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Best 3rd Party Router

tekton23
Dabbler
Posts: 17
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎13-06-2016

Best 3rd Party Router

Hi,

 

I am in a 1 bedroom flat in an old converted Victorian house. There are a few weak spots, depite this being a small property and I wondered if buying a 3rd party router for my fibre connection might help. We have the standard issue Plusnet router, having just joined Plusnet 2 months ago. We don't have a BT modem, the Plusnet router does it all, so do I need a router that is an all-in-one i.e. modem included.

 

My main concern is a good signal throughout the flat. It is frustrating that I can't add an aerial to improve the existing router. I have tried those plug-in boosters, but found they slowed down the connection overall.

 

Thanks,

 

T23

5 REPLIES 5
SpendLessTime
Hero
Posts: 3,000
Thanks: 928
Fixes: 86
Registered: ‎21-09-2009

Re: Best 3rd Party Router

Probably best to start at this site http://forum.kitz.co.uk/index.php/topic,14436.0.html for advice. The owner Kitz is a Plusnet customer and extremely knowledgable as are the posters there.

Ex - Plusnet Customer (2009 - 2023) now with BT
tekton23
Dabbler
Posts: 17
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎13-06-2016

Re: Best 3rd Party Router

Thank-you - I'll give Kitz a try,

 

T23

tekton23
Dabbler
Posts: 17
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎13-06-2016

Re: Best 3rd Party Router

At a bit of a loss here. I bought a TP-Link Powerline extender which has both an ethernet port and wifi extender. It increased the signal really well and meant my Bose sound system has a good signal.

 

However, all network devices such as the printer basically do not work well. I have been in touch with TP-Link and Epson and have worked on elaborate fixes, but essentially they do not work 100%. I can not send a scan from the printer to the laptop and the printer frequently dissapears from the laptops meaning I have to constantly re-install.

 

 

I have now unplugged the TP-links and it has solved the issues. However, I am back at square one in terms of the weak signal in the living room and Bose music having intermittent connection over wifi.

Is there a quick fix? Is there a 3rd party router that anyone can recommend? I have had no good feedback from the Kitz forum.

 

Thanks,

T23

VileReynard
Hero
Posts: 12,616
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Registered: ‎01-09-2007

Re: Best 3rd Party Router

Your router is working perfectly; its job is to route data.

You are looking to install a better wireless access point.

I don't understand why you would install some possibly rather expensive Bose speakers and then connect them via a cheapo wifi setup - what's wrong with some proper speaker cables?

Powerline connections are usually used for extending a wired connection from the router. They quite often work well.

Instead you could run a piece of ethernet cable to an ethernet switch located somewhere near your printer. You can connect several devices via ethernet cable to the switch & each should run at full speed.

No quick fixes.

"In The Beginning Was The Word, And The Word Was Aardvark."

nanotm
Pro
Posts: 5,756
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Fixes: 2
Registered: ‎11-02-2013

Re: Best 3rd Party Router


@tekton23 wrote:

At a bit of a loss here. I bought a TP-Link Powerline extender which has both an ethernet port and wifi extender. It increased the signal really well and meant my Bose sound system has a good signal.

 

However, all network devices such as the printer basically do not work well. I have been in touch with TP-Link and Epson and have worked on elaborate fixes, but essentially they do not work 100%. I can not send a scan from the printer to the laptop and the printer frequently dissapears from the laptops meaning I have to constantly re-install.

 

 

I have now unplugged the TP-links and it has solved the issues. However, I am back at square one in terms of the weak signal in the living room and Bose music having intermittent connection over wifi.

Is there a quick fix? Is there a 3rd party router that anyone can recommend? I have had no good feedback from the Kitz forum.

 

Thanks,

T23


your quick "cheap" solution would be to get a bunch of stand alone plug in wifi repeaters, like this https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01560JGQW NETGEAR EX6120-100UKS

 

there not cheap per se but so long as you don't get a duff unit there quick and far more reliable than powerline for continuous connections so long as your not putting iptv through them (they say  there good for streaming but they really aren't any good for it at all as the little didy underpowered processer gets saturated and needs rebooting, and that's the same for all similar devices)

 

as VR says the only way to do it reliably is a wired switch like this https://www.amazon.co.uk/D-Link-Gigabit-Desktop-Switch-GO-SW-5G/dp/B008PC1FYK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid...

 

on the end of one of these https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=cat+5e+ethernet+ 

and if you need to share that connection to multiple devices via wifi at the far end then a second router on the end of the Ethernet lead and set it up as a repeater station, because you need something that doesn't suffer saturation and fall over like the majority of cheap solutions do.

 

might be better to get your landlord to drill holes and hard wire some Ethernet sockets around the property if neatness is your thing, its in their interests after all to make it better for future tech using occupants /

just because your paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you