network names
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I simply want to extend my network to another building 500 feet away. In bridge mode. Can the SSID be the same at both ends... or does the rebroadcast SSID (on the far end) have to be different from the source?
Or would repeater mode work just as well n the far end?
@fdb in Repeater mode the CPE uses the same SSID it is connecting to. In Bridge mode the CPE can use different SSIDs:
However, as you can see in the Operation Modes diagrams, Repeater and Bridge modes are not suitable to connect two LANs together.
To connect two LANs together you would need two CPEs, one in AP mode and the other one in Client mode:
This is a network bridge, too.
@fdb, CPEs are not range extenders, they have special directional antennas for long-range wireless links between two CPEs or one CPE and one WBS.
Over 500 ft you can link a CPE to another CPE, but not a CPE to an existing WLAN of a standard AP which has omnidirectional antennas. The signal strength of an existing WLAN created by a standard AP is not strong enough to reach the CPE over a distance of 500 ft. The existing WLAN would need to use a directional antenna, too. It could work (but even not very reliable) over shorter ranges up to ~200 ft.
What's more, the CPE has an antenna beam width of only 65º (to concentrate RF energy to a higher level), so your sender and all receivers would need to be inside this angle anyway if you use Repeater mode.
What you can do is to connect one CPE using a cable to the existing LAN in building #1 and link it wirelessly to a second CPE at building #2, which in turn is conected by cable to an AP with omnidirectional (360º) antennas for local WLAN coverage:
Whether you call this »joining« networks or »extending a network« makes no difference. In all cases (directional link, repeater / bridge mode) it is always just one and the same network. Cables and wireless connections are just different transport media for same network.
@fdb, so you have a directional link over 500 ft with two CPEs? Of course this works as it is used as intended!
As for backwards radiation of CPEs: if you are near enough a CPE, you can pick up the signal radiating to the back. But this does not change the way the CPE bundles the RF energy. This is the antenna pattern of a CPE210:
As you can see, the RF energy is concentrating in one direction – the direction the CPE's front is aligned to. There is a (very weak) signal radiating to the back, which is around 50 to 200 times (in H plane) and 100 to 1,000 times (in V plane) weaker than in the opposite direction according to the antenna pattern which has been measured in the lab.
If this signal strength enough and o.k. for your use pattern and the size of the building, then »it works«. For example, if I stand directly behind the CPE mounted outdoors of my building, I can see the SSID and even connect to it, but I won't reach a reliable throughput. If I'm in the building behind a wall, signal quality goes down considerably and I can't even load a website which has large images.
Of course you can mount a CPE so that the remote building is in front of the CPE210, too. This will also work (even reliably) as long as you are inside the 65º angle.
But in previous posts you claimed to have only one CPE linking wirelessly to an existing WLAN, now you write there is a second CPE wired to the LAN? I still don't get your setup.
