Why does my phone shut down between the router and wifi extender?

[EmDubya]

Phone hunts between router & wifi extender

Hi all. I've recently fitted a TP-Link wifi extender in my home and set it to have the same SSID as my wifi router so that I can have a strong signal around the house without having switch networks. In most of my house there is a signal from both the router and the extender, one weak the other strong. My Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini seems to hunt between the 2 - if I call up the wifi settings it alternates between strong and weak signal for the same network name as it switches from the extender to the router.

If I set the SSID for the extender different to the router then I can select which to connect to and it stays connected to that, but when I move to another part of the house it obviously stays connected to whichever I have chosen even if that's very weak and the other is strong.

Is there a way to stop it alternating between a router and a wifi extender with the same SSID and just stick with the stronger signal of the two?

Thanks

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! What's the model number of the wi-fi extender? Check the manual--does it have the ability to switch between being an extender and an access point?

 

[Rukbat]

Another possibility is the placement of the router and extender - there should NEVER be an area where the 2 signals are within 6db of each other. I prefer to keep them to 20db difference (no phone will connect to a wifi signal it can't hear). Wi-Fi Analytics Tool will tell you which signal has what strength wherever you hold the phone.

 

[Runa99]

Hi, I have a similar problem with my s7edge where it wont automatically connect to the stronger signal/ nearest router.
Having used iphones for years previous to jumping ship, i have never encountered this problem iphone just switches automatically.
How can i fix this problem its getting annoying to constantly disconnect tan reconnect to the nearest router/extender.