Best long range router?

[aeroencychris]

Hi,

My mom does online tutoring over Skype in her bedroom on the far end of the house with quite a few walls between her laptop and the router. Through ethernet we get about 50mb/s but in the bedroom over wifi it's about 10 mb/s. Sadly, our house doesn't have wired ethernet so that's not an option either. We've tried powerline too but the wiring in our house doesn't seem to work well with that. Currently we have a ASUS RT-AC66U as our router, but I was wondering if there's anything a bit beefier that would provide better coverage throughout the house. Any good options to consider? Budget isn't much of an issue (below $300 please? )

 

Thanks,

-Chris

[JefferyD90]

9 minutes ago, cdsboy2000 said:

Hi,

My mom does online tutoring over Skype in her bedroom on the far end of the house with quite a few walls between her laptop and the router. Through ethernet we get about 50mb/s but in the bedroom over wifi it's about 10 mb/s. Sadly, our house doesn't have wired ethernet so that's not an option either. We've tried powerline too but the wiring in our house doesn't seem to work well with that. Currently we have a ASUS RT-AC66U as our router, but I was wondering if there's anything a bit beefier that would provide better coverage throughout the house. Any good options to consider? Budget isn't much of an issue (below $300 please? )

 

Thanks,

-Chris

That router is really going to be about as good as it gets.  You could try getting one of the newer models, but ASUS ranks up there with the best of them.  I'd HIGHLY suggest making sure she is on the 5gz band.

[aeroencychris]

2 minutes ago, JefferyD90 said:

That router is really going to be about as good as it gets.  You could try getting one of the newer models, but ASUS ranks up there with the best of them.  I'd HIGHLY suggest making sure she is on the 5gz band.

5ghz doesn't seem to do well through walls, has worse performance somehow. Surprisingly, even on my phone right next to the router in my room the 5ghz is weaker.

[Skiiwee29]

3 minutes ago, cdsboy2000 said:

5ghz doesn't seem to do well through walls, has worse performance somehow. Surprisingly, even on my phone right next to the router in my room the 5ghz is weaker.

5Ghz has a much shorter effective range than the 2.4ghz spectrum. Your best option may be to look at ways to move the router and/or modem location to a more central location to get a better coverage area. 

[aeroencychris]

1 minute ago, legacy99 said:

5Ghz has a much shorter effective range than the 2.4ghz spectrum. Your best option may be to look at ways to move the router and/or modem location to a more central location to get a better coverage area. 

Not an option sadly, coax comes into my room so the modem is stuck here, and we don't have any way of wiring the modem to the router in another room

[Skiiwee29]

1 minute ago, cdsboy2000 said:

Not an option sadly, coax comes into my room so the modem is stuck here, and we don't have any way of wiring the modem to the router in another room

Then you may need to look at options such as running an ethernet cable. You can accomplish this with some small channel strips to conceal the cable, or you could simply drill holes through the base board area and run it that way. Or you could do as Linus did a few months back, run it outside and back inside. Unfortunately, this is going to be your only real options unless you can get your ISP to move your drop location. 

[JefferyD90]

7 minutes ago, cdsboy2000 said:

5ghz doesn't seem to do well through walls, has worse performance somehow. Surprisingly, even on my phone right next to the router in my room the 5ghz is weaker.

Use a phone app to check interferences.

[aeroencychris]

3 minutes ago, JefferyD90 said:

Use a phone app to check interferences.

Such as?

[aeroencychris]

4 minutes ago, legacy99 said:

Then you may need to look at options such as running an ethernet cable. You can accomplish this with some small channel strips to conceal the cable, or you could simply drill holes through the base board area and run it that way. Or you could do as Linus did a few months back, run it outside and back inside. Unfortunately, this is going to be your only real options unless you can get your ISP to move your drop location. 

Better router isn't an option? I'd really prefer to not have to do that

[JefferyD90]

1 minute ago, cdsboy2000 said:

Such as?

I have a Windows Phone and use a app called "Wifi Analyzer"

[aeroencychris]

1 minute ago, JefferyD90 said:

I have a Windows Phone and use a app called "Wifi Analyzer"

What exactly would i be doing with it? Looking for other 5ghz networks?

[Skiiwee29]

4 minutes ago, cdsboy2000 said:

Better router isn't an option? I'd really prefer to not have to do that

Likely not. I deal with the internet as a DOCSIS engineer on a daily basis and the best way to think about wifi is that for each wall it has to pass through, you can effectively cancel out up to 50% of the signal just to pass through the wall. SOHO routers have limitations put on them by regulating bodies to restrict the antenna gain, or how strong the signal is output from the router, so as to not interfere to much with other devices etc since the spectrum used is unlicensed and anyone can use it without needing permission. 

[JefferyD90]

2 minutes ago, cdsboy2000 said:

What exactly would i be doing with it? Looking for other 5ghz networks?

Look for all of them.

[aeroencychris]

1 minute ago, JefferyD90 said:

Look for all of them.

And what would I do about it?

[aeroencychris]

3 minutes ago, legacy99 said:

Likely not. I deal with the internet as a DOCSIS engineer on a daily basis and the best way to think about wifi is that for each wall it has to pass through, you can effectively cancel out up to 50% of the signal just to pass through the wall. SOHO routers have limitations put on them by regulating bodies to restrict the antenna gain, or how strong the signal is output from the router, so as to not interfere to much with other devices etc since the spectrum used is unlicensed and anyone can use it without needing permission. 

Welp, that's frustrating. Would it be possible to potentially wire ethernet plugs to the bedroom using existing wiring (if it exists)?

[Skiiwee29]

1 minute ago, cdsboy2000 said:

Welp, that's frustrating. Would it be possible to potentially wire ethernet plugs to the bedroom using existing wiring (if it exists)?

Definitely. If you have a crawl space or basement you can snake cabling through and push up through the walls and create a punch down block. Assuming your on a single story house. 

[aeroencychris]

2 minutes ago, legacy99 said:

Definitely. If you have a crawl space or basement you can snake cabling through and push up through the walls and create a punch down block. Assuming your on a single story house. 

Nope, stuck in an apartment  not sure what the building will allow us to do

[JefferyD90]

6 minutes ago, cdsboy2000 said:

And what would I do about it?

Well, if you have all the traffic on channel 1... then just switch to 6 or 11...  I'm surprised you haven't already looked at it.

[aeroencychris]

3 minutes ago, JefferyD90 said:

Well, if you have all the traffic on channel 1... then just switch to 6 or 11...  I'm surprised you haven't already looked at it.

Will do

[Huntsman]

1. As they all mentioned, check wifi for empty or less congested channels then set your wifi AP to that channel.

2. Instead of swapping routers, try a wifi adapter upgrade on laptop. Mileage will vary greatly tho.

3. On the laptop side, use an external wifi adapter. Such as the TP-Link TL-WN722N or sorts with beefy external antenna.

[imreloadin]

You can also try a WiFi repeater halfway between the router and her room to increase the strength of the signal. Or maybe look into power line networking since you're in an apartment.

[aeroencychris]

56 minutes ago, imreloadin said:

You can also try a WiFi repeater halfway between the router and her room to increase the strength of the signal. Or maybe look into power line networking since you're in an apartment.

 

1 hour ago, cdsboy2000 said:

We've tried powerline too but the wiring in our house doesn't seem to work well with that

 

[Rmusic10891]

Do you have Coax run in your house? You could look into MoCa.

[aeroencychris]

3 hours ago, Rmusic10891 said:

Do you have Coax run in your house? You could look into MoCa.

Looks promising but also quite expensive for each converter box

[Rmusic10891]

22 minutes ago, cdsboy2000 said:

Looks promising but also quite expensive for each converter box

 

https://www.amazon.com/Actiontec-Bonded-Ethernet-Adapter-ECB6200K02/dp/B013J7O3X0

These are top of the line from what I understand. Seems like most people have been able to sustain 500mbps + on them. Apparently they require a firmware update out of the box that isn't advertised. A google search of the model will get you directions on how to do it though.

 

There is some research that you would want to do before going this route. For instance you want to order MoCa compliant splitters and replace your existing ones more than likely. You'll also want to put a filter on at the entry point the prevent internet so someone outside can't tap into your internal MoCA network.

 

Point of Entry Filter

https://www.amazon.com/Filter-MoCA-Cable-Coaxial-Networking/dp/B00DC8IEE6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1467222818&sr=8-1&keywords=MoCa+Filter

 

MoCa Compliant Splitter

https://www.amazon.com/Holland-Electronics-4-Way-Splitter-5-1675Mhz/dp/B00OTOEIGK/ref=pd_sim_23_4?ie=UTF8&dpID=411olnfPGoL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160%2C160_&refRID=44JQX0VP3KK2C71M6GTP

 

Anyway from reviews I've read it is worth the trouble to go through this work. Seems to be more reliable than powerline adapters. It certainly allows for more real world throughput. I'm in the process of setting my network up for MoCA to connect my office.