I have what I think might be a unique situation. I am trying to get adequate coverage for a triplex I own with my siblings. Coverage and moderate speeds are far more important than top speeds. If I can get 25-30mbps reliably, that would be fine for our most of our needs.
The layout of the building is two twin units on the bottom and a unit on top. The bottoms units are all brick. Interior and exterior walls are brick. The upstairs is all lumber construction. The internet comes in upstairs and that is the only coax to the house. Upstairs has better coverage characteristics than the downstairs, obviously.
Here's what I've tried
Looking at my wifi signals, they are pretty bad everywhere, but even looking at the wifi analyzer app provides a muddied picture as some moments I only see my network, and other times I see all of our neighbors and ours and things look crowded. Maybe it's my phone and I need to borrow my wife's for different test.
Here is the hardware I have available
I have funded this stupid venture myself, so you can see I have been hesitant to buy anything top end because my siblings just want it working and don't want to pay for it (don't get me started). I am looking for the most efficient way to do this.
Here are the things I am most curious about
Obviously a strong signal from the AP is only half of it, the clients need to be able to respond. I am open to reasonable suggestions and ideas, so fire away.
This is a lake house so anything requiring testing will take time as I'm not there all the time. Sorry for typos, typing on a phone.
The layout of the building is two twin units on the bottom and a unit on top. The bottoms units are all brick. Interior and exterior walls are brick. The upstairs is all lumber construction. The internet comes in upstairs and that is the only coax to the house. Upstairs has better coverage characteristics than the downstairs, obviously.
Here's what I've tried
- pure wireless mesh with tp-link deco M5. Coverage issues and connection issues abound between 3 APs. Main unit was upstairs, satellites downstairs.
- pure mesh with tends mw5. Combined two kits for 6 access points. Still had connections issues at times, and abysmal speeds. I think there were too many access points that certain areas were swamped by signal and others had too little.
- current setup is 2 Linksys routers and an extender all "hardwired" together with oowerline adapters. The adapters provide 30+Mbps, so are an adequate backhaul. Still dealing with dropped connections, but more so poor handoffs/hanging in to weak signals for too long.
Looking at my wifi signals, they are pretty bad everywhere, but even looking at the wifi analyzer app provides a muddied picture as some moments I only see my network, and other times I see all of our neighbors and ours and things look crowded. Maybe it's my phone and I need to borrow my wife's for different test.
Here is the hardware I have available
- tenda m5 kit
- 2x tp-link mw5 kits
- 4 powerline adapters
- Linksys ea6700 router
- Linksys ea6400 router
- Linksys extender
- Asus ac68 router
- Mostly functional brain
I have funded this stupid venture myself, so you can see I have been hesitant to buy anything top end because my siblings just want it working and don't want to pay for it (don't get me started). I am looking for the most efficient way to do this.
Here are the things I am most curious about
- Does "fast roaming" as I see the tp-link supports appear in other routers that I can hardwire together? I know ubiquity has some features to boot off "weak signal" clients, has that propagated to more economical solutions?
- is my best bet to just buy the strongest signal cheap routers I can find and convert some to APs?
- does anyone know of cheap APs that are surprisingly good for signal strength?
- can anyone cheaply and freely replace all of my brick walls with signal amplifying next-generation materials?
Obviously a strong signal from the AP is only half of it, the clients need to be able to respond. I am open to reasonable suggestions and ideas, so fire away.
This is a lake house so anything requiring testing will take time as I'm not there all the time. Sorry for typos, typing on a phone.