3 or more wireless routers as 1

[Josh192]

Hi, I have 1gbps internet coming in with 1 gigabit ethernet port. That ethernet port is going to a gigabit switch box. I am looking to setup 3 wireless routers off that switch box with each one having the full 300mbps. But I want it to have the same ssid. And also I am looking into alot of connections, is there a way to setup each router to use 300mbps and all assign ip addresses. For example have one router assign 192.168.1.1 - 192.168.1.254 and then the next router 192.168.1.255 - 192.168.1.509, or something along those lines. So basically I am not looking for n900 wireless for 1 device just 700 devices for example able to connect to the same ssid and get an automatically get an ip address assigned by which ever router has available ip addresses. Is it possible?

 

[RealBeast]

No. You can only use 192.168.1.1 (the gateway) up to .254 -- .255 is the final address and it is reserved for network broadcasts.

If you really need to connect 700 clients, you will need to use a different network scheme for example a gateway of 192.168.0.1 with a mask of 255.255.252.0, giving you a usable range from 192.168.0.1 to 192.168.3.254. That will allow a little over 1000 clients. This sounds like a job where you should consider professional help.

The way you describe your plan, you will probably use a single router DHCP for a single SSID network, and need different radio channels on the different APs and that design too should be done by a pro so you don't get interference or dead spots. I don't know that consumer level wireless will handle that, as most are limited to around 20 or so connections based on their capabilities.

 

[Josh192]

I have installed a range extender off the main wireless router and set it to ap mode. I changed the ssid, key, and security type to the same as the original. Both networks can be found (two seperate ssids with same name) by my device and whichever i connect to the mac address appears on both the wireless router and the range extender (in ap mode). This is fine for me all i need to no is if i have 3 range extenders (in ap mode) with the same ssid and everything and say each one can take 100 devices, i am guessing 100 users would connect to one, will the 101st user connect to the next router automatically? And with could i evenly spread the amount of users over all 3, or would i have to apply mac filtering and assign each device to a specific router? Is there a way for the 3 routers to display 1 ssid but share the amount of users? I guess basically what im saying is, is the a way for 3 users to get the full 300mbps off of 3 wireless routers on a 1gbps line, because there is not 1gbps wireless routers?

 

[RealBeast]

Consumer level products will not handle 100 wireless connections, they will start dropping at 20 - 30 depending on the circumstances and do not have features to allocate users as you would like.

If you want to share a 1Gb/s connection today (i.e. before 802.11ac becomes really available) you could connect a smaller number of users to 3 or 4 different access points if the users all have N wireless capability. To insure that they connect the way that you want to maximize bandwidth you will likely need to use different subnets (with different SSIDs).

You need to clearly define what you need to do, connect many users or a few at high bandwidth. My home network has wired gigabit Ethernet and 4 wireless N APs and a 50Mb/s connection, but I am sure that it would be overwhelmed by 20 people connecting if they all hit one AP.

 

[Josh192]

Thanks for your advice. So say I want 100 users connected, can I get 10 routers under the same ssid to handle 10 devices each. Say by giving them the same ssid, key and security type, even if it displays 10 identical ssids, do you think when you attempt to connect to 100th user it would automatically go for the last router, or would I have to manually assign ip addresses from each router to each mac address/ device?

 

[Josh192]

Also if I gave each router the same details and connected all their sma antenna points together and them back out into 10 seperate antennas (same required power, one unified antenna signal) would that help with making it 1 ssid or are we looking at signal conflicts. Basically looking to series up some wireless routers for faster speeds and more devises able to connect. 10 routers into 1 that is 10 times faster.

 

[RealBeast]

Thanks for your advice. So say I want 100 users connected, can I get 10 routers under the same ssid to handle 10 devices each. Say by giving them the same ssid, key and security type, even if it displays 10 identical ssids, do you think when you attempt to connect to 100th user it would automatically go for the last router, or would I have to manually assign ip addresses from each router to each mac address/ device?

No, you don't need more access points to support the users beyond enough for coverage -- what you need is industrial quality equipment if you want to have hundreds of users. I'm talking about $1000 Cisco access points, which is why I suggest that you get professional assistance before spending any money. The answer is not brute force (i.e. lots of cheap equipment), it is high capability devices used appropriately.