[SOLVED] Help me with my network/wifi

[Imafoolattech]

Hi All. I’m a dummy and can’t figure what I need to do. I moved into a new house that is already wired for cat5 threw out the house. The fiber comes into the basement from the outside and the all of the cat 5 runs out to rooms in the house from there. Right now all I have setup is my asus ac68u wireless router setup in the basement with a few of the cat5 cables running from the switch of the router. I am noticing some parts of my 1st floor are not having good coverage. I do not care about coverage in the basement and would like to have better coverage on the main floor. Is it possible to run a different router/box in the basement and connect my WiFi router to one of the rooms that I have cat5 ran to. I know I could probably do an extender the problem is extenders arent working well in the room I need. I’ve thought about doing a wap or just a mesh system. I just would like to do it cheaper if I can. We normally have two cell phones, laptop, ring doorbell and appletv running on the WiFi currently. Trying to get a little more range to get some other items to work like I would want. Thanks for any help.

 

[bill001g]

It really depends on what you want your 68u to be doing. If you move it upstairs and put a different router in the basement you will be using the 68u as a AP. You could technically use it as a router but it just make life complex for little reason.

In any case you are buy another box. You can either use it as the router or use it as the AP. It will all come down to the details on your requirements for wireless and router functions.

 

[peptobismal]

You can do extra AP points and mesh them.

The best way I have found to increase your signal is decrease your beacon interval to like 50, this will saturate your network and make the router use a lot more power and potentially lessen the effective speed of your network.

Also, here are the best settings I found for my router when I was using it for actual WiFi, now it's just a wired router.

Router Settings for Faster Internet - Router Guide

routerguide.net

Your other option is to get a switch with a few PoE slots connect that to your router and then connect the ethernets running to APs to that and get a few cheap PoE APs, that'd be the best performance you're going to get without having to power each AP individually in every place you decide to put one. Depending on the distance I would say that you'd want them in the furthest spots away and a one or two at the highest point.

Or it could be cheaper to just run a few more ASUS routers like this on to each level of the house in Access Point / AI mesh: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833320292 There is one $10 cheaper but it doesn't have the same amount of antennas and only delivers 300Mbps. You might be able to get away with staggering two at the furthest points of the house on the floor above the router and then maybe one at the highest. Or one at the furthest point from the router on the floor above one at the opposite end on the next floor and one in the middle of the top, if you have that many floors or you could just do two on the first floor if you have only have 2.

There are also cheaper ASUS range extenders, but to beat that $40 price tag you will have to also sacrifice only having about a 1/4 of your speed which based on your Internet speeds may not be an issue; however, you did mention fiber.

There's lots of options it's just deciding the price point and how you really want to go about doing it.

 

[Imafoolattech]

Thanks. I’ll look at them. A lot of this is Greek to me. Is there a type of company I should have come out to my house? The only people I can think of geek squad but I’m sure there may be a better person.

 

[peptobismal]

Ummm... there are some people, but if you go with the router option or switch option the ASUS routers are pretty self explanatory and even have very helpful guides as to how everything works.

Also, with that route you are probably going to be paying an arm and a leg for them to literally just hook up some Ethernets on top of the cost for the equipment.

 

[Imafoolattech]

Ummm... there are some people, but if you go with the router option or switch option the ASUS routers are pretty self explanatory and even have very helpful guides as to how everything works.

Also, with that route you are probably going to be paying an arm and a leg for them to literally just hook up some Ethernets on top of the cost for the equipment.

Is there an asus you recommend?

 

[peptobismal]

The router I mentioned above is only $40 and has 4 5dBi antennas.

You would have to run the extra routers in AP Mode that are connected to the one downstairs.

Make sure that all settings in the Wireless are how you want it, first. (Default settings should be fine.)

Then go to Administration > Operation Mode (first tab) > Select "Access Point(AP) mode / Ai Mesh Router in AP mode"

After this it will cause the router to basically become an invisible device so accessing the admin panel via router.asus.com will direct you to the one downstairs. There is a device utility discovery tool though if you so want.

 

[Imafoolattech]

The router I mentioned above is only $40 and has 4 5dBi antennas.

You would have to run the extra routers in AP Mode that are connected to the one downstairs.

Make sure that all settings in the Wireless are how you want it, first. (Default settings should be fine.)

Then go to Administration > Operation Mode (first tab) > Select "Access Point(AP) mode / Ai Mesh Router in AP mode"

After this it will cause the router to basically become an invisible device so accessing the admin panel via router.asus.com will direct you to the one downstairs. There is a device utility discovery tool though if you so want.

So does this router go upstairs and I follow your setup procedures and then it will be the only one broadcasting? If this doesn’t work am I better off just going with a mesh system like netgear orbi. Amazon has an older model for $240 that comes with three hubs.

 

[peptobismal]

No they will all be broadcasting, but directing to your downstairs router. Depending on how many floors you have if only downstairs and upstairs I would say two at the furthest opposite ends of your main floor should do it. If you have another then maybe one in the center at the top... I looked at all the options and it seemed you could get 3 for $120 or spend an arm and a leg on something else that would take a bit more configuration.

The reason I said they will be invisible is that they are set to basically nothing but extensions of your current router. So, you wouldn't be able to configure each one individually without the utility from ASUS after they are put into AP mode.

Basically that's what would be happening with your downstairs router in the middle linked to the other routers except your downstairs would also be broadcasting.

The most difficult part I would say is dealing with figuring out which Ethernets go where if they are not already labeled accordingly.

 

[jsmithepa]

A lot of this is Greek to me.

Call your ISP and ask them if they can come out to install another Wireless Access Point (sounds like that's all u need) and how much. U never mentioned what square footage are we talking about and how many floors. Nor any assurance whether those ethernet jacks work.

 

[Imafoolattech]

No they will all be broadcasting, but directing to your downstairs router. Depending on how many floors you have if only downstairs and upstairs I would say two at the furthest opposite ends of your main floor should do it. If you have another then maybe one in the center at the top... I looked at all the options and it seemed you could get 3 for $120 or spend an arm and a leg on something else that would take a bit more configuration.

The reason I said they will be invisible is that they are set to basically nothing but extensions of your current router. So, you wouldn't be able to configure each one individually without the utility from ASUS after they are put into AP mode.

Basically that's what would be happening with your downstairs router in the middle linked to the other routers except your downstairs would also be broadcasting.

The most difficult part I would say is dealing with figuring out which Ethernets go where if they are not already labeled accordingly.

Thanks. They are labeled and work, except for two, but those two aren’t totally needed. I’ve tried to rewire the rj45 but I’m messing something up.

 

[peptobismal]

Call your ISP and ask them if they can come out to install another Wireless Access Point (sounds like that's all u need) and how much. U never mentioned what square footage are we talking about and how many floors. Nor any assurance whether those ethernet jacks work.

Problem with that is a lot of ISPs won't exactly touch your own personal router. But yeah he did never mention how many floors or how big of a distance we are covering thus my ideals on the exact amount of APs and where he should set them up is very loose.

Also, your ISP might put in AP's cheaper initially, but there are usually rental fees every month for new equipment, so the long run cost would out weigh each $40 unit.

I would get a WiFi Analyzer on your phone and find the worst signal on each floor and walk until you have a strong signal and say that's where you want to put your next access point. Do this from main floor and when those are set do it for all other floors you may find that you don't need more after one but if you have extra might as well place it somewhere between.

 

[Imafoolattech]

Problem with that is a lot of ISPs won't exactly touch your own personal router. But yeah he did never mention how many floors or how big of a distance we are covering thus my ideals on the exact amount of APs and where he should set them up is very loose.

Also, your ISP might put in AP's cheaper initially, but there are usually rental fees every month for new equipment, so the long run cost would out weigh each $40 unit.

I would get a WiFi Analyzer on your phone and find the worst signal on each floor and walk until you have a strong signal and say that's where you want to put your next access point. Do this from main floor and when those are set do it for all other floors you may find that you don't need more after one but if you have extra might as well place it somewhere between.

It’s 3500 sq ft and 2 total floors. The issue with bad spots is there is the foundation wall to go through.

 

[peptobismal]

Yeah that might be an issue, but if you find all the bad spots and walk to where they are not so bad or the strongest you should be able to get it around corners and so forth. Think of it like the cup and wire telephone system.

 

[Imafoolattech]

Yeah that might be an issue, but if you find all the bad spots and walk to where they are not so bad or the strongest you should be able to get it around corners and so forth. Think of it like the cup and wire telephone system.

I think I only need two. The those are opposite sides of the main floor and are hardwired. The router now is currently in the basement but in the center of the house.

 

[jsmithepa]

wall to go through.

If u have working ethernet jack, the wall(s) should disappear The problem with WIFI/extender is that radio signals have to go through walls, but if you have an ethernet jack on the far side of the building, u put an Access Point there, BAM! full strength signal right there. Because ethernet doesn't care about walls(?). U maybe over-thinking this.

 

[Imafoolattech]

The router I mentioned above is only $40 and has 4 5dBi antennas.

You would have to run the extra routers in AP Mode that are connected to the one downstairs.

Make sure that all settings in the Wireless are how you want it, first. (Default settings should be fine.)

Then go to Administration > Operation Mode (first tab) > Select "Access Point(AP) mode / Ai Mesh Router in AP mode"

After this it will cause the router to basically become an invisible device so accessing the admin panel via router.asus.com will direct you to the one downstairs. There is a device utility discovery tool though if you so want.

One last question. Is there anything I need to look for in the secondary router? I’d going to run by a store tomorrow and I’m guessing the will not have the model you referenced in stock.