IP Conflict when moving between Wifi Router and Wifi Repeater

Hello,

I have a Wifi ADSL Router (2Wire 2701HGV-W) and a Wifi AP set to Repeater mode (TPLink TL-WA730RE). I work for a community organisation and have been handling their networking problems. There are about 30 laptops in the organisation.

The Router IP is 192.168.1.1 and the Repeater IP is 192.168.1.254. The Router has DHCP enabled (192.168.1.2-192.168.1.253). The Repeater has DHCP disabled.

My problem occurs when I move from the area around the Router (which assigns the IP address to my laptop) to the area around the Repeater.

The laptop connects to the repeater just fine, and sometimes it works fine. However, sometimes I get an IP conflict even though the connection status/details shows that the IP address remains the same. It is as though the Router is holding on to the IP address from when the laptop was connected - thereby causing a conflict when the same computer tries to use the same IP while connected to the router.

I have tried turning on the Repeater's DHCP server with a range of 192.168.2.xxx but it says it is a bad allocation pool and will not work. I have also tried the range of 192.168.1.220-192.168.1.240 (outside of the range of the Router DHCP server) but this does not work either because there is still a conflict.

I have tried assigning static IP addresses from the Router - and this normally works just fine. However, sometimes the router forgets the static address I have assigned and reverts to dynamic IP assignment. This results in the problem reappearing.

I have also tried assigning each computer a static IP on the adapter settings (Windows 7) - however, when I want to connect to other Wifi networks the settings I use mean that I have to readjust the adapater/TCPIP settings every time I use another wifi network.

So I have 3 potential fixes:
1) Adjusting the Repeater with DHCP settings that assign a different IP if the computer connects to it.
2) Finding a way to make sure the Router does not forget the static IPs that I assign in the web browser control panel.
3) Finding a way to make Windows 7 only use the adapter/TCPIP settings for this particular network SSID and return to dynamic assignment when connecting to other networks.

I was wondering if anyone could help me with the best fix. The most simple option would be to make sure the Router stops returning to dynamically assigned IPs when I have set a static IP to a particular computer - however, I am open to ideas of how to fix this problem. There must be a way!

Hope you can help me.

Regards,

Robbo24

I assume that your AP has the same SSID and it uses a different pair of radio channels already. I would not use its DHCP server, just stick with the main router assigning addresses.

In the router DHCP server you should be able to reserve dynamically assigned addresses for specific devices by MAC address if that has been an issue. The other choice is to shrink the DHCP assignable range and use static addresses in the network range but outside the dynamic assignment range.

You can't use a different network on the repeater, i.e. .2.x with a .1.x router unless the networks are bridged. That would not be helpful in the circumstances that you describe anyway.

Your goal sounds like a seamless wireless network area when moving from near router to near repeater. Is there any way to run a CAT 5e cable from the router to the location of the repeater and use wireless AP mode rather than a repeater mode?