Help Selecting Router for large house - FTTN - Range Extender - Powerline - Unifi UAP LR??

LGlenningvalley on 04/03/2018 - 12:47

Hi,

I'm getting some terrible range issues with my current Optus provided router.
I've been looking at a few posts in regards to upgrading router and/or getting power line/range extenders and the possibility of getting a Unifi UA.

The situation -

Share house split over 3 levels, 5 people + girlfriends/partners etc all with at least 2/3 devices -
Router is on the middle level(best possible position) and i can't/won't run a physical connections (don't want to screw around with a rental)
Optus providing the fastest connection (100mb?) but wouldn't get close to 1/2mb d/l and same for upload.

What do you guys recommend in regards to upgrade options - understandably that there are alot of users - i don't necessarily want to limit bandwidth etc just want the quickest possible WIFI connections.?

There are so many router options and i'm impartial to Xiaomi product - open to any suggestions

Price range isn't a huge deal but something cost effective/ easy to set up would be great.

Thought i was fairly good at googling solutions but i may be out of my depth on this one.

Thanks.

Computing Router-Rangeextender-Powerline

Comments

  • kiwijunglist on 04/03/2018 - 17:03
    +1

    Easiest for non technical person like you is to buy mesh WiFi X 3 units.

    Don't recommend WiFi repeaters/extenders.

    Other option as suggested is to use powerline Ethernet and then add a separate WiFi zone in the end of the powerline. This requires more setup / technical knowledge to using a mesh.

  • scrimshaw on 04/03/2018 - 17:25
    +2

    My setup consists of 100 Mbit fiber internet -> ASUS RT-AC68U -> Connected to both a powerline and also a Xiaomi Mi Wifi repeater 2

    With the TP-Link AV2000 powerline kit, I don't experience any bottlenecks and can fully use my 100mbit network. It is a somewhat expensive piece of kit, costing around $130 AUD at the time. Check ebay for specials.

    Wifi Repeaters basically cut your speeds by around 30~50%, because they must first receive a signal and then re-transmit the signal, and they also add a little bit of latency so gaming a repeated Wifi network is pretty lousy. My Xiaomi repeater only costs around $15 AUD but you also need to plug it into a USB power supply to work.

    Repeaters shouldn't be placed in a dead zone, rather should be placed within the boundary of your primary network where they can still receive strong signals. If you place a repeater where it can only receive weak wifi, it's just going to push those weak signals around and won't achieve much.

    • Glenningvalley on 09/03/2018 - 07:52

      Really appreciate this, installed the MI WIFI+ this week and it has already made a huge improvement - waiting on the ASUS to get here and see what the difference is then. thank you.

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