Question WiFi speed

[gta1216]

I'm aware that WiFi connection and speed will not be as stable nor fast as Ethernet. I have up to 600mbps so even if I don't get 600, I assume I should at least get half of that. Most days, if I'm lucky, I'll get 50mbps. Ethernet is not an option since majority of the devices are smart devices so it's pointless to go Ethernet. I have 4 access points in a 2400 sq ft house spread out between each floor.

 

[kanewolf]

I'm aware that WiFi connection and speed will not be as stable nor fast as Ethernet. I have up to 600mbps so even if I don't get 600, I assume I should at least get half of that. Most days, if I'm lucky, I'll get 50mbps. Ethernet is not an option since majority of the devices are smart devices so it's pointless to go Ethernet. I have 4 access points in a 2400 sq ft house spread out between each floor.

We need WAY more info. What are the access points? What device are you connecting with ?

 

[gta1216]

I'm using the Google AC1200 mesh routers.

What devices? I'm guessing you're asking what devices are connected to the WiFi. We have smart thermostat, video doorbell, WiFi surveillance cameras, smartphones, tablets, Roku stick, smart tvs, Apple TV, WiFi printers, pc, laptop, etc.

 

[bill001g]

It is much more complex. For example what radio band are you running on and what channel width do you have set.

Your router is also very basic.....but you also need a end device that can use faster also.

The numbers on routers are massive marketing lies. They are doing stuff like adding the 2.4 and 5 radio speed together even though your end device can not use both radios at the same time. With the router you have even in the best case you might see 300mbps at most but that is sitting on top of the router.

To figure out why you only get 50 you are going to have to figure out the details of how you connect...like the radio band etc.

 

[mambateqrules]

use the 2.4 GHz band to extend Wi-Fi coverage to areas where range is critical, such as outdoor spaces or remote corners of your home or office.
use the 5 GHz band for tasks that require high-speed data transfer and minimal interference, such as streaming, gaming, or video conferencing.
but like bill stated you need to know which one you are functioning on

 

[kanewolf]

I'm using the Google AC1200 mesh routers.

Your Google mesh nodes, they aren't APs unless you use a wired network between them. Do you have them connected wired or wirelessly ?
If wireless, then your performance for end devices is impacted by the wireless uplink to the router.
With that hardware I might guess you would max out at 200Mbit on 5Ghz WIFI.
If any of your satellites have to hop to an adjacent node rather than the base, that cuts throughput even more.

 

[gta1216]

Since I have them spread out between several floors, they are connected wirelessly. I'm trying to find a way to increase the speed.

I also noticed xfinity constantly drop. I prolly have to reset the modem once a month.

 

[bill001g]

You are going to have to look at the logs in the modem and see if it might tell you why it is dropping.

When you run wireless repeaters you trade performance for coverage. Most times you lose half the bandwidth or more.
In some cases getting the 50mbps you are getting when you run with repeaters in the path is a very good rate.
There really is no way to fix this. In some cases it might run faster on a weaker signal directly to the main router. Having too much wifi is almost as bad as too little since you get interference between your repeaters.

They make extremely expensive mesh systems that have extra dedicated radios for the backhaul connection to the router. These get a somewhat better speeds but I doubt you will even get 300mbps with those systems....It depends too much on your house.

If you have coax cable in the remote rooms you could consider MoCA and then hook your current remote wifi nodes to the moca unit with ethernet. This should improve the speed a lot.

 

[gta1216]

We have coax cable in every room but they are all connected to something in the attic when the house was built. The one in the basement is for the modem and the one in the living room was repurposed for the satellite.

 

[bill001g]

Moca can coexist with most cable systems so you can hook the moca box and the modem on the same cable. Satellite is a different story. They use something similar to moca to let people use DVR function between rooms. Some satellite boxes have extra ethernet ports on them.

Hopefully what is in the attic is a big splitter that is new enough that it can run moca on. Most if they can do cable modems moca will also work.

Having all the ports connected in the attic is actually the optimum configuration for moca. You could then put moca boxes in the remote rooms and they would function kinda like a big ethernet switch was in the attic. The only difference is they all share the 2gbit of bandwidth newer moca units provide rather than each their own 1gbit bandwidth. Still much faster than your internet connection speed.

 

[gta1216]

I've heard of MoCA but never looked into it nor knew what it does. The main router is obviously in the basement with the modem. Do I just disconnect the coax cable connecting the modem and place the mics box between the modem and the coax wall outlet? The other moca box goes in another room where the other router is? I'm just guessing since I have no clue how they work. Any suggested brand or basically any one works?

I've never been to the attic so no idea what splitter they have up there. Only the satellite guys went up when they had to make minor changes to use the living room coax for satellite since we didn't want coax cable running in the house nor run new cables in the wall.

 

[bill001g]

You may end going into the attic if they disconnected something. What you want is a coax splitter with all the cable you are going to use connected together. Pretty simple...hard part sometime is finding it. Hopefully they put it someplace somewhat easy to access.

The details depend on exactly they models of moca adapters you buy. A popular brand is gocoax and they have pretty good documentation. Their product tends to go in and out of stock a lot on amazon but there are a couple other brands that work well also.

A simple example would be you put a simple 3 port splitter between the wall and the cable modem. You then connect the wall, the cable modem and the moca box. You then plug a cable between a router LAN port and the moca. In the remote room you connect the coax to the wall and the other moca box. You then plug a ethernet cable between the moca box and your end device or a small router running as a AP if you want.

 

[gta1216]

Do I have to go to the attic? I don't have a ladder tall enough to access it. I heard from the technicians that went up there, it wasn't easy to locate the splitter.

I see GoCoax have the model MA2500D. What kind of splitter do I need?

 

[bill001g]

Noting really special the only thing you want to avoid are devices that have filters in them for under 1000. Many newer devices are rated to 2000. Moca is about 1600mhz.

Amazon.com

Even very simple ones tend to work, most the more expensive ones have filters to avoid interference but that is not as much a issue when you do not have actual televisions connected.

Amazon.com

 

[gta1216]

3 port splitter would be 1 in and 2 out correct?

 

[USAFRet]

The main router is obviously in the basement with the modem.

While this is FAR too common, the basement is the single worst place in the house to generate the WiFi signal.

 

[bill001g]

3 port splitter would be 1 in and 2 out correct?

kinda the concept on in and out does not really apply to data since all data is going in both directions. I think the in/out stuff is related to power used by satellite but I forget.

 

[Order 66]

While this is FAR too common, the basement is the single worst place in the house to generate the WiFi signal.

My parents didn't know this fact until I pointed it out and even worse they had the router in the mechanical room with the water softener and heater as well as concrete walls which probably made it even worse.

 

[USAFRet]

My parents didn't know this fact until I pointed it out and even worse they had the router in the mechanical room with the water softener and heater as well as concrete walls which probably made it even worse.

Oh my.

I'll bet if you left the modem where it is, and moved the router upstairs to the first floor, you'd see much better WiFi throughout the house.

 

[Order 66]

Oh my.

I'll bet if you left the modem where it is, and moved the router upstairs to the first floor, you'd see much better WiFi throughout the house.

See the problem with that is my family had a dog who loves chewing on ABSOLUTELY everything and my family does not let our dog into the basement for the reason that if someone isn't down there all the time then we come back to find various things chewed up. We also don't have any outlets upstairs that are high enough off the ground to be absolutely sure that our dog can't jump up and get it. It is better now as our router is on the basement counter.

 

[gggplaya]

Are you sure you don't have Bytes mixed up with bits??

1 Byte(B) = 8 bits(b)

So 50MB/s is = 400mbps

400mbps is typical for a good wireless AC connection.

Wifi is half duplex, until ethernet which is full duplex. Due to the amount of back and forth required to download information, wifi is typically half of the connection speed. So if you connect at 800mbps, you'll get a typical download speed of 400mbps.

Wifi Mesh systems aren't very good unless you have a dedicated backhaul radio. They are much more expensive. But as BillG said, you can use MOCA which would give you full gigabit backhaul.

 

[gta1216]

How would I leave the modem in the basement but move the router to the first floor? How would I connect the Ethernet port between the 2?

Besides, I have a router in each floor of the house (basement, 1st, 2nd, garage).

I will try the moca setup and see if it improves. Or I'll move the modem and router to another floor.

 

[USAFRet]

How would I leave the modem in the basement but move the router to the first floor? How would I connect the Ethernet port between the 2?

Besides, I have a router in each floor of the house (basement, 1st, 2nd, garage).

I will try the moca setup and see if it improves. Or I'll move the modem and router to another floor.

Run an ethernet cable between them.

Those other routers are currently connected to the main source via WiFi, right? Not good.

 

[gta1216]

Running Ethernet cable throughout the house was not something I wanted to do. That's the reason I opted for mesh in the first place. I didn't like extenders bc they give out a different SSID. It made it hard for the elders since their device wouldn't switch over the SSID that's nearest to them to get the fastest connection possible.

 

[gggplaya]

Running Ethernet cable throughout the house was not something I wanted to do. That's the reason I opted for mesh in the first place. I didn't like extenders bc they give out a different SSID. It made it hard for the elders since their device wouldn't switch over the SSID that's nearest to them to get the fastest connection possible.

What mesh marketing doesn't tell you is that it really lacks bandwidth. The more expensive mesh systems are better since they have dedicated backhaul radios, separate from the SSID radios. But cheaper ones use the same radios for backhaul and SSID and severely lack bandwidth. They're completely fine for smartphones and netflix etc.... But once someone with a game console jumps on the network to do a game update, anything sharing the same backhaul to the main router will suffer and grind to a halt.

As USAFRet said, ethernet backhaul is best. But MOCA as bill said will be just as good for the backhaul. Assuming you have cable coax throughout the home.