Require help with my home setup and wireless access points

[roguesk]

Hello guys, in advance thanks for your help and patience. I have taken the time to draw a diagram to help you understand my situations quicker.

Note: The length of the ground floor is probably 60-100 feet. With minimal walls/doors on the ground floor

As it stands I only have the second floor router but due to bad coverage on the ground floor I am planning to place an access point (where indicated).
I have purchased a powerline adapter to minimise cabling for a physical connection to the WAP. This is where I have a few questions that I would appreciate if you could answer.

1. Will the powerline adapter work in this way providing a physical connection to the WAP? Im a believer in wiring and dont like repeating due to complexity and signal deterioration.

In relation to the WAP:

Devices that use wireless are: 3 iphones (wireless n at 2.4ghz) and 2 laptops (wireless g). (future proofing maybe considered)
I am not that fussed with internal network transfer speeds. I am more concerned with range of wireless as internet access everywhere in the house is the priority.

2.Will a wireless N WAP benefit me in this situation or should I stick to the cheaper wireless G WAP's? (future proofing? mainly concerning range?)

3.I require a wired connection from the WAP so that my xbox can be wired to the home network. Is there a WAP that has network switch capabilities or will I need to purchase a seperate network switch to place before the WAP (from powerline adapter)?

4. I would prefer a single SSID where I can switch or the device switches from the upstairs router and WAP when signal is better at a particular point. Is this something that is possible or will I be better off with two seperate SSID's for WAP and wireless router and manually swicth between them?

5. Which WAP do you think would best serve my purpose?
was looking at: netgear wn604?

I apologise if these questions seem obvious, im quite a networking novice so any help would be appreciated. We all started somewhere Thank you very much

 

[Emerald]

1) first of all I agree a wired connection is preferred; however, I do have a problem with powerline connections since the are so slow.

here are the fastest speeds I was able to run at using a powerline connection between two floors:

200Mb device gave about 20Mb
500Mb device gave about 35Mb

the longer the distance the slower the speed.


Do you have Coax Cable running through out the house? maybe you can use MoCA devices.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833122243


2) instate of the expensive WAP plus a Switch for additional ports, get a N-router and configure it as a AP (Access Point)

3) using a router as an AP will also give you at least three available LAN ports

4) sorry not sure about SSID roaming

5) get a Asus RT-N12 and install the DD-WRT firmware which will make it run more stable and provide additional configuration options.

http://www.dd-wrt.com/site/support/router-database


What make and model is your main router?

 

[roguesk]

Hi and thanks for taking the time to reply. It is appreciated.

1. I cant use MoCA devices because I only have one Coax socket in the house which comes in on the second floor (only for internet). So im guessing I cant use it unless im being very dense.
I just ordered a powerline because the cabling would be horrendous and I hate repeating. So im stuck with it unless I return the adapter.

2. guess I wanted to avoid the router. but basic setup would be:
Turn off dhcp on wap
enable wap mode
ignore wan port and plug ethernet from router into one LAN port (then leaving three for other devices to gain access)
set static ip for wap and remove from dhcp pool of router

anything else? and also i once tried this with an old netgear dg834gt and the LAN port from it were restricted. like ps3 and xbox nat type was always strict. Is there something else i should be doing?

The make of my router atm is the netgear WGR614.

basic setup is: cable line in -> modem -> netgear WGR614

but i want to add:

cable line in -> modem -> netgear WGR614 -> powerline -> router/access point -> wireless internet
-> wired xbox

 

[Emerald]

the reason I asked for info on your main router is, as much I like wired networks, I have been very successful in setting up wireless bridge repeaters using two N-routers giving better connection speeds than powerline.

Since your main router is a G-router the signal will not be strong enough.

 

[roguesk]

So you had more success having an n router with wds activated. And then another access point/router some way away in repeater mode?

 

[Emerald]

if a N-router is the main router, I have used an Asus RT-N12 router with DD-WRT firmware and configured it as a Bridge repeater.

since the Asus has external antennas one can add 7db or stronger antennas to increase signal strength if necessary.

http://www.dd-wrt.com/site/support/router-database

http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Repeater_Bridge#Site_Survey_Adjustment

personally I only use routers with DD-WRT firmware since they seem to run really stable and I have more configuration options

 

[roguesk]

Im gna sound really dopey but here goes:

Why is DD-WRT a better firmware?

 

[roguesk]

I understand that its more stable, but specifically why? Holds a steady connection, doesnt fluctuate with transfer speeds etc??

 

[Emerald]

DD-WRT adds the Kai Daemon for the Kai Console Gaming network, WDS wireless bridging/repeating protocol, Radius Authentication for more secure wireless communication, advanced Quality of Service controls for bandwidth allocation, and software support for the SD-Card hardware modification. for more info go here:

http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

In regards to the ASUS router, it is their support techs that recommend to change to DD-WRT firmware since they own firmware is slower and had problems keeping the wireless connection from dropping.