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?
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?
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