I have dead spots in a historic, large, odd shaped house

[Moabdave]

Hello,
Long story short, a few years ago I got a deal I couldn't refuse on a historic, large home that had been abandoned. I have yet to find a Wi-Fi solution that completely works and am looking for advice. I'm considering the ASUS GT-AC5300 or one of their AImesh systems.

The longer version: It's about 5000 sqft, two story, with several extruded corners. It has thick walls with all kinds of surprises inside, including abandoned old wiring systems, and both abandoned and active pipes for the steam heat and water. When I first moved in, I just bought some locally available routers and did a quick bake off. The only one that did a half-way decent job was the Asus RT-AC3200. It works well, and I've come to like the Asus feature set and experience. I've not experienced many of the issues I've read on these forums, (the router has frozen a couple of times, but nothing intolerable). But now that I've finally gotten all structural, electrical and plumbing issues in order (fingers crossed) I want to fix my Wi-Fi problems.

I have two dead spots. One I was able to fix with a cheap $50 extender installed as an AP point, by running some cat 5 to that corner. However, the other has proven to be tough to fix. There's not many places between the router and this corner with available power and/or an easy place to run cat5. Using an android Wi-Fi scanner app, the signal shows in the "acceptable" range, but bounces around a lot, and kisses the unacceptable line. I have stronger signal from my neighbor's ISP issued router than my own in this corner. Any opening of doors or movement causes signals to dip. Most laptops and phones work, but the TV struggles. Currently I'm making do with another cheap $50 Wi-Fi extender. But it's located too far from the router to be of much good, it looses signal too. Plus I'm seeing all of the latency and throughput issues I've read about from using one.

I'm a tinkerer and like to find my own solutions, even if it means returning equipment that didn't work.

Right now I'm stuck between trying a monster, overkill router like the Asus 5300 family (I'm leaning towards the GT for the extra ports) or a mesh system, like buying RT-AC88U's one at a time until I've fixed that one corner. I have researched the reviews and read similar threads, but still haven't been able to reach a decision. As soon as I get close to picking one or the other, I read a review that scares me out of it. After reading these forums another idea came to my head. There is an existing coax cable to this corner of the house and maybe MoCa is an option? But I'm just learning about this and don't know where to begin. Any advice will be appreciated, and I thank you in advance.
David

 

[coxhaus]

Old house may have old coax not worth anything. Can you attach Ethernet cable to it and pull the coax out pulling the Ethernet through?

 

[Moabdave]

Can you attach Ethernet cable to it and pull the coax out pulling the Ethernet through?

Probably not. The run is routed via the garage, outside under ground and back inside (implying it's not that old). The exposed parts out of the ground are in conduit but I suspect it's bare cable once underground. Thanks for the tip.

 

[thiggins]

Right now I'm stuck between trying a monster, overkill router like the Asus 5300 family (I'm leaning towards the GT as I'm out of ports with my current steup) or a mesh system,

Bigger router doesn't mean more range. All routers have to obey transmit power limits.

Best way is to get an AP closer to the area where you want to cover, preferably connected via Ethernet.
If you can't do that, then mesh, extender or wireless bridge is next best. But to give yourself the best chance for success, the router/extender connection (backhaul, in mesh terms) should be four stream. And if you're going to push a lot of traffic over that link, then you want a dedicated backhaul, again, four stream.

If you want ASUS, then you'll need to pair that ASUS tri-band 5300 with a four stream router like the RT-AC86U (four stream on 5 GHz only) or RT-AC88U (four stream both bands).

 

[Moabdave]

Thanks Tim. I truly appreciate it. It sounds like my best option is try to find a way to get an ethernet cable past at least a few of the obstacles, rather that pinning my hopes on a router with a longer range. And you've given me an idea. I am aware of a crawl space access and vent near the dead corner (I can't get all the way to the dead corner, there's obstacles from old remodels that are blocking the path). However, the router would be in the crawlspace, near a vent, and so no idea the temperatures it would be exposed to, not to mention could get humid in winter (but would be protected from actual rain and snow). Do you have any experience with how well wi-fi radios do when in a crawlspace environment?

 

[CaptainSTX]

Look for an outdoor AP and you will be fine. Many of this type of AP can also be powered using POE solving another problem unless you have an outlet in your crawl space.

 

[Moabdave]

Look for an outdoor AP and you will be fine.

Thank you all so much for your help. What I've decided is i'm going to take the el-cheapo repeater I'm already using and reconfigure it for AP mode and get as close as I can to the dead spot in the crawlspace. If that works, I'll replace the el-cheapo with an outdoor rated one for permanent use. If that doesn't work, well I guess ASUS gets to put their fingers in my wallet for a mesh repeater. Thanks again. you've truly helped.

 

[thiggins]

I have no experience with putting WiFi gear in outdoor environments. If it's an enclosed, but unheated space, my guess is that unless you have under floor insulation, the temp range will be ok.

I think your plan to try the extender connected via Ethernet is a good one. Let us know how it works out.

 

[degrub]

MOCA 1.1 should give you enough bandwidth for streaming and casual browsing. It is also compatible with RG59 which was used for CATV. If there was digital TV service then it may be RG-6, which will be good for MOCA 2 or 2.5
If it is a dedicated run with no splitters, then you should be good to go . Only cable damage would be an issue. IF there are splitters, as long as they are bi-directional, MOCA 1.1 will be fine. MOCA2 uses a higher frequency range than MOCA 1.1 and it is above CATV bands so CATV splitters will not pass the signal usually.
You will need power at both ends for the MOCA modem.

 

[COBOL-Coder]

Just as a FYI I'm operating an RT-AC5300 in an older medium to large house with lathe & plaster walls and I'm getting great coverage with one midpoint dual band extender.

 

[Moabdave]

Let us know how it works out.

I had 2 phones in the room in question watching different youtube videos and not a single hiccup. So that's a positive sign. However, I'll have a teenager moving into that room in a couple of weeks, so that will be the REAL stress test Thanks to everybody who chimed in with ideas.