Homeplug alternatives

[didds]

Several years ago now I was asked by a local hotel to help with wifi provision. It is a 17th century building with extremely thick walls. The incoming b/band is located in their office which is on the ground floor at the extreme end of the building - the opposite end to the bar, restaurant and upstairs bedrooms.

The wifi then (from the office) didn't reach any of the pertinent areas - the bedrooms and bar. The solution at the time was homeplugs and to be honest they worked absolutely fine.

The owner has now reported that, especially in the evenings, the wifi particularly in the bedrooms drops in and out. I can only surmise that howsoever this happens there must be "noise" in the building circuitry that is causing issues here.

The bedrooms provision is a single HP providing wifi, placed o the landing that the three bedrooms share - they are all in close proximity.

So in an attempt to overcome these recent shortcomings one possibility is a homeplug-with-wifi in each bedroom. However, wifi HPs aren't cheap and it could be that the line noise would still mean poor connections whether its one or three of course.

So - what are the other options? All I can think of is a cabled connection to the landing, terminating in some sort of access point that itself provides a wifi signal as before to all three rooms. Or cabled connections to all three rooms, with each room having its own seperate access point with wifi provision. Wifi Channels would have to be sensibly selected in these three access points.



Clearly the first test would be to move the HP in the landing into one of the bedrooms to see if that improves matters for that room.
And another being a long ethernet cable (40m?) terminating in a wireless access point eg a b/band router tweaked to try that. Nothwithstanding a suitable time to test it all.

Any thoughts?

didds

[Midsmartin]

This sort of thing can be a nightmare can't it? If the wireless signal strength between the bedrooms and the access point itself is OK (check for wireless interference at bad times?) , then the homeplug must be the problem, and I certainly have had problems with interference on homeplug lines.
If they are using an old iteration of homeplug, maybe switching to the latest version would help, but it's a potentially expensive test.
I'd try and persuade them to run an ethernet cable. The extra reliability should save them guest aggravation and IT callout charges in the years ahead.

[didds]

Cheers Midsmartin.

By "run an ethernet cable" - just to clarify - you are supporting the idea of

router -> cable -> ethernet attached wireless access point ?

anyone have any recommendations for suitable access points to be connected to said cable?

In the past, domestically at least - Ive used old netgear b/band routers suitably "tweaked" but it won;t look very professional to have an old router in the corner! There is also the theft angle - the current wifi HP provision is quasi-hidden down the side of the fridge upstairs on the landing (milk etc for tea and coffee making facilities)... but Im not sure much can be done about that

didds

[Watis]

Didds - I think you may have answered you own question!

In the OP, you wrote:

The owner has now reported that, especially in the evenings, the wifi particularly in the bedrooms drops in and out. I can only surmise that howsoever this happens there must be "noise" in the building circuitry that is causing issues here.

The bedrooms provision is a single HP providing wifi, placed o the landing that the three bedrooms share - they are all in close proximity.

And now you say:

the current wifi HP provision is quasi-hidden down the side of the fridge upstairs on the landing (milk etc for tea and coffee making facilities)

I suggest that the fridge may interfere with the wifi signal whenever the compressor is running.

Also, I believe that wifi channel 9 is the same frequency that microwave ovens use, so it may be worth checking which channel the access point is set to, if the bedrooms are equipped with microwave ovens.

HTH,

Watis

[didds]

Didds - I think you may have answered you own question!
I suggest that the fridge may interfere with the wifi signal whenever the compressor is running.

well I'd agree - if it wasn't for the fact this has been the case for several years already without any issues.

however - having rethought it, I may suggest they turn the fridge off for a few days to see if that makes any difference. maybe the fridge is on the way out?

didds

[didds]

9 is the same frequency that microwave ovens use, so it may be worth checking which channel the access point is set to, if the bedrooms are equipped with microwave ovens.

FTR etc - they're not. its far too nice an establishment for that

didds

[Infrasonic]

I'd be inclined to go for a decent PoE cabled access point (possibly ceiling mounted for line of sight and anti theft benefits) like the Ubiquiti or D-link units which aren't silly money.

Whether you could get away with a single unit in the hallway or need individual room units is an open question.
The advantage of the decent cabled WAP's is they tend to have better 'reach' than most domestic gear.
AC @ 5GHz is probably going to be patchy because of the wall situation but N/AC @ 2.4GHz should be OK.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=best+ ... e&ie=UTF-8

[Watis]

Didds - I think you may have answered you own question!
I suggest that the fridge may interfere with the wifi signal whenever the compressor is running.

well I'd agree - if it wasn't for the fact this has been the case for several years already without any issues.

however - having rethought it, I may suggest they turn the fridge off for a few days to see if that makes any difference. maybe the fridge is on the way out?

didds

It will make a difference - the milk will go off!

Is it the same fridge as it always was? If the fridge has been replaced, the new one may be less well insulated against RF emissions.

Or could it have been moved a bit, covering more of the WAP? I can't believe that a metal object full of liquid is good for passing a RF signal through. But I'm not an RF engineer so am happy to be advised differently!

Watis

[Infrasonic]

Check the local fire regs before running any exposed cables.

Probably be fine but some local authorities can be funny about public buildings and 'non regs' cable.
You can get fire resistant/retardant CAT cable if needed.

[tsr2]

Swapping from Homeplugs + APs to a mesh network has vastly improved my home network. I use a BT Whole Home Wifi and it's good enough for me but it would not be sufficiently reliable for a hotel.

There are plenty of other mesh networks out there and a more "professional" brand should be reliable. they aren't cheap, but they don't need you to run lots of wire.