Help Help with switching between routers

[MsJinnifer]

My house has thick stone walls, so I have 2 routers. The second connects to the main one with a netplug and an ethernet cable, so i guess it is being used as an access point. It has a different password. My OPO connects fine to both but when I go from room to room, it doesn't connect automatically to the new router. I have to select the new network manually. Is there a way I can configure my phone to do this automatically? It's important because I rely on wifi and an app (Three inTouch) to even make calls, the phone signal is so bad here in rural UK... Do I need an app like this?
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pintacdesign.bestwifi&hl=en
Thanks for any help...

 

[mikedt]

Usually it's automatic for a device to decide which WiFi AP it should use. However it's not instant or seamless, can take a device a while to realise that one WiFi AP has poor strength, no longer usable, and can connect to a stronger one, so if using something that requires a constant connection, such as VOIP, it's likely to be interrupted and cut-off. Basically WiFi was never designed to provide seamless hand-offs between different APs while moving about, in the same way that cellular radio does. That app might help to speed things up, try it. One thing to do is have a repeated WiFi network, so it appears as the same WiFi network in different rooms, the phone is effectively not disconnecting and reconnecting from different APs.

Repeated WiFi is something you'll often find in places like airports, railway stations and shopping malls, it's the same WiFi network throughout the entire site, and you can walk about without having to disconnect and reconnect.

 

[confed]

I agree with @mikedt there is no reason to have the AP using a different SSID or password. I would setup the main router to handle the DNS/DHCP unless you want to manually configure the second so that it hands out separate addresses. 2nd would just be used as an AP with the same SSID and password as the router. Be sure to change the channels on the 2 routers to deter interference. I am not sure about what your neighbors are doing so that plays a large part as well. If your channels are crowded, check 4 and 8 for your personal equipment, i wouldn't get any closer that that.

 

[MsJinnifer]

Usually it's automatic for a device to decide which WiFi AP it should use. However it's not instant or seamless, can take a device a while to realise that one WiFi AP has poor strength, no longer usable, and can connect to a stronger one, so if using something that requires a constant connection, such as VOIP, it's likely to be interrupted and cut-off. Basically WiFi was never designed to provide seamless hand-offs between different APs while moving about, in the same way that cellular radio does. That app might help to speed things up, try it. One thing to do is have a repeated WiFi network, so it appears as the same WiFi network in different rooms, the phone is effectively not disconnecting and reconnecting from different APs.

Repeated WiFi is something you'll often find in places like airports, railway stations and shopping malls, it's the same WiFi network throughout the entire site, and you can walk about without having to disconnect and reconnect.

Thanks for the replies. Honestly it's all a bit technical -- thanks for trying. I tried all sorts of different ways of gettong wifi into two different rooms and this was the way that works best -- at least according to the guy who set it up! It works fine except with my phone that definitely did not seek and connect to the new network, evn slowly. The app is brilliant and has fixed the problem so I'm all set. Thanks anyway for offering your help -- I'm sure you are right, but it's now working, so I'm happy!