Question Upgrade R7000?

[swzeng]

So I've been running Netgear R7000 since 2014 and about 2 years ago moved into a bigger place around 3000 sqt. While the coverage is not bad and speed is good, my office in downstair suffers lag and signal lost at times. I already have hard able running to the computer so it's my phone wifi that I am trying to solve at the moment. My router is centered on my 2nd floor. Pretty much cover 90% of the house. I did purchase some wifi extender, but it requires me to create another ssid which is a problem when I walk around the house. Is there any product that would give a bigger boost in the signal without adding additional network? Should I just invest in a mesh? I have over 50+ devices connected to my router

 

[bill001g]

You are not going to find a router that gives better coverage. The signal level is related to the radio output power and that is regulated by the government. The difference is the how much data they encode in the radio signals not the actual signal strength.

I thought most extenders force you to use the same ssid not different. Not sure extenders are not a good option really anyway they cut your speed by at least half and many times more. Mesh is just a newer version of the wifi repeaters. They are not some magic device. They still suffer from having multiple radio signals all of which can interfered with slowing you down. They are mostly marketing and are easy for people who are too lazy to learn anything to setup.

Your best option to extend coverage is to use a AP or a router running as a AP. Your extender should be able to run in AP mode. AP are connected to the main router via ethernet so they do not suffer from the multiple wifi signal problem. If you do not have ethernet to the remote rooms you can consider using powerline networks in place of the ethernet.

Having the same of different SSID is mostly a personal preference. Different allows you to force a connection to the device. Having them the same you do not have to do anything but many times the devices will choose the wrong unit. You will not get seamless roaming from any system they all tend to stay connected to the old signal source longer than they should. Besides there really is no need to actually watch netflix while you walk around the house or maybe better fall down the stairs.

 

[swzeng]

Thanks for the above answer. The main reason why I am looking for better coverage is when I use my Skype calls for a business conference (work from home office), sometimes I do walk around the house. Having different ssid will drop my call at certain spot. So if I were to go with a AP system, is the following a good set? I understand there is no perfect solution here, but I am looking for the best possible handshake between APs around the house. Essentially I am thinking to turn my R7000's wireless options off and strictly use couple APs in the house.

Ubiquiti UniFi AC Lite AP
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CYGX2GP/ref=psdc_1194486_t5_B00HXT8R2O

 

[bill001g]

Roaming is really tough since wifi was not designed with that in mind. There is some new feature in the 802.11ax wireless that I have not read in detail that may help.

The problem with roaming is the client. It only has a single radio and can not scan for "better" radio connection while it is in use. What it generally does is stay connected until the signal is so bad it will drop. It then can use the radio to scan for a network. So the result tends to be poor quality and then a short drop followed by good quality. The hack that some systems use is that the base stations may be able to detect that a better connection is available and force a disconnect before the quality gets too low. There still is short drop while the phone scans and reconnects.

The only true way to fix this is to replace the client code so it work more like a cell tower and the cell tower tell the end client when to switch and where. Cisco did this for their pc and certain cell phones. It was a massive pain because you had to install drives on every devices and they had only limited support for phones....this was back before there was only andriod and apple. If I remember it was only nokia phones cisco supported. This was used for VoIP similar to yours but as cell companies changed their billing to unlimited plans it was cheaper to just put micro cells into the building and use actual cell phones for voice calls.

 

[swzeng]

thanks for the detailed info on this before spending more money. I will just stick to what I have now.