Cheapest Way to Extend your Router Internet Signal to the 3rd Floor of a house

Leodogger

My daughter has a 3 storey house and can't get a reliable internet signal on the 3rd floor of the house, what is the cheapest way to boost the signal to the 3rd floor ?

Keithy13

Mesh wifi is the most reliable way. I use Eero from Amazon (not the cheapest but strong signal right around the house and past the end of the garden). Tenda Nova one on ebay for around £40
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/403549264342?epid=26023038328&hash=item5df56919d6:g:dF0AAOSwOxtiNG1s&amdata=enc:AQAIAAAA4Eg9q1WA4Vh9LP/8tWaQshpCk7XjgA4ZX0WjAhYEuFahAtLr4wpqfBfpMxmkagqu4Vrevmcn5hKETK6wbdAiaG68BhV6l7/ubJL++gS+tsdSBu8nTO7ExB66zpKIAFPxztENyNpEVjy0Odal2bJVvEusCWEJRfwoJPhQU7dxvQX3sSmtRz7RoXOUqK4Lub7N2GjiZ4u6qUpYHBnaZSo/a4aTSKgeoJjKjLuv7waqn415eyqXPQrjM97ej8rGJXzUpPwA0kbNw5yD33dWlnrQfPXCbZasiBHW29YT0a7UfWt5|tkp:Bk9SR-zS6ISHYg&LH_BIN=1&LH_ItemCondition=1000

Neil49

A lot depends on how good a signal and speed is required.

Do you need an "adequate" connection just for checking emails and surfing the Web or does it need to support streaming tv at 4k / intensive levels of online gaming?

I use a mesh network but a fast one doesn't come cheap.

Is it possible to locate the router on the middle floor? 

Leodogger

Neil49 said:

A lot depends on how good a signal and speed is required.

Do you need an "adequate" connection just for checking emails and surfing the Web or does it need to support streaming tv at 4k / intensive levels of online gaming?

I use a mesh network but a fast one doesn't come cheap.

Is it possible to locate the router on the middle floor? 

It is needed for streaming TV (Amazon Firestick!) and streaming movies on laptops, there are 4 of us going to be using it, 2 on the top floor of a 3 story house and no it isn't possible I don't think to put it on the second floor since it was installed by the internet provider.   How powerful a broadband service do you need to use it on the top floor, we have 36mps I think.

iniltous

WiFi coverage has nothing to do with what speed your router can sync at , if your house were closer to the FTTC cabinet and be because of that could be getting 80Mb , you would still be using the same router , in the same location , in the same house ,  and the WiFi ‘signal’ would not ‘reach’ the third floor,  the same as it is now , it’s the WiFi signal strength that’s the issue, not the rate the router syncs at.

As said , you need to use some method to improve the WiFi signal to the rooms that currently get a poor WiFi signal ( if shifting the router to a more central position isn’t possible ) , there are several possibilities that can improve things , a router with better WiFi performance, or more likely a way to ‘extend’ the WiFi to the rooms that currently have poor reception 

Leodogger

iniltous said:

WiFi coverage has nothing to do with what speed your router can sync at , if your house were closer to the FTTC cabinet and be because of that could be getting 80Mb , you would still be using the same router , in the same location , in the same house ,  and the WiFi ‘signal’ would not ‘reach’ the third floor,  the same as it is now , it’s the WiFi signal strength that’s the issue, not the rate the router syncs at.

As said , you need to use some method to improve the WiFi signal to the rooms that currently get a poor WiFi signal ( if shifting the router to a more central position isn’t possible ) , there are several possibilities that can improve things , a router with better WiFi performance, or more likely a way to ‘extend’ the WiFi to the rooms that currently have poor reception 

Well that was what I was asking for, a way to extend the Wifi to rooms on the top floor where the reception is poor and the signal keeps dropping out.   What do you think about the Tenda Nova Mesh system suggested above, would that do the trick ?

Leodogger

Keithy13 said:

Mesh wifi is the most reliable way. I use Eero from Amazon (not the cheapest but strong signal right around the house and past the end of the garden). Tenda Nova one on ebay for around £40
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/403549264342?epid=26023038328&hash=item5df56919d6:g:dF0AAOSwOxtiNG1s&amdata=enc:AQAIAAAA4Eg9q1WA4Vh9LP/8tWaQshpCk7XjgA4ZX0WjAhYEuFahAtLr4wpqfBfpMxmkagqu4Vrevmcn5hKETK6wbdAiaG68BhV6l7/ubJL++gS+tsdSBu8nTO7ExB66zpKIAFPxztENyNpEVjy0Odal2bJVvEusCWEJRfwoJPhQU7dxvQX3sSmtRz7RoXOUqK4Lub7N2GjiZ4u6qUpYHBnaZSo/a4aTSKgeoJjKjLuv7waqn415eyqXPQrjM97ej8rGJXzUpPwA0kbNw5yD33dWlnrQfPXCbZasiBHW29YT0a7UfWt5|tkp:Bk9SR-zS6ISHYg&LH_BIN=1&LH_ItemCondition=1000

Would this be suitable if the internet speed is around 36mbps for 4 people in as I say a 3 storey house?   Would we get a service that didn't drop out if we were streaming films etc.?

Keithy13

I can only say that since I got mine the coverage is the whole house and garden, I can move between rooms without losing connection and drop outs are so infrequent that I can't remember the last one. At 36 mbps it should be OK for normal use, might be a bit of a struggle if heavy use such as gaming.
In a three storey house I would suggest one node on each floor.

flavione74

Leodogger said:

My daughter has a 3 storey house and can't get a reliable internet signal on the 3rd floor of the house, what is the cheapest way to boost the signal to the 3rd floor ?

Bring a network cable and use an access point to broadcast the signal on the third floor, more stable than relying on mesh.

Leodogger

flavione74 said:

Leodogger said:

My daughter has a 3 storey house and can't get a reliable internet signal on the 3rd floor of the house, what is the cheapest way to boost the signal to the 3rd floor ?

Bring a network cable and use an access point to broadcast the signal on the third floor, more stable than relying on mesh.

And plug the network cable into what ?   We already have a separate router on the 3rd floor but the signal keeps dropping out and trying to stream a film whilst another person is on a laptop streaming something else on the 3rd floor is nigh on impossible.

Neil49

You have two issues to deal with. One is the speed of your broadband. Personally I don't think a 36mb connection will be fast enough to cope with the requirements you mention above. Streaming on one device would be ok but not two or more streaming videos or gaming at the same time.

Secondly, the Tenda Nova mentioned above is the basic model and would also be able to cope with one person streaming but not two or more. 

So I see two potential bottlenecks to you achieving an acceptable connection for 4 people at the same time.

It has been mentioned above about installing a network cable from the router on the ground floor up to the second. You can plug that into your other router and get a solid connection that way, but can you get a cable up there? If yes then that should solve your wifi issue as the users up there could either connect via WiFi or by plugging into the router itself.

Once you have a good internal connection for everyone you will then know if your 36mb broadband connection is good enough.