Noob question

[VortexSponge]

I'm trying to upgrade my current networking solution, but I know very little about networking itself. 

My router provides plenty fast internet (~250-300 Mbps) standing right next to it, but it's not in a central location and unfortunately is almost impossible to relocate.

We have an access point in a fairly central location, but it has really been struggling with the whole family home for quarantine (probably around 25 devices connected to it), and around the house we average 20 Mbps or so. Recently, however, when too many people try to use it at once, it has become painfully slow. The access point is connected to the router by a cat5e cable, which is also sadly very difficult to relocate.

From the little I know, it seems a range extender is the best solution. Is this true? And if so, what options should I consider for my house? Thanks in advance.

[Lurick]

What do you have now as your access point? Make/model?

I think you might be fine with something like a ubiquiti access point or something as those can handle a ton of devices really well.

[mockedarche]

11 minutes ago, VortexSponge said:

I'm trying to upgrade my current networking solution, but I know very little about networking itself. 

My router provides plenty fast internet (~250-300 Mbps) standing right next to it, but it's not in a central location and unfortunately is almost impossible to relocate.

We have an access point in a fairly central location, but it has really been struggling with the whole family home for quarantine (probably around 25 devices connected to it), and around the house we average 20 Mbps or so. Recently, however, when too many people try to use it at once, it has become painfully slow. The access point is connected to the router by a cat5e cable, which is also sadly very difficult to relocate.

From the little I know, it seems a range extender is the best solution. Is this true? And if so, what options should I consider for my house? Thanks in advance.

Ask your family to get off for a moment or run a sped test at night around the house. If when no one is on the speed is still slow the further away then i'd suggest a range extender or a comparable solution. With everyone working from home my internet speed of around 325 can be as low as 6 mb because nodes are being overloaded. AKA make sure its an issue with the range and not with the speed to the house.

[ACEHACK]

yeah whats your access point make/model?

 

if you can afford it i would say go with mesh network. 

[Falcon1986]

4 hours ago, VortexSponge said:

From the little I know, it seems a range extender is the best solution. Is this true? And if so, what options should I consider for my house?

For so many devices trying to connect, a range extender is going to make WiFi performance worse. This has to do with how they work. Ironically, they can't extend very weak signals very well. Even when placed at an acceptable distance, half of their air time is spent communicating with client devices while the other half is spent communicating with the wireless base station which, as you can imagine, halves the available bandwidth. Add onto that managing multiple wireless clients and the limitations of WiFi (interference, obstruction, range, etc.) and you'll see why it shouldn't be used unless you've exhausted all the other options.

 

Since you already have ethernet running to a wireless access point, upgrading the existing AP is the most effective option. If you have the budget for it, a Ubiquiti access point should work fine, but you still have to provide some more information:

1. How large is your home? Is it a single or multi-level home? Can you provide a sketch of the floor plan identifying where your current network equipment is located?
2. Please provide the exact make/model of each network device.
3. Can any of your existing gadgets be wired to the network? Doing so will reduce the load on access points and increase connection reliability to all of these devices.
4. Run WiFi Analyzer close to the router and your existing AP, then at a further location in the house. Post screenshots of the 'Networks' and 'Analyze' pages (hide MAC; include for 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands).