wAP ac in combination with existing MTik as "wifi extender"

Dear All, I would kindly ask for suggestions about a planned upgrade of my existing home network.
Existing core router for my network is RB951G-2HnD configured as main gateway and vpn server.
Configured are one ethernet subnet and wifi subnet for home clients as well as third subnet for vpn connections. I recently implemented new gigabit NAS and now I want to upgrade my network with new wAP ac. I need that because the core router (RB951G) is placed near the entrance and we are mainly in the livingroom in which I do not have enough wifi speed to utilize new NAS for backups. I have ethernet connection in the livingroom so I tought that implementation of new wAP ac in that room will be very useful to speed up the wifi speed and improve connection quality. I want to ask you for suggestion about the configuration, what is the best way to implement wAP ac into existing network and to avoid major reconfiguration.
I want to:

  • connect wAPac with the existing router (RB951) and setup wifi on the wAPac to server clients in the living room (improve connection speed and quality, favorably using the same ssid) in a way that they are treated the same way as the all existing clients all around my home. I want my clients in a living room can access all the existing network devices and services (htpc, another smaller nas, wifi printer) the same way as they are connected directly to my core router RB951.

What do I need to do:

  • bridged some of the ethernets of RB951 with eth of wAPac?
  • setup wifi roaming for clients between RB951 and wAPac to avoid interference?

I am not a pro (that is obvious :slight_smile: ) but I am familiar with Mikrotik as I am using it for almost a decade (at home, office, another flat…). Here I am asking for some general guidance, in order to help me clarify my new scenario and to rethink what is the proper way to do what I need. THANK you in advance, to all contributors.

If you upgrade to 6.35.2 or newer, the “all packages” zip contains a “wireless-rep” package which will allow you to use the wAP as a repeater (at the same time, connect to your AP and also run an AP for your clients)

Normis, thank you very much on your suggestions and help.
At the moment I am using bug-fix 6.32.4 on my RB951G-2HnD and I did not know that in 6.35.2 there is a new package.
Is it safe to use it (I am asking because this it is not included in the standard package but the “all packages”)?
Will I be able to utilize gigabit Ethernet between RB951… and wAPac if I choose this setup?

Is there anything better (from the perspective of throughout and integration of all clients into same home network) than this setup: ???

RB951

  • ether1 = Internet from ISP
  • ether2 = 192.168.1.1/24 for LAN clients
  • wlan1 = 192.168.2.1/24 (2.4 Ghz) (ssid: Mikrotik) channel 1 for LAN clients
  • ether3 = 192.168.3.1/24 (direct connection with wAPac)
    static routes configured on both devices in order to allow clients from all subnets to communicate to each other!

wAPac

  • ether1 = 192.168.3.2/24 (direct connection with RB951)
  • wlan1 = 192.168.4.1/24 (2.4 Ghz) (ssid: Mikrotik) channel 12 for LAN clients
  • wlan2 = 192.168.5.1/24 (5 Ghz) (ssid: Mikrotik) for LAN clients
    static routes configured on both devices in order to allow clients from all subnets to communicate to each other!

Thanks for all suggestions and experience!

Can someone experienced just take a look and provide some feedback regarding my proposed configuration, is this the proper and best way? Or should I do it with bridging maybe? Or..? tnx in advance!

repeater will always give you a lower performance, is better to wire to the new access-point