routers and range extenders

[J Lunis]

Hope this is the proper ng.
Win XP SR2
Have a Netgear router and Range Extender. I think I have them set up
properly but I can see no noticeable improvement in the range of my
wireless network.
The SSID of my router is MyAddress. Netgear support had me set up the
SSID of the range extender to MyAddress2 and use the same encryption
password as my router.
I have done this but now for my question. How do I verify my router is
'talking' to my range extender? How can I tell these are set up
properly and actually extending the range of the wireless network?
BONUS: Netgear support states, if the range extender is set up
properly, I can 'switch back and forth between networks.' I thought the
router and range extender were to be on the same network so I could, for
example, use my laptop anywhere in the house. Not true?

 

[Jack \(MVP-Networking\).]

Netgear Support probably meant SSID. When you use Windows Wireless
Configuration you can see which SSID the computer is connected to.
Jack (MVP-Networking).

 

[Jim]

Netgear Support probably meant SSID. When you use Windows Wireless
Configuration you can see which SSID the computer is connected to.
Jack (MVP-Networking).

I assume that you can disable SSID broadcasting with your Netgear boxes
like I can with my Linksys router. If this is the case then make sure
that both are broadcasting their SSID.

Now, if you are within range of both units, when you look at the
'available network list' you will see both MyAddress and MyAddress2.
As the support folks said, you can log into wichever is stronger. If you
log into MyAddress2 then you should be able to move further away from
the base unit MyAddress and still access your LAN.