Wired and wireless home networking

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Val

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Given the mass of multimedia and streaming devices available I'm tinkering with fitting out my house a bit better to ensure I've strong Internet signals in all rooms for Internet TV, tablets, laptop, Xbox, etc.......you get my drift.

Currently have a virgin media superhub which is fine despite bad reports, also have an adaptor that with the pair plugs in the wall with the cat 5 cable hard wires my skybox to my router.

Anyone did a home network and any suggestions.

I'm considering a signal booster for downstairs (router is upstairs) as the signal drop from time to time.
 
Valentino said:
Given the mass of multimedia and streaming devices available I'm tinkering with fitting out my house a bit better to ensure I've strong Internet signals in all rooms for Internet TV, tablets, laptop, Xbox, etc.......you get my drift.

Currently have a virgin media superhub which is fine despite bad reports, also have an adaptor that with the pair plugs in the wall with the cat 5 cable hard wires my skybox to my router.

Anyone did a home network and any suggestions.

I'm considering a signal booster for downstairs (router is upstairs) as the signal drop from time to time.
Click to expand...
I have the same problem, see the other thread on pc-wifi
 
Val, have u thought about installing a simple 8 port switch and hard wiring your media equipment downstairs? That's what I have done so now TV, sky box, NAS and Xbox are hard wired, I just ran some cat5 from the router. This has freed up my airspace as only laptop iPhones and iPad use the wireless now.
 
Just re read and that's pretty much what u have done I think... If wifi is poor downstairs either reposition the router or get th wifi home plugs.. Pretty much your only option without shelling out loads..
 
WiFi signal at home for me is okay, two laptops and 3 iPhones share the airwaves, but for my Tivo box I bought the plugs that use your home eletrics so I have my Tivo now hardwired to my router.

That said While I have a superhub I don't use it for wireless, I have a Linksys Wireless N router that does that job.

Not that it's practical, but if I was re wiring the house, I run Cat5 around the house to wall points and have RJ-45 outlets next to every power socket and run all connections back to a half height cab in the garage where a small switch would sit.
 
Rooter said:
Just re read and that's pretty much what u have done I think... If wifi is poor downstairs either reposition the router or get th wifi home plugs.. Pretty much your only option without shelling out loads..
Click to expand...

Just trying to maximise the signal strength, I've seen me watching the likes of netflix on the ipad and when the signal drops a bit then the picture is poor, similar when playing music through Internet like the tunein radio app etc.

I can get a signal booster which boosts the wifi signal and also the plugs where you get a hard wired connection via your electricity supply which is great for the likes of my sky box but I don't have enough plug sockets to do this with those that deserve it I suppose.
 
I have a mixture of wifi from my Apple Time Capsule and some Airport Expresses, and a couple of Devolo Homeplugs. One of the Airport Expresses uses a Devolo and the Sky box uses another. It all seems to work well and we get good internet throughout the house.
 
Apologies if some of the following is too geeky....

Ask Virgin for another router (perhaps tell them that your original isn't working) then use this second router downstairs.

You will not be using the router functionality in the second box. Hard wire this router to the main router using one of the 4 LAN ports.

You can set the same ESSID and encryption on the 2nd "router" downstairs or create a new one if you are not worried about seamless roaming from upstairs to downstairs (ie maintaining IP connection when moving from a to b). Select a non overlapping channel other than the one that is selected on your main router or leave to auto. Ch. 1, 6, or 11 You should disable DHCP on this router or make sure that the DHCP pool does not overlap with the DHCP pool set on your 1st box. Disable it , its easier and all associated devices downstairs will grab a IP address from your router upstairs.

Many people make the mistake of using maximum power on the radio because they assume the poor connection is only due to a weak signal. Whilst this can certainly be the case, its just as likely to be neighbouring wlans and other sources of interference causing an issue. Upping power will grow your cell coverage and may also bring your neighbours wlan(s) into range and all of a sudden you and others are trying to share channel 1 as an example. If a neighbour is streaming movies then he is taking a lot more of the available bandwidth and the problem is worse. In the wireless world , clients such as IPADs, laptops, phones, etc each have to wait for the opportunity to transmit. (basically when no one else is using the air waves) If more people are using the same channel then you have to wait longer and throughput suffers.

The best wireless network design provides coverage in your house in the areas that you need it and no further. I have my access points set to less than full power , deliberately shrinking my cell coverage. Less is more unless you happen to live far from any neighbours that use wireless.

Its been mentioned before, its certainly worth knowing what other AP's exist in your area and try to avoid using the same channels. ie if you neighbour is using ch 6 then use 1 or 11. NEVER think about using channel 2 or 7 or other channels in this scenario , this causes another issue (adjacent channel interference).
 
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