Best solution for stronger wifi here?

[Robbo]

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...

 

[Robbo]

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.

 

[Robbo]

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.

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...

 

[Robbo]

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.