Metal elements causing the signal quality to drop?

[huckey]

Hi all,
I live in an L-shaped house looking more or less like on the attached picture. I have an ASUS RT-N66U wireless router (marked with red rectangle) placed in what I call the office. In the living room I have a Samsung D-series TV where I want to watch some streaming media.

Now what I can see is that the signal quality around the TV is quite low causing the streaming to get hickups. I guess this may have something to do with the fact that there is a big metal bar along one of the sides of the living room (marked with dark blue rectangle) plus that the metal starcase (marked with light blue) may also interfere. The distance between the router and the TV is around 10 meters.

The question is how to make the signal quality better around the TV. I have browsed through some threads in this forum and as far as I can understand it there are two options: a stronger external antenna (or rather three since this router has 3 antennas) or an access point/replicator/router/bridge placed close to the TV. Unfortunately, I do not have the option of moving the router itself.

What is your advice? How can I make the WLAN signal stronger around the TV?

Best regards

Huckey

 

[claykin]

33 feet and poor wifi at TV? Hmmm, are you connecting @ 2.4 or 5Ghz? Are you using the Samsung built-in wifi or do you have a bridge on back of TV? If so what model? If youa re using built in wifi, maybe consider trying a 3rd party bridge and connect to TV's network jack.

If you want good streaming media I don't recommend repeating your wireless signal. Do you have wired jacks around the house? Somewhere closer to TV where you can locate a second access point?

Have you tried to disconnect ALL other wireless devices and test again? cordless phones, computers, phones, pads, etc... Do you have other wireless devices such as communicating light switches, etc?

 

[huckey]

Hi again,
well, I can still watch some HD content from e.g. Youtube but at times it gets shaky. I can't observe a similar phenomenon on my PC which is connected to the router via cable.

I am connecting over 2.4 GHz and using the Samsung built-in wifi. Beneath the TV I also have an XBox 360 and there I also observe issues with wifi signal quality.

With Wifi Analyzer app on my android device I could measure that the strength of my signal is around -25dBm aroudn 30 cm from the router and is around -70dBm at the TV.

I have not yet tried disconnecting all other devices - will be able to do that first in a week time as I have guests now. Still, I would like to be able to use all the devices I have now on (including the cordless phone) AND the WiFi for my TV.

I think I could have the second AP close to the TV but then it would be standing on the same desk as the TV so I do not know if that would be much of a gain. Alternatively it could stand in the corner of the room (where the metal bar ends).

If I were to go for the bridge solution, what things should I take into consideration? Is there a specificic brand or model that goes specifically well with my RT-N66U?

Best regards

Huckey

 

[tipstir]

What type of network media player are you using? Mine is not L more double Rectangle Shape. My SOHO is not done yet so I am in a make shift one for now.. I should have had cable company make the main network connections in my UTLS room but instead it's in my Living Room.

Each end of the house has APN = access point. I see your suing Android and doing WiFi Analyzer sweep.. Make sure you use the meter mode that gives you off a tone.

On Windows side you can use the Cloud WiFi Manager from Merik it's 100% free. I use their Java base to see how the house is doing with WiFi both APN show 100% clear sight. Areas that might be down are the outdoor Patio, Kitchen, Guest bedroom. I do pickup everyone around me my lot is huge so is everyone.

Does your dwelling have upstairs. You could run 100FT to max 300FT of CAT5e or CAT-higher outside or up through the attic to get to your APN so you can get a strong stable connection. See in some areas I don't have that options to drill through the block wall to get APN out their will use APNP instead.

 

[stevech]

Hi again,
well, I can still watch some HD content from e.g. Youtube but at times it gets shaky. I can't observe a similar phenomenon on my PC which is connected to the router via cable.

I am connecting over 2.4 GHz and using the Samsung built-in wifi. Beneath the TV I also have an XBox 360 and there I also observe issues with wifi signal quality.
Best regards

Huckey

The WiFi signal strength needs to be in the excellent category - like -70dBm or better (more positive). But more importantly, the competition for air time in 2.4GHz, if you have neighbors with "busy" WiFi, has a great impact.

With careful selection of equipment, antenna types, locations, minimizing path obstructions, I was able to reliably stream standard definition video in 2.4GHz despite living in a condo complex.
HD 1080i... not so.

So I went to MoCA wired at 70Mbps net yield. No issues.

Be sure to assess your Netflix/Youtube quality with a PC connected by wired means, and for several days. Then compare to the most prudent WiFi arrangement you can achieve. My recommendation is that streaming HD via WiFi usually don't make a good partnership. Assuming it's not your ISP's fault.

 

[huckey]

Hi again,
so I have now confirmed it that this is the Wifi issue and not the ISP. Watched the same content on the TV with Wifi (sometimes issues) and with cable (no issues).

It seems though that I am missing only little of the bandwith as the issues occur only with higher bitrates in 1080p quality so I hope that just by increasing the performance of the wireless network slightly I could already arrive where I want to be.

So I can now rephrase the original question into the following ones:
1. Can I hope to get better WLAN performance if I have another wireless router standing next to the TV (being connected to it with cable) and bridged to my main router? (the line of argumentation here would be that the router's antennas are by default better than the antenna sitting in the TV)

2. Or should I rather have another AP NOT connected with cable to the TV but only repeating the signal from the main router via WLAN?

3. Assuming one of the above is correct, what things do I need to consider for the new router/AP/repeater? Does it have to be another RT-N66U to work properly (hopefully not )?

Thanks and best regards

Huckey

 

[thetoad30]

Hi again,
so I have now confirmed it that this is the Wifi issue and not the ISP. Watched the same content on the TV with Wifi (sometimes issues) and with cable (no issues).

It seems though that I am missing only little of the bandwith as the issues occur only with higher bitrates in 1080p quality so I hope that just by increasing the performance of the wireless network slightly I could already arrive where I want to be.

So I can now rephrase the original question into the following ones:
1. Can I hope to get better WLAN performance if I have another wireless router standing next to the TV (being connected to it with cable) and bridged to my main router? (the line of argumentation here would be that the router's antennas are by default better than the antenna sitting in the TV)

2. Or should I rather have another AP NOT connected with cable to the TV but only repeating the signal from the main router via WLAN?

3. Assuming one of the above is correct, what things do I need to consider for the new router/AP/repeater? Does it have to be another RT-N66U to work properly (hopefully not )?

Thanks and best regards

Huckey

I would go with a bridge, and I would get a dual-band-capable one to see if 5GHz or 2.4GHz will work better.

The new Apple Airport Express, a Cisco WET610N or a WES610N, or another brand. Either way, these will act like wireless clients on your network, instead of the repeater that will more than halve your wireless throughput. They also only need configuring from their end, and no messing with the router to get WDS working.

I would buy from a retail outlet in this case to make sure the device works.

 

[tipstir]

APN you got them all on the same SSID and Channel?
Well you don't have to buy the same brand of course others will say otherwise.

 

[stevech]

"t seems though that I am missing only little of the bandwith as the issues occur only with higher bitrates in 1080p quality"

1080i can work with a perfect WiFi signal.
1080p is far more bits/sec. I say it's hopeless on 20MHz WiFi.