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Forum Discussion
Settings for laptop to switch to strongest signal
I am working with someone who has a 4 story, 5,000 sq ft house built in the 1930's.
We are using R7000 Nighthawk router and a EX6200 WIFI Range Extender.
The SSID of the NIghthawk is Albany. The SSID of the extender is Albany-EXT.
The 4 users all have laptops and roam about the house. What is happening is that they may have a very strong signal in one part of the house from Albany... but as they move to another part of the house, that signal fades... and Albany-EXT increases... but the laptop does not switch to the stronger SSID.
What settings (either router/extender or PC) should I be looking at to facilitate their devices switching to the strongest signal?
Should I make all the SSIDs the same?
The PCs are W7, W8, MS Surface.
Thanks for any suggestions.
We are using R7000 Nighthawk router and a EX6200 WIFI Range Extender.
The SSID of the NIghthawk is Albany. The SSID of the extender is Albany-EXT.
The 4 users all have laptops and roam about the house. What is happening is that they may have a very strong signal in one part of the house from Albany... but as they move to another part of the house, that signal fades... and Albany-EXT increases... but the laptop does not switch to the stronger SSID.
What settings (either router/extender or PC) should I be looking at to facilitate their devices switching to the strongest signal?
Should I make all the SSIDs the same?
The PCs are W7, W8, MS Surface.
Thanks for any suggestions.
2 Replies
- As configured the device will NEVER switch to the strongest signal, because Windows looks at what they call preferred networks, and if one network has a higher preference and a weaker signal, as long as it can detect that signal it will connect to it. You need to make all the SSIDs the same.
- On the R7000 I can assign the 2 and 5 G frequencies the same SSID. And that made things much better in terms of the signal strength as the users moved about.
However, If I try to do that on the EX6200 (I was going to use the same SSID as on the R7000), I get a pop up saying the the 2 and 5 G signals "have the same SSID"... and won't let me proceed unless the SSID for the 2G is different than the SSID for the 5G.
What am I missing here? I can do this on the R7000? Why not the EX6200?
