Home WiFi Range Extension Question

[onewhippedpuppy]

Ok, need some feedback from the brain trust. Here’s the setup.

House is a three story, cable coax comes in on the main floor on one end of the house. Main floor, upstairs, downstairs are each about 1,000 sq ft, same dimensions. Cable internet service is 150 MBPS, I have the modem hooked to an Asus AC3100 router and can get about 180 MBPS right by the router either by Ethernet or WiFi, and can typically get about 150 MBPS anywhere on the main floor. In the basement at the far side of the house away from the router it’s down to more like 35 MBPS. I have 1200 MBPS Powerline adapters for Ethernet access in the basement for a desktop and PlayStations but they only deliver about 40 MBPS. I attribute the poor Powerline performance to the home wiring, because if I test the Powerline adapter closer to the access point it’s 150+. The goal is to improve speed to more like 150 MBPS in the basement where the gaming stuff and the teens live.

So here’s my challenge, obviously my home wiring isn’t conducive to using the Powerline adapters in the basement, probably because the basement was finished later and are on different breakers. I can get close to 150 MBPS if I test WiFi speed at the access point end of the basement, as opposed to more like 35 at the far end. If I install a WiFi range booster in the basement at the end nearest to the access point, will that give me close to 150 throughout the basement? Interior basement walls are typical 2x4 with 1/2 Sheetrock and not insulated.

[Steve Viegas]

Something is attenuating the signal. If it is a 2.4GHz system, do you have water in between where the signal starts and where you want it to stop? Is there a wire mesh in between? Perhaps chicken wire for plaster or stucco? 2.4GHz wave is pretty big and does a good job of going around things. If there is water, or a wire mesh, can you move one of your tranceivers to avoid direct line of sight?

If you can install a larger antenna on either end of your system, at the head-end, it would help every connection, but in the basement, it would help that connection. The antenna that come with today's systems are generally spec'd at 2dBi, but I think they are 0dBi in reality. If you can get a 6dBi gain antenna that would likely double your distance (and thereby increase your throughput)...those are only about 6 inches long.

Powerline adapters can run into problems with noisy lines. You might find that the speed increases dramatically if there is nothing powered on in the house, but that probably isn't reasonable. It might be one thing in particular that is causing the noise on the line though. You might be able to chase that down.

The easiest solution is likely to find a new location for either the headend antenna, or the antenna in the basement.

[jrj3rd]

Ethernet cable to the stationary users is always the best performance. Recently added a mesh network (velop) to our house and significantly improved the wifi performance throughout the house. Main TV is ethernet.

[KFC911]

Do ya want my redneck idea (if ethernet cable isn't an option)? Can you redo the coax so it comes into the basement?

[blucille]

I’ve installed a handful of eero mesh wifi systems in houses of friends and family, the performance is outstanding and in every single house we were able to get performance as good as what what coming out of the router everywhere in the house. Simply outstanding.

[cabmandone]

I have routers setup as repeaters all over the place!

[billybek]

Originally Posted by jrj3rd

Ethernet cable to the stationary users is always the best performance. Recently added a mesh network (velop) to our house and significantly improved the wifi performance throughout the house. Main TV is ethernet.

How does the mesh wifi work? I have heard of the wifi range boosters but never have heard of the mesh network. What equipment do you require to make this work?
Thanks in advance.

[cabmandone]

Isn't a mesh just a series of repeaters tied to the main router?

[onewhippedpuppy]

Thanks for the feedback guys. Moving the main cable modem access point isn’t quick and easy because it’s a dedicated coax that comes from the outside, basically a “home run” coax that’s direct to the cable box in our back yard. It’s not tied into any other coax routed in the house. I probably could do so, which would allow me to move the modem, but would then potentially be subject to loss because there are splitters on the house coax wiring.

Nothing crazy within our house for construction it’s a typical wood framed structure with 2x4 walls, 1/2 Sheetrock walls, and 5/8 Sheetrock ceilings. There is fiberglass insulation in the basement ceiling to cut down on noise.

Sounds like the likely easiest and most effective route would be a WiFi repeater in the basement, or potentially going to a multiple WiFi mesh network solution. Current router is dual band 2.4 any 5 ghz and a pretty good one, so I may just try a repeater for now. There’s no practical way to get a CAT5 cable to the basement office area, it’s all finished Sheetrock.

[Flat Six]

Originally Posted by cabmando

Isn't a mesh just a series of repeaters tied to the main router?

At the most basic level, yes. But not all mesh systems are really systems; some are much better designed & integrated than others.

We use the Orbi system, couldn't be happier. One base unit & one satellite, covers ~3,000 foot house on ~9,000 foot lot. Got ours 3.5 years ago, I think latest model is 2 generations newer. 300 mbps rated service, I typically get:
- 295-300 at the modem
- 295-300 at each ethernet drop
- 295-300 throughout the house
- 220 in the garage all the way out to the sidewalk
- 180-190 across the pool to the back fence

2.4 and 5 Ghz. I like the Orbi because it's easy to set up, easy to monitor, has dedicated backhaul, and both the base unit & each satellite has ethernet ports.

Latest generation (RBK75) is available at Costco (base unit + 2 satellites) for about $500. IMHO, a slam-dunk choice.

[cabmandone]

I'm looking at snagging a repeater for my garage since I'm out of old routers to switch over. If I grab one I'll let you know how it works. I'm looking at the TP Link RE650. Seems to review pretty well on CNET and other sites.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MR90E3A/ref=dp_cr_wdg_tit_nw_mr

[David]

I just installed the netgear range extender I bought a year ago and never got around to installing. It took less than 5 minutes to connect it to the router upstairs, take it out to the garage and plug it in. Now I have a full 3 bars of WiFi in the garage. All in preparation for calling Directv to inform them their services are no longer needed as we’ll be watching YouTube tv on all our TVs.

[stevej37]

Mine works perfectly...and it's inexpensive.....$27

Wireless Repeater

[944 S2]

Think of the mesh systems as individual routers rather then repeaters that take a signal and repeat with some diminishing signal strength. I bought Nest system and i am well pleased with the performance.

[Rtrorkt]

have this system and am very happy. Easy to install, can monitor connections, speed, etc and it looks good

https://www.amplifi.com/amplifi-hd

[jyl]

I previously had a state of multiple Airport Extreme base stations connected with Powerline Ethernet. It worked okay, but was an occasional hassle. I replaced it with an eero mesh system, four APs in total. This works slightly better and is less hassle. Not “zero” hassle, but oh well.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Well I ended up putting a WiFi range extender in the basement and am getting close to full speeds down there. So seems to be problem solved.

[cabmandone]

Which one did you go with?

[wdfifteen]

I got a range extender and it's a pain. I have to manually change wifi networks on my phone when I go to the east end of the house. The signal from Frontier's proprietary router is just strong enough for the phone to try to hang on to it instead of automatically switching over, but it's too weak to get on line reliably.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Netgear AC1750, it’s a dual band with a single network ID for both 2.4 and 5 GHz and switches between them seamlessly. Perfectly emulates my dual band router, no manual login required to switch between them. It plugs directly into an outlet for mounting and I moved it around to a couple of spots in the basement and tested my speeds to find the “optimum” location.