Help fixing Home Wifi Signal Strength
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I haven't had to mess with this technology in the home sector in a long time. My Mom's house is 2,400 square feet all 1 level. Her internet connection comes in in the farthest bedroom in the house. Because of course, they use wifi typically on the other end of the house. They currently are using a modem with a built in router, and it sucks, only getting about 10% throughput to the computers on the other end of the house. I am wanting to fix this for Christmas, but I wanted to get some feedback first. Would I be better off getting a decent AC router, with antenna pointing in every direction, or take advantage of something like Ubiquity or Google Wifi mesh and just setting up another AP in the middle of the house? Priorities are low cost, fool proof, no really fool proof, then performance.
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2400 sq ft isn't that big. A decent normal AP might do the trick just fine. normally the issue is just those cheap all in ones.
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If there's a basement/crawlspace you should be able to easily run a new cable and put the AP wherever it's used most or in the center of the house.
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When I went from my ISP provided AP to a UBNT one, it was amazing how much better coverage it had.
@scottalanmiller might be right you might just need a better AP.
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@s-hackleman said in Help fixing Home Wifi Signal Strength:
I haven't had to mess with this technology in the home sector in a long time. My Mom's house is 2,400 square feet all 1 level. Her internet connection comes in in the farthest bedroom in the house. Because of course, they use wifi typically on the other end of the house. They currently are using a modem with a built in router, and it sucks, only getting about 10% throughput to the computers on the other end of the house. I am wanting to fix this for Christmas, but I wanted to get some feedback first. Would I be better off getting a decent AC router, with antenna pointing in every direction, or take advantage of something like Ubiquity or Google Wifi mesh and just setting up another AP in the middle of the house? Priorities are low cost, fool proof, no really fool proof, then performance.
AmpliFi HD (High-Density) Home Wi-Fi System https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01L9O08PW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_Q9UkAb56134JP
You can get just the base for $130.
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@brrabill said in Help fixing Home Wifi Signal Strength:
When I went from my ISP provided AP to a UBNT one, it was amazing how much better coverage it had.
@scottalanmiller might be right you might just need a better AP.
I kinda figured this could be an option, but I haven't used a newer one in a long time. My house is small, and the wifi router is near dead center in the home by my design. Is there an agreed upon AP/Router that is better than the rest?
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@s-hackleman said in Help fixing Home Wifi Signal Strength:
@brrabill said in Help fixing Home Wifi Signal Strength:
When I went from my ISP provided AP to a UBNT one, it was amazing how much better coverage it had.
@scottalanmiller might be right you might just need a better AP.
I kinda figured this could be an option, but I haven't used a newer one in a long time. My house is small, and the wifi router is near dead center in the home by my design. Is there an agreed upon AP/Router that is better than the rest?
The AmpliFi
I would never use the EdgeMax + UniFi combo in a layman house.
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In your case, I would buy jsut the base unit I think. Then if coverage on the far side is poor, buy a single mesh antenna for $115.
Or if you think for sure you will need a mesh, then buy the kits because the spend is barely more than the base and a single mesh, and you will have awesomeness coverage.
But I think you could try just the base.
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@jaredbusch said in Help fixing Home Wifi Signal Strength:
In your case, I would buy jsut the base unit I think. Then if coverage on the far side is poor, buy a single mesh antenna for $115.
Or if you think for sure you will need a mesh, then buy the kits because the spend is barely more than the base and a single mesh, and you will have awesomeness coverage.
But I think you could try just the base.
Well with the Base + 1 mesh is in the $260 price point. Is there a better base unit for <$260 that would be better than just the base by its self?
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@s-hackleman said in Help fixing Home Wifi Signal Strength:
@jaredbusch said in Help fixing Home Wifi Signal Strength:
In your case, I would buy jsut the base unit I think. Then if coverage on the far side is poor, buy a single mesh antenna for $115.
Or if you think for sure you will need a mesh, then buy the kits because the spend is barely more than the base and a single mesh, and you will have awesomeness coverage.
But I think you could try just the base.
Well with the Base + 1 mesh is in the $260 price point. Is there a better base unit for <$260 that would be better than just the base by its self?
Probably a number of home quality things in the $150-$175 price point. I do not know anything about them as I refuse to help people at home.
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@jaredbusch said
I would never use the EdgeMax + UniFi combo in a layman house.
You would just need the UniFi since it already has a modem.router, but yeah I wouldn't want a layman setting that up.
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I did just actually setup a AmpliFi in my mom's apartment because I was tired of dealing with complaints.
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@s-hackleman said in Help fixing Home Wifi Signal Strength:
@brrabill said in Help fixing Home Wifi Signal Strength:
When I went from my ISP provided AP to a UBNT one, it was amazing how much better coverage it had.
@scottalanmiller might be right you might just need a better AP.
I kinda figured this could be an option, but I haven't used a newer one in a long time. My house is small, and the wifi router is near dead center in the home by my design. Is there an agreed upon AP/Router that is better than the rest?
I did this for exactly the same reason and just use the base old model of Ubiquiti AP and even the lowest end model went from "the house isn't covered" to "the house, yard and half the cul-du-sac are covered."
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@jaredbusch said
I do not know anything about them as I refuse to help people at home.
And Happy Holidays To All!
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@jaredbusch said in Help fixing Home Wifi Signal Strength:
I did just actually setup a AmpliFi in my mom's apartment because I was tired of dealing with complaints.
Heartwarming. You should make that into a children's book.
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@brrabill said in Help fixing Home Wifi Signal Strength:
@jaredbusch said in Help fixing Home Wifi Signal Strength:
I did just actually setup a AmpliFi in my mom's apartment because I was tired of dealing with complaints.
Heartwarming. You should make that into a children's book.
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@scottalanmiller said >
I did this for exactly the same reason and just use the base old model of Ubiquiti AP and even the lowest end model went from "the house isn't covered" to "the house, yard and half the cul-du-sac are covered."
It's really amazing.
Same thing at our work. Replaced a consumer-ish WiFi router with the UBNTs. Amazing difference.
Though, we all seem to be growing third limbs. Strange...
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@tim_g said in Help fixing Home Wifi Signal Strength:
https://www.amazon.com/Rapture-GT-AC5300-Tri-band-AC5300-Gigabit/dp/B071DPCKQ6/
You must have missed my priorities list....
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@s-hackleman said in Help fixing Home Wifi Signal Strength:
@tim_g said in Help fixing Home Wifi Signal Strength:
https://www.amazon.com/Rapture-GT-AC5300-Tri-band-AC5300-Gigabit/dp/B071DPCKQ6/
You must have missed my priorities list....
Probably...
