Improving home network coverage-looking for advice

[Black_Vanguard07]

So currently the router I'm using is an OLD Linksys WRT54G that gets the job done for the most part. I live in a 3 story house with the router placed on the 1st floor, closest to the modem and I get decent signals even on the top floor. However,for some strange reason there is a dead zone on the 2nd floor in the room where SMART TV is and I wanted to fix that.

 

Recently my sister bought a cheap Netgear WiFi range extender to fix this but sadly the signal is too poor.

 

To deal with this properly I'm not sure if whether I should get an updated router in a hope that it will have better range and/or signal penetration, something like: 

 

http://www.amazon.com/RT-N66U-Dual-Band-Wireless-N900-Gigabit-Router/dp/B006QB1RPY/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1410881884&sr=1-1&keywords=asus+router

 

OR

 

Buy an EXTREMELY long cable together with a RELIABLE range extender (with physical antennae, LAN ports etc.), and set up the extender in the TV room while running the cable to the router downstairs.

 

I do not know if whether that room is simply out of the router's range or that there may be a too much material interference with specifically that room's walls. =/

Any insight would be appreciated, THANKS! 

[Cheese4395]

First off Asus routers are amazing and the one that we have at my parents goes throughout the whole house giving great service. That being said I don't know how it will hold up with three floors but I doubt you'll be disappointed. Have you thought about doing ether net through your house?

[tract9on]

I would suggest having a look at a powerline adapter. It uses your houses electrical circuits to transmit data / ultimately provide boosted WiFi signal. You plug one by your router via traditional ethernet connection and the other goes on the floor you want it to. As long as they are all on one power meter, they can communicate across circuit breakers. 

http://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-TL-WPA4220KIT-ADVANCED-Universal-Powerline/dp/B00HSQAIQU/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=undefined&sr=1-1&keywords=TP-Link+powerline+wifi

Do read the FAQ on the page though before you buy.

[Black_Vanguard07]

I would suggest having a look at a powerline adapter. It uses your houses electrical circuits to transmit data / ultimately provide boosted WiFi signal. You plug one by your router via traditional ethernet connection and the other goes on the floor you want it to. As long as they are all on one power meter, they can communicate across circuit breakers. 

http://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-TL-WPA4220KIT-ADVANCED-Universal-Powerline/dp/B00HSQAIQU/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=undefined&sr=1-1&keywords=TP-Link+powerline+wifi

Do read the FAQ on the page though before you buy.

 

Thanks! That looks like a helpful alternative.

[rockking1379]

I would suggest having a look at a powerline adapter. It uses your houses electrical circuits to transmit data / ultimately provide boosted WiFi signal. You plug one by your router via traditional ethernet connection and the other goes on the floor you want it to. As long as they are all on one power meter, they can communicate across circuit breakers. 

http://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-TL-WPA4220KIT-ADVANCED-Universal-Powerline/dp/B00HSQAIQU/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=undefined&sr=1-1&keywords=TP-Link+powerline+wifi

Do read the FAQ on the page though before you buy.

 

 

Thanks! That looks like a helpful alternative.

one thing to note about powerline, is certain circuit breakers can cause issues with the data transmission

[Blade of Grass]

I too would suggest using powerline over range extenders. They're quite convenient and (in my experience) work well. Though be warned, your mileage may vary due to different wiring types, breaks, amount of jumps and distance the signal travels.

[skywake]

So currently the router I'm using is an OLD Linksys WRT54G that gets the job done for the most part. I live in a 3 story house with the router placed on the 1st floor, closest to the modem and I get decent signals even on the top floor. However,for some strange reason there is a dead zone on the 2nd floor in the room where SMART TV is and I wanted to fix that.

 

Recently my sister bought a cheap Netgear WiFi range extender to fix this but sadly the signal is too poor.

 

To deal with this properly I'm not sure if whether I should get an updated router in a hope that it will have better range and/or signal penetration, something like: 

Well this is a bad setup and I think powerline can be part of the solution but given you're still on g it should be the second step. Do yourself a favour and start by not going for stop-gap solutions. If you think you may use AC in the near future? Skip N entirely. If you think you may need more than what AV200 powerline will deliver? Go for AV500. Also don't be afraid to have separate devices doing separate functions on your network. It would be better to have a router, modem and AP as three different devices than having a single all-in-one if you can.

 

As for suggestions on what to get. From what you have now going for N600 should give you a 6x boost in performance right out of the box with most devices. Some things will only get a 3x boost, most things will get 6x. If you go upto N900 you may have one or two things that will be able to get a 8x boost but most things will still be at 6x. So IMO the extra expense of N900 is not worth it. However going further up if you have the devices that support it AC1200 can give you, in actual tests, ~15x the performance you get now. Going up to AC1900 may with some devices give you upto ~30x the performance you're getting now but note the "may" and "some". With all this in mind and with the prices of gear? I'd say N600 and AC1200 are the two best classes to be aiming for. I'd lean towards AC1200 because of the extra compatibility and the generally better range because of the tendency for them to have better antennae.

 

Now even with all of that you still might have some wireless blackspots. I had an N600 AP at the front of my house for years before I ran Ethernet through the walls and the back room was still running at the same speed it was when we had wireless G. This is where powerline comes in. Now in typical use an AV200 kit will give you ~3x the speed of the best speeds you get with wireless g now throughout your house. No black spots. That's usually enough for HD video but sometimes with some devices you do get a little bit of slowdown. It's not perfect. AV500 will push you upto ~5x which may be enough headroom to resolve those issues. AV600 if you can get it will get you upto ~8x but it comes at a pretty big price premium.

 

in short:

1. Upgrade to an N600 or better yet an AC1200 AP. Do this now.

2. If after that you're still having issues get an AV500 powerline kit