Extending the same wifi network.

My wifi router works pretty well, but the signal it supplies is a little marginal at the other side of my house and outside in my yard. I'm getting another wifi router which will be connected to the original router by ethernet cable strung to the other side of the house. My question is: do I have to set up the second router to make it an access point for a new wifi network with a different SSID, or can I re-use the same SSID that the original router uses, so that my existing wifi network will simply have a wider signal area? The new wifi router is a Medialink Wireless N router.

Actually, I already tried this once, with a router from Monoprice, which (if I understood the manual correctly) will let you extend the same network if the second router is connected wirelessly to the original router, but not if the two routers are connected by ethernet cable, as my routers will be. The Monoprice modem did work to add an extension with a different SSID, but that is not as convenient as having a single SSID for the whole network.

Thanks, Andy. I'll try that.

Very useful reference in trying to get oriented. This paragraph, seems to imply that if I carry a wifi client from one side of my house to another, where a different access point's signal is stronger, that the device might or might not automatically switch to a different channel/access point. Depending on the device. Right?

I've done this now, and it seems to have worked. When I first set the second router up to extend my wifi network, I don't think it was working, but the next day, it seemed to be. Maybe the two routers needed some time to talk things over.

My reason for thinking that the second router does actually work is that I have tried 3 wireless devices from a location in my house distant from my original wireless router where formerly their signals were rather low, but now they're stronger, judging mostly just by the little graphic with radiating semicircles. There's a Kindle Keyboard, an Ipad, and a laptop running Windows. Also, the laptop displays the name of my wireless network with a " 2" after it, which might mean it's using the second available channel (following Andy's instructions, I set the original router to channel 1 and the new extension router to channel 11). None of the three devices showed any improvement in received signal until they were turned off for a while, then turned back on.

For the second router, I used this Mediabridge router, since it was only $50 and got good reviews on Amazon. I used Andy's instructions above as a guide and followed the directions in the user manual for connecting to another router.