[LUG] OT: WiFi Repeater - same SSID or not?

[Julian Hall <linux@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi All,

I've just set up an ASUS WiFi Repeater but as a result I now have two 
SSIDs in the house, OLYMPUS and OLYMPUS_RPT. I've read conflicting 
advice on whether they should be the same or not. The key issues are my 
mobile phone and tablet, laptop running Mint 18.3, and visitors.

In the first case both are Android devices, 4.x, but do not have the 
Advanced WiFi setting to avoid poor networks which apparently can be 
used to make them swap if the signal strength drops below a set 
threshold. To fix that I had to install WiFi Manager which does allow 
that feature.

In the second case, will Mint swap between different networks or need to 
be told to manually?

Finally it would mean every visitor who already has permission to access 
the network would need to add the repeater network to all their devices, 
which entails re-entering a very long password again which was a pain 
the first time around.

All these issues would be solved if I just had one SSID. Can I change 
the repeater's SSID to OLYMPUS, and will it seamlessly swap to the 
stronger one if I do?

Kind regards,

Julian

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