Shared wifi in building

Arclite

Arclite

Arclite

Associate
Joined
8 Dec 2006
Posts
746
Location
Luton
So guys i have just moved into a new flat which has a wifi connection for each flat. The building is built to modern standards with thick walls but i get up to 50 mbps.

Now the thing is that i cannot get a wired connection from the main router to my flat because (a) i cannot find the router lol and (b) im not allowed to drill a hole for a long ethernet cable.

Another thing i have noticed is that there are a lot of different connections in the building. Im assuming that my connection is also being shared or is interfered with other connections that is dropping my connection during online gaming.


So im hoping if you can advise me on the best option i have in terms of improving the wifi connection in my flat.

Is there such a device which i can plug in my flat which will improve/boost the incoming wifi signal and allow me to connect an ethernet cable to it for my game machines?

Thanks.
 
Sounds like student accommodation.

If that's the case, then no there's absolutely nothing you can do without access to the router/switch to implement some QoS.
 
Semple said:
Sounds like student accommodation.

If that's the case, then no there's absolutely nothing you can do without access to the router/switch to implement some QoS.
Click to expand...


Its not student accomodation. I guess i can ask the landlord for the location access to the router.

If i could, would i be able to do something then wirelessly?
 
Arclite said:
Its not student accomodation. I guess i can ask the landlord for the location access to the router.

If i could, would i be able to do something then wirelessly?
Click to expand...

This sounds like some strange accommodation then if you don't have direct access to a phone line/fibre/cable. How do the rest of your utilities work?

You'd still need administrator access to the router to change configurations, if the landlord is supplying this to the entire building I'd doubt he'd give you access to change things.

The problem you'll have is sharing a congested line. No doubt your neighbours will be streaming netflix/Spotify, and no doubt someone will be torrenting. All of this causes your latency to shoot up and make gaming a bit of a nightmare.
 
How do you use a regular telephone? What does that plug into?

You can use a bridge to turn a wireless signal into wired but in your case that won’t help the quality of the connection. It really will only solve the problem of connecting devices without WiFi to your internet.
 
Semple said:
This sounds like some strange accommodation then if you don't have direct access to a phone line/fibre/cable. How do the rest of your utilities work?

You'd still need administrator access to the router to change configurations, if the landlord is supplying this to the entire building I'd doubt he'd give you access to change things.

The problem you'll have is sharing a congested line. No doubt your neighbours will be streaming netflix/Spotify, and no doubt someone will be torrenting. All of this causes your latency to shoot up and make gaming a bit of a nightmare.
Click to expand...


There are ports for a phone socket and 2 co-axial ports (not sure if its for cable/sky or fibre optic, will need to ask landlord).

I do not want to buy my internet connection because the price of wifi is included in the rent so I am trying to see what options i have in terms of improving the existing wifi.
 
Right. Just spoke to the landlord and she said she will leave the door opened where the main BT hub is located in the building. Its not far from where my flat is but sadly I will not be allowed to use a long ethernet cable to get into my flat since this will require drilling holes through the wall.

Next option would be to install a device close to the hub and the bounce the signal to a receiver in my room and boost the signal that way? Is that possible? It would be great if i can do that and be able to connect an ethernet cable to the booster device in my room.
 
Arclite said:
Right. Just spoke to the landlord and she said she will leave the door opened where the main BT hub is located in the building. Its not far from where my flat is but sadly I will not be allowed to use a long ethernet cable to get into my flat since this will require drilling holes through the wall.

Next option would be to install a device close to the hub and the bounce the signal to a receiver in my room and boost the signal that way? Is that possible? It would be great if i can do that and be able to connect an ethernet cable to the booster device in my room.
Click to expand...

Increasing your signal quality to the router is unlikely to make much difference. Infact i'd almost bet that even if you could run an ethernet from the hub direct to your PC, you're unlikely to see much difference. The problem you have is having to share a line with other people who will likely be using very demanding services that will saturate the line.

The only way i see around this is either your own private connection, or implementing some QoS on the hub (if the BT hub supports that).

Do you have a laptop? Next time you're gaming and noticing your ping is all over the place, run down and plug the laptop directly into the hub, and test what sort of pings you'll get when directly connected to the hub.
 
Looks like a case of you pay your money and take your choice. Have your shared wifi that is 'free' in your rent and accept it isn't a great solution for you or pay £20-25 a month for a private fibre connection through your phone socket.
 
Its prob not going to be signal quality, or at least thats not going to be the main culpret.
Your sharing a connection, what about the rest of the building - someone could be downloading 20gb of muck.. cant stop that. Also gaming on wifi is always rubbish.

Only real solution would be to create a gaming only ssid that had performance advantages over a web only ssid that restricted speeds - you would need a router that could do multiple independence wireless ssids and allow deep control over them for resource partitioning as well as potentially wireless signal repeaters or ap's for boosted signal quality.
finally you would need everyones willingness, which i cant see you getting - reducing there speeds when your gaming is not going to go down well and your landlord will likely not give a monkeys.
 
If you're using a desktop or static laptop then you can use a high gain antenna and point it in the general direction of the AP. Would at the very least increase the stability of your wireless link but wouldn't do anything about other users hogging bandwidth. They're not pretty so depends on weather you value performance over aesthetics.
 
Best option is to contact the landlord or wifi provider and ask them...

WiFi can be temporamental at the best of times, so getting the right type of signal booster without inducing added interference is important... but tbh, 50mbit from a shared wifi connection is pretty good.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom