Help me with my WiFi speeds

[trewq]

Hey everyone,


I've encountered an issue with the speed of my WiFi. In the past my internet connection has only been 6Mbps so I have never had to worry about it, however now I have 100Mbps.


I would like to point out that wiring cable is not possible.


Currently able to pull 74Mbps over wifi right next to the router, 16Mbps through one double brick wall and 6Mbps through two double brick walls.


Any help would be appreciated. I'm aware I'll need extra hardware.


I'll also be in the room it's transmitting from quite a bit, I'm sure it's safe enough, I just don't feel comfortable with very high power transmissions being emitted close to me.


Brendan

 

[KuJoe]

I just picked up a TP-Link wireless extender for my aparentment but haven't had a chance to get it working with my (apparently) complex network. Maybe something like that is worth looking into for your situation.

 

[trewq]

I have tried wifi extenders and Ethernet over power adapters. No luck...

 

[HalfEatenPie]

Well... alright lets start by covering the ground rules:

Are you the only user of the WiFi Network? (Since other users' usage habit can play a major factor in the available bandwidth)

Also, are you on a desktop or a laptop?  I'm assuming laptop since you're talking about being mobile.  

What's your Access Point model?  Whats the specs behind it?  

Have you looked about possible WiFi Antenna Booster or something similar to that sort for your laptop?  Or maybe just try the "ethernet through power outlet" adapter thing.  

I had a similar problem.  I ended up buying a Mikrotik Routerboard (upgrading from my old access point) and also just running a really really long thing ethernet cable and hardwiring my desktop.  While plugging it in via an actual line solved my problem, purchasing a Routerboard really improved my WiFi network's performance.  Of course previously I did have a crappy Netgear WNDR3400v2 flashed with dd-wrt so it's not something to be flashy about, but yep. 

 

[Dylan]

What's your Access Point model?

Yeah, what wireless router do you have? Without knowing that, it's hard to give good advice. Different routers have vastly different wireless performance -- some great, some terrible. If yours is one with inherently poor performance, then your solution may be as simple as getting a better router. That may or may not be the issue, but if you tell us what router you're using we can help you figure out if it is.

 

[trewq]

I'm currently using a shitty Billion 7800NXL. I'm very much willing to buy something else just to try and see if it helps.

 

[drmike]

Billion 7800NXL looks like an interesting unit.  I cursory searched looking for mw info on the radio with no luck.  I'd turn the wifi off on that unit and get a more proper and proven high power AP.

Walls are bad news with wifi and masonry (brick, cement, etc.) are really signal ruining.  I know as I have such here with my installation.

Now I've done wifi through double brick between buildings here and meh, it's terrible.  You are lucky you even have a usable signal.

A couple of recommendations:

1. Get an external AP that you can position better and mess with placement.  If doorways / hallways run the place, then a good spot to get end to end signal and avoid brick deflection.

2. You can't go wrong with Mikrotik or Ubiquiti gear.  Good components and high mw on their radios.  Really makes a world of difference.  I use both here.

3. Powerline is nice but it's very random depending on your grid layout.  You probably aren't going to get throughput on Powerline to be happy with your connection speed.  I bought powerline kit for doing what you are and canned it due to blah performance.

4. Depending on the layout of your place (especially if it is a house) might be best placing the wifi outdoors at a central point.  Comes with added benefit of nice wifi in the yard. UBQT and Mikrotik both make nifty outdoor radios that are easy to mount.

5.  WDS or a bridge is available with the Ubiquiti gear... WDS is probably best route - then you have two APs transceiving together in a "seamless" one SSID network.

I have similar crap to deal with here and haven't finished my environment.  Plagued by thick walls, masonry, multiple floors, multiple buildings and a chunk of outdoor space.

 

[pcan]

You need both a 802.11ac router AND a latest generation Wi-Fi card to get high performance from a wireless connection. Be aware that the 5 GHz range is shorter than 2.4 GHz; a performance decay over a brick wall is normal. Don't worry about the Wi-Fi radio emission, it is very low.

According to my experience, the two best performing consumer wireless routers on the market are Apple airport extreme and the AVM Fritz!Box 73xx and 74xx range.

The Apple router is a Motorola product stripped out of any management interface and enterprise feature. The Apple supplied proprietary application changes the most basic parameters. If you can live with this limitation, the radio section is very good. By the way, this is one of the very few consumer access points that can support more than 50 concurrent users (on a occasion, I listed 80 active users on a single Airport extreme).

The Fritz!box has extensive diagnostic capabilities, very useful to track down interferences.

The next step are the enterprise products such as the Motorola AP-8222, but the price is on a entirely different level.

You may also try again with a more advanced powerline adapter. I got a significant performance increase on the latest generation (1000 Mbps, teoretical) over the older 500 Mbps.