How To Configure The Wi-Fi Network Of An Extender Or Access Point To Automatically Connect To The Best Signal

When you opt for the Internet with a reputed ISP, they usually offer us a Wi-Fi router for free through which to connect both computers and other devices to the Internet, cable, and Wi-Fi. However, these routers, in general, are of very low range, so, in addition to not having many functions and being of very low performance, both the speed and the coverage of the Wi-Fi network usually leave quite a lot to wish.

While solving the problem of speed is quite complicated and happens to change the router or add another that takes care of Wi-Fi, if you are only interested in solving the problem of wireless network coverage. One of the simplest ways to solve it is by installing a WiFi extender or access point, a device that, placed where the router’s signal arrives well but begins to get lost, is responsible for repeating it so that it reaches the areas farthest from the router.

Depending on the device you install, it is possible that it directly copies the Wi-Fi data that must be repeated and forwards the signal as such, or that you have to configure the network manually to which you connect (Wi-Fi access point).

In the first case, you will not have to do anything, so simply connecting the device and linking it to the original router would already be repeating the signal with the same configuration as our router, however, if what you have installed has been a point of access, before making it work you must do the following.

How to create a Wi-Fi hotspot

The first thing to do is to access its configuration panel by connecting it directly by cable to the computer and accessing its IP from the browser.

Once inside the configuration panel, you must place yourselves on the Wi-Fi configuration section, and there you must configure the options as follows:

  • SSID or network name: The same on the router and access point.
  • Security, password, and encryption: The same on both devices.
  • Channel: Different on the router and access point.

Once you save the changes, you can see that now, although computers and mobiles show us a single network (the closest one), if you scan the wireless spectrum you can see that, in reality, there are two equal networks on different channels.

If you are using an Android/iOS smartphone or tablet, this device will automatically connect to the network that offers the best signal. If you are closer to the main router, you will connect to it, but if you move away, you will connect without having to walk to the access point. In case of using a Windows laptop, this system does not get along with network changes, so you will most likely have to disconnect and connect again to choose the network that arrives with the best signal depending on where you are.

If you configure the network incorrectly, although the configuration is most likely to work, surely you have two independent Wi-Fi networks so that you have to switch from one to another manually. This will happen if, for example, the two networks have different SSIDs or different passwords. If you configure them with the same channel, it will most likely not work since mobile devices will not know how to interpret the change.