Wi-Fi Is So Bad. Can't Use Cable - What Can I Do?

Rukiata on 17/04/2016 - 20:43
Last edited 21/04/2016 - 14:32 by 1 other user

Hi, all my family is always on the net, downloading,watching stuff, using it. We have like 15 things connected to the Wi-Fi. I'm the most furthest away and getting the worst Net, when I try to game with my friends on the Xbox one. They just complain none stop about how bad my Net is.

How can I fix this? What can I do?

I can't change plans, my father is paying for the Net. We have a AC ASUS high end router. I been looking at getting powerline things but they don't work if the router is not connected to the same power thing. Which I don't think it is, as my house is old and rather big.

Should I pay to get a telephone line in my room? Is that the only thing I can do and how much does it cost?

UPDATE:
I was right, its not the same circuit
were paying someone to make an cable from lounge room to my bedroom for 200 or 250 he said, seems good deal i get a two socket too.

NEW UPDATE:
I got a high end gaming router from ASUS cost me 450 but works good I also enabling QOS and putting me first and gaming first , thanks everyone

Internet

Comments

        • Rukiata on 18/04/2016 - 18:47

          @Nillionaire: Thank you Nillionaire

          It also donst help that I have back problems and also disability in learning, also finding a job is hard now days, I do get paid but not a lot. @Gershom

        • PleasureMe on 18/04/2016 - 19:32
          -2

          @shadowrukia: yes it probably is hard to find a job if you spend all your time online gaming. Maybe spend more time job hunting and less time gaming?

  • Abaddon on 18/04/2016 - 13:41

    Step 1, test with an ethernet cable (move the Xbox near the router). Test with/without other users. If it's faster then run cable.

    If it's slow when other people are streaming etc then check to see whether your router has quality of service (QoS) settings. You should be able to give the ports your games run on a higher priority than regular traffic, not sure how you'd find the ports on XBox (easy on pc), so you might have to google for them, and it could be different per game.

  • Teamfight Tactics on 18/04/2016 - 14:02

    or just get wireless range extender

    • scrimshaw on 18/04/2016 - 14:20
      +2

      No, no, nope. Range extender == bad

      Will not do any good for gaming because the latency is a big issue

      Wifi access point is the proper way to do things. But you'll need an ethernet cable to bridge the two devices together

      e.g a second cheap router or a Ubiquiti Unifi

  • Elnato on 18/04/2016 - 14:43

    Maybe put a wifi extender in your room, may improve the issue

    • McFly on 18/04/2016 - 15:18
      +3

      Face-palm.

      • stonkered on 19/04/2016 - 17:03

        Haha some gold this thread

  • AzuAzu on 18/04/2016 - 16:30
    -1

    You might as well just get a 4G modem on prepaid if you're going to pay 200-250.

    Just use it only for gaming and not streaming videos etc. Pure gaming data packets are quite small and probably won't use that much data.

    • McFly on 18/04/2016 - 16:50

      Now my face is starting to hurt…

      • AzuAzu on 18/04/2016 - 16:59
        +1

        Why?

        I know mobile broadband isn't ideal for gaming, but surely it'd be better than sharing a 12Mbps line with a lot of family members torrenting/downloading/streaming? Especially since it's only 1Mbps up for home connections.

        And depending on where OP lives, he might be able to get a decent 4G connection?

        Not sure about VIC, but in (eastern) sydney, I can get very stable connections with low latency and 0 packet loss on telstra 4G.

        • McFly on 18/04/2016 - 17:25

          Because of two kinds of amounts: variables and dollars.

        • AzuAzu on 18/04/2016 - 17:43

          @McFly: It's only $130 for 22gb(2yrs exp.) + 30 4G modem = $160. 22GB should be plenty if you only use it for gaming data and not stream/video/other stuff.
          OP is considering spending $200-250 to run a eth cable to his room, which wouldn't really help if the other family members are heavy users.

          There are variables for every option, I'm just suggesting one that no-one has suggested yet.

        • Rukiata on 18/04/2016 - 18:50

          @AzuAzu: that seems a lot for little data, I feel like that will go fast in gaming? also I live in VIC and Dandenong north

        • JoBevo on 18/04/2016 - 23:28

          @shadowrukia: I have a similar issue in my household compared to yourself and I just tether my mobile phone 4G internet to my PC when my home internet connection is congested (on average i have like 10 devices connected to my router between 6PM to 11PM and my bandwidth sucks too 1.5MB/s =/). You can buy the $10 prepaid starter kit sim cards which comes with 3-7GBs over 28 days and it is more then enough for gaming.

        • Blitzfx on 19/04/2016 - 00:25
          +1

          @shadowrukia:
          I've tethered my phone's 4G line to my PC when my net turned to shit (for various reasons) and it's a viable solution.

          Not sure what game you're playing but I left multiple MMORPG games on for at least 8 hours and played Call of Duty and CS:GO and at the end of that, I only used a bit over 100MB. This includes all the background crap running in Windows and webpages left open (dam news sites have auto-refresh).

          if you have connection stability issues, then you should try the LAN cable option first before routing something through your wall.

          If you had bandwidth issues, then you should look into getting 4G JUST for gaming, since you said you can't change the net since you aren't paying.

        • Abaddon on 19/04/2016 - 11:17

          If other members of the household are torrenting, make them stop. It wastes your upload bandwidth (which you won't have much of and need for your gaming) and it's generally illegal.

          If they are torrenting legal items pay $50 for a block of Usenet data (but throttle the downloads as it will eat all your download bandwidth). At least they'll download whatever it is a crapload faster and get off the network.

        • McFly on 20/04/2016 - 09:04

          @AzuAzu: I suppose it may be worth a try if they already have a 4G device.

    • moonphase on 18/04/2016 - 17:42

      If one time payment of 200-250 fix the issue permanently, why would you spend more dollars on 4G?

      How do you guarantee that they have reliable 4G coverage?

      • AzuAzu on 18/04/2016 - 17:46

        If it was just wifi dropping out, then sure the cable would fix it.

        But OP mentioned that the whole family shares the same connection and uses it quite a lot. Connecting via LAN cable doesn't really guarantee good bandwidth.
        If just one or two people torrent, it would congest the 1Mbps uplink and make online games lag.

        And you're right, I don't know if he's in a good 4G coverage area. I guess I should have mentioned that too.

        • moonphase on 18/04/2016 - 17:52

          Well if you configure to upload a lot on torrent but mainly it consumes the downstream not upstream that you can change it.

          I think using mobile broadband is the last resort that OP could take but sure it's not an alternative option to cabling. Your context sounds like 4G is better if you are going to spend 200-250.

        • AzuAzu on 18/04/2016 - 18:11

          @moonphase: Yes, that was what I meant.
          I think 4G would be a better option if OP is going to be spending $200-250. (If he/she's in a good coverage area)

          As I already mentioned, OP didn't say anything about wifi dropping out, it sounded more like a congested home connection to me. Running a cable might help a little, but it wouldn't be much use if OP's family are all heavy users.

        • alxr0101 on 19/04/2016 - 01:42
          +1

          Connecting via LAN cable IS definitely going to eliminate potential internal wireless issues. It WILL eliminate conclusively one potential performance issue. Certainly a GOOD wireless setup should work fine. OP has stated that given the number of users, and most critically, the distance from the router to the room at the other end of the large house, that one lan cable is highly likely to outperform a consumer grade wireless router that probably has not even be optimised for performance.

          Cable beats wireless. Cable gives you options at the other end of the house..such as another wireless AP.

          Cable WON"T eliminate issues with a bad internet connection. So benchmark what performance you can get at the router to gauge where the issue lies. But a long cable run is a worthwhile investment in any event should that connection be upgraded.

          And no..OPtus won't care if performance sucks at the far end of the house.

    • Rukiata on 18/04/2016 - 18:44

      Thanks but im not sure if spending that much in long one it will cost more and the lag isnt that bad its just in GTA 5 it lags everyone lol and my friends complain I reckon cable might help a lot better

  • devinadalovely on 18/04/2016 - 18:20

    I don't understand why your father hasn't rung Optus to fix it? You are entitled to free service and maintenance.You sound very young and maybe haven't discussed this with your father as you say he is paying for it and can't change the plan.You can upgrade. Gaming uses a great deal of bandwidth and GBs.

    • Rukiata on 18/04/2016 - 18:41

      I am young and my father is a tight A__ lol he cracks it over little things. he donst really care im the only one getting this problem

      • blehgg on 19/04/2016 - 08:58

        I'd demolish your Xbox if I was your dad and read this.

        When you say …we're paying for someone to make an cable from lounge room to my bedroom for 200 or 250… - I assume you're Dad's paying.

        Pay for your upgrades, go mow some lawns.

        • Rukiata on 19/04/2016 - 09:05
          +1

          Im paying its my birthday soon.

    • alxr0101 on 19/04/2016 - 09:30

      Optus will gladly send out a technician and then charge a callout fee if there is no fault found with their service. The callout fee could be as much as the amount being invested in running an extra LAN cable.

      ISP's are not responsible for what happens beyond the router, if not beyond the socket or their supplied equipment.

  • Baebs on 18/04/2016 - 18:36
    +4

    You make your life sound like a living nightmare.

    • harkoliar on 19/04/2016 - 08:51
      +1

      First world problems I agree :-)

  • Pacify on 18/04/2016 - 21:01

    What router are you using

  • bananabendera on 18/04/2016 - 21:44

    Try plugging your laptop or any device in the house with both wifi, ethernet and a screen into the router. Test that speed a few times, walk back down to your room and do the same with wifi. Just realised you have already done this, it might be worth a shot when your family is on the net though. If your speeds aren't any better over ethernet when your family is on chances are it's Optus' fault and the infrastructure in your area is outdated, or your line needs maintenance. You can also try changing phone line filters. You can try and strike an agreement up with the rest of your family in regards to when you play vs when they watch videos/torrent etc. (when one of my family members starts watching a video my ping goes up and severe throttling ensues, I just get up early morning to play). There is an app called JamWifi for the Mac that I make use of. If you set a static IP for your device(s) it will not jam them. However it must be used in regulation as it can disrupt important activities and everyone should have the right to internet access.

  • ozbargainer88 on 18/04/2016 - 21:51
    +4

    Have you checked this first: is the problem your "Wifi speeds" or "internet speeds"? Even if your Wifi is improved, your bottleneck is still your internet connection and if your household is watching videos, uploading, streaming, etc. you will not see any improvement.

    Gaming requires low latency which can be affected as soon as your available bandwidth is being used. 12Mbps is not too bad but 1 or 2 users in your house watching YouTube will cause you to lag. You're probably limited to <1Mbps upload so any uploads happening will cause a lot of lag too.

    Maybe your wifi is fine and your real problem is your internet connection being maxed out. Ping your home router for a few hundred pings and see if there is much packet loss or high latency. Ping Google at the same time to see the difference. You can check your real wifi speed by looking in network adapters > wifi > status.

    Once you have confirmed your internet is unaffected by other users then you can try solve the local network issue. The very best option is to run a long cable. Try go around door frames or skirting boards if you're not allowed to run it along the floor.

    TL;DR

    ping -t your router
    ping -g www.google.com.au

    • frazel on 19/04/2016 - 08:25

      You can check your real wifi speed by looking in network adapters > wifi > status

      That shows your sync speed, not your data through put speed. Just because your sync is high does not guarantee high quality signal or good through put.

      As you said your better test is to check for congestion / packet loss by doing a repeatative ping

  • EnergicAU on 18/04/2016 - 21:55

    Check wifi channel to see you are not conflicting with your neighbours wifi around the area your Xbox is in

    Add Xbox IP into your DMZ on the router

  • rambao9 on 18/04/2016 - 22:07
    +2

    $40 10GB+ Mobile Data Plan and tether. That's what I'm doing now. Joined telstra cable still lagging like an idiot.

  • Brendoo on 19/04/2016 - 00:12
    +6

    Outsmart them all. Get someone to help you set your router's QOS settings to prioritise all traffic to your PC. Then keep your mouth shut so they dont know and enjoy the speed.
    I'm assuming here that wi-fi range isnt the main problem.

    • frazel on 19/04/2016 - 08:20
      +1

      Wifi would always be problem due to the number of simultaneous connections. It would cause congestion and packet loss which would increase latency overall.

      But your correct QoS is the way to go

    • Rukiata on 19/04/2016 - 09:09
      +1

      Lol ok thanks man i will do this. Also i bought a gaming and way better router costs a lot but whatevers lol 400 dollars cough.

    • rambao9 on 19/04/2016 - 15:18

      QOS to prioritize traffic to your PC wouldn't work, you'd still lag in games. You would need to cap their internet speeds.

      • frazel on 19/04/2016 - 17:05

        QoS prioritises his data over anyone elses. It's a dynamic way of capping the internet connection.

        He gets priority, what ever is left is then shared amongst the other users.

        If you cap their speed that means when he isn't playing games, they still get a capped speed, which is a waste of available bandwidth.

        Simple, priority his traffic to 1 and set there's to priority 2.

  • jonathonsunshine on 19/04/2016 - 05:07

    I love Ethernet and so will you if you get it. Buy a $10 gigabit switch for your room and plug your laptop and whatever else you got in it. Even a another router so you can have a your own wifi in your room.

  • frazel on 19/04/2016 - 08:18
    +1

    Why don't you use PoE, Power of Ethernet because what you're talking about is exactly why PoE was designed. That will remove the congestion on the wifi and give you up to 500mb to the router with less latency than your wifi. That costs about $50.

    Then go into your router that you already have and prioritise your connection over theres. It's called QoS or quality of service. In most modems you can set it to prioritise data from a port or your IP address. If you use IP then make sure you assign it statically on your PC/Xbox what ever.

    This way you will always get the better connection.

    Btw I work in large enterprise network and security.

    • clem0ximus on 19/04/2016 - 11:20
      +2

      I don't see how PoE will help him improve his speed over a regular Ethernet cable? PoE is only used to power IP cameras and lightweight access points. It wont do anything to an Xbox or PC as they are independently powered..

      Unless you're talking about Ethernet over Power which was discussed earlier, then yes it may improve the speed over his current wireless connection.

      I hope you aren't telling everyone to get PoE hardware to remove congestion at work mate.

      • frazel on 19/04/2016 - 12:39

        Hahahah nice pick up. Youre correct I meant Ethernet over Power, the inverse of Power over Ethernet.

        It was early in the morning and I've been doing a lot of research on PoE switches for home so they won't require a power outlet.

        But yes I meant EoP not PoE. :)

  • harkoliar on 19/04/2016 - 09:01

    Okay no one seems to have suggested this, but if OP is willing to spend $200 and his internet is able to handle the traffic, why not look into dual WiFi router?

    If you believe it's just the congestion in WiFi, you can lump everyone in the 2.5ghz and use the 5.0ghz for your gaming use.

    It's an alternative to cables.

    I have a billion 7800 dual WiFi. Handles 3 tablets, two mobiles, 2 laaptops, Xbox 360, Xbox one, 1 desktop. I stream movies from tablet and xbox 360 (media centre) simultaneously from desktop server no issues because they go via two different WiFi signal.

    My issue is the internet connection. Totally crap in my area.

    • alxr0101 on 19/04/2016 - 09:44
      +1

      Dual wifi, being 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz, can resolve congestion, especially for high bandwidth requirements such as video. However 5Ghz band has shorter range than 2.4Ghz. If 2.4 was struggling to the end of a large house, 5Ghz ain't going to be much better, if not worse.

      • harkoliar on 19/04/2016 - 11:25

        Fair point.

  • lovepeoplenotmoney on 19/04/2016 - 09:22
    +1

    Recycle your old soft drink cans. cut open length ways, completely cut the bottom off, then leave the top end some to remain connected the body. open up the body and insert the top downwards onto the wifi modem router antenna so it looks like a satellite dish. the curvature refocuses unused signal, and throws the signal further up to 200-300%. lemme know how it goes.

  • kasp on 19/04/2016 - 09:39

    Ok the difference between good wifi and crap wifi isnt much. Before you spend money on drilling etc use poe to move your wifi closer on the same circuit. Just moving it a room over might fix everything.

    • alxr0101 on 19/04/2016 - 09:42
      +1

      Your opinion might carry more weight if you hadn't mixed POE up with EOP.

      • kasp on 19/04/2016 - 18:45

        I deal with poe in my job. Never eop.

        • McFly on 20/04/2016 - 09:01

          ???!

        • kasp on 21/04/2016 - 11:01

          @McFly:

          Power over ethernet, very common with businesses and routers/switches. Mainly used with Phone systems.

          EOP (Ethernet over power) is very rare in the business world, in fact I have't seen it in the wild except for some rare scenarios.

          The difference is POE is delivering power as well as ethernet to a device like a phone. While POE is delivering ethernet over powerpoints. I made the mixup as I always refer to POE.

        • McFly on 21/04/2016 - 12:20

          @kasp: lol I know all that, that was the reason for my comment!

  • stonkered on 19/04/2016 - 13:11

    Op is stuffed, too many users on a shit connection.

  • imahapyboy on 19/04/2016 - 17:52
    +1

    sleep then

  • styrenic on 20/04/2016 - 10:40

    Try optimizing your wifi settings on the router. Most routers are configured to auto channel and auto band. When the router detects issues it will change channels and this will cause a drop in connection, fine for browsing but bad for wifi gaming/streaming.

    I suggest you lock the router to 2.4ghz (for best range), 11n (newer devices should support n on 2.4gz), channel 6 and 20Mhz width. Also check your microwave, they can cause interference as they operate on the 2.4ghz range. The microwave will tell you which part of the range it uses so you can choose a channel that doesn't interfere, you might have to use a lower or higher channel.

    • lplau on 20/04/2016 - 16:39

      Don't lock the router to 2.4ghz, lock the network adapter to that. So some people can still use 5ghz.

      If you are further away, then use 2.5ghz as that can travel further.
      If you are closer then you'd use 5ghz as it provides a less congested frequency and higher sustained speeds.

      You'd want to optimise the channels though, e.g. choose a channel which isn't used by your neighbors.

  • lplau on 20/04/2016 - 16:37
    +1

    Are you sure its the wifi that is crap?
    You need to work out if its a range issue or if it is your family saturating the bandwidth.

    Even if you get a ethernet cable ran to your room, it may not help at all if your other family members chew up 99% of the bandwidth downloading movies.

    Your Asus router may be able to easily fix this without even putting in that cable, by enabling QOS.

    Where as if its a range issue, then you will need to work out a different way to fix it, e.g. get a cable installed may help.

    • Rukiata on 21/04/2016 - 14:34

      thanks enabling QOS bought a new router with more range as well

  • gimli on 20/04/2016 - 21:15
    +1

    is byakuya hogging the internet again?

    • Rukiata on 21/04/2016 - 14:31
      +1

      LOL

  • Eeples on 21/04/2016 - 08:36

    Swap rooms with your sister?

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