Broadband Tech > Wireless Networking > VERY slow wifi in one area of my house

reply to faze

Re: VERY slow wifi in one area of my house

If the 2.4GHz band is that crowded, your options are limited. Moving to 5GHz means all of your endpoint devices have to be compatible.

I have one customer using a repeater like this one with good results: »www.amazon.com/Uspeed-Wireless-N···8&sr=1-3

Easy to set up. Inexpensive. Cuts your maximum theoretical bandwidth in half, but I think you'd be pretty happy with 50mbps or more.

I dunno if I need a repeater... If the issue is interference between floors, won't that just repeat the same fuzzy signal? Speed elsewhere in the house is fine. Just the living room is like a black hole.

What about homeplugs? Are they securable at all?

I thought you ruled out homeplug a number of posts ago. »en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HomePlug#Security

The problem is interference from many other sources.and the radiation pattern of the primary source. You mention a dead spot directly below the bridge. It's common for an omnidirectional antenna to have a hole in the pattern as mentioned earlier. Not sure why the bridge is being used. I assume because of the spectrum congestion and poor coverage by the Verizon router.

A repeater would be placed part way between the source and the target area. It will pick up your signal and rebroadcast it to provide coverage.

Another way to go is to ditch the VZ router's wireless and add a good small business grade access point. You should be able to easily cover a small two-story townhouse with wireless.

I do have a WRT54G lying around...

Probably won't buy you much given your description of the environment but it wouldn't cost anything to try it.

So the repeater will help with a more "full" signal? Also the WRT54G has more than one antenna which could help...

A repeater extends the usable range of the signal.

The WRT54G probably only transmits on one antenna. Its only value would be if its wireless capabilities (the combination of the radio and the antenna design) are better than the VZ Actiontech.

Try it and see.

So you're saying that the repeater you linked on Amazon a bit ago should (even though I have 100% signal through the house) speed up the dead zone area?

I missed the part where you said you had 100% signal. I thought you had a dead spot.

No, the repeater won't help. I'm out of ideas other than running wires. With 7-10 other wireless networks on each channel, WiFi is going to be problematic.

Oh, yeah I have 100% signal everywhere, except the basement obviously.

Yeah I guess it's just noisey. Anything I can do about that or no? It's just weird that speed is only an issue in one spot. Nowhere else.

Oh this makes it even more complicated...

Speed test on the PC in the living room gets 7bmit down and 18mbit up. Nowhere near the bandwidth I'm getting for file copies that goes between nothing (timing out) and 3mb/s.

So frustrating! lol

I turned off compatibility mode on the router, so it's only on N.

Didn't help speeds in the living room as far as speedtest.net is concerned, but I'm at 15% of a 1gb file and it hasn't timed out yet.

reply to faze
With the number of networks around you, there are very few options to resolve your problem. You either need to switch to something with less interference, or move the units that need to communicate closer together.

I would start with simultaneous dual-band routers or access points. Put one on each floor, in the center of the area that needs covered, about a foot below the ceiling. Any networked device that does not move should be wired, if at all possible. The next best option is power-line and then 5ghz wireless. A 2.4ghz 'repeater' will just add to your problems, unless it is a dual-radio unit.

I am thinking about powerline but I'm not sure how secure that is in a townhome. They're brand new houses but ya never know... The people on either side of me aren't really the brightest crayons in the box but I would rather be safe.

I switched to pure 802.11n and I copied a 1 gig file in about 15 mins. Just now finished as I typed this up. Speeds were around 1mb/s average.

So maybe have an AP downstairs (not in the living room)?

Power-line is secure, and most units have a utility that will let you change the network password to keep others from connecting. It is difficult to get a signal past the power meter, and almost impossible to get it past the transformer. I wouldn't worry about the neighbors connecting to your power-line network.

The AP should be placed in the center of the area that needs covered (not the center of the house). It may help to move your AP to the first floor. I can see a lot of wireless networks with my laptop when upstairs in the bedroom, but not very many when downstairs. The transmission rate from the AP is affected by how many wireless networks it can see.

My house is two stories. I have three AP's placed on the first floor. One is on the outer south wall, just west of center, one on the outer north wall just east of center, and one in the center on the outer east wall. I have a fourth AP in the shop on the other side of the back yard (about 150 feet away). I have good coverage and seamless roaming all through the house, down the driveway, in the back yard, and around the shop.

Thanks for the info.

Was just worried about the townhomes being looped together somehow as far as homeplugs are concerned.

reply to faze
Did you happen to read this line from the link John Galt provided?

quote:

---

along the z-axis, which would correspond to the radiation directly overhead the antenna, there is very little power transmitted. In the x-y plane (perpendicular to the z-axis), the radiation is maximum.

---

So the end result of this issue is my SNR is like 30ish and my signal quality is 45-50% between floors. I'm just going to run CAT5 between floors.

But the question of streaming media from the downstairs media server to upstairs comes back into question. Since I'm wiring the floors together, (switch upstairs/downstairs) how do I speed up streaming media and stop lag? The switch that downstairs will plug into upstairs is also a wireless bridge, I guess that'll help for upstairs?

reply to faze
Even after reading this thread I dont have a solid comprehension of ....
a. layour of your living spaces
b. what equipments you have
c. what functionality you would like to have and where.

In describing C, do not mention the equipment in b. this will force you not to focus on solution but on requirements and then perhaps we can be of better assistance.

For single antenna not adjustable why not tilt the router 90 deg
--
Ain't nuthin but the blues! "Albert Collins".
Leave your troubles at the door! "Pepe Peregil" De Sevilla. Just Don't Wifi without WPA, "Yul Brenner"

LlamaWorks Equipment