Better Router or buy a second one ?

ttoli

My Router at home (cisco) is in the bedroom where I get 5 bars of signal , but in the lounge (seperated by two concrete walls) it drops to 2 bars .
Am I better off getting a better router with wider range or installing a second one in the lounge??
I have a smart TV and the buffering watching Filmon etc is terrible

Thanks

cajef

Just buy some Homeplugs.

ttoli

cajef wrote: »

Just buy some Homeplugs.

Well I never :beer: and yes I had to google homeplugs .

GunJack

but...if the buffering isn't down to the wifi, homeplugs won't help... how fast is your internet connection ??

Quiet_Spark

Another router isn't going to help as the transmit power is limited by law to 100mW in the UK. If you want more power then you'll have to install something like DD-WRT and replace the standard antennas with some hi-gain ones in order to screw more out of it.

Signal strength is only part of the equation, what matters more is signal quality (no point in having 5 bars if the signal is loaded with noise).

As Gunjack says, how fast is your actual connection?

enfield_freddy

GunJack wrote: »

but...if the buffering isn't down to the wifi, homeplugs won't help... how fast is your internet connection ??

if it is down to bad wifi homeplugs WILL HELP , because you are making it a wired connection with homeplugs

GunJack

enfield_freddy wrote: »

if it is down to bad wifi homeplugs WILL HELP , because you are making it a wired connection with homeplugs

I know that, but first things first

onomatopoeia99

enfield_freddy wrote: »

if it is down to bad wifi homeplugs WILL HELP , because you are making it a wired connection with homeplugs

Although they introduce their own problems. Last week I brought my SDS drill in to work and drilled holes in the walls in the office walls to bridge the last pair of homeplugs with proper cat5e cable, as the effect they had on some communication between the two network segments they linked was intolerable. I should have done this a decade ago.

This should not be a surprise, a single, non-twisted pair which has a noisy mains supply on it is never going to be able to do what proper network cable can do in data transmission terms.

kwikbreaks

I suspect that an office is going to have a lot more noise on the mains cabling than a house. Homeplugs aren't perfect but most people have few problems with them in their homes.

Plus the data transport needs tend to be lower in a home environment - much less network file transferring more internet accessing.

Strider590

ttoli wrote: »

My Router at home (cisco) is in the bedroom where I get 5 bars of signal , but in the lounge (seperated by two concrete walls) it drops to 2 bars .
Am I better off getting a better router with wider range or installing a second one in the lounge??
I have a smart TV and the buffering watching Filmon etc is terrible

Thanks

Bars don't mean sh*t.
They're little more than an indicator.

It's a digital connection, it's either there or it's not, internet speed is not affected by the signal strength unless you have zero signal and therefore zero bandwidth.

If your connection is inconsistent, then your neighbours are probably using the same WiFi channel.

ttoli

Quiet_Spark wrote: »

Another router isn't going to help as the transmit power is limited by law to 100mW in the UK. If you want more power then you'll have to install something like DD-WRT and replace the standard antennas with some hi-gain ones in order to screw more out of it.

Signal strength is only part of the equation, what matters more is signal quality (no point in having 5 bars if the signal is loaded with noise).

As Gunjack says, how fast is your actual connection?

Pretty bad thunderstorm today (always affects internet here)
Ping 104 ms
Download speed 1.41 Mbps
Upload speed .84 Mbps

Thanks