Wi-Fi Routers

chillidoggy

My TalkTalk router Wi-Fi signal appears to be getting worse and worse. I've just had an online conversation with a bloke in Mumbai called Colin who assures me that he's checked it, and it's all working fine. After my responses, and the ensuing conversation, it ended up with him suggesting I needed 'invasive diagnostics', and to speak to a real person, no doubt by calling their premium rate number, only to end up speaking to someone who I can't understand.

One of the problems is that my house has foil-lined insulation in all the walls, and thus the signals can be difficult to pick up, but it's never been as bad as it is now. Anyone got any views on a decent, higher powered Wi-Fi router?

octatonic

I have the new 802.11ac Apple Airport Extreme router- it is expensive but very fast and powerful.

Honestly though, the way to do it if you have foil lined insulation is to get two routers, connected by a long cat 5 or 6 cable that you put under the floor and run one of the routers in bridge mode.

I have one router in the studio connected over ethernet cable to the main router and I get fast internet throughout the house.

I'd also consider whether TalkTalk are throttling your speed.

What sort of computer to computer transfer speeds do you get if you put one at each end of the house?

strumjoughlamps

getting worse and worse is the concern to tacke... have you changed the routers channel to see if that helps? might me a neighbour has recently gone on a similar channel and is conflicting?

Emp_Fab

Do you have an Android / iPhone perchance ?  If so, download the free app "WiFi Analyser" and it will tell you what networks are in your area, and more importantly, what channels they are using, and the signal strength - including yours.  IF you find someone else on the same or adjacent channel to you, you can change your channel (I'll walk you through it).  You can also walk around the house with it and work out where your signal is good / shit.

It's unlikely to be a faulty router - more likely to be a channel conflict and/or a physical location problem with the actual router.

bazxkr

I will always run wired to rooms if possible as even fairly close can be signal loss. If I couldn't do that I'd look at the mains power set ups to send the net that way.

I'd check the talktalk service first. Do a speed test wired & wifi right next to router then test in different areas & see how signal/service deteriorates

Cheers

Baz

ToneControl

There are some good reviews on tomshardware, some routers are quite poor. The ASUS ones get good reviews, and the new AC one is very good - of course only useful if you have or intend to get matching adaptors.

However - make sure you understand the effect of sharing with other devices that routers suffer - AFAIK when your kids connect using a crappy old laptop or phone, every device connected slows down because the wireless protocol goes down to the slowest one connected

"If an AP is dual-band but not dual-antenna, and if it is configured to allow devices using a range of wireless standards on the same network (such as 802.11b/g/n), then the connections will probably use the lowest common denominator. If an 802.11n client connects to an 802.11b/g/n AP, it may only see 802.11b speeds, or 802.11g speeds if there are no 802.11b clients connected at the time."

http://www.tomshardware.com/picturestory/571-3-wi-fi-beamforming-networking.html

 

I'd advise to get a top-whack dual-band, and keep the higher frequency band separate for your best kit

The Asus I bought has special guest SSIDs, so you can avoid giving your main connection to your kids/visitors

Like Octa says, it's best to run a new one in addition - with them physically far apart if possible, with a long Ethernet cable between. Another trick I have used is to connect the router via a mains-based LAN connection - less reliable but less wires. Rarely works if you have a different ring main in the 2 areas.

chillidoggy

Lots of good info! Ta very much guys!

 

@Emp - yes I have an iphone, I'll do the app thing, it sounds like a nice easy start.

 

I checked the broadband speed earlier on the PC, it was 3MB download, and about 0.5MB upload. It should be "Up to 8MB", but rather than advertising a minimum speed which I believe should be a legal requirement, the bastards always give you the theoretical maximum, which never actually happens in my experience.

Emp_Fab

Well, to be fair to them, it's all dependent on how much wire there is between you and the exchange.  If you live next door to the exchange (as, luckily for me, I almost do !), you'll get the 8Mb, but as you get further away, the speed drops.  So, in my case, I actually do get 8Mb (well, 7.15 to be precise).  If you were selling broadband, you wouldn't advertise it as "3Mb (probably) but you might get a lot more than that" :-)

Myranda

I get more internets than I was quoted by BT. Unless there's a bug in their line test software... they said I'd get 68mb up and 16mb up. Speedtests all say I get 74mb-76mb down and 18mb-19mb up.

The Homehub 4 wireless router is a bit cack though. Signal strength over the last router is pretty poor... and that one wasn't working properly any more.

For my tuppence worth on wifi - get a router and dongle that you can put a new antenna on. I've bunged a huge antenna on my laptop's wireless dodah and can pick up internets from all over the place (used to get the one in the flat, next door, the public pub one and the private pub one in the list... now when discovering access points I find about 15). but my interneting on the laptop is pretty much flawless now.

20" antenna ftw!

Emp_Fab

You have a twenty inch antenna on your laptop ???!!! 

Myranda

Yup

Emp_Fab

Are those 'men inches' or real inches ? 

That's insane.

You must look like you've got some kind of amateur radio setup attached to your laptop !