thanks again.