Question How to improve a recently deteriorated WiFi situation

[Big Swifty]

I live on the second floor of a family house that uses the same WiFi signal. The router is on the first floor, close to the center of the house. My office is on the second floor in a corner. In the last few weeks the internet connection has been super dodgy, mostly going in and out. Blocks of times it seems fine, other days it's bad for hours. It's noticed in other parts of the second floor as well on cellphones - suddenly, no internet. I'm looking for the best solution.

A brother in law lives on the other side of the second floor. Years ago (before I moved here) he had ethernet cable routed up through conduit and he uses his own router to create his own networks. He was experiencing the problem somewhat as well and replaced his router. No more problems. I was prepared to do the same but was told there's no more room in the conduit. So it was suggested I use a WiFi repeater. I also found out that connections via cable directly to the modem are restricted to 30 Mbps, WiFi up to 300 Mbps. I've been told we have the best plan offered for where we live (Argentina, small town in a developed valley, not suburb, not rural).

I'm wondering if a repeater will improve the situation, or if I might be better off connecting a WiFi booster to the router downstairs. When there is internet it's relatively responsive, but lately you never know when it's going to quit on you. Using Network Diagnostics (after messages such as "DNS Address Can't Be Found," "Connection Was Reset") sometimes works, but not always. Sometimes it doesn't and you have to wait, sometimes it does but for only a few minutes.

My other brother in law (not an expert on the topic) on the first floor says he's 100% sure a repeater placed in my office will solve my problem. I wonder if that's the case because where I'd be plugging the repeater in is only 10 feet away from my PC (which uses a USB WiFi receiver with an upgraded antenna). Right now the signal is full strength - sometimes it drops by a bar. Rarely does it drop to only one (more likely on a 12 year old tablet). I'm also able to receive a signal on my phone even farther from my office when I'm outside, but that's not as reliable.

Should I try the repeater? Skip that and go with a booster? Is my problem something else requiring a different solution?

 

[kanewolf]

I live on the second floor of a family house that uses the same WiFi signal. The router is on the first floor, close to the center of the house. My office is on the second floor in a corner. In the last few weeks the internet connection has been super dodgy, mostly going in and out. Blocks of times it seems fine, other days it's bad for hours. It's noticed in other parts of the second floor as well on cellphones - suddenly, no internet. I'm looking for the best solution.

A brother in law lives on the other side of the second floor. Years ago (before I moved here) he had ethernet cable routed up through conduit and he uses his own router to create his own networks. He was experiencing the problem somewhat as well and replaced his router. No more problems. I was prepared to do the same but was told there's no more room in the conduit. So it was suggested I use a WiFi repeater. I also found out that connections via cable directly to the modem are restricted to 30 Mbps, WiFi up to 300 Mbps. I've been told we have the best plan offered for where we live (Argentina, small town in a developed valley, not suburb, not rural).

I'm wondering if a repeater will improve the situation, or if I might be better off connecting a WiFi booster to the router downstairs. When there is internet it's relatively responsive, but lately you never know when it's going to quit on you. Using Network Diagnostics (after messages such as "DNS Address Can't Be Found," "Connection Was Reset") sometimes works, but not always. Sometimes it doesn't and you have to wait, sometimes it does but for only a few minutes.

My other brother in law (not an expert on the topic) on the first floor says he's 100% sure a repeater placed in my office will solve my problem. I wonder if that's the case because where I'd be plugging the repeater in is only 10 feet away from my PC (which uses a USB WiFi receiver with an upgraded antenna). Right now the signal is full strength - sometimes it drops by a bar. Rarely does it drop to only one (more likely on a 12 year old tablet). I'm also able to receive a signal on my phone even farther from my office when I'm outside, but that's not as reliable.

Should I try the repeater? Skip that and go with a booster? Is my problem something else requiring a different solution?

A repeater in your office would have the same poor signal that you PC has. If you want to try a repeater, try it 1/2 way to the primary router. Have you tried powerline network adapters?

 

[Big Swifty]

That's what I thought. Better placed between the router downstairs and my office. Problem is, most of that area is a hallway and there aren't any electrical outlets. I could plug a repeater into a kitchen outlet, but the signal might be close to the same distance as from the router. Another issue is that the house (like many here) aren't as "wired up" as far as electrical outlets. I have three outlets in my office and all are single, so I have to use surge protectors just to have enough places I can plug in my PC, peripherals, phone chargers, lamps, etc. There is no direct outlet near the only place the desk can be situated. I'm using a surge protector with built in extension cable plugged into a single outlet.

I haven't tried powerline network adapters because until you mentioned them I'd never heard of them (I'm not exceptionally hardware literate). Just Googled and see they create a connection through the building's electrical wiring. I'll need to look further and see how it connects exactly, since as I mentioned we're limited to 30 Mbps ethernet/300 Mbps WiFi. My nephew downstairs had worse interntet connecting his laptop by cable than he did by WiFi and my brother in law downstairs only uses WiFi to connect his laptop.

I'll look into that and see. The good thing is that if I buy from Mercado Libre I can return any purchase within 30 days, so if something doesn't work I can try again. I may try both options and keep the one that works better.

 

[kanewolf]

That's what I thought. Better placed between the router downstairs and my office. Problem is, most of that area is a hallway and there aren't any electrical outlets. I could plug a repeater into a kitchen outlet, but the signal might be close to the same distance as from the router. Another issue is that the house (like many here) aren't as "wired up" as far as electrical outlets. I have three outlets in my office and all are single, so I have to use surge protectors just to have enough places I can plug in my PC, peripherals, phone chargers, lamps, etc. There is no direct outlet near the only place the desk can be situated. I'm using a surge protector with built in extension cable plugged into a single outlet.

I haven't tried powerline network adapters because until you mentioned them I'd never heard of them (I'm not exceptionally hardware literate). Just Googled and see they create a connection through the building's electrical wiring. I'll need to look further and see how it connects exactly, since as I mentioned we're limited to 30 Mbps ethernet/300 Mbps WiFi. My nephew downstairs had worse interntet connecting his laptop by cable than he did by WiFi and my brother in law downstairs only uses WiFi to connect his laptop.

I'll look into that and see. The good thing is that if I buy from Mercado Libre I can return any purchase within 30 days, so if something doesn't work I can try again. I may try both options and keep the one that works better.

Powerline network adapters use an ethernet cable to the primary router. Then the building electrical wiring. An adapter is placed in your office. Generally you can use an ethernet cable or some adapters have a WIFI capability.

 

[punkncat]

If this signal was at one time good and isn't now:

Download one of those signal scanner things for your Android phone which can be used to show the bands and the traffic on them. I solved a issue similar to this by changing the WiFi channel alongside eliminating some wireless devices (mice/keyboards). Might be able to resolve this issue without changing anything. Worth a try since it costs nothing but your time.

 

[Big Swifty]

Thanks for the suggestions. Time I have. The problem isn't just affecting my PC, but also cellphones using the same WiFi network. But I'm willing to give anything a try.

A quick check shows powerline adapters costing around $4-500 in Argentina. Maybe that's normal, maybe that's typical higher prices for anything tech here. But since I'm making plans to move in the next few months I'm more interested in a more "economical" solution if possible.

 

[kanewolf]

Thanks for the suggestions. Time I have. The problem isn't just affecting my PC, but also cellphones using the same WiFi network. But I'm willing to give anything a try.

A quick check shows powerline adapters costing around $4-500 in Argentina. Maybe that's normal, maybe that's typical higher prices for anything tech here. But since I'm making plans to move in the next few months I'm more interested in a more "economical" solution if possible.

There is no miracle. You don't want to pay for one option. You say there is no power for a repeater in an optimal location.

 

[Big Swifty]

I'm not the type that counts on or expects miracles. It's just a bit disheartening when what sounds like a good potential solution costs 10x more than what I'm seeing for the same option in the US whereas (for whatever reason) repeaters are similarly priced to the US. Of course if the repeater isn't a solution that won't do me any good. Such is life. Thanks for the reminder.

 

[kanewolf]

I'm not the type that counts on or expects miracles. It's just a bit disheartening when what sounds like a good potential solution costs 10x more than what I'm seeing for the same option in the US whereas (for whatever reason) repeaters are similarly priced to the US. Of course if the repeater isn't a solution that won't do me any good. Such is life. Thanks for the reminder.

What do you use for the WIFI adapter on your PC ?

 

[Big Swifty]

WIFI adapter on PC: TP Link TL-WN7200ND (150 Mbps Wireless USB Adapter). When I got it a couple of years ago I replaced the stock antenna for a taller one (not sure of the model details).

I walked around the second floor using the WiFi scanner app on my phone. Hard to say exactly because the numbers understandably bounced around, but they're approximately high 70's low 80's% at the best spot. My desk gets around 50%. The first potential spot for a repeater is near the hottest spot and is about 5-10% cooler. It's at a power strip located right next to the refrigerator (if that makes any difference). The available outlet in my office scores about 5 or so % better than my desk location. Obviously I could experiment to see which, if either, location makes the largest difference.

A quick search on Mercado Libre (sort of like ebay but without auctions) shows someone selling a used powerline adapter kit for only 3-4 times the price in the US which could be doable if that's what it takes. I'm assuming no moving parts means I'd be okay going used and it comes with a 30 day guarantee. I believe it's an older model (TP Link AV500) because I'm only seeing it used on Amazon. We're only 2.4 Ghz, 802.11n so I'm assuming it wouldn't be an issue.

I'm still playing around with the WiFi scanning app and will investigate the suggestion to perhaps change the channel. The signal strength currently says -38dBm, but a minute ago before I went to another feature the app said -61. Another using the same network name says -67.

My other thought is to upgrade the router downstairs or upgrade the antenna(s). I'm don't know what the current router is and am only assuming that an upgrade might improve the signal/situation. My brother in law upgraded his (connected by ethernet) and he said he saw an improvement.

Considering return policies I may (after checking out the change the channel suggestion first) try the repeater option and if that doesn't work try the used powerline adapter.

Thanks for all the suggestions so far. Much appreciated.

 

[futureman 101]

Thanks for the suggestions. Time I have. The problem isn't just affecting my PC, but also cellphones using the same WiFi network. But I'm willing to give anything a try.

A quick check shows powerline adapters costing around $4-500 in Argentina. Maybe that's normal, maybe that's typical higher prices for anything tech here. But since I'm making plans to move in the next few months I'm more interested in a more "economical" solution if possible.

It might be worth researching powerline adapters more. That does seem excessively expensive. Especially as you can get stuff sent from other countries.
I use them all over my home and they are as good as the wired ethernet. Here they cost about £50 for 2 and transfer up to 1000mbps.
Also easy to set up if you move home.

 

[lantis3]

Powerline adapters suck, I will never use them.

If house is old, expect a lot of noise on the powerline.

It probably can't even reach 1/10 of the claimed speed if not on the same circuit,

Get a mesh system probably will be a better option.

 

[NedSmelly]

I have the latest TPLink AV2000 power line adapter and the best it can do is around 25MB/s (200Mbps) sustained on a good day. It is really dependent on the condition and design of your home wiring.

 

[kanewolf]

I have the latest TPLink AV2000 power line adapter and the best it can do is around 25MB/s sustained on a good day. Still better than 802.11n but it is really dependent on the condition and design of your home wiring.

If you do get 25MB (megabytes) per second, that is 200Mbit. That is a respectable network connection for most uses.

 

[NedSmelly]

If you do get 25MB (megabytes) per second, that is 200Mbit. That is a respectable network connection for most uses.

Yep I used it to fix a wifi black spot in the living room. Good enough for 4K streaming. Combined it with an access point to extend the wifi network nicely.

 

[Big Swifty]

It might be worth researching powerline adapters more. That does seem excessively expensive. Especially as you can get stuff sent from other countries.
I use them all over my home and they are as good as the wired ethernet. Here they cost about £50 for 2 and transfer up to 1000mbps.
Also easy to set up if you move home.

Most everything having to do with tech is excessively expensive in Argentina. In other S. American countries I've lived in it was easy to get something from overseas sent to my door and at most pay 22% in duties over the purchase price. Here it's 50% - before the customs officials insist on their additional personal fee if you want to get your package. And the customs official will decide on the taxable value of what's in your package. Doesn't matter if there's an included receipt showing that you paid $50 for a book with a clearly printed price of $40 on the inside front cover - if you want your package and they say it's worth $300 you have to pay Customs $150 + whatever the customs agent wants for themselves. And they don't deliver, you have to go to their office, which for me is a 10 hour car ride to Buenos Aires. I've been told by people who've lived here a lot longer than me that it's not worth getting things shipped here, and if you do, you'll probably never receive them, and if you do, you'll have to pay whatever customs wants to actually take possession of them. Larger purchases are better made on the next visit back to the US. When I changes systems and get a new camera and lenses the price savings will pay for my airfare and I won't have the hassles. I'm pretty used to inflated (compared to the US) prices on tech stuff, but t's the craziest country I've lived in as far as being able to purchase anything from abroad.

Sorry for my rant which has nothing do with the thread I started. Just thought I'd share a bit what it's like here when it comes to buying hardware. Other than that things are alright. High quality and inexpensive wine and meat make up for pricey hardware.

 

[Big Swifty]

I have the latest TPLink AV2000 power line adapter and the best it can do is around 25MB/s (200Mbps) sustained on a good day. It is really dependent on the condition and design of your home wiring.

Interesting and good to know. The house itself isn't that old and parts of it are newer construction due to extension. However, things generally aren't constructed to the same code or standards as most probably are used to. It's a nice house, nothing rickety or dodgy, but I wouldn't be surprised if the wiring design and installation might be such that a power line adapter won't deliver the same results it could elsewhere. Same with plumbing, "insulation," etc. When it gets cold (like it is now) you put on more layers because the house doesn't hold heat.

 

[Big Swifty]

Thanks for all the suggestions and opinions. Gives me a place to start. The solution may be to start looking for a new place sooner rather than later.

 

[bill001g]

How strong is the signal from the other router you talk about that is also upstairs. I assume for some reason you can not just use that one.

How hard would it be to run a second ethernet cable from the location the first cable is upstairs to other rooms. You could place a switch before the upstairs router to allow you to connect multiple devices.

You might consider using the ISP way of running ethernet cables. They just drill through the outside walls of houses and run the cables on the outside of the house.

 

[SkyNetRising]

he had ethernet cable routed up through conduit and he uses his own router to create his own networks. He was experiencing the problem somewhat as well and replaced his router. No more problems. I was prepared to do the same but was told there's no more room in the conduit.

That's not really a problem.
You put an ethernet switch behind main router and you have more ports to connect additional devices.

 

[Big Swifty]

There are still available ports on the main router connected to the modem downstairs, the problem is getting an ethernet cable from that router upstairs to my pc. There are no inside stairs connecting the two floors. And when my nephew (downstairs) connects his laptop by ethernet he gets worse service than he does through WiFi.

It's not my house so drilling holes through outside walls is not really an option. The corner of the house where my PC is is probably the most inconvenient location for both WiFi and running physical cable. Running visible cable from the center location of the first floor where the modem/router are through the first floor, outside, up, and then into the second floor all the way to the back of the second floor is not something my brother in law (home owner) wants to do.

The second router on the second floor which is connected by ethernet through electrical conduit to the downstairs modem was set up years ago by another family member. There's a possibility of letting us use that signal, but he runs his business off it and I don't think he wants four more people with all their devices piggybacking - though I'm assuming it doesn't matter which network(s) are handling the most traffic if they are all getting their connection from the same modem.

 

[bill001g]

You are correct it still shares the total bandwidth so he is only pretending that he has his own network.

There is some separation between the networks. Devices on the main network for example would not be able to see a printer on his network. If you look at very unlikely cases a device with some virus on the main network can not attack his machines behind his router. This quickly gets into tin foil hat stuff.

So if he doesn't want to allow direct access to his router how about you place a second router next to his for your use.

You would put a small switch in his room just before the router and then plug his router and your new router in that switch. From his viewpoint nothing is different. It also from a internet bandwidth concept is not different if you were to run your own cable to the main router and then place your router in your room. The total number of devices sharing the internet is the same.

Now if you pick nits the bandwidth on the ethernet cable is shared but that should be 1gbit and unless your internet is more than 1gbit it doesn't matter.

It would also mean there was a switch and a extra router sitting in his room...this tends to not be a technical issue.

 

[Big Swifty]

Sounds interesting. What, exactly, would this small switch be, as in a name so I would know what to look for. It sounds like a splitter with one section of the split continuing on to his router and the other section for my router which I would simply put alongside his. And that it would just take the signal from downstairs and extend it upstairs to a router which could then broadcast the signal through a relatively thin wall instead of from the ground floor to the 2'nd floor.

Without measuring I'm guestimating the distances would be the same. His router is at the front of the house, I'm in the back, but we're on the same floor. Current setup has the router in the middle of the house but on the first floor.

I'm also considering getting a more powerful router or mesh system to replace the current router downstairs. If used with this switch with the upstairs router it might work even better.

 

[bill001g]

There really is no such thing as more powerful router. Almost all routers other than battery powered ones transmit at the full legal limit. The router is only 1/2 the connection some end devices do not transmit at full power. many portable devices run lower power to save on battery. Now there are some completely unpredictable factors like antenna spacing that might make a difference. Problem is it is not actually the antenna themselves in most cases it is how these antenna interact with the house you place them in.

This is why can never get good review data on wifi. The environment it is tested in make far more difference than any small difference in the router. When routers are testing in extreme controlled environments like the FCC requires for certification you see almost no difference in power output.

Can you connect to the router on your floor just as a test to see how well it runs and if it is going to be worth the effort to install more equipment on the second floor.

This is a very popular model if you buy lessor know brands you can get them about $5 cheaper. There are also 100mbps switches but there is not much difference in price compared gigabit switches.

https://www.amazon.com/Ethernet-Splitter-Optimization-Unmanaged-TL-SG105/dp/B00A128S24?th=1

 

[beyondlogic]

I live on the second floor of a family house that uses the same WiFi signal. The router is on the first floor, close to the center of the house. My office is on the second floor in a corner. In the last few weeks the internet connection has been super dodgy, mostly going in and out. Blocks of times it seems fine, other days it's bad for hours. It's noticed in other parts of the second floor as well on cellphones - suddenly, no internet. I'm looking for the best solution.

A brother in law lives on the other side of the second floor. Years ago (before I moved here) he had ethernet cable routed up through conduit and he uses his own router to create his own networks. He was experiencing the problem somewhat as well and replaced his router. No more problems. I was prepared to do the same but was told there's no more room in the conduit. So it was suggested I use a WiFi repeater. I also found out that connections via cable directly to the modem are restricted to 30 Mbps, WiFi up to 300 Mbps. I've been told we have the best plan offered for where we live (Argentina, small town in a developed valley, not suburb, not rural).

I'm wondering if a repeater will improve the situation, or if I might be better off connecting a WiFi booster to the router downstairs. When there is internet it's relatively responsive, but lately you never know when it's going to quit on you. Using Network Diagnostics (after messages such as "DNS Address Can't Be Found," "Connection Was Reset") sometimes works, but not always. Sometimes it doesn't and you have to wait, sometimes it does but for only a few minutes.

My other brother in law (not an expert on the topic) on the first floor says he's 100% sure a repeater placed in my office will solve my problem. I wonder if that's the case because where I'd be plugging the repeater in is only 10 feet away from my PC (which uses a USB WiFi receiver with an upgraded antenna). Right now the signal is full strength - sometimes it drops by a bar. Rarely does it drop to only one (more likely on a 12 year old tablet). I'm also able to receive a signal on my phone even farther from my office when I'm outside, but that's not as reliable.

Should I try the repeater? Skip that and go with a booster? Is my problem something else requiring a different solution?

Make and model of router ? A crap source equals crap wifi