Hi guys,
I have a range extender that I've been thinking about replacing with an Almond. Here's my question..
I want the primary router to be able to jump channels. If I force it to stay on a particular channel, it'll occasionally get really slow, I assume because of noise on that part of the spectrum that it can't avoid by jumping.
Anyway, my current extender forces you to specify a channel -- it won't work when the primary router is set to auto-pick channels. Or rather, it'll lose the connection as soon as the primary router jumps channels.
How does the Almond extender handle this? Can it watch the primary router and jump channels when the primary jumps?
That is not going to work. Your Ranger extender needs to be on the same channel as the main Router. (Remember that to work the Ranger Extender acts as a Wi-Fi client of the main Router, while also acting as a Wi-Fi AP (Access Point) to Wi-Fi clients in it's vicinity.
Consider this image:
If you put your main Router in "auto" mode, it becomes a moving target. You need to decide on a channel, and stick to it. Put both devices on the same channel. Due to the 20MHz/40MHz width of channels there are only
3 usable channels anyway. The only channels any of us should be using are
1,
6 and
11. (Under Wireless 802.11b there are 11-14 channels depending on juridiction), but due to wider channels, there are the only
3 channels that don't overlap in 802.11g/802.11n.
Consider the following graphic, (generated by
Wi-Fi Analyzer on my Android tablet):
Note how the "N" channels extend across multiple "B" channels.
If you want them on different channels, then you need to connect your
Almond to your main route via cable, and configure it for "
Access Point" mode rather than "
Range Extender" mode. When you operate your Almond as an "
Access Point" you actually want both on different channels (even if using the same SSID). Under Ranger Extender they
MUST be on the
same channel as the connection between the devices is via radio.
Access Point mode is more flexible, but requires cabling from the Router to the "Gray" Ethernet port on the Almond.
Range Extender is easier to setup, as no wiring is needed. You can plug additional "wired" devices into the two Black Ethernet ports on the
Almond in either mode. For example you could plug a network printer into it, this would allow a Laptop to connect to the Almond via Wi-Fi, and print to the printer via TCP/IP, even though the Laptop is Wi-Fi connected and the Printer is "wire" connected.