So I have a 802.11g wifi router that I’ve been using for many years, but I moved recently and found that there is a patio at my new pad where the signal just doesn’t reach. Relocating the router would likely leave other areas of the house not covered. So I’m considering whether to upgrade the router to 802.11ac.
As I understand it, ac can result in better range but that’s not necessarily guaranteed. The specific issue in this case is that the house has kind of an “L” shape, where the brick wall that constitutes the tall leg of the L blocks the line of sight from the patio to the router. If I move to an outdoor area with line of sight to the router, it’s a pretty decent signal.
Any way I can tell in advance if upgrading my router from g to ac would be a likely fix to this issue? (I don’t really care about bandwidth - I’m not watching movies or downloading stuff while on my patio.)
If you really don’t care about the potential speed/bandwidth issues, I might just try something like this for a cheap solution.
Range with 802.11ac may or may not be better depending on the specific device. AC uses 5 GHz, while g uses 2.4 GHz; the higher GHz band is generally lower range (though better speed/performance within that range). So the question becomes whether that difference is offset by the better tech, power, antenna, etc that you’ll get from having a router that’s probably ten years newer. I’d say it’s more likely than not, but who knows until you try it?
In my experience, wifi routers don’t have a long lifespan. Over time they seem to get more and more glitchy and need to be restarted more often than other electronics. I’ve always wondered if the electronics to power the wifi antenna degrade faster than other electronics. Maybe the high power causes more heat and higher failure rate? I now just use my router without wifi and have a dedicated access point for wireless. I got tired of having to replace my wireless router and redo all the config (static IPs, firewall, port forwarding, etc). Now when the wireless goes out, I just replace the access point.
In any case, you may get good results with adding in a wireless access point or extender. You can put it in the middle between your router and patio and it will act as a bridge between the two.
I noticed that too, but I doubt it’s a hardware issue. (Also, it’s slowed down dramatically in the last few years.) I suspect that they make upstream protocol changes that they’ve tested thoroughly against the latest devices but which run into existing bugs or incompatibilities in older devices.
The reason I don’t think it’s hardware is because the problem is rarely associating over air to the router, it’s the connection between the router and the service provider that isn’t happening: DHCP is failing for example.
Earlier on I did have issues between my router and certain laptops, which I fixed by assigning fixed IP addresses to those laptops’ MAC addresses. That could have been caused by upgrades in laptop software, becoming incompatible with older protocol implementations in the router. It was nice because those laptops would always associate and be up instantly, rather than having to wait. That problem disappeared (probably with a new router), and these days I never notice having to wait for connectivity when I bring a laptop home wake it up.
I’m an IP and bridging expert, but I confess I’ve never dived deep into home networking and how it all works, other than understanding basic IP, bridging, and DHCP. I’m almost entirely innocent of DOCSIS and the other upstream protocols between modem and cable aggregation network.
Hm, interesting thought. I had looked at range extenders on Newegg, but for whatever reason the ones that popped up as recommended tended to be $85 and more. I thought that if I had to spend that kind of scratch, I might as well get a new router for not that much more.
I’d echo that there are some new routers that are surprisingly cheap so there’s not much risk in trying a new one. My internet (cable) seemed glitchy and slower recently, so I decided to get a new modem (some 3.0 standard instead of the 1.0 standard on my old one) and saw I could get a new dual antenna TP-link wireless router for only $20. It had great reviews so I decided to give it a try since my old D-Link (that I’m pretty sure cost closer to $100 years ago) never really worked very well. Well, I’m glad I got the new router, and I’m stunned it works so well for such a cheap price. I tend to agree with the other commenter that says after a few years it’s not a bad idea to just replace electronics if they seem to be having any issues (especially if the new ones are cheap).
I would try a new router and see if it helps (especially if your old router is only one antenna like my old router). Good luck!
The more I think about this the more unsure I am of the better investment. Seems like decent points are raised on both sides – sometimes new electronics just work better, but a range extender also seems like a fine thing to do.
Another thing to consider is what kind of internal receivers your wireless devices use. If they’re all 802.11g, then it doesn’t matter what fancy-pants protocol your new router offers - your devices will all still connect to it via 802.11g.
Mr. Jones and I just went through this. He debated quite a while between “new router” and “range extender” when we moved into our new house, where the range on our old router just wasn’t good enough. He chose a new router, and it fixed the problem.
In your case, though, with the shape of your house and the brick walls, you might need both a new router and a booster to make the range extend everywhere. On the plus side, we found that it was only around $100 to get a highly-recommended router, and the boosters are less, IIRC.
I decided to go the router upgrade route and bought an Archer C5. I was hoping to get another 30 feet of range, and I got about another 75 or so, even around that wall I described. Total win! Thanks for the comments, everyone.
Surprised to hear about the range you got. I had a 6yo Netgear router that reached my shed about 100ft from the house. 2 years back upgraded to a WD for the media server port and better parental controls. Moved the Netgear hardwired to the 2nd story for a 4 port switch and AP. Few months back the WD was kicking devices off and dropping the uplink daily. Researched and settled on an Archer C7. The range maxes out at about 25 feet on the 5G. Lately the 2.4 started to get about 30 so I can get marginal reception on the patio. The WD replaced the Netgear upstairs and is now behaving itself. That is the main WIFI for the bedroom area. It also provides better patio coverage. Neither reaches my shed /man cave though. The netgear was retired to my work site as a personal wifi when I can get away with it.