help Help purchasing a router for home wifi

[PizzaJailer]

My house suffers from extremely poor network signals with frequent drops and many dead/weak spots.

 

Current Setup

This is the router I currently have:

https://www.actiontec.com/products/wifi-routers-gateways/fiber/bhr-rev-i/

 

The only place the router can go is in the corner of the house where the ethernet cable leads out into the world. I have no way of changing the position of the router, even with an extension cable due to lack of passageways.

 

What I have tried

Bought and returned a crummy $50 netgear wifi extender 

Tested for conflicting networks on the same band (none found)

What does the LLT community think? Any suggestions, my budget is ~$300

[Lurick]

Look into the ubiquity lineup and setup a mesh network.

Or if you can possibly run an ethernet cable to the middle-ish of the house, that would help but I know that's not always possible.

 

Another option would be powerline from the ingress point where everything comes in and moving the main router into a more central location.

[LucasRem]

If basic routers can't give you a good WiFi solution, just go for Cables, that locations needs an upgrade! U own it, or write the owner what you can do here, cheap solution, just some cables!

[PizzaJailer]

11 minutes ago, Lurick said:

Look into the ubiquity lineup and setup a mesh network.

Or if you can possibly run an ethernet cable to the middle-ish of the house, that would help but I know that's not always possible.

 

Another option would be powerline from the ingress point where everything comes in and moving the main router into a more central location.

I've seen mesh routers before but are unfamiliar with how they work. Could you name a specific package they have listed. I'm not sure what I'd need and I certainly don't want to spend extra on overkill. For reference my fios package is 150/150mbps but I am certainly getting desecrated with average speeds of 60/60 plugged in.

_

I cannot use cables for this, due to the structure of my home there is no way to get cables close to the center of the house without them flying through the air.

[Lurick]

Just now, RenaW said:

I've seen mesh routers before but are unfamiliar with how they work. Could you name a specific package they have listed. I'm not sure what I'd need and I certainly don't want to spend extra on overkill. For reference my fios package is 150/150mbps but I am certainly getting desecrated with average speeds of 60/60 plugged in.

_

I cannot use cables for this, due to the structure of my home there is no way to get cables close to the center of the house without them flying through the air.

Something from here will work.

https://unifi-mesh.ubnt.com/#products

Depending on the square footage you need to cover will determine how many you need to get.

 

 

Look into Powerline as well, you use the power outlets to push an ethernet signal through them and out to another point, allowing you to move the router to a different location  

[PizzaJailer]

From my minimal understanding (watching a setup video) these have to be plugged into my router via ethernet cable. I do not understand how this will help my home wifi aside from probably being a better general router given the area I can setup a router in my house is limited to one deep dark corner. Is powerline what solves this? I have never hear of it before.

 

[skywake]

49 minutes ago, Lurick said:

Look into the ubiquity lineup and setup a mesh network.

Why is mesh the flavor of the month all of a sudden? I know that it's being pushed heavily by Google, Ubiquiti and others but it really isn't the silver bullet you think it is. Mesh is essentially a set of intelligent range extenders and it's no better than a range extender for <4 nodes. Most houses can get full coverage with 2-3 nodes.

 

Really your best bet @RenaW would be to get something like the AC-Lite/AC-Pro/AC-LR from Ubiquiti but just one of them. Use it to replace the WiFi built into your router and place it high up on the wall above where your router lives. It will be miles better than what you have. If that doesn't cover your house well enough? Look at getting a second one. Ideally connected via Ethernet but if not try Powerline or, worst case, set it in isolated mode and have it behave as a repeater. The last option is only for if the other options aren't possible. Only get their Mesh AP if you like the idea of a outdoor rated AP and are willing to spend more for it....

[Lurick]

6 minutes ago, skywake said:

Why is mesh the flavor of the month all of a sudden? I know that it's being pushed heavily by Google, Ubiquiti and others but it really isn't the silver bullet you think it is. Mesh is essentially a set of intelligent range extenders and it's no better than a range extender for <4 nodes. Most houses can get full coverage with 2-3 nodes.

 

Really your best bet @RenaW would be to get something like the AC-Lite/AC-Pro/AC-LR from Ubiquiti but just one of them. Use it to replace the WiFi built into your router and place it high up on the wall above where your router lives. It will be miles better than what you have. If that doesn't cover your house well enough? Look at getting a second one. Ideally connected via Ethernet but if not try Powerline or, worst case, set it in isolated mode and have it behave as a repeater. The last option is only for if the other options aren't possible. Only get their Mesh AP if you like the idea of a outdoor rated AP and are willing to spend more for it....

Yah, not a fan of mesh networking myself but it's a possible option. Just trying to lay them all out on the table

Powerline or a single strong AP would be better though as you suggested.

[Hiitchy]

I use a TP-Link Archer C3200 that I got on sale from Amazon. It's a pretty solid AP if you're looking for something to help spread your connection around your house. In my room, it's about -59 dBm for 5GHz network(s), and -40 to -42 dBm for the 2.4GHz network. Then again, I only went with a router like this to support gigabit speeds from my ISP's modem so it may be a little overkill for you.