auto wireless connect

i have setup an access point and two repeaters that pick up the signal from the access point and redistribute it.

all access points are the same model and brand.
everything is using the same channel. i was wondering if the repeaters should use different channels or not?

in any case my only issue at the moment is windows. when i move away from the main access point and get near REPEATER A windows should automatically connect to that.

if i do a network scan i see all 3 devices. the ap, repeater a, and repeater b. when i am near repeater a the signal is strongest according to the wireless scan however the laptop is still connected to the AP with very low signal strength.

how can i make windows auto switch?

There have been may question on roaming. There are very few AP's that support it properly, most are bussiness class.

The mfg of my AP says to have the ap set on the same channel, same SSID and key. My AP has a special mode to handle this. This way MS windows does not see 3 different sources. ONLY 1.

I no this will still up a mess. There are other mfg that tells you to have them on different chanels so they don't interfer with each other. The problem with this is that it is treated as a seperate AP.

Windows has the capability to auto connect when in range. The problem with thas is once connected to a ssid it will only switch if the signal drops off and it sees another AP. The problem you are having.

Check to see if your AP Support ROAMING.

You want WDS with the associated MAC address. This way it will know its the same service.

It's my understanding you need to put the associated hardware (AP) in.

You should be setup for WDS inorder for the roaming to work.

There was a thread on this 1-2 month ago that covered this topic. What they found out after getting excelated to a level 3 tech is their HW did not support ROAMING. Sorry I can't give you the finer details.