router/ap/mesh advice

spelbound

spelbound

spelbound

Associate
Joined
30 Aug 2018
Posts
8
Hi all.

I'm looking for some advice on the best solution for my scenario.

I am a virgin superhub 2 user, living in a concrete walled house (medium 3 bed). The hub and the walls combined = terrible wifi.

I am looking for a solution to significantly improve wifi connectivity. I will point out that my PC is next to the current hub and I need to stick with a wired connection. Other devices (9 in total) will connect via a mix of 2.4GHz and 5.0GHz connections.

Should I go modem mode + better router, AP or mesh? Budget is about £250.

Specific recommendations for solution are appreciated. I have heard good things about Ubiquiti AP so if this is your recommendation, any specific pointers for optimisation with Virgin are very welcome.

Many thanks.
 
bremen1874 said:
Are you willing to run multiple network cables to allow access points to be connected (most likely to the ceilings)?
Click to expand...
Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately we are freshly decorated and my wife is...erm...picky. I think I'd lose my nads if I did that so, while I'm willing, it's not an option.
 
Well that more-or-less counts out the most effective options.

If you replace the router it'll still be blocked by your concrete internal walls. You'll probably see some improvement, but all wireless has to conform to the same power limits.

If you use a mesh system then you'll be using wireless to interconnect them and that signal is likely to be blocked. You can use cables for the interconnects, but you've said that it isn't an option.

For access points such as the ones Ubiquiti you're also going to need cables.

For a solid building like you describe you'd probably need multiple strategically located access points all wired back to the router.

It's worth noting that 5GHz wireless is blocked much more easily than 2.4GHz.
 
bremen1874 said:
Well that more-or-less counts out the most effective options.

If you replace the router it'll still be blocked by your concrete internal walls. You'll probably see some improvement, but all wireless has to conform to the same power limits.

If you use a mesh system then you'll be using wireless to interconnect them and that signal is likely to be blocked. You can use cables for the interconnects, but you've said that it isn't an option.

For access points such as the ones Ubiquiti you're also going to need cables.

For a solid building like you describe you'd probably need multiple strategically located access points all wired back to the router.

It's worth noting that 5GHz wireless is blocked much more easily than 2.4GHz.
Click to expand...
Dammit!

So, assuming I somehow convince the boss that I convince her that an AP like Ubiquiti is the only viable option (wink wink), what sort of setup does it have? i.e. are the devices daisy chained or do does each device spur off of the first AP?

Also, with the Ubiquiti, am I still able to have a wired Ethernet connection direct to that superhub? I'm unsure if the hub needs to be in modem mode or if I just turn the native wifi off.
 
APs would usually all be individually wired back to the router. They get their power over the Ethernet cable so you don't need to worry about power at the AP end.

You can still have all of your wired connections. If you need more ports you can add a network switch.

Unless you have additional requirements you can leave the Virgin hub running as router and switch the wireless off.

Your best option is going to depend on how solid your walls really are, and how fast you need the wireless to be.

How bad is it now, and how good do you want it to be?

If it really is solid then expect to need multiple APs. Luckily a managed system such as Ubiquiti's makes having multiple APs easy.

One option you haven't mentioned is Powerline adapters. You can get them with built-in wireless, or you can use them to connect standalone access points. How well they'd work will depend on your wiring and what other stuff it plugged in. Unfortunately there's no way know without trying.
 
It's only a 3 bed house (sorry OP no offense), just something that size does not need multiple Ubiquiti AP's

You could try either a good router or something like the Tenda MW6 with no risk as these could be returned

Do you use many of the routers feature like static IP, port forwarding VPN etc etc ?
 
It's the construction that matters not the size.

In my three bed the interior is basically wood and plasterboard and I can get away with a single centrally mounted AP.

If it was build like some of the council stuff used to be with all reinforced concrete interior walls I don't think I would.

Even houses where extensions have changed external walls into internal walls can struggle.
 
Yes I know

Until recently we lived in a Devon farmhouse 18" stone walls - 3 floors - 4 beds, 1 decent router was all it took ............
 
bremen1874 said:
APs would usually all be individually wired back to the router. They get their power over the Ethernet cable so you don't need to worry about power at the AP end.

You can still have all of your wired connections. If you need more ports you can add a network switch.

Unless you have additional requirements you can leave the Virgin hub running as router and switch the wireless off.

Your best option is going to depend on how solid your walls really are, and how fast you need the wireless to be.

How bad is it now, and how good do you want it to be?

If it really is solid then expect to need multiple APs. Luckily a managed system such as Ubiquiti's makes having multiple APs easy.

One option you haven't mentioned is Powerline adapters. You can get them with built-in wireless, or you can use them to connect standalone access points. How well they'd work will depend on your wiring and what other stuff it plugged in. Unfortunately there's no way know without trying.
Click to expand...
I'm currently using powerline with build in wifi and connection is poor to OK. With just the native router wifi it is non-existent. I'm the only person that extensively uses the internet. The others are my wife and kids who are casual users for their phones, tablets etc. My wife has a desktop pc upstairs that could definitely use a more stable connection, but she only uses it for Netflix etc.

I could try a different band of powerline adapters. I'm using Virgin's own atm and they don't seem to be great.
 
bremen1874 said:
Even houses where extensions have changed external walls into internal walls can struggle.
Click to expand...

lol, tell me about it.

Double solid brick internal walls and virtually each room having double steel I beams hanging about 18" from the ceiling. Doesn't make for great wifi :D

After learning a lot here I now realise I'll probably need a couple more AP's, sited in better positions than my current AC Lite. The wife is adamant about no visible "stuff" in the two main rooms though so I have a half baked plan of hiding them in the ceiling, accessed through the floorboards above, which I'd need to have up to run the cables anyway.

Sure it's bit more hassle if I need to access them (but nothing major) and they'll have a layer of plasterboard to fight down through, but I'm sure that's got to be better than trying to fight sideways through numerous brick walls.
 
A single layer of plasterboard shouldn't be an issue (assuming it isn't foil faced). My AC Lite is downstairs on the living room ceiling and covers the upstairs okay.

Personally I can't see the objection to having a couple of access points on the ceiling. With the indicator lights disabled they're no worse than a smoke alarm (which she will presumably allow?).
 
I was thinking the same about smoke alarms. She is quite happy having those (and AP's) in the hallway, upstairs landing and kitchen/utility room, but not in the main front room where the signal is ironically the worst. She's not keen to have one in the extended dining/family room either, but my PC desk and all it's associated gubbins is in there. Go figure.

I could possibly get away with a wall mounted one, hidden behind a picture above my desk, but I'm not sure how well they work in that orientation. I'll keep working on her.
 
Now that might be a winner!

I ran quite a few redundant cables to the outlet locations "just in case" (wish I'd known more about AP's at the time!). Shouldn't be much work to add in another back box and one of those.

Definitely worth a look for the one problem room, thanks.
 
Just been through this with my super hub 2 in a large solid brick victorian house - patchy signal, connectivity issues and 2g/5g switching issues

I've gone for Tenda MW6 3 node mesh thing off overclockers

definitely recommend it, 2 nodes saturated my whole house so 3 is just extra garden signal. Seamlessly switches between nodes and 2g/5g depending on device compatibility.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom