network\wifi help

ED209

ED209

ED209

Soldato
Joined
5 Nov 2014
Posts
8,117
I have recently bought 2 x Ring security cameras and mounted these outside (1 front and 1 back).

I have noticed that the wifi to these devices is quite bad due to the thickness of the outside walls, I live in an old bungalow and from I understand the outside walls had another layer of brick added many years ago (before I even moved in).

The SH4 is in the front room in a corner at the front of the house (nothing in front of it etc).

Wifi inside the property if fine, my son's wifi maxes out my 250mb service when doing downloads and so does my laptop when I'm working from home.

These cameras are connected to the 2.4ghz network and I have tried them connected to the SH4 directly and also to a Chime Pro which is behind the front door\hallway. This improved signal for the camera's but its still not too great.

My last option is to get a an AP\Mesh with a good range for wifi and place it centrally to see if this improves the wifi and then wire this directly to the SH4.

Is going down the AP\Mesh route the best option or can anyone think of any other options?

The cameras are wireless only and I do not have the option to wire these to the network.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions\help.
 
Superhub 4?

For my doorbell which was out of Wi-Fi range do avoid having to wire it I just used a very cheap mesh network (Mercusys ac1200, £30), works well
 
Could try the mesh method and see how that goes, I tried the Chime Pro previously but it had poor range and reliability, I had to reboot it every now and then. When I redid my UniFi access points layout they worked much better so the Chime Pro just ended up as a doorbell speaker.

If that doesn't work though due to thick exterior walls, you might have to consider an external AP.
 
Assuming SH4 is your current wiFi access point and given that it is currently at the front of the property, and your front camera isn't getting sufficient reception - installing a mesh network at the centre of the property isn't likely to make much difference.
First thing to check would be traffic contention on the WiFi channels with neighbours etc. Best bet for this is to use WiFi Analyzer on an Android device. This can also be used to test signal strength at the camera locations.
If traffic seems okay (or moving channels makes no difference), then you are going to need additional access points front and rear. (I'm guessing you want to use mesh to avoid having to run network cable to the access points). You might be able to get away with mounting the APs on the inside wall where the cameras are. But if your walls are really dense, then (as Orcvader says) you are going to need to run network cables to mount external APs on the outside walls (front and back). At this point, it's probably much easier to bring the cams inside and point them out the window!
 
darkblade said:
For anyone that doesn't live in your house... what's SH4?
Click to expand...
Sorry, Yes, SH4 is the Super Hub 4 from Virgin Media.
PaulM said:
Superhub 4?

For my doorbell which was out of Wi-Fi range do avoid having to wire it I just used a very cheap mesh network (Mercusys ac1200, £30), works well
Click to expand...
We have a doorbell as well which came with the Chime Pro. The signal from the doorbell to the chime Pro which is sitting just behind the door is fine and has no issues.

I have tried connecting the cameras directly to the SH4 and the Chime but the signal is still terrible on both.
Orcvader said:
Could try the mesh method and see how that goes, I tried the Chime Pro previously but it had poor range and reliability, I had to reboot it every now and then. When I redid my UniFi access points layout they worked much better so the Chime Pro just ended up as a doorbell speaker.

If that doesn't work though due to thick exterior walls, you might have to consider an external AP.
Click to expand...
Today I ordered some TP Link Deco M4's (only wanted 1 but a 3 pack was not much more and also due to it being on sale was cheaper than the 2 pack lol, have room for extra if needed later on down the line) which will be arriving tomorrow.

I am going to place this centrally (Hallway) to see if this improves the signal at all.

darkblade said:
Assuming SH4 is your current wiFi access point and given that it is currently at the front of the property, and your front camera isn't getting sufficient reception - installing a mesh network at the centre of the property isn't likely to make much difference.
First thing to check would be traffic contention on the WiFi channels with neighbours etc. Best bet for this is to use WiFi Analyzer on an Android device. This can also be used to test signal strength at the camera locations.
If traffic seems okay (or moving channels makes no difference), then you are going to need additional access points front and rear. (I'm guessing you want to use mesh to avoid having to run network cable to the access points). You might be able to get away with mounting the APs on the inside wall where the cameras are. But if your walls are really dense, then (as Orcvader says) you are going to need to run network cables to mount external APs on the outside walls (front and back). At this point, it's probably much easier to bring the cams inside and point them out the window!
Click to expand...
I did wonder if this would help at all.

Do you have any wifi analyzer suggestions?

I did order a 10M network cable to run from the SH4 to the Deco that I have ordered. My plan was to disable Wifi on the SH4 and have the Deco take over this but not put the SH4 in to modem mode so I can still use all the ports on the SH4 (In modem mode it disables them all except 1) as my PC connects to the SH4 via a network cable.
 
Last edited:
ED209 said:
Today I ordered some TP Link Deco M4's (only wanted 1 but a 3 pack was not much more and also due to it being on sale was cheaper than the 2 pack lol, have room for extra if needed later on down the line) which will be arriving tomorrow.

I am going to place this centrally (Hallway) to see if this improves the signal at all.
Click to expand...
Just a heads up, I had the Deco X60s but the TP-Link network optimisation kept picking channel 13 for me due to how congested 2.4GHz is in my area, and it offered no way of manually picking a channel. And Ring's doorbells don't support channel 13. If their cameras support 5GHz though and/or the Deco app decides another channel is better, then it won't be an issue.

Another note, if you plan to keep using the SH4 as the router, make sure to put the M4s in access point mode.
 
Last edited:
My experience of ring doorbell cameras on old 2 and newer 4 is nothing helps the wifi, if its not dropping out, don't worry about it, mines regulasrly says low Wifi, I have put repeaters and all sorts, blimey, I have a router 1m from it, it says poor wifi, I can walk halfway down the street and still get my Wifi on most things, so its the Ring hardware IMO.
 
sandys said:
My experience of ring doorbell cameras on old 2 and newer 4 is nothing helps the wifi, if its not dropping out, don't worry about it, mines regulasrly says low Wifi, I have put repeaters and all sorts, blimey, I have a router 1m from it, it says poor wifi, I can walk halfway down the street and still get my Wifi on most things, so its the Ring hardware IMO.
Click to expand...
Thanks for that, I will keep it in mind.

The reason why I have looked in to the signal is because on the recordings on the front and rear cameras they sometimes get a green screen appear for a second and then goes back to normal recording.

I have read this can be caused by wifi signal or an issue with the cameras but as these are brand new and happening with both I was leaning towards the signal.

If I also stand where the front outside camera is then I get the same poor or hardly any signal on my mobile as well.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom