Need a new Modem and Router

[Emelth]

so I just moved to a new state and got a 2 story house. I currently have a Motorola Surfboard SBG6580 that I picked up from besybuy a little over a year ago. I have Time Warner internet with speed of 50 megabytes. The surfboard is located upstairs in the office over the garage. I am having difficulty getting a decent signal in certain portions of my house on the 1st floor.

in the office upstairs is where I would normally be gaming down the road. However as it is still not fully set up only my desktop is up there. My TV is in the downstairs living room where I have my PS4 and Xbox One at. They aren't recieving much wifi strength, my phones barely connect in the living room as well.

What's a good setup for me to use? Thank you for the assistance!

 

[Tanyac]

You basically have two main options.

If you have the ability to do so, I'd suggest wiring the house with Gigabit ethernet, and a gigabit switch.

The surfboard has 4 gigabit ports, so you would run your cable into port one, take another port to a wall socket which goes downstairs, then place a switch downstairs for all you other devices. You will find this will be far more stable and reliable than wireless.

Your other option is to add an access point or repeater. This will take a little more configuration, and I'm assuming the surfboard can talk to an access point. You would place the access point somewhere midway between the upstairs surfboard and downstairs devices. Preferably with a line of sight from the surfboard.

Personally I prefer wired connections than wireless for the speed and reliability they offer over wireless, but each to his own.

 

[Emelth]

You have completely lost me....

Break it down barney style, please! lol

I know nothing about networking, I do know wired s better but at this time I don't have the capability to do that route since I am working on a new living room entertainment system.

 

[Emelth]

So with a little research as I waited for a reply. I don't think I will be able to go with wiring the house since I rent and do not own it, unless there is a way around it.

 

[Tanyac]

So with a little research as I waited for a reply. I don't think I will be able to go with wiring the house since I rent and do not own it, unless there is a way around it.

Depends on the owner. Some owners will let you professionally install cabling, some will not. For those that don't I've typically just run a cable along the corner of the wall and floor.

Basically - to get the best signal you want the fewest possible obstacles between the modem and the xbox/ps4. Wireless signals do not travel through solid objects well.

So, if you can move your surfboard to a more central point by extending the modem's cable (From your wall socket), this might save on access point /range extender costs and complexities.

If you can't move the modem closer, then you need to buy an access point, or what is also known as a "range extender". This will help you get a better signal downstairs. This range extender would be mounted on a wall. If you stand at your equipment downstairs, for best performance you would want to mount this extender in a place where you have a direct line of sight from where you are standing. This means fewer obstacles in the way to weaken the signal.

Often Range extenders connect via Ethernet cable to the modem. So if you can't move your surfboard, then perhaps you can run a cable to a range extender (such as this one.. http://www.amazon.com/ARRIS-Motorola-Universal-Extender-WR2100/dp/B00LZVO2JS).

It's a bit hard to give you step by step instructions without having all the details for your existing set up and any equipment you purchase.

If you have no knowledge of such things (you are not comfortable changing modem settings) I'd recommend you grab hold a a local networking person. It's not particularly difficult, but there are many different modem/range extender models to choose from. They shouldn't charge much to set it up.

Good luck.

 

[Emelth]

So with a little research as I waited for a reply. I don't think I will be able to go with wiring the house since I rent and do not own it, unless there is a way around it.

Depends on the owner. Some owners will let you professionally install cabling, some will not. For those that don't I've typically just run a cable along the corner of the wall and floor.

Basically - to get the best signal you want the fewest possible obstacles between the modem and the xbox/ps4. Wireless signals do not travel through solid objects well.

So, if you can move your surfboard to a more central point by extending the modem's cable (From your wall socket), this might save on access point /range extender costs and complexities.

If you can't move the modem closer, then you need to buy an access point, or what is also known as a "range extender". This will help you get a better signal downstairs. This range extender would be mounted on a wall. If you stand at your equipment downstairs, for best performance you would want to mount this extender in a place where you have a direct line of sight from where you are standing. This means fewer obstacles in the way to weaken the signal.

Often Range extenders connect via Ethernet cable to the modem. So if you can't move your surfboard, then perhaps you can run a cable to a range extender (such as this one.. http://www.amazon.com/ARRIS-Motorola-Universal-Extender-WR2100/dp/B00LZVO2JS).

It's a bit hard to give you step by step instructions without having all the details for your existing set up and any equipment you purchase.

If you have no knowledge of such things (you are not comfortable changing modem settings) I'd recommend you grab hold a a local networking person. It's not particularly difficult, but there are many different modem/range extender models to choose from. They shouldn't charge much to set it up.

Good luck.

Thank you for the information, also sorry for the late reply. I wanted to stick away from the extender because I heard it just extends the range of the signal but also makes it weaker which would suck for gaming purposes. I wonder if Time Warner can do the wiring?

 

[N2Wind]

One other option is using PowerLine adapters such as these. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00AWRUICG?vs=11 easy to install and easy to remove.

 

[Emelth]

I already bought a WRT 1900AC now I just need to figure out the optimal settins