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Message
Help me solve my internet woes(signal coverage related)!
Posted on 7/30/18 at 8:50 pm
Posted on 7/30/18 at 8:50 pm
I just moved to a new house and went with Charter’s 400 mbps plan. It comes with a modem/router combo, which even the installer told me doesn’t work well and I should order a nighthawk. I’m willing to spend as much as $500 to fix this annoying problem. I have a detached garage with an office above it that I really need to get a good signal in. Also, the house is two stories and 5000 square feet. Router is centrally located upstairs. Should I get a top of the line router or maybe a whole home wi-fi system?
3
Posted on 7/30/18 at 9:53 pm to TitleistProV1X
Well, you have a couple different options at different price points and different levels of setup time, cost, and complexity.
First, a few questions about the garage/office:
- How far away is it from the main house?
- Do you get a signal in it at all with the router you already have?
- Are there any elevated lines running to it right now i.e. did the previous owner have a network cable, cable TV/satellite/etc. line, electrical or whatever?
- If no elevated lines are running to it, I'm assuming it has buried electrical in which case is it on the main house's panel or does it have it's own panel or sub-panel?
Depending on the answers to those questions I think you have the following options:
1. Wireless repeater
If the garage/office is close enough to the main house, the simplest and least expensive option is a repeater. You just plug it into an outlet on a wall in the main house as close as possible to the garage/office and it will extend your wireless range to the garage/office assuming it's close enough. From my experience, will probably only work reliably in this situation if the garage/office is less than 50 feet from where the repeater is plugged in at the main house.
2. Powerline adapter
This is a great option when it works. Sometimes they don't work well and in those situations there's not much you can do about it. If you're not familiar with these, it's an adapter you plug into an outlet and connect to your modem/router with ethernet cable. The adapter then sends a signal along your electrical lines to its sister unit plugged in to another outlet somewhere else in the house (or in this case, in the garage/office). Depending how the garage/office is wired for electricity may effect whether or not a powerline adapter works well for you. If the garage/office is on the main panel you should be good to go. If it's on a sub-panel I'm not really sure. May work fine or may not work at all
3. Run ethernet line along any existing lines.
If the garage/office already has lines running to it for cable or something, you could just run some ethernet line along with it. The setup is more time consuming than a repeater or a powerline adapter but it's guaranteed to work.
4. Some kind of mesh system
Honestly I don't think this adequately addresses your situation on its own. It's the most expensive option I'm listing and basically runs into the same scenario as the wireless repeater: you'll probably end up needing a mesh node as close to the garage/office as possible and then maybe one in the garage/office. In your situation I think it just ends up being a more expensive and more complex version of a wireless repeater solution.
First, a few questions about the garage/office:
- How far away is it from the main house?
- Do you get a signal in it at all with the router you already have?
- Are there any elevated lines running to it right now i.e. did the previous owner have a network cable, cable TV/satellite/etc. line, electrical or whatever?
- If no elevated lines are running to it, I'm assuming it has buried electrical in which case is it on the main house's panel or does it have it's own panel or sub-panel?
Depending on the answers to those questions I think you have the following options:
1. Wireless repeater
If the garage/office is close enough to the main house, the simplest and least expensive option is a repeater. You just plug it into an outlet on a wall in the main house as close as possible to the garage/office and it will extend your wireless range to the garage/office assuming it's close enough. From my experience, will probably only work reliably in this situation if the garage/office is less than 50 feet from where the repeater is plugged in at the main house.
2. Powerline adapter
This is a great option when it works. Sometimes they don't work well and in those situations there's not much you can do about it. If you're not familiar with these, it's an adapter you plug into an outlet and connect to your modem/router with ethernet cable. The adapter then sends a signal along your electrical lines to its sister unit plugged in to another outlet somewhere else in the house (or in this case, in the garage/office). Depending how the garage/office is wired for electricity may effect whether or not a powerline adapter works well for you. If the garage/office is on the main panel you should be good to go. If it's on a sub-panel I'm not really sure. May work fine or may not work at all
3. Run ethernet line along any existing lines.
If the garage/office already has lines running to it for cable or something, you could just run some ethernet line along with it. The setup is more time consuming than a repeater or a powerline adapter but it's guaranteed to work.
4. Some kind of mesh system
Honestly I don't think this adequately addresses your situation on its own. It's the most expensive option I'm listing and basically runs into the same scenario as the wireless repeater: you'll probably end up needing a mesh node as close to the garage/office as possible and then maybe one in the garage/office. In your situation I think it just ends up being a more expensive and more complex version of a wireless repeater solution.
This post was edited on 7/30/18 at 9:56 pm
Posted on 7/30/18 at 10:24 pm to Huey Lewis
Thanks for all the feedback. The office is about 20’ from the house. I get a faint signal in the office but it fades in and out. The previous owner did run electric lines to it, I know he had a tv with cable in it. The wireless repeater definitely might be my best option but I think I might need a couple of them. I have a power line adapter and unfortunately it didn’t work. It must have its own sub-panel. I need to look again tomorrow to see if he ran an Ethernet cable over there when he built it out. The mesh system seems pretty good but I’m not sure how it would be any different than having multiple wireless repeater.
Posted on 7/30/18 at 11:34 pm to TitleistProV1X
Mesh systems are better than wireless repeaters. They have central administration. They handle wireless roaming better. And some have dedicated bands for data backhaul.
I'd try the Netgear Orbi Mesh System (RBK44) for $530. That system has one router and three satellites.
Plug the Orbi router into your current modem/router. Configure your modem/router for bridge mode. Put one satellite in your office. Put the other two satellites downstairs on opposite ends of the house. I think that configuration will give you good coverage.
I'd try the Netgear Orbi Mesh System (RBK44) for $530. That system has one router and three satellites.
Plug the Orbi router into your current modem/router. Configure your modem/router for bridge mode. Put one satellite in your office. Put the other two satellites downstairs on opposite ends of the house. I think that configuration will give you good coverage.
Posted on 7/31/18 at 7:24 am to TAMU-93
For a house as big as yours a mesh network would definitely be better than a normal router. If you get a mesh system you'll want to get one like the Orbi that's "triband" which basically means it's got antennas dedicated just to transferring data between the different access points. Some of the cheaper ones don't have that feature. I recently got the Orbi RBK23 and have been pleased with it's coverage. I don't know how far away your garage is from where your router is, but these mesh systems let you daisy chain if that works best, ie router -> satelite -> satellite, rather than needing everything close enough to connect to the router directly. You may be able to put a satellite in a room near the garage and get coverage to the garage or you might need to do that and put an additional satellite in the garage too.
Posted on 7/31/18 at 7:30 am to TigerinATL
Thanks. I think I'm going to go buy the Orbi RBK23 from Best Buy this morning. I believe I should get the coverage I need if I place one upstairs in the center of the home and one on each end of the house like others have suggested. It will be located about 30' from the office. I expect a signal drop of course but hoping to get at least 50 mbps in the office.
Posted on 7/31/18 at 8:14 am to TitleistProV1X
Hijacking this thread for a similar question: A family member has a house that was built in the 40's and has thick paneled walls. The wireless signal from the office isn't really strong or reliable enough to stream Netflix on a smart TV 75 feet away. There is a wall, AC/Return, Refrigerator and Range in between.
Would a Liniksys Wireless Repeater boost the signal? Looks like I could just plug an ethernet cable from the TV to that and reap the benefits as well. The Wireless antennas on those TV's must suck.
Would a Liniksys Wireless Repeater boost the signal? Looks like I could just plug an ethernet cable from the TV to that and reap the benefits as well. The Wireless antennas on those TV's must suck.
This post was edited on 7/31/18 at 8:16 am
Posted on 7/31/18 at 10:48 am to BitBuster
Guy at Best Buy was really pushing the Eero system. I’m going to give the Orbi a try and if it isn’t cutting it after 1 week I’ll try the Eero.
Posted on 7/31/18 at 2:16 pm to TitleistProV1X
Got the Orbi up and running and not overly impressed so far. Can't even get a signal in a room that is downstairs and maybe 30' away. Only good news it is reaching in my office. Download speed ~25 mbps and 14.8 on the upload(paying for 400). Not great, but better than I was getting. Gonna try to relocate the main router to a more open room to see if that helps. If not, will give the Eero a try at five hundred freakin dollars!
Posted on 7/31/18 at 2:25 pm to TitleistProV1X
quote:
Got the Orbi up and running and not overly impressed so far. Can't even get a signal in a room that is downstairs and maybe 30' away.
You must have something interfering with the signal. I always got a weak signal where my TV is, downstairs left-center of the house. My router and internet connection is upstairs on the right side of the house. I set up a satellite upstairs a few rooms over from the router. It gets a strong signal and passes that on to the downstairs satellite. I'm not sure what's going on with my stairs in the middle of my house, but it seems to be a source of interference
|_____S____|_______|_R____|
|________S_|_______|______|
One other thing to try is to put the routers and satellites in a high location in the room. I have both of my upstairs ones on top of 6 foot tall book cases. That's supposed to allow the signal to spread better.
This post was edited on 7/31/18 at 2:27 pm
Posted on 7/31/18 at 2:30 pm to TigerinATL
quote:
You must have something interfering with the signal.
did OP turn off the wireless on his Charter combo ? Honestly, its the first thing I thought too
This post was edited on 7/31/18 at 2:31 pm
Posted on 7/31/18 at 5:22 pm to TitleistProV1X
try looking into Amplifi by ubnt
You can add to the system.
And, like others have said, hard wire to the satellites.
2-.... I would switch my approach in your office. I would get a(one) nano station.
You can add to the system.
And, like others have said, hard wire to the satellites.
2-.... I would switch my approach in your office. I would get a(one) nano station.
Posted on 8/5/18 at 12:15 am to Jjdoc
I have the AMPLIFI HD and it works great.
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