2 Routers??

[Lehmn]

Hello! To keep it short I essentially have wireless connection issues on the upper floor of my house. I need to keep the router on the main floor as it has to be equally spread among my family members and is not fair if i hog it up stairs to myself. The router itself does work upstairs and I receive a strong signal via Ethernet but for the most part, am unable to keep it up there. My question is: Can I purchase a second router from a retailer, bring it home, plug it in upstairs alongside the necessary cables and use Ethernet without any issues? (interference from the 2 routers etc.) If so what router do you guys recommend for GB internet at a budget price?

[Tyler Moore]

You can run a range extender, are you currently utilizing the 802.11a/c? or b/g/n?

I'd switch the main unit for a better router and use that one in a new location if it's weak.

[Lehmn]

2 minutes ago, Tyler Moore said:

You can run a range extender, are you currently utilizing the 802.11a/c? or b/g/n?

I'd switch the main unit for a better router and use that one in a new location if it's weak.

I believe 802.11a/c

[Guest]

I haven't done this in years, but you used to be able to flash the router firmware with dd-wrt and use it as a range extender. But I am pretty sure that most current routers have this feature built in. 

[Tyler Moore]

52 minutes ago, Lehmn said:

I believe 802.11a/c

Can you verify that 100%?

Believing is nice and all but this is a big difference! HUGE! PHENOMENAL! 

--
If you're on 802.11a/c you shouldn't have range problems, and so I'd suggest to check and see if the router supports the 5G wireless network and if so set it up and see if any of your devices see it if so they are 5G ready if not potentially buy an adapter but this would allow you to do so much more.

- Faster speeds almost the full thing
- Great Range (Not a lot impedes in on the signal)
- What's packet loss? My pings stay in tact.

Just need to confirm, but if that's not setup that's what you got to do for that gigabit!

[KarathKasun]

9 minutes ago, Tyler Moore said:

Can you verify that 100%?

Believing is nice and all but this is a big difference! HUGE! PHENOMENAL! 

--
If you're on 802.11a/c you shouldn't have range problems, and so I'd suggest to check and see if the router supports the 5G wireless network and if so set it up and see if any of your devices see it if so they are 5G ready if not potentially buy an adapter but this would allow you to do so much more.

- Faster speeds almost the full thing
- Better range (talking some distance over 2.4GHz)
- What's packet loss? My pings stay in tact.

Just need to confirm, but if that's not setup that's what you got to do for that gigabit!

802.11ac is 5ghz.

 

5ghz has LESS range than 2.4ghz.  Higher frequency radio waves are blocked more readily than lower frequency ones.

[KarathKasun]

You can set up almost any router as an access point by disabling its DHCP server and connecting it to your existing network with ethernet.  Make sure you DO NOT connect the ethernet to its internet port though, just use one of the ports that would normally connect to a PC.

[Tyler Moore]

16 minutes ago, KarathKasun said:

802.11ac is 5ghz.

 

5ghz has LESS range than 2.4ghz.  Higher frequency radio waves are blocked more readily than lower frequency ones.

Good catch

It does I should have gone more in on the fact less impedes on the signal which in theory allows the 5G to behave better than 2.4G within a home and makes travel superior to some extent. Wasn't sure how to explain that?

I'm going to bed, can't think/type.

[KarathKasun]

9 minutes ago, Tyler Moore said:

Good catch

It does I should have gone more in on the fact less impedes on the signal which in theory allows the 5G to behave better than 2.4G within a home and makes travel superior to some extent. Wasn't sure how to explain that?

I'm going to bed, can't think/type.

Less interference on 5ghz precisely because it doesnt go as far.  2.4ghz is very noisy, but with tuning and proper site survey you can make it work very well.

[Tyler Moore]

Probably safe to say with the range still being enough to cover a home it'd be best to go 5G as a home-user and not really go to savage on a network like that unless you were planning to connect a lot more than the family or access the internet from the corner store a mile out.

To each their own there but definitely imo best policy to convert if you haven't to enjoy more of that connection.

[KarathKasun]

On 8/10/2018 at 3:23 PM, Tyler Moore said:

Probably safe to say with the range still being enough to cover a home it'd be best to go 5G as a home-user and not really go to savage on a network like that unless you were planning to connect a lot more than the family or access the internet from the corner store a mile out.

To each their own there but definitely imo best policy to convert if you haven't to enjoy more of that connection.

A single 5ghz AP is NOT enough to cover a home.  I need 3 APs to cover my entire living space reliably with 2.4ghz (all properly tuned with sufficient band-gap), and this is in an area without lots of 2.4ghz noise.  We have lots of walls from one end of the house to the other (1600 sq/ft single story with attached 1000 sq/ft garage apartment) and one of the walls is covered with metal kitchen appliances (fridge, stove, microwave, etc.) that block most radio signals.

 

2.4ghz only has range like that if you live in a house with no walls or appliances.  If 2.4ghz cant cover your home sufficiently, 5ghz will be even worse.

[Tyler Moore]

What kind of hardware do you have? Can't say I need to in this three story.

[KarathKasun]

WRT 1200AC (2x2 MIMO and beam-forming) and two WRT 54G's modded up to ~1w output power that have high gain directional antennas (I have proper licensing for higher power/gain ISM equipment).  We have 7-10 rock wool insulated walls to go through from one end of the house to the other (~100ft from one end to the other in the longest direction, kitchen cuts the house in half).  I also suspect that some of the walls are insulated with foil backed Styrofoam (which destroys signal propagation).

 

Some devices can deal with the obstructions while others can not.  Some radio paths through the house are fine, while others have dead spots.  To get 100% coverage for my users (roomies and land lord), I need three AP's.  Coverage needs to extend beyond the house by at least ~30ft with some locations needing ~100ft, the house is on an acre lot and signal needs to reach the driveway and workshop for use while working on vehicles or other equipment.

[Alex Atkin UK]

Long story short, yes, you can simply put another router elsewhere in the house.  All you need to do is turn off DHCP on that second router and plug the main router into one of the LAN ports, not the WAN.  It will simply act as an access point.

 

Although it might be better to just buy a proper access point such as https://www.ubnt.com/unifi/unifi-ap-ac-pro/ where you have even more options for positioning it due to being able to ceiling mount it, plus its designed specifically to do one thing well, whereas routers the WiFi is not always optimal.