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WiFi extension


Andrew
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Hello. Having just moved into a larger house, I think the need for extending the wifi is going to be required. The previous owners had to so what are my best options? I just want one network, I don't want the device to have to switch between different wifi network names. The powerline adapters look neat and the new BT whole home system looks interesting (it is expensive though).  

A new BT homehub is being delivered this week and if I believe the hype the signal is much improved from older models. 

Edited by Andrew
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PowerLine is OK, but personally, I'd go with some kind of mesh system. 

Firstly how fast is your Internet connection? Secondly, what is your traffic like? Mostly to/from t'internet or do you run internal stuff too? It'll affect the choices.

Powerline stuff is OK, but I've rarely seen them hit 200Mbps, even though they're rated far higher. That's fine if your internet is below that, and most of your traffic is that way - could be frustrating otherwise.

Check out stuff like the LInkSys Velop or the Netgear Orbi .

 

 

 

 

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I'd leave Powerline as a last resort.  In theory it's a good idea but in practise they'll get nowhere near the headline figures and depending on your wiring may give you such a poor connection that you'd be better off with iffy wireless.

I like Ubiquiti wireless stuff, I have 3 of these in my large 4 bed house and I get great signal all over the house and in the back garden.  In addition to the access points you need something to act as a controller but I can tell you more about that if you're interested.

My brother has the new BT HomeHub and it's pretty rubbish, the wireless range is marginally better but the throughput tails off very badly so whilst there's a signal in all the bodrooms the throughout isn't good enough for Netflix to work reliably.  He's getting a couple of the Ubiquiti access points I have.

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Sky Q sorted out our wifi issues, did the same at my parents (very large) house.

 

Creates a wireless ‘mesh’ but not sure if the same thing Mac is talking about?

Every Sky product, so Q box, Q mini boxes, Sky router and if you need it, the little signal repeater box (neither myself nor my parents needed one) works as part of the WiFi network spreading the signal right around your home, and of course it means you get TV wherever in house you want it with no wires whatsoever.

 

I appreciate it isn’t exactly what you were asking about, but it’s a solution that has worked very well for us so thought i’d mention it.

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BT's powerline stuff isn't bad.  It doesn't ever get near the rated 200/500mbps speeds they claim but we used them to power 3 x CCTV cameras because the of the ethernet sockets they have in them.  They're a very simple and effective solution for that.

The powerline options still usually deliver 12-30mb on even poor circuits, so that is more than enough to watch the likes of Netflix in rooms.

However, we opted for an Asus router hooked up to our Virgin HomeWorks+ kit (still a SuperHub 3) to spread WiFi throughout the house.  The office part of the house is on the upper/back of the house and the router is at the front/lower part.  We get 200mb (of the 300mb available) compared to what was half the speed with just the SuperHub 3.  We have split the network between 2G/5G and have 28 devices running off it now.  The Asus router software is fantastic too.  

My advice would be to think about what you're going to use it for and not go over the top if you don't need ultra-fast WiFi.



 

 

Edited by NewNiceMrMe
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Interesting comments guys, I'll be keeping the BT hub and I assume the Burble and Mac solutions just hang off it? The BT disc solution thing is a mesh of sorts. 

NNMM I don't need blisteringly fast speeds. We get about 45mbps at the moment which seems to be enough. It is only myself and the wife on wifi as the kids are too young. 

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BT has now taken over a week to connect us back to BB. I have to keep ringing them for updates. Shocking service. So, Virgin, quicker, cheaper and the house is already wired for it. What are they like? If I get nothing from BT tomorrow I’m tempted to vote with my wallet. 

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10 hours ago, Andrew said:

BT has now taken over a week to connect us back to BB. I have to keep ringing them for updates. Shocking service. So, Virgin, quicker, cheaper and the house is already wired for it. What are they like? If I get nothing from BT tomorrow I’m tempted to vote with my wallet. 

 

I've recently switched from Virgin back to sky Q. When the Openreach engineer came out to install the BB he couldn't get it going due to some problem in an office in India. It took 6 days to get the internet back online. Luckily I was overlapping my virgin service so I unpacked the router and was able to use that. In today's world, 6 days without interwebs is a nightmare. 

 

As a side point, now sky BB is up and running I can confirm that the virgin router has a lot better signal strength. Outside in the garage I lose sky where as virgin was still full strength. 

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Right, Virgin Vivid 200 installed and working, wired connection 175 mbps. Wifi sometimes 20 but I’ve seen 60 odd. Will attaching a router like MrMe boost my wifi speed significantly or will the mesh system be a better bet? I don’t hardwire anything really so all that speed is just going the waste at the moment.

 

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15 hours ago, Andrew said:

Right, Virgin Vivid 200 installed and working, wired connection 175 mbps. Wifi sometimes 20 but I’ve seen 60 odd. Will attaching a router like MrMe boost my wifi speed significantly or will the mesh system be a better bet? I don’t hardwire anything really so all that speed is just going the waste at the moment.

 

The speed will settle down, I use my Virgin Hub in a Bridge mode so its only used as a model and have an ASUS that does the wifi. 

As for wifi speed, then yeah a mesh solution to extend the signal to the furthest parts of the house can certainly help with the speed especially if you are a long way away from the router. +++

 

Oh and as for TSN speed, its had a kick the other day and is running its hamster feet a little bit faster. 

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Virgin HomeWorks+ 300mb regularly gives us 320-330mbps.  

Like anyone else, they can have their moments of shitness but generally it has been incredibly reliable and very, very fast.

It's that quick that I won't be posting this until 28 minutes into the future but you'll have already read it.

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Over WiFi.

That said, I've just (today) had network sockets installed in the office (at home) as part of an electrical project they've been here doing for 2 days.  

That means I have just registered a speed of 334mb in the office at the back of the house, on the upper floor, over the cable.

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We went from Vivid 200 to HomeWorks+ 300.

I changed to an excellent Asus router for better WiFi signal and it worked a treat.  I then, this week, had network sockets installed in the office so could get every drop of download speed out of the service.   I've just ran a few more tests and it is between 326 to 335mb consistently (hasn't dropped below that no matter which server I select for testing).

I have plugged a Netgear switch into one of the patch sockets and will be attaching a WiFi Hotspot to that for upstairs, just so we get the maximum speed possible on the upper floor.

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