Wifi problems upstairs - thoughts?

tykesi

Hi,

I usually hang about on the motoring boards but have a question about my home WiFi network and wanted to see if anyone had any comments.

Currently I have Virgin Media up to 20Mb fibre broadband which is just about to be upgraded to 50Mb according to VM’s website. I use an Asus RT N65U router and get a steady 19Mb WiFi signal around the house according to Speedtest.net’s app on my iPhone and iPad. The problem lies upstairs where the throughput seems to be a bit hit and miss. For example in the bedroom if I want to watch videos (youtube etc) on the iPad or Apple TV sometimes the videos will download quickly and can be watched seamlessly. Other times, however the videos seem to take an age to load and don’t download quickly enough so have keep buffering which can be really annoying.

I want to see if I can prevent this happening but have a few questions about it’s cause and my ideas of how to tackle it. Briefly, some details of the network:

Asus RT N65U dual band router with the following connected (and to which network):

iPad (5GHz)
iPhone 5 (5GHz)
iPhone 4 (2.4GHz)
Google Chromebook (2.4GHz)
Windows 7 Laptop (2.4GHz)
Now TV (2.4GHz)
SMART DVD player (Ethernet)
VM Tivo box (Ethernet)

I think that’s it and at any one time I’d say a maximum of five of these devices would be active and in use on the network. Can anyone advise what may be the cause of the laggy WiFi upstairs when at most three of the devices are in use. As I say, one time it might be fine, another (same time of day or different) it may be awful, there seems no particular pattern.

My thought on how to tackle include:

- I have a spare dlink router which I could put in downstairs in place of the Asus then use the Asus as a bridge upstairs to see if this helps (dlink model can’t be put into bridge mode)
- Use Powerline adaptors to get decent speed upstairs then either a) connect Apple TV via Ethernet or b) connect the Powerline to the spare router upstairs to effectively produce a new WiFi network upstairs (not sure if this is even possible)

It’s not really feasible to move the existing router to a more central location (it’s at the front wall of the house) or to be running Ethernet anywhere else in the house.

I think that’s about all I’ve come up with for now, any thoughts on the cause and whether any of my solutions will work would be appreciated. If I’ve missed anything about my set up, I’ll happily answer any questions.

TIA

Moneymaker

Firstly you have contention from your other devices. Secondly, the signal is making its way upstairs by one or more unknown routes. In my house, for example, the signal has to bounce its way up the stairwell and, if the flimsy wooden bedroom door is closed, the signal is too weak to be usable in there.

JJ_Egan

Try turning router around or lying flat as signal goes out front and back according to the Asus guide .

StuC75

Speedtest on Iphone & Ipad can be very misleading ive had vastly different readings from mine when using them and mac in the same room..

Would suggest Using Inssider on the laptop set it up to see what kind of signal strength you are getting upstairs, and what might be interfering nearby.

would suggest the homeplug option upstairs, add the router to this and use one of the ports for the appletv.. just to reduce the wireless congestion.

It may just be general throttling \ QoS of the internet by VM rather than anything to do with wireless reception..

Sharon87

Is the weak part of the signal anywhere near the bathroom? My housemate had problems when someone was using the shower and sometimes when they're not. They used a signal booster/electric thing to help.

tykesi

Thanks for the input guys. Gives me some food for thought.