Question Problems with my WiFi configuration ?

[Partsman19]

Hello,
I do not know if I am having a unique problem or not but let me explain what is going on with my wifi service.

I am using the following equipment:

Arris BGW210-700 modem supplied by AT&T...just upgraded to 50 mps as fiber is not available in my area.
Sony Bravia 65" 4k TV in the living room.
AT&T AirTies 4920 to boost the wifi signal in the living room next to the TV set.
Sony receiver with Klipsch home theater speakers.
Panasonic 32" TV in the upstairs bedroom.
LG 32" TV in the upstairs bedroom.
Linksys RE6700 wifi extender in the upstairs office across the hall from bedrooms.

Okay, now to my problem: I am obtaining my streaming content in my living room from a Firestick 4k, 1 bedroom with a regular Firestick, and the other bedroom with Roku. My upstairs bedrooms normally have a good wifi signal and the signal does not buffer. The living room TV buffers all the time to the point it is becoming aggravating. The Arris modem was installed in my office which is over my garage and approximately 50' from my living room TV, across from my kitchen. I am not sure why the upstairs bedrooms would get a better wifi signal, which I think is farther away from the modem than the living room. I also need to mention that if I stream right through my Sony TV the picture and sound are better than through the Firestick but the signal still buffers but not as bad as through the Firestick.

Also, I am not sure if the AT&T AirTies 4920 is working or not as it is not showing up in my Network setting on my PC but the Linksys RE6700 does show up. The buttons on the front of the AirTies are solid green which I was told tells me it is working.

What would I need to do in order to get a more reliable wifi signal to my living room TV so it does not buffer? I was thinking about purchasing a Netgear wifi extender or even going with MoCA adapters, but my Arris modem does not incorporate coax. I think the Sunbeam MoCa adapters utilize both coax and ethernet. At this time I am out of answers on what to do to get a more reliable wifi signal.

Please let me know what I need to do.

Thanks

 

[bill001g]

You have lots of stuff going on here with all the repeaters. The repeaters are likely your source of problems. Best if you first try with them turned off and see what you get. You are always better off with direct wifi connections to the router.

What makes your post somewhat confusing is you talk about ethernet cables and moca. Do you have these repeaters connected via some kind of wired connections back to the router or are you using wifi to connect between the router and the repeater.

In general you have chosen the worst possible placement for the att airties. It will get exactly the same bad signal your tv does and then retransmit the signal making it even worse......even though the signal level might be higher the quality of the data is much much worse when you use repeaters. The proper placement of any form of repeater is where it gets strong signal from the router but can still deliver good signal to the end device. If it was a big open room it would be 1/2. When you have walls/ceilings blocking signal it is very much trial and error to find the proper placement.

So if we pretend you do not have the repeaters and want to solve the problem I would normally recommend a wired solution to the remote rooms with a AP in the room. So if you have ethernet cables run to the remote rooms that is best. The next option is to run Moca. You do not need your modem to run moca, att fiber does not use coax anyway. You just need a coax cable in both locations. You would put a moca adapter on both ends and plug ethernet cables into the moca adapters. Pretty much this makes it appear as a ethernet cable between the 2 rooms.

I have not seen sunbeam brand, they appear to be rebranded actiontek equipment which is ok. Actiontek for whatever reason never sold their 2.5g units to retail customers and were much more expensive. My normal recommendation is gocoax because it was cheaper but it appears actiontek is now selling very competitive device under the sunbeam name. In any case get 2.5g units you will get full gigabit speed on them.

Now this does not actually solve the wifi problem. Both these solution only give you ethernet output which is fine if your equipment can take ethernet. You can use a small switch to get more ports. What you need to provide the wifi signal is a AP or a router running as a AP. Since you have already purchased repeaters you can use those as AP also. Make sure you set them to AP mode and not repeater mode. Sometimes they attempt to connect to the main router via wifi even when they have a wired connection to the main router.

 

[Partsman19]

Okay, let me try to clear some things up in my original post. I do not have the MoCA adapters purchased or installed as of this time. It was a suggestion from my son-in-law who does computer security with the State of Georgia. Also, the AT&T installer placed the Arris modem in my office over my garage which I guess was the easiest place for him to install the modem.

Also, where would you suggest I place the AirTies, if I still need to use the unit?

To clear another thing up, the Linksys RE6700 which is installed in my wife's office I believe is giving her a better wifi signal for her computer and also is being used for my step son's Magic Jack for his telephone. I tried eliminating the extender but found no way around wiring up the Magic Jack as it needs to be connected to an ethernet cable in order to work.

If you think that MoCA would be the way for me to go in order to get a more reliable wifi signal and you feel gocoax is a better option then I will go that route as my wifi signal going in an out is driving me crazy. Thanks for taking the time to get back with me.

 

[bill001g]

All you can try is moving the air ties around. In theory at least closer to the router but still close enough to the tv for it to work.

I see nothing wrong with the sunbeam units they seem to be made by actiontek who has been the leader in moca for many years. For a very long time the only brand you could get that could really run at 1gbit was gocoax. It appears other manufacture now sell these moca 2.5 based units.
It is going to be more what can you get easily.

What you might want to do is buy 3 moca units. They all act as a big switch. You would put one by the router and one in each room. You would then plug the 2 extenders you have into the moca units to provide the wifi. In this case you do want to place the wifi as close to the end units as you can because the connection back to the router will use the moca.