New Router Configuration

[Sturmgewehr_44]

I just got a new router. It is the Linksys WRT1900ac. I replaced my old EA3500, which was 802.11n and seemed to suit me decently, considering I'm on wireless and my access point is two stories below (I live in a pretty big house). I would get five signal bars at most times, and if I am recalling correctly, I would get somewhere in-between -65 and -55 dBM. That seems pretty good to me. However, a few weeks back I upgraded my network card. I got an Asus PCE-AC68. The weird thing here, is that it seems to have lower coverage than my outdated PCE-N15 I had just replaced. It has three, huge Antennae, yet I rarely ever reached five signal bars, and often had a signal strength of higher than -69 dBM. For whatever reason, I had better ping and download performance than with the N15. I finally tossed my router, got the 1900ac, and the signal is much better. I still rarely get five bars on the taskbar, but five bars are shown elsewhere, which is ironic. The dBm jumps around a lot according to the control centre for my AC68. It goes as low as -41 dBm and as high as -64. I don't really find that trustworthy, considering it is Asus software, which are generally unpredictable from my experiences. The other application I am using for monitoring the signal strength is Xirrus Wifi Inspector. How good is this? It seems to display different results than the control centre, which are usually at least a few -dBm apart. At the moment, I am getting 84% signal strength, or -58 dBm according to Xirrus. How good are these numbers?

 

[OriginalCadaver]

Are you connecting to the 2.4 or 5GHz bands? The 5Ghz band has trouble over distance and penetrating walls, go with the 2.4 and see if your signal strength goes up.

 

[Sturmgewehr_44]

Are you connecting to the 2.4 or 5GHz bands? The 5Ghz band has trouble over distance and penetrating walls, go with the 2.4 and see if your signal strength goes up.

Damnit ):

I accidentally picked "Best Answer" prematurely, lol.

I am at 2.4 Ghz. I cannot even pick up the signal for 5Ghz. It is far too weak.

Is there any way I can move my modem? The problem I see with it is that it has one one of those Coaxial cables. Could I move it and plug the Coaxial cable into one of the wall jacks?

 

[OriginalCadaver]

I deselected the correct answer. Doesn't that modem have the antenna that you can move around and place anywhere?

 

[OriginalCadaver]

I'm sorry, not the modem but the Asus PCE-AC68. I thought it had the antenna that is connected to the card via cable and can me moved around. You could also try one of those power line ethernet adapters. Most people have had success using them and you're going to get a better connection than wireless anyways.

 

[Sturmgewehr_44]

I deselected the correct answer. Doesn't that modem have the antenna that you can move around and place anywhere?

Ah, thanks. I'm glad you have enough honour that you would not desert and leave me stranded

The modem is a horribly old Comcast rental. No idea what model it even is. It has no antennae. The router does. Four of them. I can see if I can move them a bit.

I'm getting -55/-56 dBm right now. Is that pretty decent?

What about moving my modem. The coaxial attached to it is wired above somewhere, and there are multiple jacks for cable TVs to go into. Could I simply unattach the coaxial cable from the modem and reattach it to a port in a more convenient place?

 

[Sturmgewehr_44]

I'm sorry, not the modem but the Asus PCE-AC68. I thought it had the antenna that is connected to the card via cable and can me moved around. You could also try one of those power line ethernet adapters. Most people have had success using them and you're going to get a better connection than wireless anyways.

It does include that. I think it makes everything look messy though, so I just screwed the antennas to the back of the card. Works well enough.

What is the ideal signal strength on wireless I could hope for (besides -45 or -50 dBm)? What I'm getting now does seem pretty good, but who knows...

 

[g90814]

Yes you should be able to move the modem to a different cable jack.

 

[OriginalCadaver]

55/56 is a decent signal. I am having the same issue getting a decent signal to my cave in the garage. I am going to just install a plate in the house and run cat 5e in the attic to the garage. My signal is in the -70s, I would love to be in the 50s at this point.

 

[OriginalCadaver]

Oh yeah, that sucks when someone just takes the "Solved" and leaves someone stranded. I'm just here to help in my strong areas and lurk and learn in areas that I'm less familiar. Have a good weekend man.

 

[Sturmgewehr_44]

Yes you should be able to move the modem to a different cable jack.

Hopefully I can. Do the Coaxial ports only accept TVs and the like, or can they allow me to hook up the modem without any trouble, or would I have to run a coaxial through the walls to do that?

Another issue is the fact that the modem is likely over six years old. It has a telephone line on it, which several phones are connected to. How could I move that or get rid of it? It seems more recent modems don't even have such a thing.

 

[OriginalCadaver]

How are you getting your internet? Is it via cable or DSL? Cable would have the modem plugged in to the coax and DSL would be using the phone line. If there is a home phone jack next to your computer, then you may be able to move the modem to that jack and hard wire your computer. That's going to get you the absolute best signal.