We just moved and TWC installed our modem/router on the upper corner of our new 2 story house. The wifi signal is great in the room it's located in (~ 16MB) and to an extent the bedroom which is at the other end of the 2nd floor. (~ 5-15MB) The wifi signal downstairs in the TV room however is pretty terrible and completely unusable on Sunday evening. I understand that everyone and their grandma is on at the same time. I really don't want TWC to have to come back out. Has anyone had success with a high gain antenna or adjusting the frequency? Any other recommendations on what i can do to get better coverage in the other areas in my home that don't entail moving the modem. I still don't know why that technician picked that room

FYI we have a Motorola surfboard SB6121 w/ wifi router. thanks

8/5/2014 10:28:16 AM

Does your wireless router have a site survey tool? You should check whether there are other routers using the same channel as you and change channels if so.

8/5/2014 10:38:34 AM

Quote :

"(~ 16MB)"

That's pretty shitty. I hit 90-100MBytes/sec in the same room as my router over AC 5.0ghz.

General room of thumb is those routers they provide you suck. I've never had good luck with them. I would pick up your own router.

On your smartphone download an app called something like 'wifi analyzer' then look at the 2.4/5ghz signals in your area. Switch your 2.4ghz to a unused channel. Generally I always use 5ghz though as 2.4ghz always sucks no matter what (I'm typically in apartment complexes though). I can hit 800-850mbps in the same room. Drops maybe to 500-550mbps two rooms over. 5.0ghz isn't as great through walls but less people use that frequency.

8/5/2014 12:09:39 PM

FroshKiller....i'll have to check it out.

neo... we signed up for TWC's standard (up to 15MB). Figured we'd try that before upgrading to a higher speed. thanks for the recommendation for that app i'll give it a look. I'd be thrilled if the solution to my problem is as simple as changing channels. oh and that modem i purchased from Best Buy btw

8/5/2014 1:21:55 PM

Quote :

"neo... we signed up for TWC's standard (up to 15MB)."

So terminology is key here. You signed up for 15mbps not 15MB/sec. That would be 120mbps. Megabytes versus megabits.

Testing your wifi strength using something like speedtest.net is never a good idea because you're testing your ISP down/uplink NOT the LAN connection between yourself and your router. There's a few ways to test this but the simplest is a file transfer or a diagnostic tool that estimates the throughput on your wifi card.

At the end of the day if you don't care about intranet speed over lan and just about how fast your internet is via wireless then it's not a huge deal. It starts to become a problem when you have multiple people using the internet and your router can't handle your ISPs throughput (which sounds like it might be a problem for you further away from the router).

Check out the channels and possibly moving to a 5.0ghz band.

8/5/2014 1:44:20 PM

The abbreviation for megabit is Mb, not mb.

8/5/2014 3:30:51 PM

M m it doesn't matter. The important one is B is bytes and b is bits. So it's Mbps for bandwidth.

8/5/2014 5:37:01 PM

a high gain antenna won't matter since it's only 1 way, you aren't improving your laptop or phone's radio to the router. run a wire downstairs and another AP down there

8/6/2014 1:21:58 AM

Are you paying to use TWC's router? Ditch that shit.

Also, thread is relevant to my interests. My wifi signal in my garage/bonus room (above garage) is shit. Router (buffalo) is located in pretty much the center of the house. It'd also be nice to improve outdoor coverage, just outside of my garage. How doees I maake whyfhy go wherre I am be?

8/6/2014 8:35:50 AM

I'm going to piggyback on this thread. I'm definitely planning on getting a new laptop (~<$1000) or ultra book in the next 2-3 months. I like what I have seen from Asus (N550 for example) but it looks like the newer ones are 802.11 ac for wireless.

I feel incredibly stupid that I have lost touch with certain technologies this much but it is what it is: In terms of backwards compatibility, how does this work now? If I have an a/b/g router I've been using for 7 years will an 802.11ac client work with this router? If I am required to upgrade, if I went with something like the Linksys WRT1900AC, would my older 802.11g devices (I think the PS3 is wireless g and maybe our first Roku that we have in our exercise room is also g..but I could be wrong on those) still connect? Or would I be better off getting an 802.11 n router?

TLDR: is a new 802.11 ac client always backward compatible with an a/b/g or an a/b/g/n router?

8/15/2014 12:34:18 PM

yes.

8/15/2014 6:33:24 PM

Thanks.

8/15/2014 7:22:00 PM

Search "Wi-fi Sweetspots" in app store.

8/18/2014 10:51:03 AM

Quote :

"a high gain antenna won't matter since it's only 1 way"

That is not correct. A high gain antenna, while not changing the way another transmitter is radiating, will have a higher sensitivity than a low gain antenna, and will effectively increase the range in both directions.

Using a special antenna is going to have a lot of caveats. You are going to be robbing Paul to pay Peter. A high gain antenna will essentially boost the signal in a given direction, while stealing that energy from wasted radiation in another direction. Most antennas are isotropic antennas, and will radiate fairly evening in most directions. When you go with a high gain, it will focus the energy in a given direction, so it could help you downstairs, but hurt you in other places, depending on how you focus it.

In short, I would either place the AP more centrally in the home, or I would place a second AP in another part of the home, and wire it up to the existing AP to increase coverage.

8/18/2014 2:12:08 PM

I heard aluminium foil works wonders for routers.

8/18/2014 2:25:37 PM