New Router

J_B

Swoosh84 said:

Your wifi analysis is picking up a signal from the router, if your router is not getting a signal then your wifi analysis on your phone is not going to get a signal. You should definitley move the router, any walls will degrade the signal. Try moving this around the house then re-running the test to find the best spot. Your first try should be as close to the source as possible and as high up as possible.

Being in the middle of the house is definitley not going to help, more walls to get through. 

Not sure what to say about that - my theory was always that more central was less distance to the boundaries.

I've just tested it with the phone beside the router and the graph was constantly at the top - moved back to my desk 5m away and it's dropped to mid-point (about 60 dBm).

Just wondering if there is an analyser that can measure the actual wired internet speed in graph form?

(I know I can use BT Speedtest / Ookla / Fast.com)

Swoosh84

Your theory is correct, if it’s in the middle then the Wi-Fi signal will be stronger across the house. However, you need to think of it in two parts.

Your 'router' will consist of two parts. A modem which receives the signal from the transmitter and a router which passes the signal around your house.

You could have one of two problems:
1. Your modem is receiving interference and does not have a stable signal from the transmitter which is 3.5 miles away from your earlier post. The signal from the transmitter will degrade over distance and degrade further every time it has to travel through something such as trees or walls. Having it in a cupboard under the stairs will not help things.

2. Your modem is receiving the signal fine but your router is poor and not sending a strong wave throughout your home. Again, walls can have a negative impact here so being in a cupboard will not help.

You mention you have datapoints throughout your house, are these ethernet ports?

I would first grab your phone, do a speed test next to the router and note the results. Do another 5m away, note the results. Then move your router to another place in the home, preferably upstairs and as close to the transmitter as possible. Again, do speed test next to it and then 5m away. Compare the results. You might need to do this a couple of times to determine the best place for the router.

You may find that you get a much better signal and speed by moving the router but as you note it’s not central so one side of the house may have fast speeds and the other slow. But you can use a mesh network to correct this. First things first, you need to find out the best place for the router and your best speed.

Another alternative, which is an expensive one, would be to go with Starlink broadband.

J

 

getmore4less

There are a few mesh systems at decent prices that could replace what you have

https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/huawei-ax3-quad-core-whole-home-wi-fi-6-mesh-kit-including-3-routers-for-ps10999-delivered-at-huawei-3703098

J_B

Swoosh84 said:

 Then move your router to another place in the home, preferably upstairs and as close to the transmitter as possible.

Just an explanation - the 'dish' is outside on the chimney breast.

The cable from it comes through the wall and is plugged into a datapoint in the attic, which is connected to the Abitana box in the understairs cupboard. From here it's connected to the router.

So, probably (?) moving closer to the the transmitter is irrelevant, is it???

All the cabling is Cat something (which they told me was better than Cat2 in 2006!!) with the RJ45 sockets at each point

Swoosh84

Perfect, moving the router may still have make a difference. But lets explore other options.

Being better than Cat2 in 2006 is pretty easy to achieve, Cat2 cabling is older than me! Cat 3 for example is better and was widely used in the early 1990s and supports around 10Mbs in bandwidth. Cat4 up to 16mb, Cat5 up to 100mb. So, it would be good to know what you have. We on Cat7 these days which supports up to 10GBs

Now we know the dish is on the roof, this rules out the modem point. Could have several factors impacting your speed, I've had a lot of wind recently and suspect rest of the UK have too so it may have been blown out of alignment? You may have had extra neighbours take up the service recently. Anyone moved in nearby?

Do you have any Laptops or PCs directly connected to your datapoints that you can turn on and run a speed test on. What speed are you getting on these in comparison to your phone?

Provided your laptop speeds are back up to a level you would expect we can then diagnose the issue as a problem with the router. Would not reccomend any Wifi-5 routers. I run three Honour 3 routers throughout my home in a mesh network setup.

I have a wired connection but the principle is the same. You have an incoming connection and it’s sent to the routers; this is then sent out throughout your home. With my routers, I have one right next to my modem (1st floor) (or in your case the cupboard), one in the 2nd floor and one in the attic. Each of these talk to each other sending signals between each other to get a stable connection. Resulted in a massive increase in speed for me.

J

Swoosh84

getmore4less said:

There are a few mesh systems at decent prices that could replace what you have

https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/huawei-ax3-quad-core-whole-home-wi-fi-6-mesh-kit-including-3-routers-for-ps10999-delivered-at-huawei-3703098

These are actually ones I use and this is an excellent price, HUAWEI and Honor are the same company

J_B

Swoosh84 said:

Being better than Cat2 in 2006 is pretty easy to achieve, Cat2 cabling is older than me! Cat 3 for example is better and was widely used in the early 1990s and supports around 10Mbs in bandwidth. Cat4 up to 16mb, Cat5 up to 100mb. So, it would be good to know what you have.

Hmm

The guy who supplied it is somewhat elusive, but I certainly remember him saying it was better than the 'normal' CatX at the time so, I probably got my number wrong.

J_B

Swoosh84 said:

Do you have any Laptops or PCs directly connected to your datapoints that you can turn on and run a speed test on. What speed are you getting on these in comparison to your phone?

I've moved the router to the lounge in the corner of the house, next to the TV

Got it all running ... dish to loft, loft to cabinet, cabinet to socket by TV

Got the firestick streaming something and did some tests

So, strange results from Ookla ...

Ping - down - up

Firstly on WiFi

24 - 20.9 - 1.9

21 - 19.6 - 1.9

18 - 21.6 - 1.9

Then disconnected the wifi on the laptop and plugged the cable in

18 - 5.5 - 1.9

19 - 5.8 - 2

17 - 6.1 - 1.9

18 - 6 - 2

Then back on WiFi

21 - 19 - 1.9

19 - 21.9 - 1.9

Why would a wired connection give a worse result?

Anyway - will leave it in it's new position for a few days but maybe back to the cupboard and a couple of PoE repeaters would be the simplest/cheapest option ... do we think?

J_B

J_B said:

Swoosh84 said:

Do you have any Laptops or PCs directly connected to your datapoints that you can turn on and run a speed test on. What speed are you getting on these in comparison to your phone?

I've moved the router to the lounge in the corner of the house, next to the TV

Got it all running ... dish to loft, loft to cabinet, cabinet to socket by TV

Got the firestick streaming something and did some tests

So, strange results from Ookla ...

Ping - down - up

Firstly on WiFi

24 - 20.9 - 1.9

21 - 19.6 - 1.9

18 - 21.6 - 1.9

Then disconnected the wifi on the laptop and plugged the cable in

18 - 5.5 - 1.9

19 - 5.8 - 2

17 - 6.1 - 1.9

18 - 6 - 2

Then back on WiFi

21 - 19 - 1.9

19 - 21.9 - 1.9

Why would a wired connection give a worse result?

Anyway - will leave it in it's new position for a few days but maybe back to the cupboard and a couple of PoE repeaters would be the simplest/cheapest option ... do we think?

Hmm - epic fail ....

Wifi is less good in the bedroom where someone likes to look at their i pad

Back under the stairs later methinks ....

GeorgeThomas123

i was having same issue due to router and when i changed the router it is working fine.