Virgin Media Community

[bluenosehughes]

Recently with advice from the wonderful people on this forum I've now got internet in my garden.  I have a couple of questions that hopefully someone can assist with;

After advice on here I setup a TP-Link Archer A7 router up in my garden shed as an access point.  It's hard wired to my Hub 3.0 via a 25m Cat 7 cable.  I've given it a unique SSID name and it works really well.  First question, can I set the access point with the same name and password as the Virgin Hub 3.0 and will devices automatically switch?  If yes how do I do this?  If not is there a way to do this?

Second question, can I setup another Archer A7, or similar, in my house to improve the wifi signal of the Hub 3.0.  (constantly having problems with the wifi signal dropping out on portable devices).  I understand that the Hub 3.0 is then put into modem mode for this, appreciate advice on how to set this up.  If I do this how do I connect the shed access point into the system, would this just connect into the new router or stay in the Hub 3.0 and can everything have the same SSID?

Appreciate any help and advice on this.

[gary_dexter · Accepted solution]

First answer - yes you can give the AP the same name as the primary device (the hub) and devices “should” connect to whichever device has the stronger range/signal. 

Second answer - yes you can fit another router to replace the hubs router mode - the hub would need putting into modem mode and only one Ethernet port will work to connect the new router to. 
Further connections need to be made to the new routers ports. 

[bluenosehughes]

Thanks for the reply Gary, I'll give that a go and hopefully I can get it to work properly.  I'll report back later.

[bluenosehughes]

Well this went surprising well and was easy to setup.  I now have much better wifi in the house after setting the virgin Hub to modem mode.  Setting up the TP-Link routers was really easy with the App.  Both have the same SSID and password and I can now walk from the house into the garden and get full wifi coverage everywhere without having to change networks.  Speed test shows 200+ in far corner of garden, very pleased.   Thanks for the info Gary, appreciated.

[gary_dexter]

Excellent - some good news for a change!