WiFi help

clueless1

Hi

can I get advice on WiFi in my home please.

I currently have a vodaphone broadband with the router in my living room. But kids keep complaining that they can’t play games in their rooms upstairs as WiFi keeps dropping. But with so many options out there, I am confused as to which one would work best for us.

WiFi extender, WiFi boaster or mesh?
I need something that would work with my router and easy for me to set up.

For the pc, I thought I needed something that could plug into the power socket with the pc going straight into it. But what about when using the tablet?
Would a mesh system be better or a combination of things?

Linton

I use a TPlink WA850RE (price £25) wifi extender which works fine for me. It rebroadcasts the router wifi signal and also provides an ethernet port. It may or may not work for you depending on the construction of your house. The other option is a pair of devices using powerline technology which communicate via the mains. That again may work for you but it doesnt work for me. It depends on your electrical wiring. Mesh systems are more expensive.

mgfvvc

As already said, the performance of various options depends on the construction and layout of your house and the location of the devices. Where it is practical, the best solution is always to run ethernet (cat 6) cable.


Wifi is always susceptible to interference and is not the best for gaming as dropped data packets can really mess up your session. Homeplug can be a quick and easy solution that doesn't require cable to be run anywhere, but other devices on the circuit can generate interference and as a result performance can be poor or erratic.


Mesh systems can be very good, but can also be erratic and very sensitive to precise locations of the kit. My first mesh system was a BT Whole Home Wifi. When working, it was excellent, but a buggy firmware update made it very unreliable and when the fix took 6 months to arrive and didn't solve the problems I replaced it with a TP-Link Deco M5. This has been reliable for me,but not for everyone and I see very erratic ping times, which aren't a problem for me, but may cause issues with games.

TL;DR, everyone's situation is different and you may have to try a few different things to see what works for you.

john1

Your problem may simply be that your router wireless channel is sharing with your neighbours which is causing poor WiFi performance. It a bit like when driving on M25 and your all down to one lane.

Have a look at this vodafone help page link Vodafone advice page

At the bottom of the page there is a PDF link regarding setting up an automatic channel selection which is by default set to off

Have a go and see if that helps before spending money unnecessarily.

There is an Android app "Wifi Analyzer" Shows the Wi-Fi channels around you. Helps you to find a less crowded channel for your wireless router.

JJ_Egan

Wifi channels set to 1 6 or 11.