Best solution for stronger wifi here?

Robbo · 15 Jul 2021 at 12:50

I currently have 362mb~ Virgin Media through a Hub 4, in the living room.

My computer is now located in an upstairs office and I'm just using a (decent) wifi adapter. It's not that far away, about 15 metres through the floor and a wall - it's quite a new property so we're not talking mega thick walls or anything.

The speed moves around a lot and sometimes it seems really weak, other times very good. Unplugging and plugging the adapter in again often sorts it, but the speeds fluctuate a fair bit.

I will at some stage sort out a wired solution, I have a Virgin Media port on the wall upstairs near to my PC, so can probably use that, but would I need yet another router and the engineer out...?

I was looking at mesh solutions but I'm not really sure I need more general coverage, it just feels like it needs a bit more strength on the whole...

Uhtred · 15 Jul 2021 at 16:04

Is it a USB adapter? If so use a usb extension cable to keep it clear of obstructions and play about with the position of the adapter.

I doubt there's much you can do with the position of the Hub4 right? If you can put it up high that will probably help.

Also what band are you using? 2.4ghz or 5ghz? 5ghz might be more stable but does drop off quicker than 2.4.

You can muck around with powerline and crappy wifi extenders but it's no subsitute for cat5e into the back of your pc (There's no need to use that other VM port, I don't even think you can do that for internet).

Another option is to run cat5e upstairs and have a dedicated wireless access point, which is what I did in my house. In fact I have two, one upstairs and one down then disabled the VM wifi.

You might have some luck with a decent mesh system but I don't have any experience with that type of thing.

Helpful little video on running cat5e in a new build if you go that way https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqwjCd_BQwE

Robbo · 15 Jul 2021 at 16:14

Yes it's USB, Netgear A6210 - AC1200, it's on top of the desk and clear of the case via a wire.

The Hub is below the TV so can't really go anywhere else, at least not far...

I switched it over to the 5Ghz band a while ago, I think it improved things but not by much.

Yes I think you're right about the other VM port, I don't think it would work quite how I want.

If I put the VM router into modem mode, that will disable the ethernet ports I think, and ideally I'd like those working. Reason being most mesh network nodes only have 1 spare port, so I'd need something like an old router acting as a switch rigged up too...

I'll look into the Cat5 solution too, cheers.

Avalon · 15 Jul 2021 at 17:35

If you have an upstairs VM point, you can move the VM Hub to the upstairs point if you want, no engineer visit required as long as it’s connected (may need a splitter if it’s in use with something else). If you run in modem mode, you will (ideally) need a router to do NAT, a mesh system may or may not handle this.

whitecrook · 15 Jul 2021 at 17:39

The varying speeds and quality
May indicate contention of bandwidth in the radio waves. You need to make sure your wifi is on the clearest channels by scanning for neighbours and. Nearby networks to ensure you aret using a swamped band

WJA96 · 15 Jul 2021 at 20:58

The TV won’t be helping - it’s a huge wireless block. And 15m is actually quite a long way in WiFi terms.

Robbo · 15 Jul 2021 at 21:12

Avalon said:
If you have an upstairs VM point, you can move the VM Hub to the upstairs point if you want, no engineer visit required as long as it’s connected (may need a splitter if it’s in use with something else). If you run in modem mode, you will (ideally) need a router to do NAT, a mesh system may or may not handle this.

I have the TV stuff too so it's all linked there by a splitter on the cable, so moving it would present a similar issue in reverse.

WJA96 said:
The TV won’t be helping - it’s a huge wireless block. And 15m is actually quite a long way in WiFi terms.

I've ordered the TP-Link Deco S4 kit to try out, I'll put the VM Hub into modem mode, and then let the mesh do the work and see how that goes. I know people have mixed views and I think the only way to find out is to try it...

Avalon · 16 Jul 2021 at 07:51

Robbo said:
I have the TV stuff too so it's all linked there by a splitter on the cable, so moving it would present a similar issue in reverse.

I've ordered the TP-Link Deco S4 kit to try out, I'll put the VM Hub into modem mode, and then let the mesh do the work and see how that goes. I know people have mixed views and I think the only way to find out is to try it...

Please provide an accurate description of how things are currently connected, eg

Downstairs: Wall plate > Splitter > Modem & TV Box

Upstairs: Wall plate > TV Box

As all you would do in that scenario is remove the splitter and connect the TV box directly and then connect the modem to the upstairs point and use the splitter and cable work you had disconnected from downstairs.

Robbo · 16 Jul 2021 at 09:30

You have it about right there.

Downstairs is Wall > Splitter > VM Hub & TV Box
Upstairs is Wall > blank Virgin faceplate at the moment.

If it's connected upstairs then I can likely wire it in reverse, using the downstairs wire for the TV, if the 2 separate ports downstairs and upstairs are "split" by default.

I think I'll give this Mesh system a go, as I have other devices too that aren't particularly easy to wire in, and could do with more signal.