Wireless Advice

[mathnerd]

I know very little about wireless technology, so I'm hoping those of you who know more than me (which is pretty much everybody older than 2) might be able to steer me in the right direction.

Right now, the wireless network in the house is rather poor. When you can get a good connection, it's reasonably fast, but the problem is getting the good connection. I have no clue what the current router/modem is, except that it's a cable modem and both the router and modem are old.

The house is a tri-level split and approximately 4500 square feet. The main level is a large entry way, a huge living room, formal dining room, breakfast room and kitchen. That all spreads out to the left and back from the front door, forming sort of a T with the other two levels. If you go up a half-level there's 4 bedrooms and 2 baths, and if you go down, there's an even more gigantic den/rec room/bar/entertainment room, laundry room, another bedroom and another bath. Those two levels stack one on top of the other. The garage is directly under some of the upper-most floor. The router is in the master bedroom, which is in the back of the house.

Now, back before my kids and I invaded, one single person lived here, and only used a few rooms of the house (explaining why the router is in the master bedroom). The signal is fine upstairs and in part of the middle level. It's horrible downstairs. Oddly, it's also fine outside on the other side of the dining room. It also chokes quite a bit, sometimes dropping entirely and refusing to reconnect.

It might also be important to know what devices get connected:

-An older desktop PC (not sure brand/specs)
-A late model netbook (also not sure of brand/specs)
-2014 model MacBook Air
-aprox 5 year old MacBook Pro
-2 iPhone 5c's
-2 iPhone 4s's
-1 iPhone 5
-1 2013 model iPad mini
-1 Kindle Fire

We are considering updating the network, but I have no clue where to start. It's a big house and there's a lot of devices that could be in use at any given time. Teenagers are data hogs, and we have three of them (and three adults as well). The homeowner is unlikely to be willing to move the router from where it is currently, and as it's an older house, and I think the reason why the signal downstairs sucks so badly is because it's having issues getting through the floor. Finances are also an issue. Nobody in the house is rolling in money.

So, if you had that set of circumstances, what might you recommend to keep everybody connected with reasonable speed?

[otakuneko]

You're probably right that it's having trouble getting through the floor. You probably won't get away with just moving the router or changing channels (although you could try that... the only useful channels are 1, 6, and 11--all others overlap) You're going to need an additional device or two.

A wireless range extender can be placed in the middle level to improve signal. This might be enough. They range very widely in price so do some research.

If you have any spare gear--old routers and whatnot--it might be possible to turn one into a repeater:
http://lifehacker.com/5563196/turn-y...wi-fi-repeater
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/how-to/ne...r-as-repeater/

There's also the option of using spare gear as a second access point... but that would require somehow connecting ethernet to it--either via actual ethernet cord, powerline adapters, or MOCA adapters if the house is wired with cable.

[lordlundar]

What you're describing is a range issue. moving the router and modem to a more central location will help but it probably won't fix everything. Extenders (though those tend to simply work in the room they're in) and routers set up as bridges and boosters will help you get into the little corners though it will take a fair bit of work to get those set up.

Best place to start is to get a portable device that can give an accurate readout (I use a PSP but you might be able to find an app for a smart phone that can do the same, just find something that will give percentages instead of bars) and map out the current range. That will give you an idea of where you can place the original device for best results.

[Javarod]

My first thought would be where is the internet coming in? You said the router is in the master bedroom, but the feed is typically in the basement which would mean some manner of line running up there either to the modem or the router. I'd start with figuring that out, since that'll determine how easy it will be to change things such as moving the router or adding a second unit.

[Chromatix]

My advice would be to avoid connecting a "range extender" purely by wireless itself. Instead, run an Ethernet cable from the existing router to one of the "dead spots", and stick an access point there.

[mathnerd]

My advice would be to avoid connecting a "range extender" purely by wireless itself. Instead, run an Ethernet cable from the existing router to one of the "dead spots", and stick an access point there.

Oh! Running cables/wires through walls! I can do that!

Seriously, thanks for the suggestions. Going through the house looking at the actual strength of the signals, and not just the bars, it looks like there's a need for two separate devices. The entire first floor is essentially a dead spot, and the part of the middle floor that's farthest away from the router is pretty weak as well.

Do y'all have any suggestions for makes/models that are decent but also budget friendly?