topic Re: Router only covers a tiny bit of the house? in My Router

Router only covers a tiny bit of the house?

katesam — Sun, 02 Aug 2020 14:03:05 GMT

I moved house a few months ago and started a Plusnet account but ever since I moved in I've had problems accessing wifi from anywhere except the room with the router in.

I've followed the advice about keeping it off the floor etc but only that room & the room directly above gets a good connection. The rooms next to those get a very slow/intermittent connection but only halfway into those rooms. The rest of the house nothing.

Plusnet customer support have tested the general speed coming into the house and say it's ok so I'm guessing it must be a router issue? It affects 2 different laptops and apple devices.

What can I do to improve wifi coverage through the house? I work from home and am off furlough next month so I need to get it sorted.

thanks!

Re: Router only covers a tiny bit of the house?

Bogbody — Sun, 02 Aug 2020 14:15:26 GMT

Download an app onto your phone like "wifi anyaliser". Use that to check the wifi signal strength around the house.
Move the router around to see if there is a location that gives better coverage.
One of my clients wanted the router out of sight so had hidden it in an alcove and put a picture in front of it. Result? No wifi coverage outside the front room and no connection to the sky box. I moved it out of the alcove and it worked fine.
You could look at using powerline adapters to get wifi in every room its needed???

Re: Router only covers a tiny bit of the house?

Leapy — Sun, 02 Aug 2020 18:46:31 GMT

@katesam A mate of mine has a decorating business, and he was doing up a house and had lots of problems with his phone.

The previous owner of the house had lined all the walls with tinfoil under the wallpaper 🙄

Re: Router only covers a tiny bit of the house?

VileReynard — Sun, 02 Aug 2020 19:19:25 GMT

Pity he didn't install ethernet cabling whilst he was decorating...

Re: Router only covers a tiny bit of the house?

Bill_C — Sun, 02 Aug 2020 21:00:16 GMT

I've seen a lot of "foil backed" expanded polystyrene insulation boards being used in new construction these days instead of the expanded foam or fibreglass, easier to handle and cheaper than the alternatives i think.

I'm in a new build and WiFi was terrible with BT Smart hub, thankfully things are a bit better with the PN's hub. Saying that I've had to use an external modem (HG612) and move the PN box to outside my living room and keep everything wired

Re: Router only covers a tiny bit of the house?

Alex — Sun, 02 Aug 2020 22:40:23 GMT

Hi @katesam

You could try splitting the bands on WiFi and see if it makes any difference. It will be in the router settings.

Re: Router only covers a tiny bit of the house?

katesam — Mon, 03 Aug 2020 07:47:07 GMT

Moving the router around was the first thing I tried... and it's definitely not hidden away in an alcove 😁

Thanks for the wifi analyser suggestion. As I thought -40 in room with the router and the one above, -66 in the room next door to router and -68 to -76 everwhere else (and a couple of places I couldn't get on the wifi to run the test!). That can't be right can it? I've never had trouble getting a signal to stretch before and I'm not living in a mansion

With powerline adapters do you need to plug devices into it via ethernet etc to use or is it wireless?

Re: Router only covers a tiny bit of the house?

katesam — Mon, 03 Aug 2020 07:47:59 GMT

There's some crazy people out there! No wallpaper here so unless they've insulated the walls with tin foil...

Re: Router only covers a tiny bit of the house?

katesam — Mon, 03 Aug 2020 07:52:34 GMT

Hi Alex

I've set up connections to the 5GHz band for my laptop as I was having intermittent connection problems on the 2.4GHz. Solved that problem but the 5GHz band has even less range than the 2.4.

Is that what you meant or is there something else I should try?

Re: Router only covers a tiny bit of the house?

Alex — Mon, 03 Aug 2020 08:07:11 GMT

Yep @katesam

That is what I meant.

The only other thing I can suggest is moving the router around a bit (as best you can). If you have other sockets in your house, try them.

Re: Router only covers a tiny bit of the house?

Bogbody — Mon, 03 Aug 2020 11:16:48 GMT

With the powerline adapters there are several version.
What I would suggest is an ethernet cable to the first one then via the mains to a number of other wifi units.
TP-Link do a range of devices.
Like this for example
https://www.amazon.co.uk/TL-WPA4220KIT-Powerline-Broadband-Configuration-UK/dp/B01LXOZ4EN/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=tp+link+wifi+range+extender&qid=1596453316&sprefix=tp&sr=8-4

Re: Router only covers a tiny bit of the house?

VileReynard — Mon, 03 Aug 2020 14:50:25 GMT

Powerline sometimes works and sometimes is worse than useless.

Bit of an expensive gamble.

Re: Router only covers a tiny bit of the house?

Bogbody — Mon, 03 Aug 2020 15:05:45 GMT

The kit from Amazon is £35 --- send it back if it doesn't work 🙂

Re: Router only covers a tiny bit of the house?

katesam — Tue, 04 Aug 2020 07:13:53 GMT

Thanks @Bogbody I'll definitely give that a try. Will it work for the 5GHz band? My 2.4GHz connection is intermittent, even if I'm standing next to the router!

Re: Router only covers a tiny bit of the house?

Bogbody — Tue, 04 Aug 2020 11:47:30 GMT

This particular one is 2.4GHz.
Other models are mentioned on the page that are 2.4 and 5GHz.
Your 2.4GHz signal should be strong next to the router. Any interfering channels found on the wifi app? Is the router faulty?

Re: Router only covers a tiny bit of the house?

katesam — Tue, 04 Aug 2020 14:44:35 GMT

Thanks for your help @Bogbody as you might have guessed, I've got no idea what I'm doing when it comes to wi-fi, broadband etc!

Since I moved in and installed the Plusnet router I had intermittent problems with the 2.4GHz. Some days fine and some days every 5 minutes everything would be extremely slow or I couldn't access the internet at all. This would happen even if I was in the same room as the router. After a while it would be back to normal.

When I told Plusnet they just suggested I use 5GHz instead which has been stable with no dropping out. But it looks like it's going to be more difficult to extend the signal for that band.... 😞

I've checked channels and it looks like next door one way is using 1 and other way is using 6 so I've changed to 11 but that hasn't helped the signal strength.

Re: Router only covers a tiny bit of the house?

Alex — Tue, 04 Aug 2020 18:25:30 GMT

Difficult one @katesam

See how many Wi-Fi networks are around where you live, it is possible one is interfering with yours.

Re: Router only covers a tiny bit of the house?

katesam — Tue, 04 Aug 2020 18:45:09 GMT

Thanks @Alex

Only 1 other network shows up in wifi settings for phone, laptop etc. I scanned on WifiInfoView and that shows 3 more networks (all Virgin Media). How can I tell if one of them is interfering with mine? This afternoon I switched my 2.4GHz band from channel 1 (which next door is using) to channel 11 (which only 1 other network is using) and tried that out again instead of the 5GHz band. But I've already had a couple of issues of very slow connection and one brief loss of connection - same as before.

Re: Router only covers a tiny bit of the house?

Bogbody — Tue, 04 Aug 2020 20:31:59 GMT

A sudden drop in data rate when another router/hotspot/random wifi device signal appears. Sometimes only by noticing a pattern - only after school time or only in the evening for example.
You have to remember that the other person may not be aware of a problem. However, there are idiots that deliberatly use kit to jam wifi. !!!!
Some of the wifi apps will suggest a channel to use. If you have intermittent interference try to check the coverage when its not working properly. You may have a neighbour using a bit of kit (like a hotspot router or wifi printer) that causes interference only when its in use???
Sounds to me like you would be better investing in 5GHz kit????

Re: Router only covers a tiny bit of the house?

VileReynard — Tue, 04 Aug 2020 22:08:17 GMT

None of my Wi-fi stuff supports 5GHz "kit", including my mobile and a couple of laptops. Changing my "kit" would be slightly pricey - and not guaranteed to work, anyway.

My router has its 5GHz feature disabled by me.😀