OT: wifi extender? wifi mesh? help!

[jh_on_the_cape]

We just went with a faster home internet (DSL to cable). Kids are older and using more bandwidth and my wife is now very often doing skype work calls at home at odd hours with people in other time zones.

The wifi router does not reach everywhere in the house, so I thought no problem and bought a little plug in wifi extender. NETGEAR AC1200 WiFi Range Extender - Essentials Edition (EX6120-100NAS) .

Well for the 5g network if it's close enough to the router to get a good signal, it's not close enough to our home office. I thought, OK I will just throw money at it and get a more powerful unit... but they don't really list signal power. I am not sure a more $ unit will actually solve the problem. Looking for guidance on a product that will solve this. 2500 sq ft home but sort of long with the office over the garage that used to be detached before a reno.

Then there are the wifi mesh things like the netgear orbi for $300. Will that actually solve the problem? The information focuses on how cute they are, not so much on performance.

Wife says RUN an ethernet cable from router to office. Yeah that is a HUGE pain given the layout. I could run a cable from the xfinity box to a point closer upstairs, but it's not close enough for the little netgear extender I have. I checked with their app.

Sorry this is so OT but I think there are some tech savvy IT folks here!

I just spent lots of time down the rabbit hole of internet research on this and still have not figured it out.:help:

[Likes2ridefar]

Some routers like nighthawks have a much greater range than lesser routers but it may not solve your problem.

I have the start of a mesh system if you want to try that for cheap. As a stand-alone router it works fine (and may cover enough by itself) but I decided to just stick with my nighthawk.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01L9O07FS/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[jh_on_the_cape]

Thanks. We have a 60mbps connection. Which nighthawk would you get? I am overwhelmed from the choice. And it's not clear that more money = greater range.

Some routers like nighthawks have a much greater range than lesser routers but it may not solve your problem.

I have the start of a mesh system if you want to try that for cheap. As a stand-alone router it works fine (and may cover enough by itself) but I decided to just stick with my nighthawk.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01L9O07FS/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[sitzmark]

Do you have coax throughout the house - including office?
If so, one option is to use MOCA/MOCA2 adapters and extend network over coax. Easier than pulling new cable (cat5/6) and retains close-to-source throughput. Can connect Cat5/6 out of MOCA adapter at remote location or connect a wifi router. (Or both.)

If your cable modem already supports MOCA/MOCA2 you only need an adapter at each location where you want extend. If not, you'l need to connect a MOCA device to your cable modem/router and network it from there over coax.


Good explanation here: https://youtu.be/rhCaZqxVAJE

[zap]

When we had fiber installed last year we went with an Amplifi mesh system.

Our router and main Amplifi unit is in the basement at one end (right) of the house and our offices are on the second floor at the other end. We have one plug in in the foyer (close to center of the house) and the next plug in on the second floor left of center close to our offices.

ps I can also access our network out front in the street.

[Tony T]

…Well for the 5g network if it's close enough to the router to get a good signal, it's not close enough to our home office.

Do you need 5g in the home office?
5g has a shorter range than 2.4g

[cinco]

We just went with a faster home internet (DSL to cable). Kids are older and using more bandwidth and my wife is now very often doing skype work calls at home at odd hours with people in other time zones.

The wifi router does not reach everywhere in the house, so I thought no problem and bought a little plug in wifi extender. NETGEAR AC1200 WiFi Range Extender - Essentials Edition (EX6120-100NAS) .

Well for the 5g network if it's close enough to the router to get a good signal, it's not close enough to our home office. I thought, OK I will just throw money at it and get a more powerful unit... but they don't really list signal power. I am not sure a more $ unit will actually solve the problem. Looking for guidance on a product that will solve this. 2500 sq ft home but sort of long with the office over the garage that used to be detached before a reno.

Then there are the wifi mesh things like the netgear orbi for $300. Will that actually solve the problem? The information focuses on how cute they are, not so much on performance.

Wife says RUN an ethernet cable from router to office. Yeah that is a HUGE pain given the layout. I could run a cable from the xfinity box to a point closer upstairs, but it's not close enough for the little netgear extender I have. I checked with their app.

Sorry this is so OT but I think there are some tech savvy IT folks here!

I just spent lots of time down the rabbit hole of internet research on this and still have not figured it out.:help:

I'm far from expert. But, I did try exactly what you are proposing to do. I bought the same Netgear extender. It didn't do a thing for me. Even when set up just inside the external wall, it wouldn't penetrate both ext. walls (house & garage). I gave up and returned it, and ran ethernet cable. Someone knowledgeable may know a technical trick to make it work, but that's not me. Good luck.

[AngryScientist]

my work pal with a large house has the google product and raves about how good it is:

https://store.google.com/us/product/google_wifi?hl=en-US

[akelman]

After speaking to friends who know about such things, we got an eero system (https://eero.com/). We were told that it's very easy to set up—even for someone like me, who doesn't enjoy playing around with technology; honestly, I'm pretty tech-challenged—very stable, and that it works intuitively. All of those things have proven true, and we're happy with it so far (four months in). We have a base station and two satellites, and that works well in a two-story house that's about 3500 sq ft. We got ours at Best Buy (https://www.bestbuy.com/site/eero-home-wifi-system-1-eero-2-eero-beacons-2nd-generation-white/5873516.p?skuId=5873516&ref=212&loc=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw_47YBRBxEiwAYuKdw22S5MsgHsLVmvQo6exL 9MFIzo0szAE-sz30wdMAARZ_TucZg7xjfxoCZKsQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds), where it was on sale (maybe $250 or $300 at the time) and we had some amount of time (maybe a week? maybe two?) to try it out and return it if we weren't satisfied.

[ultraman6970]

If you have old wireless routers moving around your closet, thing that usually happens... you ca use those as extenders aswell as access points.

[jh_on_the_cape]

Do you need 5g in the home office?
5g has a shorter range than 2.4g

Yes but the bandwidth on the 2.4g is not great.

[jh_on_the_cape]

I think we do. We do not have cable TV but there is a coax jack in the garage. Is there a way to check if it is 'live'?

Do you have coax throughout the house - including office?
If so, one option is to use MOCA/MOCA2 adapters and extend network over coax. Easier than pulling new cable (cat5/6) and retains close-to-source throughput. Can connect Cat5/6 out of MOCA adapter at remote location or connect a wifi router. (Or both.)

If your cable modem already supports MOCA/MOCA2 you only need an adapter at each location where you want extend. If not, you'l need to connect a MOCA device to your cable modem/router and network it from there over coax.

[dave thompson]

We have a tri-level house with our cable coming into the basement where our Comcast modem/router is located. We have smart TVs on the upper two levels and use our tablets and phones everywhere.

We tried various WiFi extenders and other devices to overcome the loss of signal as we moved around farther from the signal. We even ran some long lengths of Ethernet cable, drilling holes in walls etc, to service our smart TVs. That was a pain!

We finally installed the Eero system; 1 Eero and two beacons and now have very fast WiFi over the entire house, end-to-end (our house is 100 feet long!) and top to bottom. Very easy in install; basically plug in to a wall outlet and to the modem, locate the beacons and log in to your new network.

[sitzmark]

I think we do. We do not have cable TV but there is a coax jack in the garage. Is there a way to check if it is 'live'?

There are dedicated diagnostic devices (continuity tester), but if you have an older VCR or video device that puts signal out over coax you could use that. If so, a very basic test would be to connect the video device in one room and a tv in another and see if signal carries from one to the other.

I added a link to a good explanation of MOCA (MoCA is more correct) in my earlier post, but if you didn't see it go here: https://youtu.be/rhCaZqxVAJE Can handle up to gigabit speed.

[C40_guy]

First thing I'd do in your position is to get a good wifi router and use that as your primary wifi access point. Use the Xfinity router for the external cable connection and as a hardwired only router, then run at least one network cable to a central area in the house where you can locate a good wifi router. Two would be even better...but as long as you get at least one onto the first floor, you'll have much better coverage overall.

Not too difficult, technically, depending in part on the wifi access point you use. I replaced our Xfinity modem with a good wired (only) Motorola modem and returned the Xfinity modem. I have a couple of Apple Airport Extremes scattered through the house providing wifi.

If you have Apple devices in the house, I'd recommend the Apple. If you don't have any Apple devices, then the Airport is just a bit more difficult to manage. It's an older technology, but it just works. No freezing, no rebooting. Just works. I get up to 1300 Mbps network speed on wifi, and I get decent signal strength for a wifi trail cam 100 feet from the house.

If you want help, I can come by and help you set up a good wifi access point. Then we can talk cars and go for a ride. :)

I can also recommend a good local network guy who can run network cable through your house, if you want to go that route. He did a fair amount of work in our house when we moved in.

[staggerwing]

After various issues getting complete house coverage with a high end Asus router, I flipped a coin and bought two of the AmpliFi base stations. Was pretty close to pulling a wires, and setting up a couple access points to the existing router, but good reviews convinced me to give a try. Rock solid performance, for over a year, anywhere in our 3-story, 1905 frame house.

Most often, you see the AmpliFi setup as a base station, and two mesh points kit. However, if you buy two base stations, the setup will automatically recognize the second as a node point.

I haven't used them since initial setup, but the Ubiquiti/AmpliFi tech support folks were also quite helpful on initial questions and setup.

[smontanaro]

We have the Google mesh WiFi product and like it. Our house is a brick three-flat. One note is in the back of the garden unit where the cable modem lives. We have one note in each of the two upper floors as well.

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

[warren128]

Another vote for Google Wifi Mesh System here, the distance between my fiber modem/wifi router and my TV in the living room is around 60+ feet. I had problems getting a good wifi signal. I experimented with plug-in extenders using the home's wiring system, but it didn't work well. I got lots of dropped connections that required fiddling around with the units on both ends, constantly.

Then I found out about Google's mesh routers one day, and I decided to try them. I wanted something that is pretty much set and forget, with great performance. The Google product delivered. It comes as a set of 3 routers. I have the main one hardwired to the ISP's modem, the 2nd one in my kitchen, and the 3rd one at the other end of the house in my living room. The routers took about 5 to 10 minutes each to setup and connect. The system is controlled by a phone app, and it works beautifully. I'm happy with it.

[auto_rock]

Personally, I've never found a mesh/extender system that works well, consistently, with low latency - especially when you're walking around and something gets confused and it starts frantically hopping between access points.

My standard routine is to find two good locations for a wifi base. One's likely where your service comes in to the house, and then the other's probably about 2/3 of a "house" away. Then I get a 100ft cable, pull it through an attic, register vent, etc to the second point, and set up a different wifi network, with a different SSID, inside the LAN of the first wifi router. It's not perfect, because you have to hop networks to roam through the house, but I like lower tech higher stability implementations, personally...

[vqdriver]

We almost went google until i found out it only works with a google acct. I love google products but i wasnt too comfortable having SO much internet activity associated with our family (my kids are now getting targeted ads and they pretty much just do school work and games.)
Went with linksys velop and it works quite well. Great for extending the network to dead zones. Tho i havent really tested the roaming ability, pretty much if i start in one spot i stay there.
Id imagine they all work similarly.

[srcarter]

For a desktop computer, I had great success using a powerline ethernet solution. Here is a review of current products:

https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-powerline-networking-kit/

Basically, you plug one in by your router (and connect with an ethernet cable), then one by the computer and connect that to the computer with an ethernet cable. Ours worked flawlessly. I had tried some wireless extenders, but they always caused issues with my work's network.

That said, we bought a new Netgear Nighthawk wireless router (something like the R7500 model) and the range was much much better than any previous router, so we got rid of the powerline solution.

[paredown]

I think we do. We do not have cable TV but there is a coax jack in the garage. Is there a way to check if it is 'live'?

Easiest way to test a cable is with a cheap tester. Two parts--one is a little transmitter (toner), and then you put the tester on the other end. It will at least tell you if the cable is continuous.

Something like this would probably work for coax:

https://www.amazon.com/CIMPLE-CO-Continuity-Connector-identifying/dp/B074CQ8THY/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1527012890&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=coax+cable+tester&psc=1

[paredown]

<snip>

That said, we bought a new Netgear Nighthawk wireless router (something like the R7500 model) and the range was much much better than any previous router, so we got rid of the powerline solution.

We've also solved some of our range problems with a new-ish Asus RT-AC86U--much stronger signal than the default FIOS router

[deechee]

We almost went google until i found out it only works with a google acct. I love google products but i wasnt too comfortable having SO much internet activity associated with our family (my kids are now getting targeted ads and they pretty much just do school work and games.

Setting up a new google account takes barely 2 minutes. Google is still one of the few providers that allow you to create accounts without a cellphone.

I setup a google mesh in my parent's multi-level bungalow, and it's great. It reaches corners that were really lousy in the past and being able to reboot and update the modem remotely is a huge time saver for me (ie. I don't have to be there.) Compared to the various D-Link, Linksys, TP-Link products I've owned in the past, the google is a no brainer for security and easy to use software.

[livingminimal]

Setting up a new google account takes barely 2 minutes. Google is still one of the few providers that allow you to create accounts without a cellphone.

I setup a google mesh in my parent's multi-level bungalow, and it's great. It reaches corners that were really lousy in the past and being able to reboot and update the modem remotely is a huge time saver for me (ie. I don't have to be there.) Compared to the various D-Link, Linksys, TP-Link products I've owned in the past, the google is a no brainer for security and easy to use software.


Did you lose speed with the Google Mesh network? I've been reading reviews this morning that talk about speed loss.

[smontanaro]

Did you lose speed with the Google Mesh network? I've been reading reviews this morning that talk about speed loss.I haven't noticed any issues. It's certainly better than the previous setup. I used to use a WiFi router and a repeater. The Google mesh stop is much more stable.

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

[jh_on_the_cape]

well thanks for all of the advice!
My head is spinning after reading this, but maybe it was the Patron!
I am going to get the google mesh and set it up with a dummy account. I do get freaked out by google big brother (we also have Nest!)... but they make a good product.
it also sounds easy to set up which leaves me more time to RIDE.
i was almost going to get the Orbi but I really think I need 3 units.