Question Weak signal/poor coverage with Linksys Velop

[kilbypirate]

I have a Linksys velop (dual band) system in my house. The main unit is in my office (room over the garage on one side of the house), then I located one other node on the opposite side upstairs and one node downstairs. The house is not that large (2100 sf) but the layout is such that the 3 are in somewhat distinct areas of the house.

When I first set it up, I used the app to determine optimal location of the 2nd and 3rd nodes. However, I'm noticing poor performance especially downstairs. For example:

• In the same room as the main unit/modem, I had to set the Roku to 720 because video would freeze at 1080.
• Downstairs, video will often freeze and devices frequently give the "no internet" error. The downstairs node has also recently been showing the orange light (too far from other nodes).

I did some speed testing tonight and here is what I found:

• Desktop PC (connected via ethernet to main node): 274 up/ 38 down
• Phone (same room as main node): 59 up/ 35 down
• Phone (downstairs where coverage is the biggest issue): 7 up/ down

So, as you can see, there is a big drop from wired to wireless and also a really big drop going to the room where the other node (not primary is located).

I'm primarily interested in deciding if I should:

• add another node
• replace this with a different mesh system

Or, if there are other steps I can take to troubleshoot. However, what concerns me is the big drop in performance even in the same room as the main node. It seems to me that even if I add another node, it may not make that big of a difference.

Thanks in advance!

 

[bill001g]

In many cases there is no "best" location for a repeater. It in open area would go 1/2 between. In a house it needs to be placed where it can get strong signal from the main router but still provide good signal to the end device. Problem is many times this would be inside the ceiling/floor. The signal maybe strong on one side but weak on the other. Neither location is optimum for a repeater.

Best option is to not use repeaters at all

If you have ethernet to the remote rooms you connect it to a AP in the remote room to provide wifi. Many repeaters and routers can run as AP. The next best option is some other form of "wired" connection to the remote room. If you have tv coax cables in both locations you can use a technology called MoCA in place of ethernet. This can get gigabit speeds. The solution left for many people is to use powerline networks. This uses your electrial power to appear as a ethernet. It is not as fast you might only get 100-300mbps but it is much better that any form or wifi repeater. You want to look at the newest powerline units based on av2-1000 or av2-2000 if you go that route.

There really is no real wifi solution to the signals being absorbed by a wall or ceiling, other than cutting a hole for the signal to pass through.

 

[kilbypirate]

Thanks for the replies. I actually tried both a powerline adapter and wifi repeater before the mesh system and neither worked particularly well.

I do have an Ethernet line partially run between the 2 rooms, so I could go ahead and finish it. If I do that, could I use the existing mesh nodes (but wired) or would I be better off replacing the whole system with 2 routers and have one in AP mode?

 

[bill001g]

Although it is not true in all cases you should be able to run the remote mesh node as a AP. Might as well try I can so no advantage to buying another router just to use it as a AP. I forget which ones don't work as AP but I do remember the key issue was they didn't have a ethernet port they were purely wifi repeaters.