Best way to improve Wi-Fi signal at home??

StevieP

StevieP

StevieP

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I've currently got a fibre connection that delivers around a 75mbps internet speed and it's piped up to my main PC on the 3rd floor of my house via a pair of TP Link AV1200 Powerline adapters.

The trouble is I've noticed that the Wi-Fi on the 1st and 2nd floors is not overly great (having buffering issues whilst streaming video content from my NAS to a tablet) and so I was wondering what the easiest way was to improve the signal?

I've found this Wi-Fi extender, which appears to double as another powerline adapter as there is an ethernet port that says it can connect a wired device (which would also be handy on the middle floor where I'm planning on plugging it in!) - am I right in thinking that because its 1750mbps, it won't throttle the main pair of 1200mbps adapters? (my understanding is that they will all work at the lowest speed of any connected, meaning I can't simply plug in a spare 200mbps plug I have lying around?)

Also, since this is a Wi-Fi extender, will that mean the existing Wi-Fi network is simply boosted signal-wise or will this set up a separate Wi-Fi network that I will have to switch to on my phone and/or tablet?

Thanks for any pointers...
 
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to be honest, i wouldnt spend £70 for wifi extender

i would get 'wifi powerline kit'

P-LINK TL-WPA4220KIT AV500 for £40

you can create new wifi with same sid and password so tablet will either connect one or other
 
If you're going AC (and the tablet has it) then that seems a good option. Expensive, but modern and should last a while. Hopefully your tablet will deal with having identical SSIDs both in range.

That 1750 is peak and depends on the tablet. For example, if the tablet has a single AC aerial expect only up to 433 Mbps. If it's 802.11n expect up to 72 Mbps, etc.
 
wesley said:
to be honest, i wouldnt spend £70 for wifi extender

i would get 'wifi powerline kit'

P-LINK TL-WPA4220KIT AV500 for £40

you can create new wifi with same sid and password so tablet will either connect one or other
Click to expand...

I see your point but my understanding is that slotting in a paid of 500mbps adapters would also limit the 1200mbps adapter's speed to 500!?!? (which I understand may or may not throttle the full internet speed, depending on how good the wiring is etc!)

joeyjojo said:
If you're going AC (and the tablet has it) then that seems a good option. Expensive, but modern and should last a while. Hopefully your tablet will deal with having identical SSIDs both in range.

That 1750 is peak and depends on the tablet. For example, if the tablet has a single AC aerial expect only up to 433 Mbps. If it's 802.11n expect up to 72 Mbps, etc.
Click to expand...

My tablet is an LG G Pad 8.3 (and an LG G4 phone) - both appear to have 802.11n - should this be sufficient to stream HD video wirelessly?? (I didn't realise there was such a thing as AC wireless tbh!)

My router is the TP Link N600 by the way!
 
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Netlix (for example) recommend 5 Mbps for HD video, so I think you'll be fine with 802.11n. ;) Depends on the quality of the clips on your NAS.

Sounds like what you really want is just a bog-standard wireless access point (AP) plugged into the powerline. If you want all the machines to be able to talk to eachother you need to make sure you can turn off DHCP/NAT.

This thread is nearly identical btw: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18705908

I'd personally buy something I could put DD-WRT on then follow this guide.
 
I guess a wireless access point is one way to go - the only issue I'd have with is is that it would mean it being in my top room (where the 2nd powerline adapter is) rather than on the middle floor where I use my wireless devices 90% of the time! (I assume I'd get a better signal strength if the access point was in the same room!)

That and the fact that having another effective powerline adapter in the bedroom will mean I can use the online features of the Sky box in there!

Can anyone recommend me a decent access point anyway in case I change my mind?
 
StevieP said:
(I assume I'd get a better signal strength if the access point was in the same room!)
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You would, between the device and the repeater. But the repeater would have the same problems reaching the main gateway as your devices currently do. It can't magically do more with the limited signal strength in the room, aside from the fact it might have more transmit power and more antennae. On the other hand, by acting as a repeater it might lose half the throughput because it has to communicate both ways with the same radio (unless it's dual band and using separate channels, etc.). In short it's hard to tell if it would be an improvement or not - maybe others have some input on this?

Repeaters are useful when the range they add is outside of the range of the first AP. E.g. if you couldn't get WiFi on the top floor you put a repeater on the first or second. (I had to do this in a house a few years ago, worked a treat.)

I assumed you had powerline into the 1st floor room and could set up an AP there but I see that's just in the top floor. Still that's probably the best thing to do. Alternatively you could get a more powerful AP on the ground floor (depending what the current gateway is).
 
If by gateway you mean the router itself, its the TP Link N600 that has the built-in VDSL modem.

I think half the trouble is that it's packed away in my TV cabinet surrounded by all manner of electronic devices which can't be helping with the wireless signal it emits!!!

What I need is another plug-in adapter that shares my existing powerline network and just boosts the Wi-Fi in the top 2 floors! (which is why I thought the TP Link one above fitted the bill - trouble is I'm now not so sure that it uses the powerline network and the only "powerline Wi-Fi extender I can see is a Devolo set at north of £150!)

I'm thinking the access point plugged into the powerline adapter in the top room might be the best I can hope for!
 
you cant buy another powerline adapator. they only works in 'pair' unless i'm wrong. thats why i suggested get a 'powerline wifi KIT'
 
Don't use range extenders they will eat up your bandwidth. In your situation I'd use a powerline access point. You can use multiple powering adaptors. Finally the rating of the powering adaptors is fairly meaningless and faster ones are often no faster in real world scenarios.
 
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wesley said:
you cant buy another powerline adapator. they only works in 'pair' unless i'm wrong. thats why i suggested get a 'powerline wifi KIT'
Click to expand...

I don't think this is right tbh - I've been using numerous 200mbps homeplugs around the house with no issues before!

FerretBoy said:
Don't use range extenders they will eat up your bandwidth. In your situation I'd use a powerline access point. You can use multiple powering adaptors. Finally the rating of the powering adaptors is fairly meaningless and faster ones are often no faster in real world scenarios.
Click to expand...

By "powerline access point" I assume you mean a powerline adapter into a socket and an access point wired into it via ethernet?

Also, the 1200mbps adapters are definitely better than the 200mbps Devolo one's I was using before I upgraded to fibre - I forget the exact transfer rate but I do remember it being roughly twice as fast!

Can anyone recommend an access point that has a good Wi-Fi signal? I think I'll try it in the top room and see if improves things! Again though, will this add another Wi-Fi network that I'll need to switch to?
 
The best way to improve your WiFi at home is to 'move' the physical location of your Wireless Router.

This is worth a try ;)
 
FerretBoy said:
For example the netgear XWNB5201. Now I don't know how these will play with your existing powerline.
Click to expand...

The only issue I'd have with this is the 500mbps speed rating - I know it's all theoretical but my understanding of "mixing" different speed powerline adapters is that they would all end up running at the lowest speed of all connected!

The only 1200mbps adapter with Wi-Fi I can find is the Devolo one here - but it's obviously quite pricey!

Virdi said:
The best way to improve your WiFi at home is to 'move' the physical location of your Wireless Router.

This is worth a try ;)
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'll probably give this a go first - the trouble is the master socket is right behind the TV and while I can probably shift it out of the cabinet itself, I doubt I'm going to be able to move it more than a couple of feet onto a nearby windowsill so I'm not sure how much difference it will make!
 
Maybe try a dedicated Wireless Access Point .....in a nice central location.

Ubiquiti are doing some nice stuff at the moment and I have just installed one - Works well!

But you will need to run a LAN cable back to connect into your router / switch.
 
Yeah, a WAP would be the ideal solution I guess, but the fact they would need wiring back to the router is where the problem would arise!

I don't think the missus would approve of my running cables here, there and everywhere just because my streaming stutters and buffer a bit! :p

In terms of the Devolo powerline Wi-Fi adapter above, am I right in thinking that it would just improve the existing Wi-Fi network signal strength or would it create a separate Wi-Fi network that I'd need to switch to manually??
 
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Best solution is run a cable to each floor, it doesn't have to be to whewre you need it - I ran through cupboards in the hall/landing and into the loft to get to each room along with the TV feeds, really no substitute for that in terms of speed and it makes life a lot easier going forward, going external may be easier though. If that's not practical then powerline adapters to each floor with a switch or AP, the Ubiquiti Unifi AP's are getting a lot of love as they support hand off really well and the price is very reasonable/they look subtle/blend in - they will require POE and a cable running to them though.
 
Surely an access point on the other end of the currently existing powerlines is the cheapest option? If the powerline on the top floor has only one ethernet port, you can maybe even get a cheap router, disable DHCP on that, change the IP to something different from the main router and it will give you extra ethernet ports as well as wifi. I did this when I was a student as the Virgin SH2 wifi coverage was very poor, and used a cheap £20 TP-Link router with powerlines to extend the coverage as well as extra ethernet ports on the other side of the flat.

For the wifi, they can share the same SSID but they will need to be set on different channels. This way the two wifi networks will work together and won't interfere with each other.

Mixing powerline adapters is fine, I have a friend with a newer TP-Link 500mb running nicely with an older TP-Link model (also 500mb), but I would be wary mixing brands.
 
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