Will switching to a higher end router make a difference?

[RavishSingh]

I understand that 'how do I get better signal' is among the most asked on this forum, but I had a few specifics that would really help conclude whether switching to a better router will actually give a more solid connection.

I currently have a older (2011) Apple airport base station. The coverage is absolutely terrible. The router is currently in our sitting room, where there is no coverage issue (no walls and all). However, in my room, on the same floor, barely 30 feet away on the same floor, the signal drops to 3 bars and almost tenth of my maximum internet speed. I have put in a range extender, but even with that, I get 5 mbps (a third of my maximum internet speed) with my connection strength showing all 5 bars.

My house is all brick and cement, with walls with the pipes and all that stuff. I am aware that thick, brick walls interfere with signal more than thinner walls do, but 30 feet seems a terribly short distance for signal to drop that much, even with heavy walls.

I have also tried elevating my router and moving it around to give more space for the signal to flow, but no luck. Running LAN's to all the connection points is the next option but I'm trying to avoid more wires running around my house at this point.

My technician told me to switch to new router and I did read that the old Apple routers have terrible coverage. I was thinking of switching to the Netgear R6300 as it is future proof and a lot of reviews have claimed that it significantly improved wifi coverage in their house.

My questions are:

1) Does it sound like a bad router coverage is the reason for my currently weak signal?

2) Is the netgear r6300 the best as-is router out there in terms of coverage?

3) Any other solutions/ router/extender recommendations? Basically I am looking to get 5 bar coverage over 2 floors and a range of around 100 feet.

 

[bill001g]

First the router is only 1/2 the wireless connection it many times is the end device that has small antenna and low transmit power.

The key to signal strength is radio output power. In general terms most routers put out close the maximum legal power. You would have to dig though the FCC database and read the test reports if you wanted to compare details but there are not huge difference between the better routers. Many times they are using exactly the same radio chips since there are only 2-3 manufacture or wifi chips.

Most the new router are using 802.11ac. This may be faster but it only runs on the 5g band. So when coverage is the key concern a 802.11ac router may run worse than a single band 802.11n router running on 2.4g band.

You need to avoid repeaters. You are trading signal strength for signal quality. You may get a 5 bar signal but it could have so much interference that you can not get much data though it.

This is the messy definition people have of coverage. Singal strength is just that the power of the signal. Coverage many times includes the throughput. There is no real way to predict how fast something will run because that is a combination of the signal strength and the signal quality.

When you have thick walls likely there is no good wireless solution. When you look that a router can put out max legal power of 1watt on 2.4g and your microwave oven puts out 1000 watts on 2.4g and you can see though the glass front door and still not get fried show how little it actually takes to block the signal. Put a phone in hotspot mode and put in a microwave...obviously off. You will see the SSID completely disappear even very close.

The best solution is to not use wireless. Look at using powerline networks or if you have tv coax in both rooms something like MoCA devices.

 

[Mubeen Akhtar]

1) Not probably. There might be several wireless routers in your routers range and they might be on same channel and hence they are reducing your wireless signal coverage. Log in to your router and try to change it's channel (different from other's).

2) Sure it is a good range router but if you are planning to buy a new one then make sure that it supports 3rd party firmware like ddwrt or tomato. You can tweak settings like transimt power (tx power) for better coverage in that case.

3) You will need an extender. Also try to place both (your router and extender) in open area. Never place them in corners ( I prefer to place my router in balcony)