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Last active August 20, 2020 17:41
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Home WiFi tips
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wifi.md

Making Home WiFi better

So your WiFi at home isn't great?

First, make sure that you're getting a good connection when you're near the router. The easiest way is to get close to it with a computer or phone you find to be "fast enough" and go to https://fast.com in a web browser. You'll want to make sure the result you get is reasonably close (within 10-15 percent) to the promised speed of your connection from Comcast or whomever. That will make sure you don't have to replace the router anyway – you might expect a router to last 5-6 years, give or take. It'll still work after that, but it probably won't keep up with the speed increases of your internet connection.

If you aren't getting the speed you expect, you should probably get a new router. That may not solve your coverage problem, but if you're not happy with speeds close to the router, you won't be happy when you're far away from it.

Okay, so once you're happy with your performance near the router (or know you need a new one), there are a couple approaches for improving your coverage:

  1. Move your router. Lots of homes have multiple cable outlets, and the router could probably go on any of them. Ideally, your router is reasonably central to your home, and it's easier for routers to transmit signal down than up, so putting it upstairs might help slightly. This may fix your issue entirely, and it typically costs nothing!

  2. Get a more powerful router. You can get a decent router for $50-80 (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079JD7F7G/), but if you need maximum range, you'll be looking more in the $150-200 category with something like this TP-Link AC4000: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B084HLB7LJ/

  3. For a large home, or homes that have concrete, brick, or steel between you and the router, you may choose to invest in a mesh networking kit. Basically, these replace your router (and plug straight into your cable modem – if your cable modem and router are combined, it'd plug into your router) and have separate repeaters for different parts of the house. You might put one at one side, one at another, and one upstairs in the middle. You typically need one for every 1000-1500 feet you want to cover, but thick walls and materials may decrease this. I'd recommend Eero, the easiest to use: https://eero.com/shop Regular Eero is fine, but if you really really want max speed, the Eero Pro gives a little more speed and range. Expect to spend $200-300 on an Eero kit, depending on how much you need.

  4. (this is really 3a) If you want to spend a bit less, you can consider powerline networking. This technology uses your electric lines in your home to act as network cables, and then you attach a second wifi hotspot to another part of the house. Powerline networking works GREAT in some houses, and is really unreliable in other houses, depending on the state of your wiring. You plug your router into one unit, which plugs into the wall, and then you plug the wifi hotspot into another wall outlet somewhere else in the house. If you want max speed (~750mbps), you can spend $115 on this kit: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076CYV2XH or you can save a little money and get up to ~350-400mbps with this downgraded kit: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N7YQO9G

  5. If you want the Best Possible Solution™, you'd be looking at buying a special router, wiring your home for ethernet, and placing high-quality access points at the end of those ethernet cables throughout the house. Most of the same rules apply from step 3/4, but having the access points connected via Ethernet is the most reliable option. This is a more complicated approach, but I really like the Ubiquiti UniFi product line, and it's what we use at our home. Each access point is about $100, the router is ~$350, and the cost to wire your home for ethernet could be a few hundred dollars.

I know that's a lot, but it should be everything you need to make a decision. Hopefully you end your search as high up the list as possible, since the lower you go, the tougher and more expensive it gets :)

Good luck!

Pro tips:

  • Set your new router, mesh system, or powerline access point up so that it has the same network name (SSID) and password as your current wifi. Then you won't have to reset any of your devices!

  • Think about the materials a signal would have to pass through to get from the router or access point to your phone or computer. Signals don't bounce off walls or go around corners, so if you have a masonry chimney, a steel post, or a metal laundry chute in the way, that will muck with the signal.

  • Most people don't notice the difference above 100mbps. Getting "gig-speed" internet that flakes out in certain parts of the house is way worse than 100 or 250mbps that works reliably. A Netflix movie will look its absolute best with 25mbps, and will look really good at 5mbps, so you don't need to sweat about having really big numbers.

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