What is good home router for strong wifi coverage - also are extenders worthwhile?

Forums › LAN (ethernet/Wifi/routers/Bluetooth) › What is good home router for strong wifi coverage - also are extenders worthwhile?

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timmmay

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#797396 10-Apr-2013 20:55

I just have two access points with two SSIDs at home. It's not perfect but it works.

timmmay

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#797541 11-Apr-2013 08:08

Is there are cheaper option than the ubquity picostation that will do better than an ISP supplied rounter and work fine for a standard NZ 60's house? The friend who wants better coverage isn't earns an average income, and I just want to make sure I'm not wasting his money.

chevrolux

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#797542 11-Apr-2013 08:09

You could get serious and put in Unifi on the new v3 controller. Zero-handoff roaming which is controlled on the AP's side and not left up to the client. =D

sbiddle

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#797555 11-Apr-2013 08:42

timmmay: I just have two access points with two SSIDs at home. It's not perfect but it works.

Handoff is controlled by the device you're using, so if you experience issues it's down to that, not the WiFi itself. Each handover also requires a rekey if you're using encryption which is what causes the packet loss during a handover. Unfortunately B/G/N WiFi was never really designed to offer seamless handover!

timmmay

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#797798 11-Apr-2013 14:37

I'm going to ask this again to the guys who do a lot of WiFi... is there are cheaper option than the ubquity picostation that will do better than an ISP supplied rounter and work fine for a standard NZ 60's house?

I'm helping a friend improve his WiFi, he's not particularly well off, I just want to make sure I'm not wasting his money buying a $150 product if there's a $50 option that'll work almost as well.

richms

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#797856 11-Apr-2013 16:17

Going high power is a waste if the device is low power like a phone. I can sit in parts of work and see 2 bars and -70dB from the AP, but it will not work on the phone, just sits on authorizing and flick back to scanning constantly, when it does connect it will barely load anything.

You need more accesspoints, more sensitve ones or more antenna gain to get signal back from the device ok.

$9 ones from PB are ok.

Richard rich.ms

timmmay

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#797908 11-Apr-2013 17:24

I won't know what he needs until I arrive there and look around. It's a small house, I could throw a rock from one side to the other easily, so I don't really know why the existing AP isn't working. It is for a phone, and maybe a laptop, which I think is about 5m from the access point. Most people don't want cords around, holes drilled, or anything visible.

My assumption is he has it on the floor, so a basic AP attached to the wall behind a desk may be all he needs - ie the $9 one. Then again I may recommend more expensive if it's more sensitive. I tend to buy from ascent, do you know a decent brand?

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mobiusnz

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#797966 11-Apr-2013 19:04

timmmay: I won't know what he needs until I arrive there and look around. It's a small house, I could throw a rock from one side to the other easily, so I don't really know why the existing AP isn't working. It is for a phone, and maybe a laptop, which I think is about 5m from the access point. Most people don't want cords around, holes drilled, or anything visible.

My assumption is he has it on the floor, so a basic AP attached to the wall behind a desk may be all he needs - ie the $9 one. Then again I may recommend more expensive if it's more sensitive. I tend to buy from ascent, do you know a decent brand?

Its also worth checking out what else he might have thats 2.4ghz - IE Cordless phones (many are 2.4ghz), Wireless A/V senders - Try a different channel and see if you get any better coverage. It does sound like A small older house like that should be easily covered even with a cheap ADSL all in one. I had problems at my last house that my office was an addition so the walls that used to be exterior were interior lined with Silver Paper (how they used to insulate walls!) which dropped my signal by half at least.

The number of times I've been onside and found the router on the floor behind the desk, the antenna's pointing horizontal etc so you might find a very easy fix.

Matt Beechey Mobius Network Solutions

timmmay

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#798018 11-Apr-2013 19:56

Thanks for the tips, I'll definitely check all that :)

ashnizzle

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#798135 11-Apr-2013 22:33

anyone here own an asus rt-ac66u? im thinking of getting that too.

corksta

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#798328 12-Apr-2013 11:43

ashnizzle: anyone here own an asus rt-ac66u? im thinking of getting that too.

Just bought one yesterday to replace a Time Capsule, it's good!

networkn

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#798329 12-Apr-2013 11:44

corksta:
ashnizzle: anyone here own an asus rt-ac66u? im thinking of getting that too.

Just bought one yesterday to replace a Time Capsule, it's good!

I'd love to see some real world speed tests. What do you use on the client side?

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