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Hi

I bought two Archer D7's to extend a wifi network and am having a number of issues

Question one - I have noticed is that there seems to be some confict while I try to configure the first router if there is another wifi, sometime it can't even see the wifi I want to extend if I am in the same room.

When I do find it in the survey and select it then put the credential in it prompts me to say that the network I am trying to extend uses a different channel and says I should change it to match.

Is there a reason for this? It makes no sense to me, surely this is a recipe for conflct, if I use something like Acrylic I can see what wifi channel is least used and it would make sense to me to use the one least used.

Then when I try to connect I am having very poor connection, if it works at all.


http://www.tp-link.com/lk/faq-447.html

Question two - The web page above with instruction on how to connect the networks says

1. LAN IP of TD-W8968 should be different but in the same subnet with the root AP.


This is disappointing, subnets add a barrier, and more configuration options on my network, the only reason I can think
for requiring this is that once you make a WDS connection you lose access to your router and can't admin it unless you connect
an Ethernet cable to it and disable wifi on your laptop.

3. The DHCP Server on extended router should be disabled;

Why is this necessary? I was really hoping to be able to setup my own network and only use the host network for access to the internet.

Is this saying that I should completely disable DHCP or set it to DCHP relay?

4. WDS bridging only requires the WDS setting on either the root router or the extended router, on either 2.4GHz or 5GHz; NO need to setup on both si des or both bands.


This makes no sense to me, I have a buffalo router that just extends networks it finds, there is no need to set any WDS on the "root router".

Also it seems crazy to suggest that WDS need only be configures on EITHER 2.4GHz or 5GHz; surely one wants to extend whatever one can, 5Ghz has way more bandwidth so I want it for my Laptop while 2.4Ghz is all that is supported on my phone.



Question Three - I want to connect the two TP-Link routers in relay, one to be located in the next room to the "root router" or in the corridor and the other across a stairway into the other side of the building. Is this a realistic hope to get this to work (so far I am having trouble just getting the TP link to extend the "root network".

Question Four- The way the building is laid out is almost in a straight line, I have had difficulty seeing the root network but strangly if I put the router in the window it can see it, albeit at a low quality. Shoud I put the "root router" in the window of the room it is in?

Question Five - I have seen reports elsewhere of dropped connections requiring reboots or being able to connect to the TPlink router but not having any internet connection, is this a connection method that is viable or is it more trouble than it is worth it.

Question Six - Are there any issues with using IP Isolation?