Maximum PC

I'm trying to help my in-laws out. Been reading all morning, but can't get comfortable with my particular config. Hoping someone can advise as I'm sure this is really simple...

In-laws have a 6,000 foot home that is long and narrow also with a detached portion. Ethernet is hardwired nicely to nearly every room. Current wireless router is upstairs - but only services the upstairs and (barely) the kitchen. Most of the house is not covered.

I believe if I could add two wireless access points downstairs (one on each side of the house) I could cover well everything. Since there is Ethernet already run, it seems like a no-brainer.

What I am unsure of is how to configure the access points so that they live well with each other. Do I need to consider things like ip addresses, nat, ssid, Security settings, etc?

Also, not really worried about others getting on the network as the closest neighbor is 1/4 mile away.

Many,many thanks in advance!

- Skip

If you have wire drop points around the home, then all you need to do is configure additional WAPs (wireless access points) and patch them to those wire drop points. Although you can buy standalone WAPs for this purpose, many ppl instead use wireless routers since they tend to offer the best deal. If you do, then you’ll need to disable DHCP on those additional routers, and assign each a unique, static IP in the same subnet as the primary router. So let's say the primary router is using 192.168.1.1. Then perhaps make each additional WAP the next in succession (192.168.1.2, 192.168.1.3, etc.). Whatever IP scheme you use, just make sure it doesn't overlap the IPs allocated by the primary router's DHCP server. Of course, each should be using a different wireless frequency. You then patch them to your wire drop points over a LAN port (the WAN port is never used, so you don’t need to be concerned about routing, NAT, firewalls, etc., which are only relevant to the WAN port). Finally, if you prefer, you can give the primary router and all additional WAPs the same SSID and wireless security settings. That way you'll have some roaming capabilities and not require reconfiguration of your clients each time some laptop or other portable device is moved.

Thanks. Seems simple enough...