Question confused how to extend wifi

luckydriver

Distinguished
Aug 6, 2010
182
0
18,690
my friend has a basement and then 2 stories. the comcast router is in the middle of the 1st floor in an office. however there is bizarre loss of signal sporadically. i used to think it was the kids older phones dropping out but they got new phones at christmas. sometimes even on the 1st floor in the adjoining kitchen there is no signal, they say things drop out. 2nd floor is very iffy.

i personally was setting up chromecast on the 2nd floor and had to go downstairs into the room with the router to even get a phone to work. couldnt even get signal in the kitchen. very weird. they are using only 2.4. and we turned off 5

i used my wifi netgear app to measure signal 2nd floor but i was only able to get the xfinity signal. for some reason the 2.4 wouldnt clock in on my phone. the xfniity public wifi was 100 percent everywhere i went upstairs.

part of me wonders to switch everyone to the public signal. i have no idea how to troubleshoot the 2.4 in the house

they do have an ethernet port on the 2nd floor. however. even after reading many articles i'm not sure if its best to spend 50 bucks (their budget) on a cheapo router or if i should get a wifi extender. but you cannot use ethernet to 'power' an extender can you? i know some have ports but it seems to not be designed for my purpose. . so i'm lost what to do. comcast is useless because there is a signal of course. and it is one of the newer routers.
 

Ralston18

Titan
Moderator
The ethernet port on the second floor - does it have a corresponding port on the 1st floor?

You may indeed be able set up another router as an access point on the second floor. Or even simpler, jus a switch if it is desired to and possible to use wired connections on the second floor.

What make and model modem and router do you have now?

Any other ethernet ports (wall outlets) in the building? Is there a patch panel serving the wall outlets?
 

luckydriver

Distinguished
Aug 6, 2010
182
0
18,690
i dont know where the ethernet truly feeds from except im certain it doesnt go to the existing router. at least not directly. could be some kind of splitter somewhere in the wall etc i guess.

existing one is like this
https://www.xfinity.com/learn/internet-service/modems-and-routers
Voice and Data Modem

Technicolor CGM4140COM



no other ethernet ports in any walls. theres spaghetti in the electrical panel 'box' in the basement and i know the ethernet is probably not fed the way it should be.

2nd floor will be totally wifi, there are many devices up there (alexa, 3 phones, etc etc) that need signal

one time years ago comcast told her too many devices attached. but she has 200 speed, shouldnt that be enough for all she has. only heavy users are 2 kids at a time. friend uses nothing other than email.

thing is if my signal meter really is correct with xfinithyy wifi being 100% then it seems like some other issue but im not a wiring guy. i have no idea how to troubleshoot it. id just hate her to buy router/extender and it not fix it. id be dead meat lol. i guess could buy one at walmart since they take anything back?
 
Aug 19, 2020
2
0
10
Wifi tech changes enough that I went the new router route and made my old one an AP. Using a wifi analyzer app on my tablet, I was able to wire more devices, plus fully use all but one of the 6 wifi SSIDs this was able to give me, and with no overlapping 2.4 GHz channel interference, and also fine-tune 5GHz ones so none of my close neighbors will have issues from my stronger signals. Imagine if I had a DFS router to add even more 5GHz channels. Maybe next year when my newer router is a couple of years old ;)
 

TRENDING THREADS