New router with good range

[tonyb61]

Hi,
I am looking to buy a new router, that has a better coverage in my house. I have three AV devices with wifi, a couple of smartphones and a wifi printer, and occasionally have guests who would like guest wifi coverage. We do use streaming services, one video, one audio on the AV devices They are mainly 2.4G devices at the moment. My internet comes via cable, and the cable modem currently also does the routing/wifi duties too, but can be bridged so you can connect a external router.

My house is L shaped, the cable comes in downstairs on one end of the L which is where the cable modem/wifi router is placed and I find the coverage particularly on the other leg of the L is pretty poor even though not a long way away, maybe a few metres. I imagine this is caused by the signal going through several brick walls, and probably because the ISP /cable modem/router/wifi box is probably not that good. I also find the wireless locks up fairly frequently requiring a reboot of the cable modem/router.

I'm looking for a reliable wifi router with a wan input, that has good range/throughput at 2.4G compared to the ISP supplied box with maybe 5G support for newer devices when they arrive in our household, and one that does not need rebooting daily or weekly to keep wifi working.

Any suggestions ??

Thanks

 

[pege63]

I would have bought 2 cheap access points (AP) or Routers put them in AP mode, but you can also choose homepluggs but it would be more expensive and you would at best get 200-300 MB by electricity network to 1GB through cable like the CAT6 cable.
But thats me and the PIC its just to show how a solution can be done.
If money is no problem go for another solution more expensive.

 

[thiggins]

What is the make and model of your current router?

At minimum you need to relocate the old or new router more centrally, i.e. at the base corner of the L. If you can't use Ethernet, you could use a pair of HomePlug AV2 adapters between the cable modem Ethernet output and new router WAN input.

 

[tonyb61]

What is the make and model of your current router?

At minimum you need to relocate the old or new router more centrally, i.e. at the base corner of the L. If you can't use Ethernet, you could use a pair of HomePlug AV2 adapters between the cable modem Ethernet output and new router WAN input.

I do use homeplug to carry ethernet to some rooms around the house, but that is on the router side of the network, and none of the smaller devices like phones/tablets have ethernet so I do also need wifi in addition to homeplug.

It's a virgin media superhub 2, which probably only means something to people in the uk....

I suppose I could use the existing router network and install wireless ap points in a more central location but my wife hates boxes like those in the house ? I can have them in my study which is where it is at the moment !

Thanks
Tony

 

[tonyb61]

I would have bought 2 cheap access points (AP) or Routers put them in AP mode, but you can also choose homepluggs but it would be more expensive and you would at best get 200-300 MB by electricity network to 1GB through cable like the CAT6 cable.
But thats me and the PIC its just to show how a solution can be done.
If money is no problem go for another solution more expensive.

Thanks for the reply but unless I can get invisible/very small wireless ap points, they are probably not an option My house is similar shape to that in the picture but a lot smaller with one room on one leg, and three rooms on the other, plus upstairs repeating that layout which is why I was a bit surprised it was so bad. In the corner of the L it is only 3m away from the router but the signal throughput is really poor or disconnects altogether.
Thanks

 

[thiggins]

Near as I can tell, your ISP router is a NETGEAR VMDG485, which is a dual-band N router. So moving up to an AC1200 or AC1900 class router should give you a little boost for throughput, but not so much for range.

If you are using HomePlug already, then you could try the new router in various locations, but using it in Access Point mode. Make sure you set it to a different channel than the main router so they don't compete for bandwidth.

There is not much I can do about your wife's dislike of "boxes like those" in the house. But AC1200 class routers have only two antennas and AC1900 only three...

 

[tonyb61]

Actually I must have the virgin superhub, it's definitely only single band. It's like the one on the right in the video !
The guy in the video did say that the old one was awful !
Thanks
Tony

 

[pege63]

Thanks for the reply but unless I can get invisible/very small wireless ap points, they are probably not an option My house is similar shape to that in the picture but a lot smaller with one room on one leg, and three rooms on the other, plus upstairs repeating that layout which is why I was a bit surprised it was so bad. In the corner of the L it is only 3m away from the router but the signal throughput is really poor or disconnects altogether.
Thanks

Ask your ISP if you can switch to this one http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.ph...300mbps-wifi-superhub-3-broadband-router.html

 

[tonyb61]

Ask your ISP if you can switch to this one http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.ph...300mbps-wifi-superhub-3-broadband-router.html

I have asked, and they have agreed to supply that one. We'll see if that improves the wifi performance.....
Thanks

 

[pege63]

I have asked, and they have agreed to supply that one. We'll see if that improves the wifi performance.....
Thanks

Yes thats a dualband router with AC same as a (NetGear C6250) try to set the router in the corner there the first AP is on my picture to see if you gett better cower range from there.
Try to find out the best option where the router can stand to get the best coverage by move it around if you not pleased.