VM SH3 into Modem Mode. But which router?

magicroundabout · 4 Oct 2019 at 16:44

I've been reading various threads on here at placing the SHUB3 into modem mode to help enhance connectivity etc.

I'm in the same boat. Our SHUB3 is in the front room but we require a wifi extender on our landing just to get a decent signal upstairs. The extender is approx 6m + away (in a straight line) and even then the SHUB struggles to give this a decent wifi signal.

My sons PS4 sits approx 10m away and the connection to the SHUB again is quite poor. His ping is high when playing various games.

Our house is a 1930's build with a lot of blue brick so walls are thick and hate a wifi signal. Especially a weak VM wifi signal.

So we've decided we need a better router.
Budget unto £250.

If anyone could help it would be appreciated.

Avalon · 4 Oct 2019 at 18:01

Nothing you have said suggest a new router is going to significantly help your situation. Extenders are a technically horrible solution, they halve bandwidth and increase latency. The solutions are as follows:

1) Run a cable - cheap, lowest latency, full speed guaranteed.

2) Run a cable to a central location and put an AP on the end, you can use a PoE injector and mount it centrally on the ceiling so quite unobtrusive, requires some effort to install a cable.

3) Mesh - most expensive, Virgin now offer solutions, you may be able to haggle or buy a suitable solution yourself.

4) The last option is a replacement router, as you’ve already alluded to, putting another router in the same sub optimal situation is likely to give similar results to what you have now.

They’re listed in order of price/performance.

DeanT77 · 4 Oct 2019 at 18:27

How about powerline adapters?

magicroundabout · 4 Oct 2019 at 18:30

Avalon said:
3) Mesh - most expensive, Virgin now offer solutions, you may be able to haggle or buy a suitable solution yourself.

can you expand?
didn't know they do Mesh

magicroundabout · 4 Oct 2019 at 18:30

DeanT77 said:
How about powerline adapters?

If anyone can recommend any

DeanT77 · 4 Oct 2019 at 20:57

magicroundabout said:
If anyone can recommend any

The ones I have are:
TP-Link TL-PA7020PKIT

I have one next to my router, one plugged in for my PC on the same floor as the router and one downstairs for steam link / xbox / ps.

Waaaaay better than wifi, far more stable.

I bought mine a couple of years ago and mine are for plug in ethernet only, not wifi boosters.

magicroundabout · 5 Oct 2019 at 00:01

DeanT77 said:
The ones I have are:
TP-Link TL-PA7020PKIT

I have one next to my router, one plugged in for my PC on the same floor as the router and one downstairs for steam link / xbox / ps.

Waaaaay better than wifi, far more stable.

I bought mine a couple of years ago and mine are for plug in ethernet only, not wifi boosters.

cheers for this. Can you add more?
I'm probably requiring a pair upstairs for my two sons?

DeanT77 · 5 Oct 2019 at 08:30

Yes, you can add more - I don't know if there is a limit.

Just one thing to note, the quality of the connection I'm guessing will vary depending on the quality of the electric wiring in the house.

On mine I get pretty much top speed, which is about 75 down.

Avalon · 5 Oct 2019 at 12:13

Powerline adapters depend on the quality of your internal wiring, avoiding spur sockets, not using extensions, surge suppression, staying on the same circuit breaker and how many 5e cables you sacrificed before doing the funny dance to summon them. Speeds are quoted as full duplex (so half them), and anything under gigabit usually come with 100Mbit ports. You can expect to knock 25% off for each of the following:

Extensions
Spur sockets
Surge suppression
Jumping circuit breakers (E.g. upstairs and downstairs sockets being on different breakers)

It may work, but it’s not as simple or as reliable as is often suggested, if you only want lower latency and aren’t bothered about high bandwidth (eg a console that will be WAN limited for downloads usually anyway), they may be worth a try, but they are no substitute for actually running a cable.

Randall8686 · 5 Oct 2019 at 17:16

I have also noticed that my unraid server has a UniFi app "unifi controller" i assume this is instead of the cloud key?

magicroundabout · 5 Oct 2019 at 20:10

to what length would you see an ethernet cable start to suffer? or does length not matter?

Avalon · 6 Oct 2019 at 04:07

Randall8686 said:
I have also noticed that my unraid server has a UniFi app "unifi controller" i assume this is instead of the cloud key?

Yes, you can run the docker container or just fire up the controller as/when on a PC/Mac.

magicroundabout said:
to what length would you see an ethernet cable start to suffer? or does length not matter?

Spec says 100 meters for certification, more can work, but it’s unlikely you would need a run that long in a domestic environment and switch/injector placement can get round this.

Psycho Sonny · 7 Oct 2019 at 16:19

Put SH3 into modem mode.

Run a 20-30m cable to an optimal placing upstairs. Buy a router from ubiquiti. Get a nano HD access point and stick it on the upstairs hallway ceiling.

Total cost <£300 and will give you the best performance over wifi all over the house.

A decent router these days costs like £200 so it makes sense to spend that bit more.