In article o.uk, Dave
Liquorice writes
On Mon, 17 Dec 2012 08:05:27 -0000, Andrew Mawson wrote:

Is there a 'range extender' that will sit on the cat5 network and
re-radiate/receive the BT Hub transparently in each of the buildings.

That is what your collection of ethernet connected wireless hubs already
do. You can get "range extenders" that takes the existing WiFi signal and
re-radiates it. These boxes don't need an ethernet connection but do need
to be in range of the "host" WiFi box. They also halve the the through
put at the same time. You'll still see a 54Mbps link or WHY but if you
actually try to use 54Mbps you won't be able to.

Have your tried setting all your APs to the same SSID, channel and
security (type and password)? I have a sneaky feeling that it can all
just sort itself out, certainly at places I visit a "site survey" shows
many AP's all with the same SSID, channel and security just different
signal levels. The WiFi in such places works... To avoid too much in the
way of RF collsions try to reduce the places where you can see signals or
roughly the same strength from differnt APs.

I think there is something in this, you keep the same SSID but have to
encourage the end client to hand over from one access point to another
as the signal strength varies. Perhaps that means same SSID bit
different channels, I don't know. Perhaps it also means that you need to
have all your access points from the same manufacturer and have them
support the handing off of the client from one to the other but that
doesn't really fit in with the idea of a use-what-I've-got budget
solution.

Might be an idea for the o/p to experiment with setting SSID to same,
encryption same but channels different and see if the setup will hand
over.
--
fred
it's a ba-na-na . . . .