Need router for M&D

realBabelfish · 15 Jan 2013 at 15:11

hi guys.

mum and dad are on virgin but since virgin refuse to give them a new wifi router (even though they have been with virgin 10 years now) they will need to buy a new one.

i just need to make sure the signal can reach the whole house.

its only a small bungalow but i want my dad to be able to use his new tablet all over the house. tablet is a samsung galaxy tab2

they have virgin installed in the office at the front of the house in the study. (3mx3m) behind that study is the the kitchen (3m x 3m) and behind that is my dad's bedroom.

so i guess 10-15m in distance to cover the conservatory too. with 4-5 brick walls.

do i need to get them a beefier transmitter on the list below? say one with 2 antennae?

to be honest wi-fi isnt something im too clued up about. i just use the ****** superhub at my house and it reaches my whole house, but thats not got the sprawling layout of their bungalow.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/search_results.php?sortby=priceAsc&search=router

thanks guys!

bledd · 15 Jan 2013 at 15:35

I assume you mean cabled virgin.. (not adsl)

Here's a list of cable routers

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=46&catid=1596

This gets a lot of praise

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=NW-028-AS&groupid=46&catid=1596&subcat=1934

realBabelfish · 15 Jan 2013 at 15:47

cheers mate. im more talking about one that will cope with 5/6 brick walls.

that asus one is a bit pricey.

TrojanWhore · 15 Jan 2013 at 16:03

what bledd is getting at, is how does the internet reach the house, which will be either cable or ADSL. Cable is the same as how virgin cable television services are provided, whereas ADSL is the same as most other internet providers

bledd · 15 Jan 2013 at 23:07

The Asus premium routers are known for their fantastic wireless coverage.

I've not used a cheap router for years, so wouldn't know what to suggest.

troops · 15 Jan 2013 at 23:20

You would be better avoiding the Virgin modem/router upgrade anyway, chances are you would get a super hub and they are pretty rubbish WiFi.

Steveocee · 16 Jan 2013 at 08:11

bledd. said:
This gets a lot of praise

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=NW-028-AS&groupid=46&catid=1596&subcat=1934

I also have one of these with a Virgin Superawfulhub, it has been rock solid and simply amazing since day 1.

Unfortunately as for;

realBabelfish said:
that asus one is a bit pricey.

As with anything, you get what you pay for however in this case it really is worth the extra IMHO.

I upgraded mine out of choice as I had a perfectly well working Linksys router and I don't feel I wasted anything buying it.

bledd · 16 Jan 2013 at 09:04

^Indeed, in the past I've suffered the fate of 'buy cheap, buy twice'

MagicBoy · 16 Jan 2013 at 09:11

bledd. said:
^Indeed, in the past I've suffered the fate of 'buy cheap, buy twice'

Indeed. In my experience the Asus kit is rock solid. Parents are using a 10 year old Asus on Virgin and it's been faultless. I'm now on Sky and on router number three in five years ...

realBabelfish · 16 Jan 2013 at 10:18

TrojanWhore said:
what bledd is getting at, is how does the internet reach the house, which will be either cable or ADSL. Cable is the same as how virgin cable television services are provided, whereas ADSL is the same as most other internet providers

yeah, i know that. i just wanted to know the strength of the signal required to reach the whole house.

i have a spare one so i might let them try that first to see coverage. no point in spending £100 when they dont need to. they are pensioners after all so as long as they get an OK signal at the back of the house that should suffice.

i have a superhub and its not brilliant but covers my whole house and some of the back garden

deshepherd · 16 Jan 2013 at 17:53

Firstly, check what broadband package they are on and whether their area has been upgraded yet. I was a 20Mb XL "superhub refusenik" and passed the initial updrade to 30Mb as VM wanted me to "buy" (or pay install/activation fee) for a SuperHub ... but when we got upgraded to 60Mb an banner telling me this appeared on my VM account page and invited me to request a free SuperHub to get the new speed - so I got a SuperHub ... and put it straight into modem mode.

You mention 4 or 5 brick walls .... I've got 2 such walls (though as are 1890s vintage are possibly more solid than later brick walls) between my living room and my Asus N56 router and while wifi is "ok" its was not able to stream iplayer consistently to a tablet (pauses for a few seconds every 5 mins or so) and I've resorted to using an old router as an additional access point in my living room ... though given everyone else's resounding praise for the N56 I'm still got a feeling there's something that needs "fixing" to improve its wireless performance (I've done the obvious things like trying different versions of firmware etc already!)

mejinks · 17 Jan 2013 at 09:30

Why not get a powerline adapter with built in wifi?

realBabelfish · 17 Jan 2013 at 10:08

mejinks said:
Why not get a powerline adapter with built in wifi?

their village is a bit iffy with the electrics. not sure i would trust that. interesting idea though, cheers.

realBabelfish · 17 Jan 2013 at 10:09

deshepherd said:
Firstly, check what broadband package they are on and whether their area has been upgraded yet. I was a 20Mb XL "superhub refusenik" and passed the initial updrade to 30Mb as VM wanted me to "buy" (or pay install/activation fee) for a SuperHub ... but when we got upgraded to 60Mb an banner telling me this appeared on my VM account page and invited me to request a free SuperHub to get the new speed - so I got a SuperHub ... and put it straight into modem mode.

You mention 4 or 5 brick walls .... I've got 2 such walls (though as are 1890s vintage are possibly more solid than later brick walls) between my living room and my Asus N56 router and while wifi is "ok" its was not able to stream iplayer consistently to a tablet (pauses for a few seconds every 5 mins or so) and I've resorted to using an old router as an additional access point in my living room ... though given everyone else's resounding praise for the N56 I'm still got a feeling there's something that needs "fixing" to improve its wireless performance (I've done the obvious things like trying different versions of firmware etc already!)

they told her it would cost £13 a month for the upgrade. they dont need >20mb so its a bit of a waste. much cheaper to just buy a router.

i think i will just use my spare one and see its coverage. if it works i will just let them have mine and they can buy me one if i need it.

MagicBoy · 17 Jan 2013 at 10:14

realBabelfish said:
their village is a bit iffy with the electrics. not sure i would trust that. interesting idea though, cheers.

I use one when cat-sitting at the parents place for my xbox as there's a Wi-Fi blackspot in one room. Work perfectly even on the 35 year old wiring here.

realBabelfish · 17 Jan 2013 at 11:08

ah cool. that might be good then.

MagicBoy · 17 Jan 2013 at 11:13

Look at the Devolo kits, at work we issue them to homeworkers. Not the cheapest but they're pretty bulletproof in my experience.