Hi,

I'm struggling with a simple task, that turns out to be not that simple...

I'm looking for the most efficient way to range extend my WIFI network using an existing LAN infrastructure.

The primary AP is an AVM FRITZ!Box 7490 (yes, it's operating in AP mode...). The idea is to connect additional OpenWRT based APs (using a TP-LINK TL-WR1043ND and a DLINK DIR 505 for now) via LAN port, and have any WIFI devices roam between the access points.

The LAN port mode is set to DHCP, and I joined the AVM AP SSID. The secondary APs were set to client mode. It doesn't appear to work that good, since it seems, that the WIFI devices ignore the secondary APs for some reason.

I also tried Client (WDS) mode already, but WDS isn't exactly, what I'm looking for. The client mode is sub-optimal in other ways as well, since they depend on the master (primary AP).

Next, I've switched to AP mode with auto channel selection in all OpenWRT devices, which comes closer, but still my mobile tend to stick with the primary AP even for lower S/N ratios... Looks, like 802.11r FT provides a solution, but that requires low level access to all devices.

AVM has a product, that does this quite well. It's called AVM FRITZ!WLAN Repeater 1750E, that provides a mode to use the LAN port as uplink, but they're quite expensive.

I'm a Linux desktop user (developer, packager, ...) since ages, and while the AVM stuff is nice and easy to operate, it gets in the way quickly, if leaving the average home user environment.

Any idea, how to improve this situation?

TIA,
Pete

If you are connecting the secondary routers using a cable, then just follow the "dumb AP recipe".
If you are connecting them using wifi, then read the "client mode howto".

Thanks, eduperez, for pointing me to the dump AP recipe. It helped me to refine my setup in a few details.

As for quicker "roaming", any ideas in this respect?

If you have lots of clients, you will want to use different channels on each AP, so they do not interfere among themselves, and you use he full available bandwidth; on the other hand, if you use the same channel for all AP's, clients will roam faster from one AP to the nearest one. Then there is the802.11r protocol for even faster roaming, but not many clients implement it.