Organization of a seamless Wi-Fi network in a large apartment. What is the best?

Good afternoon. The situation is as follows: I have an Asus RT-AC51U router in my apartment. Half of the apartment in the coverage area, and part of the apartment is completely without wi-fi. In the far room from the router is a network cable, which I want to connect to additional equipment that it would give Wi-Fi to the rest of the apartment.

Started to study the question, I see there are repeaters, and there are access points, I can not understand what is better for me. Repeater as I understood just amplifies the Wi-Fi signal and if it is not in the far room, and amplify as I understood there is nothing, so the repeater is not suitable. I want to connect by network cable equipment and that it would give out Wi-Fi in this area.

Hence the questions:

What equipment would be suitable for my purposes?
Will the internet be seamless or will I have to reconnect to the access point and enter my login and password again?
I want that would be a single Wi-Fi coverage in the entire apartment without re-registration between the router and access point, what to buy for this?

Thank you for your attention!

Answer

Good afternoon. Good question, let’s try to understand it. In fact, the topic of organizing a Wi-Fi network in a large house, or apartment, is very relevant. Especially with regard to a seamless Wi-Fi network with fast roaming. Of course, you can hang a few ordinary repeaters, or access points, but such a Wi-Fi network will work very unstable. There will be constant interruptions, speed drops, and devices will switch between access points. If they switch at all.

A few words about a regular Wi-Fi network built from a router, and an amplifier or access point (or several amplifiers or access points). Such a network will work. Yes, the repeater (aka Wi-Fi network amplifier) should be installed in an area of stable Wi-Fi signal. It connects to the router via Wi-Fi and amplifies the signal. Access points are connected to the router via cable. Both the repeater and the access point can be configured so that there is one Wi-Fi network. That is, the devices will see one network from two access points (router + repeater or access point). But as I have already written, switching devices between access points in such a scheme is very unstable. Since these devices do not support fast roaming (certain protocols).

Yes, nowadays some manufacturers produce routers and amplifiers with support for fast roaming (802.11r, 802.11k, 802.11v protocols). But your Asus RT-AC51U does not support them judging by its specifications. In your case, there is no way to build a seamless Wi-Fi network with Asus RT-AC51U.

What equipment will be suitable for my purposes?

In your case the ideal option is a wi-fi Mesh system. I think a system of three modules will be more than enough in your case. Or even 2 will be enough. You can buy a system of two modules, and if it will not be enough, buy one more module (but not all manufacturers sell 1 module, you need to look), or an amplifier with support for fast roaming. Now there are already many inexpensive, good Mesh systems.

By default, Wi-Fi Mesh system modules are connected via wi-fi. But they can also be connected via a network cable, if you already have one. The only problem is that only one module can be connected via cable. As there are usually 2 LAN-ports on 1 module. You connect the Internet to one of them (it’s like the main one , instead of your ASUS router), and to the second LAN-port you can connect some device or the second module of the Mesh system. Well, if the signal of Wi-Fi network will cover your large apartment not completely, you will need a third module, it will connect to the network via Wi-Fi network.

wi-fi in a large apartment or house

This is the ideal Wi-Fi network for a large apartment.

Will the internet be seamless….. I want to have a single Wi-Fi coverage in the whole apartment.

Yes, the Wi-Fi network will be seamless. Except that the fast roaming feature is usually disabled by default in the Wi-Fi Mesh system settings. This is done to ensure compatibility with older devices (clients that will connect to the wi-fi). After all, to work in a seamless Wi-Fi network, devices must also support certain standards. In order to switch between access points quickly and unnoticeably for the user when moving around a large apartment. I wrote about this in detail in the article: Seamless wi-fi. Fast roaming (802.11r) in Wi-Fi Mesh systems settings.

Have a read, have a look, maybe this option will work for you. I think that two modules of any Wi-Fi system will cover the signal of your large apartment (much, of course, depends on the layout, walls, interference). Turn on fast roaming in the settings and everything should work fine. You won’t even notice that you have a network built from two access points.

I’m in touch in the comments below. All the best!