Wireless location, replacement and access points?

[Lewis]

Hi, I'm trying to assist a friend who has a system setup I assume by Optimum, his ISP. They have a Netgear WNDR3400 in the basement, which has massive interior and exterior stone walls, and is at the far end of the house. Ethernet from the WNDR3400 feeds access points which don't seem to be working or at least on is, but it has a terrible signal.

My thoughts are. 1). perhaps replace the WNDR3400 with a plain router or a ZyXEL VFG 6500, then move the WNDR upstairs setup as a wireless bridge, where it's wireless signal will do some good (don't need wireless in the basement and it seems very little coverage is getting to the first floor). 2). Replace the Netgear WNDR3400 with a Netgear R7000 Nighthawk. (thinking it has better throughput/coverage) 3). From the router now in the basement via ethernet, replace the older access points with either additional Netgear R7000 as AP's or some newer AP devices. It's a large house.

Any thoughts, suggestions regarding this would be most appreciated.
Thanks — Lewis

 

[CaptainSTX]

The best solution is always going to have several APs fed by Ethernet cables located wherever you want or need conectivity.

Before buying new equipment I would trouble shoot the present APs to determine they are actually not working and eliminate the possibility that it is a cabling problem.

Collect the APs bring them down the basement and connect them directly to a LAN port on the present router using a new factory made Ethernet jumper. Test the throughput both by connecting a device to the Ethernet port on the AP assuming it has one and then the WiFi.

If you need to replace any APs look to repurposing moderately priced routers that will connect with g/n clients. Before purchasing more expensive dual band 2.4 / 5 Ghz radios determine how many if any clients your friend has that even have 5 Ghz radios. Personally I would rather have several moderately priced 2.4 Ghz APs than one super duper dual band radio.

If you have cabling problems you will have to trace the wires and be sure that someone hasn't done something stupid and created a loop, strung the wires over fluorescent lights, folded the wires instead of using a nice radius bend. You also may need to reterminate some of the cables if the connectors have been yanked.

As for replacing the primary router it really depends on how much bandwidth they are bringing into the home, how many users they have in the home and how heavily the WAN and LAN are being used.

Good luck.

 

[sinshiva]

minor addition;

regarding OP's wireless bridge idea; a wireless bridge is used to link one router as a client bridge for attached wired devices, to the wireless AP. probably wouldn't be helpful.

 

[Lewis]

Hi CaptainSTX, First thanks for the thoughtful response. I have checked the ethernet cables and am getting gigaspeed to all the remote ports, I have a Fluke Cable IQ test set.
The internet speed tests at 59Mbps down and about 25Mbps up off an ethernet port.
There can be up to 6 users at a given time, but usually two. Devices include 4 computer, several iPhones, several iPads, AppleTV, maybe something else I'm forgetting at the moment. All the latest models.
Some of the current AP's just don't show up or connect, perhaps it's because they are all the same SSID/security setup and I'm seeing persistent connections to another AP? I know because I check the MAC address of the connecting AP.
The speed check through WiFi versus a computer connected directly to the AP's ethernet port is about 1/5 of the above mentioned speed. Connections seem to fall off quickly as one moves away from an AP, say 20-25 feet.
I don't see any other interference on the WiFi bands either.
Hope this additional detail helps with recommendations. - Lewis

 

[Lewis]

Hi Sinshiva, perhaps the use of the term bridge is not correct. My thinking in moving the wireless router out of the basement was to increase it's range/signal based on the construction materials in the basement and that wireless is not needed in the basement. Perhaps putting in a non-wireless router in the basement and moving the wireless router upstairs would be better calling it/setting it up as an access point?

 

[sinshiva]

Hi Sinshiva, perhaps the use of the term bridge is not correct. My thinking in moving the wireless router out of the basement was to increase it's range/signal based on the construction materials in the basement and that wireless is not needed in the basement. Perhaps putting in a non-wireless router in the basement and moving the wireless router upstairs would be better calling it/setting it up as an access point?

yessir. the router doesn't necessarily need to be purely wired, you can always disable radios on an existing wireless router if you like. Personally, i'd prefer this option because high performance WAN to LAN (NAT) is becoming easier to find in these multifunctional devices.

 

[CaptainSTX]

Since most of your devices are newer then they will benefit from newer N APs using 2.4Ghz. 5 Ghz helps if you are in a highly congested area which you say you are not.

Use different non overlapping channels for each of the APs. (1,6 or11 in the US ) but sometimes another channel will work better. I have one location where 9 is by far the best channel. I would also recommend using different SSIDs for each AP so that users that care about their throughput connect to the nearest AP which should give them the greatest bandwidth. Be sure to WPA2 AES for encryption. You can use the same paraphrase on all APs.

This is about all you can do for WiFi. If you can get 60% of your bandwidth on WiFi then you are doing well and consider it a day.