We have a long skinny house with Ethernet throughout. My main router/AP which connects to the Internet is at one end. I want to have a second router in the middle and a third at the other end of the house, both receiving their signal via Ethernet and both broadcasting wifi. Ideally, tablets, phones, etc connected to the wifi should automatically drop the weakest wifi signal and pick up a stronger one as I move through the house. Is this possible, and if so, is it a matter of setting up the routers correctly, or the connected devices? or both?

In the first instance, would the routers be configured as extenders or repeaters? I have done quite a bit of reading but still am unsure of the difference/s as it applies to this question.

You don't need multiple routers, just use regular wired access points and configure them as access points with the same SSID and you should be fine.

Extenders usually refer to the fact that they use WiFi for their "uplink" so they need to be within a good range of the network they are going to "extend".

Odyysey1942,

I have used an old wifi router (#2) to act as an Access Point.

This is connected to my main router (#1) via a wired ethernet cable.

Router #2 then broadcasts wifi to the local vicinity.

These 2 links will help:

http://www.howtogeek.com/104469/how-...access-points/

http://www.tested.com/tech/298-how-t...wi-fi-network/

In your case you would also need another old wifi router (#3) to connect to router #1.

Use an Android phone or tablet and install the Wifi Analyzer app:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...lyzer&hl=en_GB

On the left hand side there is short video which explains how you can select the best channel and optimise your signal strength.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...lyzer&hl=en_GB

TIP:
Don't buy new wifi routers as APs. Recycle old ones from friends, neighbours etc.

NB With a repeater/extender, the device has to talk in two directions i.e. picking up the original signal and throwing it back out again to your wireless clients, it does mean that the bandwidth is halved by the time it gets re-transmitted. By the time its done this, your wireless speed will only be half as fast.

There is no loss of original signal strength using another router as an AP.

TenTenths, Thanks, but I will be using old routers to act as AP's.

BeachBoy, Thanks, you anticipated my next question. Just to be sure I am understanding yours, "using the second router method" refers to the procedure detailed at tested.com (i.e., the second link) vs the procedure at howtogeek.com (the first link), yes?

Will work on this and get back if I run into issues.

Edit: or, after re-reading, maybe you meant that using the additional routers as AP's (i.e., both howtogeek and tested) will be faster internet than using them as repeaters/extenders?

Odyysey1942,

Yes, both links refer to the same method.