Weapons-grade home WiFi suggestions
Discussion
bodhi said:
Gary C said:
When the word 'nuclear' is included, people get very nervous about changing anything.
We have replaced the reel to reel tape drives and the Control Data Corporation 80Mb disk drives (for which one person could only just lift them off the floor) with more modern units, but otherwise its all as it was when it was installed.
But if anyone comes across vintage computing equipment, please let me know. Donations of 70's stuff to the Northwest computer museum are welcome.
I've got an original IBM Model M keyboard (made in Greenock) that I could donate - when I've finished using it of course We have replaced the reel to reel tape drives and the Control Data Corporation 80Mb disk drives (for which one person could only just lift them off the floor) with more modern units, but otherwise its all as it was when it was installed.
But if anyone comes across vintage computing equipment, please let me know. Donations of 70's stuff to the Northwest computer museum are welcome.
We have a few model F ones too.
Rather than starting a new thread, I'll ask my question in here.
My office is upstairs and the WiFi is pretty much non-existent, due to thick, 19th century walls. The primary phone socket actually enters the house on the second floor, in what is now the dressing room, but the previous owners have put a second socket downstairs and run a cable through the floor, and that's what the router is connected to. Moving the router, and all the associated hardware that is connected to it (CCTV, doorbell etc) is one option, but we will then struggle with WiFi downstairs.
The previous owners also ran Cat 6 ethernet cables from under the stairs to phone sockets throughout the house so we can hardwire everything, which is ideal. But the phone socket, and therefore the router, is currently 15m away from under the stairs. Is it possible for me to connect another router wirelessly to the existing one, which I can have under the stairs and connect to the ethernet cables?
My office is upstairs and the WiFi is pretty much non-existent, due to thick, 19th century walls. The primary phone socket actually enters the house on the second floor, in what is now the dressing room, but the previous owners have put a second socket downstairs and run a cable through the floor, and that's what the router is connected to. Moving the router, and all the associated hardware that is connected to it (CCTV, doorbell etc) is one option, but we will then struggle with WiFi downstairs.
The previous owners also ran Cat 6 ethernet cables from under the stairs to phone sockets throughout the house so we can hardwire everything, which is ideal. But the phone socket, and therefore the router, is currently 15m away from under the stairs. Is it possible for me to connect another router wirelessly to the existing one, which I can have under the stairs and connect to the ethernet cables?
SpunkyGlory said:
Rather than starting a new thread, I'll ask my question in here.
My office is upstairs and the WiFi is pretty much non-existent, due to thick, 19th century walls. The primary phone socket actually enters the house on the second floor, in what is now the dressing room, but the previous owners have put a second socket downstairs and run a cable through the floor, and that's what the router is connected to. Moving the router, and all the associated hardware that is connected to it (CCTV, doorbell etc) is one option, but we will then struggle with WiFi downstairs.
The previous owners also ran Cat 6 ethernet cables from under the stairs to phone sockets throughout the house so we can hardwire everything, which is ideal. But the phone socket, and therefore the router, is currently 15m away from under the stairs. Is it possible for me to connect another router wirelessly to the existing one, which I can have under the stairs and connect to the ethernet cables?
What you're talking about is called a Wireless Bridge, where you connect 2 Ethernet's via a wifi connection. It's not ideal though as it means all your traffic is going over the wifi.My office is upstairs and the WiFi is pretty much non-existent, due to thick, 19th century walls. The primary phone socket actually enters the house on the second floor, in what is now the dressing room, but the previous owners have put a second socket downstairs and run a cable through the floor, and that's what the router is connected to. Moving the router, and all the associated hardware that is connected to it (CCTV, doorbell etc) is one option, but we will then struggle with WiFi downstairs.
The previous owners also ran Cat 6 ethernet cables from under the stairs to phone sockets throughout the house so we can hardwire everything, which is ideal. But the phone socket, and therefore the router, is currently 15m away from under the stairs. Is it possible for me to connect another router wirelessly to the existing one, which I can have under the stairs and connect to the ethernet cables?
You say there's cabling from the understairs cupboard to points around the house, is there one of those points you can connect the router to, and then have a switch under the stairs?
Another alternative is to put the router and everything under the stairs, and then put additional wifi access points to improve the coverage around the house, attached back to the router via the cabling. You can either use basic wifi access points for this, with the existing router controlling everything, or switch to a mesh system like the TP Link Deco or others mentioned further back in this thread.
I have my ISP provided router in cupboard downstairs, along with a Deco and a switch, and then have further Deco units in the kitchen, lounge and main bedroom.
SpunkyGlory said:
Rather than starting a new thread, I'll ask my question in here.
My office is upstairs and the WiFi is pretty much non-existent, due to thick, 19th century walls. The primary phone socket actually enters the house on the second floor, in what is now the dressing room, but the previous owners have put a second socket downstairs and run a cable through the floor, and that's what the router is connected to. Moving the router, and all the associated hardware that is connected to it (CCTV, doorbell etc) is one option, but we will then struggle with WiFi downstairs.
The previous owners also ran Cat 6 ethernet cables from under the stairs to phone sockets throughout the house so we can hardwire everything, which is ideal. But the phone socket, and therefore the router, is currently 15m away from under the stairs. Is it possible for me to connect another router wirelessly to the existing one, which I can have under the stairs and connect to the ethernet cables?
I’m sorry your post is a touch confusing as to how things are currently set up & the location of the structured cabling.My office is upstairs and the WiFi is pretty much non-existent, due to thick, 19th century walls. The primary phone socket actually enters the house on the second floor, in what is now the dressing room, but the previous owners have put a second socket downstairs and run a cable through the floor, and that's what the router is connected to. Moving the router, and all the associated hardware that is connected to it (CCTV, doorbell etc) is one option, but we will then struggle with WiFi downstairs.
The previous owners also ran Cat 6 ethernet cables from under the stairs to phone sockets throughout the house so we can hardwire everything, which is ideal. But the phone socket, and therefore the router, is currently 15m away from under the stairs. Is it possible for me to connect another router wirelessly to the existing one, which I can have under the stairs and connect to the ethernet cables?
In a ideal world you would have the modem/fw/router/switch/accesspoint box connected as close as possible to the master socket this is to maximise speed & minimise noise etc on the line, assuming it’s a copper line.
Who is your isp & what is the line speed?
Do you have devices wired to the modem/fw/router/switch/accesspoint box now?
If so what?
If not you could move the modem/fw/router/switch/accesspoint box to the master socket location assuming this has ethernet to the stairs & put a switch in under the stairs assuming you have power there, then you can fan out connections to other wired devices as needed.
You could also then deploy a ‘mesh’ system but connected via ethernet to get wifi into the dead zones.
As ever more details are needed to clarify, such as the size, layout, rooms/areas that need good wireless coverage, wired devices, budget, etc etc.
If you have wired devices currently connected to your modem/fw/router/switch/accesspoint box that cannot move to a wireless connection there are option but this would depend on the devices & speed / stability requirements
Edited by Captain_Morgan on Thursday 23 March 10:28
I have a Victorian house with an outbuilding that was rewired in 2013. It has Cat 5e in most rooms. I installed a Ubiquiti AC Lite set up in four different zones. Recently the system has been pretty flaky and my wife is complaining about boxes on the ceiling, etc. It is also a complete pain to manage via the app etc. Part of the problem is that I have two switches - one is 100mb and the other 1gb, and they are connected into one another.
I was planning just to buy a new 1gb switch to serve the entire house and another 2-3 Lite discs to improve coverage. However, looking at the prices, that is another £5-600.
I have 1gb fibre to the house and have been wondering about simply abandoning the switch upgrade and getting 5-6 back hauling mesh wifi zones.
For example, 6 of these would only be £240?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Coverage-Connect-150-Devi...
Any thoughts?
I was planning just to buy a new 1gb switch to serve the entire house and another 2-3 Lite discs to improve coverage. However, looking at the prices, that is another £5-600.
I have 1gb fibre to the house and have been wondering about simply abandoning the switch upgrade and getting 5-6 back hauling mesh wifi zones.
For example, 6 of these would only be £240?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Coverage-Connect-150-Devi...
Any thoughts?
RizzoTheRat said:
You say there's cabling from the understairs cupboard to points around the house, is there one of those points you can connect the router to, and then have a switch under the stairs?
The points are LAN connections rather than phone points, so I don't think I can connect the router to them?RizzoTheRat said:
Another alternative is to put the router and everything under the stairs, and then put additional wifi access points to improve the coverage around the house, attached back to the router via the cabling. You can either use basic wifi access points for this, with the existing router controlling everything, or switch to a mesh system like the TP Link Deco or others mentioned further back in this thread.
I'm assuming to have the router under the stairs I would need to have a cable from the phone socket?Captain_Morgan said:
I’m sorry your post is a touch confusing as to how things are currently set up & the location of the structured cabling.
Sorry, I'm out of my comfort zone when talking about these things 
The master socket comes into the dressing room on the first floor. There is then a cable running from that, through the floorboard to a phone socket on the ground floor, which is where the modem is. Also on the ground floor, there are 6 ethernet cables running to sockets (maybe this isn't the correct word, they are LAN connections) in 6 rooms across the ground and first floor.
Captain_Morgan said:
In a ideal world you would have the modem/fw/router/switch/accesspoint box connected as close as possible to the master socket this is to maximise speed & minimise noise etc on the line, assuming it’s a copper line.
Who is your isp & what is the line speed?
Do you have devices wired to the modem/fw/router/switch/accesspoint box now?
If so what?
I'm with Plusnet. I'm supposed to be able to get 66Mbps but realistically get 30Mbps that sometimes drops to 10Mbps. Who is your isp & what is the line speed?
Do you have devices wired to the modem/fw/router/switch/accesspoint box now?
If so what?
Yes - I have a Eufy doorbell and Blink outdoor cameras. Nothing else.
Captain_Morgan said:
If not you could move the modem/fw/router/switch/accesspoint box to the master socket location assuming this has ethernet to the stairs & put a switch in under the stairs assuming you have power there, then you can fan out connections to other wired devices as needed.
The room with the master socket doesn't have ethernet but it does have power.ant1973 said:
I have a Victorian house with an outbuilding that was rewired in 2013. It has Cat 5e in most rooms. I installed a Ubiquiti AC Lite set up in four different zones. Recently the system has been pretty flaky and my wife is complaining about boxes on the ceiling, etc. It is also a complete pain to manage via the app etc. Part of the problem is that I have two switches - one is 100mb and the other 1gb, and they are connected into one another.
I was planning just to buy a new 1gb switch to serve the entire house and another 2-3 Lite discs to improve coverage. However, looking at the prices, that is another £5-600.
I have 1gb fibre to the house and have been wondering about simply abandoning the switch upgrade and getting 5-6 back hauling mesh wifi zones.
For example, 6 of these would only be £240?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Coverage-Connect-150-Devi...
Any thoughts?
What specifically does ‘flaky’ look like?I was planning just to buy a new 1gb switch to serve the entire house and another 2-3 Lite discs to improve coverage. However, looking at the prices, that is another £5-600.
I have 1gb fibre to the house and have been wondering about simply abandoning the switch upgrade and getting 5-6 back hauling mesh wifi zones.
For example, 6 of these would only be £240?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Coverage-Connect-150-Devi...
Any thoughts?
Are the unifi ap’s part of a larger unifi platform or are they simply connected (via switch or directly) to your modem/fw/router/switch/accesspoint box?
How are you managing the ap’s today?
What regular management tasks are you having to undertake? They should be (mostly) fit & forget.
I ask these questions as unifi he is normally we regarded & I suspect that the devices you have suggested would be a retrograde step.
How large a home are we talking about?
What’s the layout?
Number of floors?
Age?
Construction type? Old stone walls, foil backed insulation, solid concrete walls/floors?
As I assume you meant a wired backhaul between the suggested mesh system?
What structured cabling is in place?
Edited by Captain_Morgan on Thursday 23 March 11:24
SpunkyGlory said:
The points are LAN connections rather than phone points, so I don't think I can connect the router to them?
But do you have a LAN socket in the same room as phone socket? If so you can you go phone socket -> Router -> Lan socket -> under stairs cupboard, then put a switch in the cupboard to link all the cables in there together, and then put access points on the other ends of the cablesSpunkyGlory said:
Captain_Morgan said:
I’m sorry your post is a touch confusing as to how things are currently set up & the location of the structured cabling.
Sorry, I'm out of my comfort zone when talking about these things The master socket comes into the dressing room on the first floor. There is then a cable running from that, through the floorboard to a phone socket on the ground floor, which is where the modem is. Also on the ground floor, there are 6 ethernet cables running to sockets (maybe this isn't the correct word, they are LAN connections) in 6 rooms across the ground and first floor.
Captain_Morgan said:
In a ideal world you would have the modem/fw/router/switch/accesspoint box connected as close as possible to the master socket this is to maximise speed & minimise noise etc on the line, assuming it’s a copper line.
Who is your isp & what is the line speed?
Do you have devices wired to the modem/fw/router/switch/accesspoint box now?
If so what?
I'm with Plusnet. I'm supposed to be able to get 66Mbps but realistically get 30Mbps that sometimes drops to 10Mbps. Who is your isp & what is the line speed?
Do you have devices wired to the modem/fw/router/switch/accesspoint box now?
If so what?
Yes - I have a Eufy doorbell and Blink outdoor cameras. Nothing else.
Captain_Morgan said:
If not you could move the modem/fw/router/switch/accesspoint box to the master socket location assuming this has ethernet to the stairs & put a switch in under the stairs assuming you have power there, then you can fan out connections to other wired devices as needed.
The room with the master socket doesn't have ethernet but it does have power.Is there a ethernet cable near the current plusnet box that goes under the stairs?
Are there any other wifi black spots you need/want to resolve/
It’s also possible that the cable used between the master socket & the plusnet box is actually ethernet cable, would you be confident in popping off the downstairs socket & checking?
Depending on these there are a couple of routes you could take to get connectivity to the office.
Captain_Morgan said:
Can I just confirm the door bell & cctv are wired or wireless?
Is there a ethernet cable near the current plusnet box that goes under the stairs?
Are there any other wifi black spots you need/want to resolve/
It’s also possible that the cable used between the master socket & the plusnet box is actually ethernet cable, would you be confident in popping off the downstairs socket & checking?
Depending on these there are a couple of routes you could take to get connectivity to the office.
They are wireless, the receivers are what are connected to the box.Is there a ethernet cable near the current plusnet box that goes under the stairs?
Are there any other wifi black spots you need/want to resolve/
It’s also possible that the cable used between the master socket & the plusnet box is actually ethernet cable, would you be confident in popping off the downstairs socket & checking?
Depending on these there are a couple of routes you could take to get connectivity to the office.
There isn't an ethernet cable that goes near the Plusnet box.
The cable between the master socker & the Plusnet box isn't an ethernet cable, I've checked that.
Captain_Morgan said:
ant1973 said:
I have a Victorian house with an outbuilding that was rewired in 2013. It has Cat 5e in most rooms. I installed a Ubiquiti AC Lite set up in four different zones. Recently the system has been pretty flaky and my wife is complaining about boxes on the ceiling, etc. It is also a complete pain to manage via the app etc. Part of the problem is that I have two switches - one is 100mb and the other 1gb, and they are connected into one another.
I was planning just to buy a new 1gb switch to serve the entire house and another 2-3 Lite discs to improve coverage. However, looking at the prices, that is another £5-600.
I have 1gb fibre to the house and have been wondering about simply abandoning the switch upgrade and getting 5-6 back hauling mesh wifi zones.
For example, 6 of these would only be £240?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Coverage-Connect-150-Devi...
Any thoughts?
What specifically does ‘flaky’ look like?I was planning just to buy a new 1gb switch to serve the entire house and another 2-3 Lite discs to improve coverage. However, looking at the prices, that is another £5-600.
I have 1gb fibre to the house and have been wondering about simply abandoning the switch upgrade and getting 5-6 back hauling mesh wifi zones.
For example, 6 of these would only be £240?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Coverage-Connect-150-Devi...
Any thoughts?
Are the unifi ap’s part of a larger unifi platform or are they simply connected (via switch or directly) to your modem/fw/router/switch/accesspoint box?
How are you managing the ap’s today?
What regular management tasks are you having to undertake? They should be (mostly) fit & forget.
I ask these questions as unifi he is normally we regarded & I suspect that the devices you have suggested would be a retrograde step.
How large a home are we talking about?
What’s the layout?
Number of floors?
Age?
Construction type? Old stone walls, foil backed insulation, solid concrete walls/floors?
As I assume you meant a wired backhaul between the suggested mesh system?
What structured cabling is in place?
Edited by Captain_Morgan on Thursday 23 March 11:24
I mean flaky in the sense of dropouts and connection issues. Also, the reach of the units is pretty poor. It can drop to one bar if the unit is in an adjacent bar for wifi.
The house is c. 4000 sq feet stone construction from 1898.
There is a modern extension at the rear.
One AC unit is on the hall ceiling and another upstairs in a bedroom.
One is in the modern extension and the final one is in the detached coach house and is another 1500 sq feet.
There is a wired cat 5e in most rooms. Each AC is connected to such a unit for backhauling purposes.
So:
Virgin router
I
Switches under stairs (one 100mb (48 port) and another 1000mb (24 port). Each room has at least 2 cat 5e switches. Overall we have more than 24 hence the two units. Virgin connects to the 24 port and then I link to the 48. The AC units are all running off cat 5e from the 1000mb switch.
I
Backhaul via cat 5e to switch x 4
As I say, I suspect another couple of AC lites will solve the issue along with a new switch.
SpunkyGlory said:
They are wireless, the receivers are what are connected to the box.
There isn't an ethernet cable that goes near the Plusnet box.
The cable between the master socker & the Plusnet box isn't an ethernet cable, I've checked that.
That was dammed inconsiderate of them There isn't an ethernet cable that goes near the Plusnet box.
The cable between the master socker & the Plusnet box isn't an ethernet cable, I've checked that.
In that case you’ve only really got three main options
Run some more ethernet cables back to the under stairs.
Try using powerline devices.
Try using a wifi mesh system.
I suspect the first option is off the table or we wouldn’t be having this discussion.
Powerlines would likely be the lowest cost option, they use your domestic wiring as a ethernet cable so you put one by your plusnet box, connect them both up & then put the second (third or forth) where you want your network connection.
Some folk have issues with performance & it’s true if you have a fast to very fast line then you can introduce a choke point with them, however with your speeds it’s unlikely you’d notice any performance drop.
There are a number of options here, get a powerline wifi extender put the remote unit in the office your trying to get wifi to, setup the wifi aspect & connect the other one to the plusnet box as said. Cheap & easy, the down side is your likely to go across mains rings & that can effect performance, you won’t know till you try.
The other powerline option is to use non wifi Powerlines the ‘remote’ one goes in the under stairs area & you use ethernet up to the office & put in a cheap accesspoint. likely £20-30 more than above but least chance of powerline performance issues & let’s you put ethernet to other rooms if needed.
The last option is similar to above but with a wifi mesh product, you’d use a minimum of three devices one at the plusnet box, one under the stairs with a wireless connection between the two, the third in the office connected via ethernet, again as above it lets you put more devices in other rooms if needed.
I've just changed BB supplier from Virgin to Vodafone. As expected the wifi signal from the Vodafine hub is rubbish upstairs, losing me 400mbps or so on the download speeds. I have three TP Link Deco M4's, one connected to the router, one upstairs in a room above the room where Deco number one is and the next is in my room where I am working from. In terms of distance I'd say there is 30ft between Deco one and Deco two, and 20ft between Deco two and Deco three.
Due to the poorness of the Vodafone router, I cannot set it in modem mode, so I have set the Deco's in Access Point mode. When I am next to the Deco near the router, I get around 500mbps download and 70 up. When next to Deco two I get over 300mbps and next to Deco three I am lucky get 100mbps.
When I have all this connected to the VM router, setting this in modem mode and my Deco's as the wifi router, doing the same tests gives me the speed I am expecting, which is around 140mpbs.
I cannot understand why as a percentage the speeds are quicker when connected to the VM router, and lose so much when connected to the Vodafone router.
I am considering one of two options:
1) Keep VM and sack of Voda (after less than 48 hours of having it).
2) Keep Voda, buy new Mesh system.
Running cabling sadly isn't an option otherwise I would just do that.
Any thoughts, suggestions, recommendations are welcome! Thanks.
Due to the poorness of the Vodafone router, I cannot set it in modem mode, so I have set the Deco's in Access Point mode. When I am next to the Deco near the router, I get around 500mbps download and 70 up. When next to Deco two I get over 300mbps and next to Deco three I am lucky get 100mbps.
When I have all this connected to the VM router, setting this in modem mode and my Deco's as the wifi router, doing the same tests gives me the speed I am expecting, which is around 140mpbs.
I cannot understand why as a percentage the speeds are quicker when connected to the VM router, and lose so much when connected to the Vodafone router.
I am considering one of two options:
1) Keep VM and sack of Voda (after less than 48 hours of having it).
2) Keep Voda, buy new Mesh system.
Running cabling sadly isn't an option otherwise I would just do that.
Any thoughts, suggestions, recommendations are welcome! Thanks.
ant1973 said:
Captain_Morgan said:
ant1973 said:
I have a Victorian house with an outbuilding that was rewired in 2013. It has Cat 5e in most rooms. I installed a Ubiquiti AC Lite set up in four different zones. Recently the system has been pretty flaky and my wife is complaining about boxes on the ceiling, etc. It is also a complete pain to manage via the app etc. Part of the problem is that I have two switches - one is 100mb and the other 1gb, and they are connected into one another.
I was planning just to buy a new 1gb switch to serve the entire house and another 2-3 Lite discs to improve coverage. However, looking at the prices, that is another £5-600.
I have 1gb fibre to the house and have been wondering about simply abandoning the switch upgrade and getting 5-6 back hauling mesh wifi zones.
For example, 6 of these would only be £240?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Coverage-Connect-150-Devi...
Any thoughts?
What specifically does ‘flaky’ look like?I was planning just to buy a new 1gb switch to serve the entire house and another 2-3 Lite discs to improve coverage. However, looking at the prices, that is another £5-600.
I have 1gb fibre to the house and have been wondering about simply abandoning the switch upgrade and getting 5-6 back hauling mesh wifi zones.
For example, 6 of these would only be £240?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Coverage-Connect-150-Devi...
Any thoughts?
Are the unifi ap’s part of a larger unifi platform or are they simply connected (via switch or directly) to your modem/fw/router/switch/accesspoint box?
How are you managing the ap’s today?
What regular management tasks are you having to undertake? They should be (mostly) fit & forget.
I ask these questions as unifi he is normally we regarded & I suspect that the devices you have suggested would be a retrograde step.
How large a home are we talking about?
What’s the layout?
Number of floors?
Age?
Construction type? Old stone walls, foil backed insulation, solid concrete walls/floors?
As I assume you meant a wired backhaul between the suggested mesh system?
What structured cabling is in place?
Edited by Captain_Morgan on Thursday 23 March 11:24
I mean flaky in the sense of dropouts and connection issues. Also, the reach of the units is pretty poor. It can drop to one bar if the unit is in an adjacent bar for wifi.
The house is c. 4000 sq feet stone construction from 1898.
There is a modern extension at the rear.
One AC unit is on the hall ceiling and another upstairs in a bedroom.
One is in the modern extension and the final one is in the detached coach house and is another 1500 sq feet.
There is a wired cat 5e in most rooms. Each AC is connected to such a unit for backhauling purposes.
So:
Virgin router
I
Switches under stairs (one 100mb (48 port) and another 1000mb (24 port). Each room has at least 2 cat 5e switches. Overall we have more than 24 hence the two units. Virgin connects to the 24 port and then I link to the 48. The AC units are all running off cat 5e from the 1000mb switch.
I
Backhaul via cat 5e to switch x 4
As I say, I suspect another couple of AC lites will solve the issue along with a new switch.
If you weren’t aware unifi have a online ap placement planning tool it might be worth drawing up your layout on that to see what coverage it thinks you should be getting, don’t forget to make your walls solid, not stud work.
Solid stone walls are a nightmare for wifi penetration so I can understand some of your issues, I also wonder with the potential for 70 wired devices how many total devices are on the network, it could well be that the vm hub is having difficulty with the client volume.
Something else to consider or try is loft mounting some of your accesspoints. I live in a 3 bed 1900’s brick built home with brick internal walls, the gf is open plan with 3 substantial steels & a rear single storey extension. I cover this with a single loft mounted ap, I get between 500-600Mbs on both floors under the ap dropping off to ~200Mbs in the extremes of the property.
This is because traditional wooden floors, joist & plasterboard ceilings are much more wifi transparent, also mounting the ap 1-2m above the loft floor allows the wifi beam pattern to form before any interaction with walls. If there are any foil insulation products in use then this will reduce wifi transmission.
It could be worth trying moving a ap into the loft to see if you overall coverage improves.
Confirming if the vm hub is contributing to the issues is more difficult without spending money if you had a old computer to hand & any Linux knowledge then you could build a home router for minimal outlay that would help test that possibility.
Failing that it would be useful to know exactly the number & mix of wired/wireless clients.
SpunkyGlory said:
They are wireless, the receivers are what are connected to the box.
There isn't an ethernet cable that goes near the Plusnet box.
The cable between the master socker & the Plusnet box isn't an ethernet cable, I've checked that.
Are there any other unneeded cables that go relevant places? When I moved in to my house there were phone sockets in several rooms linked back to the master socket in the cupboard downstairs and 3 coax's for cable TV (still not found where one of them goes to There isn't an ethernet cable that goes near the Plusnet box.
The cable between the master socker & the Plusnet box isn't an ethernet cable, I've checked that.
). I used the existing phone cables to pull pairs of ethernet cables through each duct as we didn't need the phone connections.TheAngryDog said:
I've just changed BB supplier from Virgin to Vodafone. As expected the wifi signal from the Vodafine hub is rubbish upstairs, losing me 400mbps or so on the download speeds. I have three TP Link Deco M4's, one connected to the router, one upstairs in a room above the room where Deco number one is and the next is in my room where I am working from. In terms of distance I'd say there is 30ft between Deco one and Deco two, and 20ft between Deco two and Deco three.
Due to the poorness of the Vodafone router, I cannot set it in modem mode, so I have set the Deco's in Access Point mode. When I am next to the Deco near the router, I get around 500mbps download and 70 up. When next to Deco two I get over 300mbps and next to Deco three I am lucky get 100mbps.
When I have all this connected to the VM router, setting this in modem mode and my Deco's as the wifi router, doing the same tests gives me the speed I am expecting, which is around 140mpbs.
I cannot understand why as a percentage the speeds are quicker when connected to the VM router, and lose so much when connected to the Vodafone router.
I am considering one of two options:
1) Keep VM and sack of Voda (after less than 48 hours of having it).
2) Keep Voda, buy new Mesh system.
Running cabling sadly isn't an option otherwise I would just do that.
Any thoughts, suggestions, recommendations are welcome! Thanks.
Why is the performance percentage different is unfortunately a piece of string question, welcome to the art that is wifi networking…Due to the poorness of the Vodafone router, I cannot set it in modem mode, so I have set the Deco's in Access Point mode. When I am next to the Deco near the router, I get around 500mbps download and 70 up. When next to Deco two I get over 300mbps and next to Deco three I am lucky get 100mbps.
When I have all this connected to the VM router, setting this in modem mode and my Deco's as the wifi router, doing the same tests gives me the speed I am expecting, which is around 140mpbs.
I cannot understand why as a percentage the speeds are quicker when connected to the VM router, and lose so much when connected to the Vodafone router.
I am considering one of two options:
1) Keep VM and sack of Voda (after less than 48 hours of having it).
2) Keep Voda, buy new Mesh system.
Running cabling sadly isn't an option otherwise I would just do that.
Any thoughts, suggestions, recommendations are welcome! Thanks.
You haven’t specified but given the speed you quote I presume you have Vodafone fttp?
If you you do not need to use there router & can get the login details to connect the m4 directly to the ont.
That said you are aware that the M4’s are only a dual band mesh meaning the 5GHz channel acts as both a client facing connection & the interconnect between mesh nodes, each hop between nodes can loose ~50% bandwidth in this mode. So the most remote node is either the third node in a chain or the second node but with a weak signal.
You could always try moving the 1st floor nodes close together to see if this improves things or a tri band mesh system, as ever if you buy buy from Amazon for easy returns/
Captain_Morgan said:
TheAngryDog said:
I've just changed BB supplier from Virgin to Vodafone. As expected the wifi signal from the Vodafine hub is rubbish upstairs, losing me 400mbps or so on the download speeds. I have three TP Link Deco M4's, one connected to the router, one upstairs in a room above the room where Deco number one is and the next is in my room where I am working from. In terms of distance I'd say there is 30ft between Deco one and Deco two, and 20ft between Deco two and Deco three.
Due to the poorness of the Vodafone router, I cannot set it in modem mode, so I have set the Deco's in Access Point mode. When I am next to the Deco near the router, I get around 500mbps download and 70 up. When next to Deco two I get over 300mbps and next to Deco three I am lucky get 100mbps.
When I have all this connected to the VM router, setting this in modem mode and my Deco's as the wifi router, doing the same tests gives me the speed I am expecting, which is around 140mpbs.
I cannot understand why as a percentage the speeds are quicker when connected to the VM router, and lose so much when connected to the Vodafone router.
I am considering one of two options:
1) Keep VM and sack of Voda (after less than 48 hours of having it).
2) Keep Voda, buy new Mesh system.
Running cabling sadly isn't an option otherwise I would just do that.
Any thoughts, suggestions, recommendations are welcome! Thanks.
Why is the performance percentage different is unfortunately a piece of string question, welcome to the art that is wifi networking…Due to the poorness of the Vodafone router, I cannot set it in modem mode, so I have set the Deco's in Access Point mode. When I am next to the Deco near the router, I get around 500mbps download and 70 up. When next to Deco two I get over 300mbps and next to Deco three I am lucky get 100mbps.
When I have all this connected to the VM router, setting this in modem mode and my Deco's as the wifi router, doing the same tests gives me the speed I am expecting, which is around 140mpbs.
I cannot understand why as a percentage the speeds are quicker when connected to the VM router, and lose so much when connected to the Vodafone router.
I am considering one of two options:
1) Keep VM and sack of Voda (after less than 48 hours of having it).
2) Keep Voda, buy new Mesh system.
Running cabling sadly isn't an option otherwise I would just do that.
Any thoughts, suggestions, recommendations are welcome! Thanks.
You haven’t specified but given the speed you quote I presume you have Vodafone fttp?
If you you do not need to use there router & can get the login details to connect the m4 directly to the ont.
That said you are aware that the M4’s are only a dual band mesh meaning the 5GHz channel acts as both a client facing connection & the interconnect between mesh nodes, each hop between nodes can loose ~50% bandwidth in this mode. So the most remote node is either the third node in a chain or the second node but with a weak signal.
You could always try moving the 1st floor nodes close together to see if this improves things or a tri band mesh system, as ever if you buy buy from Amazon for easy returns/
Yes, sorry, I have FTTP. I am happy to not use the router, but at the moment it's the only thing that's allowing me half decent internet access up stairs.
I wasn't aware of the 5GHz channel losing bandwidth, that makes perfect sense.
I will look at a tri-band mesh. Thanks for the tip!
This question may well have been answered on here before (and maybe several times over) but I'm unfamiliar with the terminology so apologies in advance if this is repetitious ....
We're extending our home and I'm in the middle of running some new Cat5e cable to various points 'round the house. I have a Virgin router in the basement and all network cables run to this point. Currently I have the Virgin router running a WiFi point and a (9 years old) TPLink WiFi access point on the end of one Cat5e run in the loft. Both have different SSID names.
I'd like bombproof WiFi all over the house and can run things along the Cat5e cables to connect back to the router. I'll have the usual collection of 'phones and tablets as well as a number of ChromeCast Audios and a Firestick running on it. Computers themselves are on cables in the office with a switch of their own.
What should I buy in order to make this work? Currently devices aren't handed off nicely between the two access points so I presume I need an all-in-one system. The house is two floors plus a basement, total perhaps 220SqM, and I'd like to have reasonable coverage in the (smallish) garden as well. There is going to be a network port on the outside wall by the garden so attaching a device there to cover the garden would be easy.
All assistance welcome .... thanks.
ETA: Data speed requirements are likely to be low. The Firestick is probably the most consumptive device but it's quite likely that we'll be binning the TV it's plugged into in the next year or so as we never watch it.
We're extending our home and I'm in the middle of running some new Cat5e cable to various points 'round the house. I have a Virgin router in the basement and all network cables run to this point. Currently I have the Virgin router running a WiFi point and a (9 years old) TPLink WiFi access point on the end of one Cat5e run in the loft. Both have different SSID names.
I'd like bombproof WiFi all over the house and can run things along the Cat5e cables to connect back to the router. I'll have the usual collection of 'phones and tablets as well as a number of ChromeCast Audios and a Firestick running on it. Computers themselves are on cables in the office with a switch of their own.
What should I buy in order to make this work? Currently devices aren't handed off nicely between the two access points so I presume I need an all-in-one system. The house is two floors plus a basement, total perhaps 220SqM, and I'd like to have reasonable coverage in the (smallish) garden as well. There is going to be a network port on the outside wall by the garden so attaching a device there to cover the garden would be easy.
All assistance welcome .... thanks.
ETA: Data speed requirements are likely to be low. The Firestick is probably the most consumptive device but it's quite likely that we'll be binning the TV it's plugged into in the next year or so as we never watch it.
Edited by 2Btoo on Friday 31st March 15:22
2Btoo said:
This question may well have been answered on here before (and maybe several times over) but I'm unfamiliar with the terminology so apologies in advance if this is repetitious ....
We're extending our home and I'm in the middle of running some new Cat5e cable to various points 'round the house. I have a Virgin router in the basement and all network cables run to this point. Currently I have the Virgin router running a WiFi point and a (9 years old) TPLink WiFi access point on the end of one Cat5e run in the loft. Both have different SSID names.
I'd like bombproof WiFi all over the house and can run things along the Cat5e cables to connect back to the router. I'll have the usual collection of 'phones and tablets as well as a number of ChromeCast Audios and a Firestick running on it. Computers themselves are on cables in the office with a switch of their own.
What should I buy in order to make this work? Currently devices aren't handed off nicely between the two access points so I presume I need an all-in-one system. The house is two floors plus a basement, total perhaps 220SqM, and I'd like to have reasonable coverage in the (smallish) garden as well. There is going to be a network port on the outside wall by the garden so attaching a device there to cover the garden would be easy.
All assistance welcome .... thanks.
ETA: Data speed requirements are likely to be low. The Firestick is probably the most consumptive device but it's quite likely that we'll be binning the TV it's plugged into in the next year or so as we never watch it.
The handover issue between accesspoints would likely improve if you used the the same ssid / password on both accesspoints.We're extending our home and I'm in the middle of running some new Cat5e cable to various points 'round the house. I have a Virgin router in the basement and all network cables run to this point. Currently I have the Virgin router running a WiFi point and a (9 years old) TPLink WiFi access point on the end of one Cat5e run in the loft. Both have different SSID names.
I'd like bombproof WiFi all over the house and can run things along the Cat5e cables to connect back to the router. I'll have the usual collection of 'phones and tablets as well as a number of ChromeCast Audios and a Firestick running on it. Computers themselves are on cables in the office with a switch of their own.
What should I buy in order to make this work? Currently devices aren't handed off nicely between the two access points so I presume I need an all-in-one system. The house is two floors plus a basement, total perhaps 220SqM, and I'd like to have reasonable coverage in the (smallish) garden as well. There is going to be a network port on the outside wall by the garden so attaching a device there to cover the garden would be easy.
All assistance welcome .... thanks.
ETA: Data speed requirements are likely to be low. The Firestick is probably the most consumptive device but it's quite likely that we'll be binning the TV it's plugged into in the next year or so as we never watch it.
Edited by 2Btoo on Friday 31st March 15:22
As per the replacements it really depends on what your budget is & what you are looking to achieve.
At one end you could simply use a mesh system that has gigabit ethernet ports & allows for the nodes to be interconnected via ethernet & use a external accesspoint for the garden if needed. You could also just use additional accesspoints with the existing vm hub again with them all using the same ssid/pw combo.
If you are looking for a more advanced solution then you’ll need to look at unifi or tp-link Omada platforms, they are roughly equivalent but Omada often works out ~30-40% cheaper.
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