Hello, thank you for your responses, and I apologize I didn't make it clear I was talking about using the Almond as a range extender, not as a main wifi unit at this time.
So to make sure I understand:
1) because the Almond in range extender mode is basically "piggybacking" off the main wifi router, logging in via the _almond SSID still has to follow the same protocols, because it's not serving as its own router. (A comment on Amazon.com wasn't clear - and now I suspect they set up the Almond as a standalone router, not a repeater).
However, I had to add the Almond to my router's "approved gadgets" list so it can connect. So my fear has been - since the Almond is listed in the approved list, would anything connected to the Almond piggyback on that approval? I'm probably overthinking...but I want to avoid my wifi being hacked by some neighbor who didn't want to pay for internet access. (Okay, I'm thinking about neighbors like a specific old co-worker that used to tell me he'd hack his neighbor's wifi to visit "questionable" sites so they couldn't be traced back to him).
2) the main router and the Almond can have the same SSID/password and that doesn't hurt anything (I'd assume if the SSID's were the same, the passwords would pretty much HAVE to be the same). So, if I logged into my phone in this case, would it only see one gadget or two with the same name? If one, how do I know which one it's connecting to (in case I have to troubleshoot problems, for example)? I'm guessing it would pick the one with the strongest signal.
Thanks again for your help. The Almond is a very nice-looking gadget and fairly easy to set up. (The only real problem I had in setting it up was "old eyes" - kept seeing a "B" as an "8" in my MAC address
) I haven't actually connected anything to it - other than to test its signal after the initial set up so I get add the MAC address to my Access Control list.