Wifi range extenders

[Richard Cranium]

Not sure if this is a good option or not. Just saw it this morning on woot.

 

https://sellout.woot.com/offers/luma-whole-home-wi-fi-router-3-pack-11?ref=w_cnt_cdet_sell_dly_img

[coltboostin]

Any help from the IT gurus is appreciated.....

 

 

 

1) Should I just buy a great router that will fix all these issues and send the rented one back to the cable company? Or is this not the solution?

 

2) If I want to boost a signal next to a device far from the router- do I need a RELAY device?

 

3) What would CR do?!

[Coaster]

Any help from the IT gurus is appreciated.....

 

Since you have two dead spots I would look at some of the 3 AP mesh systems that lots of places are offering. I haven't done much research because 1 AP covers my little shack.

[Nate1647545505]

I'm a huge fan of Ubiquiti products, https://www.ubnt.com/, have used them in several non-profit and educational installs as well as my own home. Here are some thoughts out loud:

 

Voice is one of the toughest forms of traffic to transport across networks, it's time sensitive, can't really be buffered, and there is no recovery from dropped data. That being said, even if you're VPN'ed into your company, there's still a chance that latency or dropped packets can be happening at any point along the path of the connection - that very well could be outside of your connection and control.

 

Your router is important, but most modern name brand routers can keep up with the traffic flow, basic NATing/firewall, etc. The router is mainly enabling you to get online and share your ISP's connection throughout your home. The Wifi component of that is just allowing you to share it out over a different medium.

 

Usually the issue is Wi-Fi related, whether your neighbors are crowding the frequency spectrum or the Tx and RX strength is just not strong enough.

 

Wireless to Wireless relays can be latency monsters. The latency from the radio hops can be significant and not an ideal situation for VOIP.

 

Some suggestions:

 

Disable WiFi on cable provider router, wire in an AP or two.

 

Keep WiFi enabled on cable provider router, use an Ethernet over Powerline adapter to the distant device. Keep in mind you don't need a lot of throughput for a VOIP phone, more a solid connection that doesn't drop or suffer from latency spikes.

[ShowHBK]

Honestly, I would not mess around with the little stuff... We use something like this to go ~400-500 feet from the roof of the school to the press-box at the school's stadium. These work well enough if they are pointed in the right direction, which sometimes the alignment gets off and we have to adjust. Overall Not a bad option if you want to good clean signal.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Wireless-Wavlink-Extender-Weatherproof-Omni-directional/dp/B076M3V7RF/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1523454360&sr=1-3&keywords=wifi+extender+antenna+outdoor

 

or this

 

https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-PowerBeam-PBE-5AC-Gen2-US-PRECONFIGURED-Performance/dp/B078XHGDGS/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1523454631&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=Ubiquiti+Powerbeam+AC&psc=1

 

[coltboostin]

 

Disable WiFi on cable provider router, wire in an AP or two.

 

Keep WiFi enabled on cable provider router, use an Ethernet over Powerline adapter to the distant device. Keep in mind you don't need a lot of throughput for a VOIP phone, more a solid connection that doesn't drop or suffer from latency spikes.

 

 

Since you have two dead spots I would look at some of the 3 AP mesh systems that lots of places are offering. I haven't done much research because 1 AP covers my little shack.

 

Thanks guys

 

Ok- so AP = access point. I see what you're suggesting of "over powerline" I thought it was literally above a line int he ground or somthing LOL.

 

So-there are devices I can plug into the wall-plug an ethernet cable into- and have internet accessible through my wall power outlet? This is interesting.

 

Nate on your suggestion to disable Cable provider Wifi- the APs would be "over powerline" then correct? Then- the AP's themselves would be the Wifi? Also, if do some sort of over powerline set up (assuming this is how it works) could i theoretically place my desktop in any room that has a plug, and have viable wired internet access?

[ShowHBK]

So-there are devices I can plug into the wall-plug an ethernet cable into- and have internet accessible through my wall power outlet? This is interesting.

 

Just to clarify this statement you made. YES they do make WiFi Range extenders that plug directly into the wall. Range extenders are very close to the same WiFi routers that you use everyday in your house that your phone or laptop connect to. The difference with the ones that plug directly into your wall is the form-factor and function. Many of the wall ones will come with a "SSID" and "Password" out of the box that you cannot modify, all depends on the model you buy.

 

Something to keep in mind is that if you are placing one in an area that already has a weak signal, the internet will be slow as balls because the signal is still weak. You will need to look up the difference between 2,4Ghz and 5Ghz WiFi to fully understand, but the short version is 5Ghz is better for short range and 2.4Ghz is better for long range.

 

Hope this helps!

[excell]

All of your save yourselves the time and headaches and buy a set of Eero Pro's. https://eero.com/shop/pro-wifi-system Yes, they're expensive, but they are bar none the best wifi system you can buy at that price point. Stop, don't look at anything else, don't bother. I've installed a bunch of them for clients and recommended them like crazy and none of my folks have had so much as a mouse fart with them. Excellent units.

[excell]

Not sure if this is a good option or not. Just saw it this morning on woot.

 

https://sellout.woot.com/offers/luma-whole-home-wi-fi-router-3-pack-11?ref=w_cnt_cdet_sell_dly_img

 

...Also, I personally own these and they're "meh". I only still use them because I bought at the preorder for $300 and I am stubborn. They lost the mesh wifi race to Eero.

[coltboostin]

 

Something to keep in mind is that if you are placing one in an area that already has a weak signal, the internet will be slow as balls because the signal is still weak. You will need to look up the difference between 2,4Ghz and 5Ghz WiFi to fully understand, but the short version is 5Ghz is better for short range and 2.4Ghz is better for long range.

 

Hope this helps!

 

 

So maybe I still dont understand...

 

If I am going to a Internet in my power line set up- in theory wouldn't I have the same signal strength at each point in the system? If I have 3 "hot spots" I will have "ultimate signal" and ability to hardwire in at each of those spots?

 

And not I am reading up on them- i am further confused. If it cant work through breaker- I dont see how this will help me at all as both of my location would be on different breakers

 

"Note that power line adapters can't work through a breaker and perform the better the shorter the length of the electrical wiring in between them. "

 

https://www.cnet.com/news/top-five-power-line-adapters-when-wi-fi-fails-you/

[Nate1647545505]

So-there are devices I can plug into the wall-plug an ethernet cable into- and have internet accessible through my wall power outlet? This is interesting.

Yup, they can have mixed results though depending on the house wiring,breakers, etc. If you go this route, might want to get a set from somewhere that you can easily return if it doesn't work out. When they work, they work decently well - not fast - but good for a single connection.

 

Nate on your suggestion to disable Cable provider Wifi- the APs would be "over powerline" then correct? Then- the AP's themselves would be the Wifi? Also, if do some sort of over powerline set up (assuming this is how it works) could i theoretically place my desktop in any room that has a plug, and have viable wired internet access?

I would physically run cabling (in place of using ethernet over powerline adapters) to the new APs. Despite the advertised speed of the powerline adapters, they are generally slow compared to newer WiFi protocols. Trying to backhaul all of the connections from an access point through the power line would be less than ideal. You'll have a solid connection with decent latency, but the pipe is significantly smaller and you could run into issues from that aspect. Again, they can be a pain to setup a pair depending on the house wiring so you might want to test before moving forward.

[ShowHBK]

So maybe I still dont understand...

 

If I am going to a Internet in my power line set up- in theory wouldn't I have the same signal strength at each point in the system? If I have 3 "hot spots" I will have "ultimate signal" and ability to hardwire in at each of those spots?

 

And not I am reading up on them- i am further confused. If it cant work through breaker- I dont see how this will help me at all as both of my location would be on different breakers

 

"Note that power line adapters can't work through a breaker and perform the better the shorter the length of the electrical wiring in between them. "

 

https://www.cnet.com/news/top-five-power-line-adapters-when-wi-fi-fails-you/

 

So at it's simplest form... lets say your WiFi router is on one end of your home and you try and go to your den or living room and your signal is 20% on your phone. You think "Damn, I should get an extender for this room so my signal strength will be 100%". Well, the range extender itself will STILL have 20% signal strength or a weak signal when you install it. The devices attached to the extender will be at 100% strength, but it is POSSIBLE... with an emphasis on the "possible" that the extender will have a rough connection resulting in no faster internet speeds in the room far away from your router.

 

What I am trying to say is that cheep extenders or those of poor quality will not catch anymore WiFi then the phone in your pocket right now.

 

Excell is actually right... to solve the problem... throw a pile of cash at it and have 0 problems ever in the history of ever... lol

[excell]

Excell is actually right... to solve the problem... throw a pile of cash at it and have 0 problems ever in the history of ever... lol

 

I have a set of the things in a company that pushes 1PB+ daily across ~20 users. They sustain 500M when wired (on a 500M fiber connection, so max throughput), 300M with two of the units on wireless. Mesh wifi has been a thing in enterprise for years but usually much more costly.

 

Friend of mine has a 1000M FiOS connection and he just switched to the Eero's from a few Apple Airport Extreme's and now gets nearly full throughput on the Eero's vs ~150M on the Airport's. Ludicrous.

[ShowHBK]

Friend of mine has a 1000M FiOS connection and he just switched to the Eero's from a few Apple Airport Extreme's and now gets nearly full throughput on the Eero's vs ~150M on the Airport's. Ludicrous.

 

Pure Tech Porn! I wish I had that in my building. We have one fiber connection and none of our HP switches are fiber, so the building's AP are not even running off full Gigabit speeds. feelsbadman.jpeg

[excell]

Pure Tech Porn! I wish I had that in my building. We have one fiber connection and none of our HP switches are fiber, so the building's AP are not even running off full Gigabit speeds. feelsbadman.jpeg

 

I have 1G FiOS as well. :buttsex:

[ShowHBK]

I have 1G FiOS as well. :buttsex:

 

http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/facebook/000/077/988/my_body_is_ready.png

[Supplicium]

experience or thoughts on Luxul? I am looking at this:

https://www.luxul.com/kits/ws-250.aspx

[SpaceGhost]

This was posted on MacRumors the other day.

 

https://www.macrumors.com/2018/05/01/linksys-dual-band-velop-mesh-wi-fi/