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Improving home wifi

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Scott0966
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Improving home wifi

#146600

Postby Scott0966 » June 19th, 2018, 9:40 am

What would people recommend for updating my home wifi? At present I have Virgin's 200Mbs service (with superhub 3) but want to improve the coverage and general speed around the house (fairly big Victorian house). I currently have a mix of extenders, homeplugs and old routers scattered around which don't offer a bad solution but I want to try and simplify things.

I've just spotted ebay have a 20% off sale (https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/20-off ... ay-2961081) and whole scrolling through some of the offers came across the TP-link mesh offer which will work out at £183 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TP-Link-Deco ... SwH2VZ8P1V

I was doing a bit of investigation the other day and came across recommendations for Ubiquiti and wondered what people thought of which would be better?

I don't really want to link anything with CAT cabling so would rely on them linking with each other wirelessly.

Scott

Infrasonic
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Re: Improving home wifi

#146610

Postby Infrasonic » June 19th, 2018, 10:06 am

My 'go to' site for all things networky is...https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/
Reviews and plentiful 'real world' performance data that reveals that the manufacturers often tell massive porkies when it come to wifi throughput figures...

If you don't want CAT+ WAP (which will better in a large victorian house) then mesh is your only real alternative. They do vary quite a bit in quality though, definitely do some review homework first.

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Re: Improving home wifi

#146614

Postby Infrasonic » June 19th, 2018, 10:23 am

Here's a more specific article from the same site...https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireles ... -to-choose

Wi-Fi router shoppers hit a fork in the road when trying to improve their Wi-Fi. They can buy an expensive router with big, impressive numbers on the box like AD7200, AC5400, etc. that imply speeds beyond belief. Or they can buy a mesh or extender-type Wi-Fi system, sporting smaller "speed" numbers, that uses a handful of smaller access points that connect via Wi-Fi, yet promises better performance than using a single router.
Cont.

Infrasonic
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Re: Improving home wifi

#146620

Postby Infrasonic » June 19th, 2018, 10:48 am

There's a mesh systems comparison chart here...https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/tools/c ... ystem/view

Your proposed purchase appears eigth in the list, but you need to switch the search criteria around in the tables to see what its specific performance characteristics are relative to the others.

https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireles ... em-roundup
Last edited by Infrasonic on June 19th, 2018, 11:01 am, edited 1 time in total.

stewamax
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Re: Improving home wifi

#146623

Postby stewamax » June 19th, 2018, 10:56 am

The (presumably) stout internal walls of OP's Victorian house may well - as it sounds as if OP has already found out - pose coverage problems that modern houses (with paper-thin lath and plaster walls) do not. So even the fastest mesh systems may well have big problems in coverage.
Frankly, to benefit from Virgin's 200Mb/s service, I would 'cable'. If this cannot easily be done internally,I would (and have...) run external grade Cat5e or 6 on the outside of the house and terminate internally with RJ45 sockets. Then you have gigabit Ethernet to the APs.

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Re: Improving home wifi

#146629

Postby Infrasonic » June 19th, 2018, 11:13 am

Have Virgin run any internal co-ax wiring around the house (other than the incoming link to the cable modem?)

If they have you can use ethernet over Co-ax via adapter boxes...http://www.mocalliance.org/index.htm
Throughput and general performance is pretty much the same as ethernet over CAT.
Miles better than powerline...

Scott0966
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Re: Improving home wifi

#146742

Postby Scott0966 » June 19th, 2018, 6:35 pm

Thanks all. Bit of reading to do...

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Re: Improving home wifi

#147074

Postby Infrasonic » June 21st, 2018, 9:08 am

Scott0966 wrote:Thanks all. Bit of reading to do...


Let us know what you decide to do, as it's a subject that comes up quite often and would be of use to others in the same predicament with large older houses, thick walls et al.

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Re: Improving home wifi

#147228

Postby ManInTheStreet » June 22nd, 2018, 3:18 am

Not sure if you are the diy type but this maybe of interest:

http://www.freeantennas.com/projects/template/

I'd seen that years ago but never made one. I think your mileage may vary, but for very little cost other than your time and polluting the air with profanities maybe worth a go.

If you want to find more sites taking this approach this was my google (well duckduckgo) search term: access point diy parabolic reflector

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Re: Improving home wifi

#147243

Postby BrummieDave » June 22nd, 2018, 8:53 am

For what it's worth I bought the Google mesh system to sit alongside my Sky Q (BT) Wifi, and I can't see that it's made any difference at all, except to my bank account. Perhaps I need more Google 'points' but that's just more expenditure, so I'm loathed to try that tbh.

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Re: Improving home wifi

#147308

Postby Julian » June 22nd, 2018, 12:20 pm

BrummieDave wrote:For what it's worth I bought the Google mesh system to sit alongside my Sky Q (BT) Wifi, and I can't see that it's made any difference at all, except to my bank account. Perhaps I need more Google 'points' but that's just more expenditure, so I'm loathed to try that tbh.

How many units do you have? One of my neighbours has a Google Mesh, 2 units I think, and he seems quite happy with it.

So far I've got away with my router in the centre of my flat just about getting everywhere but I'm beginning to experiment with home automation and I suspect that at some point I might want a more solid signal at the extremities of my flat so I'm watching this thread with interest. Sadly this stuff all gets quite expensive quite quickly.

- Julian

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Re: Improving home wifi

#147340

Postby Breelander » June 22nd, 2018, 1:48 pm

Julian wrote: One of my neighbours has a Google Mesh, 2 units I think, and he seems quite happy with it.


Google isn't the only mesh system available (or the cheapest). I bought BT Whole Home Wi-Fi (2 disks) for my daughter/son-in-law and they're happy with it too.
https://www.shop.bt.com/learnmore/bt-br ... ome-wi-fi/

More choices here: https://www.techadvisor.co.uk/test-cent ... 8-3661110/

The advantage of a mesh system over extenders is that a mesh has a single SSID and hands over seamlessly as you move around the house. Each extender needs its own SSID which you'd need to connect to when you move around.

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Re: Improving home wifi

#147370

Postby Julian » June 22nd, 2018, 3:38 pm

Breelander wrote:Google isn't the only mesh system available (or the cheapest). I bought BT Whole Home Wi-Fi (2 disks) for my daughter/son-in-law and they're happy with it too.
https://www.shop.bt.com/learnmore/bt-br ... ome-wi-fi/
...
The advantage of a mesh system over extenders is that a mesh has a single SSID and hands over seamlessly as you move around the house. Each extender needs its own SSID which you'd need to connect to when you move around.

Yeah. Those BT ones look really good. I've seen quite a bit of positive feedback on the web about them. I do think that, despite the cost, a mesh system is the way I would want to go. The single SSID feature is compelling and, for, worth paying the extra for.

One small point. Do you happen to know if the BT units absolutely have to be put on their stands so that they are oriented vertically or can you get away with placing them flat? I know it's silly but they would be far more discreet sitting flat. The alternative is to hide them in a cupboard I suppose, provided that you can find a way to get power to them. Wall-mounted behind a curtain might be another possibility.

- Julian

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Re: Improving home wifi

#147380

Postby Breelander » June 22nd, 2018, 4:24 pm

Julian wrote:... Do you happen to know if the BT units absolutely have to be put on their stands so that they are oriented vertically or can you get away with placing them flat?


Don't know, my daughter uses them on their stands. Laying them flat would change the orientation of the aerials, so coverage and the ability to connect to the others may be affected. This is BT's FAQ on positioning them.
https://btsupport.custhelp.com/app/answ ... 950/c/8071

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Re: Improving home wifi

#147422

Postby tsr2 » June 22nd, 2018, 8:27 pm

Julian wrote:[
Yeah. Those BT ones look really good. I've seen quite a bit of positive feedback on the web about them. I do think that, despite the cost, a mesh system is the way I would want to go. The single SSID feature is compelling and, for, worth paying the extra for.


Yeah, I have BT Whole Home wifi. I bought them based on good reviews and they were brilliant to start with, but, since the last firmware upgrade in February, they have been very unreliable. There is a very long thread on the BT community forums about all the problems people have been having. If you are buying a mesh, you might be alright with them, not everyone is having problems, but I would strongly recommend buying something else.

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Re: Improving home wifi

#147501

Postby BrummieDave » June 23rd, 2018, 12:01 pm

Julian wrote:How many units do you have? One of my neighbours has a Google Mesh, 2 units I think, and he seems quite happy with it

- Julian


I've got two units. One plugs into the router in our hall and sits right next to the router. So I assumed this would only ever provide as good coverage as the router would on its own, and indeed it does, so coverage downstairs is not improved by the Google mesh. The other sits on the landing and was bought in order to provide better coverage upstairs, which I don't think it does. Perhaps by the very nature of these systems, with the first unit sitting right next to the router, you need at least two additional units if you want to extend the coverage. But that makes it pretty expensive, when the original Sky (BT) mesh system that comes with Sky Q is pretty good to start with. As it's relevant to the thread, our house is two storey, and new enough to have walls that aren't, on the whole, structural.

The other reason I bought it was to ensure the integrity of the main Sky (BT) wifi when we are streaming Netflix, iPlayer etc. But presumably the fact that the Google wifi takes some of the bandwidth to start with eliminates any benefit? Or does it somehow preserve the full bandwidth for streaming whilst somehow duplicating it for the Google wifi. I've no idea really, but bought the Google one to make things better, and don't think it has.

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Re: Improving home wifi

#147510

Postby Infrasonic » June 23rd, 2018, 12:29 pm

As it's relevant to the thread, our house is two storey, and new enough to have walls that aren't, on the whole, structural.


One thing to be aware of is that foil backed plasterboard, mesh, steel RSJ's etc. all affect radio signals. Effectively you can end up with rooms that are partially Faraday caged, which will diminish bandwidth and reach.

Modern build flats are particularly susceptible to this.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_cage

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Re: Improving home wifi

#147518

Postby BrummieDave » June 23rd, 2018, 1:00 pm

Yes, aware of that thanks, but don't think that's the issue. I think I'm just expecting too much of the two units and, as we have two Sky Q boxes which themselves set up a mesh, don't think I've added to the overall wifi coverage by spending £200 with Google. I could buy another Google unit of course... :P

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Re: Improving home wifi

#147532

Postby Breelander » June 23rd, 2018, 2:04 pm

BrummieDave wrote: I've no idea really, but bought the Google one to make things better, and don't think it has.


Another issue that can affect performance and coverage is overlapping channels used by your neighbours (or your other mesh). Choosing a relatively unused channel can make a difference.

This free utility can tell you what channels are in use around you.
https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/wifi_info ... _view.html

The How-To Geek explains how to choose the best channel here...
https://www.howtogeek.com/197268/how-to ... ng-system/

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Re: Improving home wifi

#147804

Postby Scott0966 » June 24th, 2018, 11:33 pm

Infrasonic wrote:
Scott0966 wrote:Thanks all. Bit of reading to do...


Let us know what you decide to do, as it's a subject that comes up quite often and would be of use to others in the same predicament with large older houses, thick walls et al.


Still procastinating... Saw the BT mesh option for £160 (3 units) the other day and nearly went for it but didnt (for now). Hadn't spotted the firmware issue until just coming back to the thread now so...more reading and indecision.


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