We have a single level house. Our wifi router is located at the front of the house (near the NBN modem). The wifi signal at the back of the house is minimal. What is the best way to extend the wifi signal throughout the house?
How do the options compare in terms of technical expertise required and costs?
Thanks for your help!
The cheapest and most effective solution is to open the window.
Move toilet to living room
i fixed this issue with Google wifi mesh
Range Extender is easiest, not super effective, but cheapest
Mesh will be next easiest, very effective, but the most expensive
Powerline is next easiest (they can be fiddly to set up in my experience), Decent effectiveness with the most up to date units, and fairly cheap
Other options to consider are;
moving the position of the Router to a higher point and/or with fewer walls blocking the signal to the rest of the house.
Buying a ceiling mounted Wireless Access Point (requires network cable through the walls to the ceiling installation point
Ethernet to the other end of the house with a second router in AP mode.
I would say mesh system is the most user friendly & effective (setup with app, easy to troubleshoot, updates itself automatically).
I think a mesh system for the normal consumer will give you the best coverage & ease of use.
An extender is cheapest and slightly improves coverage.
Powerlines can work over greater distances, but coverage will be slightly isolated (over greater distances).
Mesh will be the best bet with removing WiFi weak-spots throughout.
Just my 2c after using both extender and mesh system.
Xiaomi mi wireless repeater works pretty good and you can pick them up for <$14 on eBay
I use this ^
Get around 15-20Mbps max. speed
Compared to 50-80 using 5Ghz Wifi
or 90+ when connected to Ethernet.
Will one day get a ethernet point connected in kids room (can anyone give me a approximate cost for someone to do this in my house ??)
DIY?
I usually would. But not much of a roof person if you know what I mean
@Danstar: I guess not under the house either? Although apparently it's illegal anyway https://www.ozbargain.com.au/comment/7481583/redir
The best solution, but hardest and most expensive, would be to use some access points hard wired via ethernet back to a PoE switch connected to the modem. Disable the Wi-Fi in the modem. Most modem's Wi-Fi is rubbish. Ubiquiti gear is great for this. UAP-nanoHD ($159 each) access points & UniFi 8 port 60W switch (US-8-60W $189). Then run the free UniFi software on a PC or a UniFi Cloudkey (not free - $135 for a Gen1 or $329 for gen2). I run something similar to this in our large single story brick house. Two WAP's in good locations cover the whole house in strong Wi-Fi. I don't hear any complaints from the family about Wi-Fi. NBN FTTN doing it's occasional resync I know about almost immediately from the kids screaming.
Easiest would be to get a mesh kit. The Netgear Orbi kits are supposed to be some of the best ones going around. Check out Whirlpool if you want to know more. Ubiquiti do mesh kits too but the Netgear is supposed to be better.
I got the Ubiquiti USG and UniFi UAP-AC-PRO for installing in my new house but I have no idea how to go about doing it for an NBN FTTP setup even after looking at articles/videos online. Currently using my older modem till I figure out how to use it.
Can you turn on PM? Would like to run my setup by you
Have a look at this video. https://youtu.be/HcfIpTso_Ys
It's abit under 20 minutes long but he runs through setting up a UniFi setup with a USG, UAP-AC-PRO, US-8-150 Switch & a CloudKey Gen1.
Mesh.
I've heard very good things about Google WiFi for exactly this purpose.
The ideal is the same I use in the company I work for covering the entire warehouse which has some crazy football area in size but with business devices solution, and knowing that you said "single level house". I use the same idea in the office covering everywhere.
1 - Make sure your Wifi Router is at least AC1200 dual band (2.4Ghz and 5Ghz) with external antennas. Internal antennas or cheap wifi routers are the most common mistakes
2 - Make sure step 1 was followed as I said or stop here.
3 - With your mobile, check from where the connection start to get weak
4 - From the point it starts to get weak, check for any possibility of adding a "wall RJ45 connector"
5 - Do the infrastructure job pulling a network cable from your current NBN/wifi router "LOCATION" to this new location. It is an easy job if you have basic knowledge.
6 - Install a second wifi router there with the same wireless network name, the same password, and different channel. Check https://www1.aerohive.com/wp-content/uploads/wifibacktobasic… and make sure each router is using one of the channel in blue. Their channel cannot conflict at all.
7 - Connect one side of the new wall RJ45 cable to the router 1, and the other side to the new router 2.
8 - Try to use the same wifi model. Don't forget, it needs to be at least AC1200 dual band (2.4Ghz and 5Ghz) with external antennas. This investment is never lost and since they are both wifi router you can always sell them in the future! You cannot do the same with a repeater as not everyone needs them.
HOW IT WORKS:
1 - Since both wifi routers have the same configuration, when you are leaving the area with weak signal, the second router will be already covering it so there is no more weak areas.
2 - Since the second router is receiving the internet signal with cable, you will still having the top speed. There is no loss.
3 - Dual Channel: Use 5Ghz as much as possible. In my apartment with a Netgear AC1600 wifi router, 2.4Ghz reaches 15Mbps-20Mbps. With 5Ghz I reaches 90Mbps with my mobile, laptop, watch 4k content with my 4k TV, 1080p movies on popcorn, Xbox games, everything using 5Ghz like I was using cable and with no buffers.
AVOID REPEATERS
Repeaters might sounds soooooooo much easier to get done but won't solve all the problems. It will gets a wireless signal and make it strong. What can go wrong? hahahaha
2 wifi routers with the same settings, use RJ45 cable which allow them to use the full speed your internet service can provide without loss.
It might not be too cheaper but believe me, you will have the best internet speed and coverage over wireless :)
Note that it's technically illegal to run Network cable through a wall without an appropriate Licence
Well, so you pay for someone with a license then.
After spending the last 9y+ of my life working with technology, no fuking way I will pay for someone to do a sht job when I can do it for free and better just because I don't have a bloody license.
Really? You learn something new every day.
I believe that there will still be an issue.
Assuming the setup is done exactly as you have specified with AP1 and AP2.
If your device is connected to the AP1 which has weak signal and in the same physical location
AP2 has better signal, your device will not connect to AP2 automatically unless it disconnects from AP1.
what wifi router are you using?
If you don't use DHCP(static IP) for connected devices then Tenda mesh is perfect for you. Inexpensive and able to cover 2 stories house.
Thanks for the replies everyone. We are currently using the ASUS RT-AC68U wifi router.
It looks like mesh could be the answer. Any particular brands to go for?
Seriously, look into Google WiFi. It's essentially a mesh solution.
Your current ASUS RT-AC68U already supports mesh. ASUS have AiMesh. AiMesh was a software upgrade added to alot of ASUS modem routers. ASUS also have a out of the box Mesh product called Lyra that is is AiMesh too.
https://www.asus.com/Microsite/AiMesh/au/
A good starting place would be Whirlpool if you want to know more. https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/thread/9lkn8l63
I haven't used AiMesh myself so can't speak as to how good it is. A dedicated mesh kit like Netgear's Orbi maybe simpler to setup and get going. Orbi RBK50 kit is supposedly the best of the home mesh systems from Netgear, Google, ASUS, Linksys, TP-Link and Ubiquiti.
Thanks Rockets84! I had no idea that our ASUS RT-AC68U supported mesh. I will look into it further as well as check out the other options you mentioned. Thanks again!!
A lot of people who have the RT-AC68U just buy a second one ($225 retail but I've seen as low as $150 on eBay new) to AiMesh with as that's the cheapest option if you've already got a RT-AC68U. The rest of ASUS's mesh bundle's start at around $279 retail. I'd be tempted to see if you can find a used RT-AC68U on eBay or Gumtree to have a go with. If you can't get it working or wroking well wouldn't loose too much or just resell.
The best way is to commission a WiFi network consultant to properly map, design and deploy a local area network. Must likely utilising Ethernet as the backbone transport.
Technical expertise required is zero. The cost will be very high.
I have the same issue, can’t seem to get wifi on the toilet in my en-suite unless I have the window open. Hope there’s a cheap effective solution for this