Recommendations for a WiFi booster please Post Reply

[Conchie]

Very interested in this chat. I’m on 20+ Hangouts pw for work and really struggling. Unfortunately we’re in the last bit of Balham without fibre so speeds are around 16. I’ve bought various boosters but not had much luck. I tether to my work phone and switch the camera off when things get really bad at peak times. Any other ideas? Not heard of Devolo. Is that a booster or powerline extender?

[ATM]

Netgear has a booster that you can plug in, which helps with wifi. Alternatively, buy an ethernet cable, which plugs directly from the internet hub to your computer (you would need to buy an adapter for it to plug into a laptop), this cuts out the reliance on wifi and, as long as you don't mind having a cable, will give you a direct link to the internet.

[chorister]

Conchie - I'm not a technical expert, but I am a very experienced user.  The speed you get is dependent on a lot of factors, the slowest of which will determine actual performance because that will be the bottleneck.

It sounds as if you should start out by checking the speed you are getting into the house and what is available in your area - and the Ofcom checker https://checker.ofcom.org.uk/broadband-coverage is a good place to start.  It may well be that a faster service is available - and in the circumstances perhaps your employer would pay for it.  I use Zen just off Clapham Common and am very pleased with it though it isn't cheap.  You can check here what they offer in your area https://www.zen.co.uk/broadband.  I have always found their technical support excellent, though I haven't tried it during the lockdown.

Once you have a decent speed into the house you need to look at the performance of your router (Zen would provide a good router as part of the package) and the actual wifi signal (if you are using wifi rather than Ethernet) where you are using your device.  If you have a decent speed in and a decent router then I would be really surprised if a powerline booster / adapter on the 13 amp circuit didn't provide a satisfactory service - we had a dinner party last night using one with Zoom!

If you are using an Ethernet cable then note that they are NOT all the same - there are different types with different performances.  I don't know enough to advise which you need, but I do know that you need to check it out and make sure it is the right one.

Hope that helps.

[SouthLondonDaddy]

Network cables don't matter as much as vendors would like you to believe. The two main things to look at are whether they are shielded or not, and the shape - flat cables are easier to run under or above doors.
There's a quick summary table here: 
https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing ... explained/

Speed doesn't matter much: it's hard to find anything lower quality than a Cat5e, which means 1 Gbps. There are are other types which can get to 10 Gbps, but it hardly ever matters in a home network environment: even if you get a superfast 300ish Mbps Virgin media connection, that's still about a third of the bandwidth of a Cat5e cable. It might only matter if you have a very complex home network with devices speaking to each other on the local network, without the internet, e.g. you have a NAS server and two computers transferring data to and from it. But, to be honest, those with these kinds of setups don't ask broadband questions here
 

[chorister]

Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe the difference between Cat 5 and Cat 5e does matter, and legacy cables lying around in peoples' homes are often Cat 5 because they were so ubiquitous before wifi was widespread.

[SouthLondonDaddy]

Yes, but it's a bit of a moot point because indeed it's now very hard to find cat5 - the very minimum tends to be cat5e. If I search Amazon for cat5 I only get cat5e, 6 and 7

[Tigger]

Not that it necessarily helps the original poster, but for anyone else reading this thread we have three Unifi white discs around the house and they are superb.  They're not cheap, but if you want a bullet-proof solution it's definitely the way to go...

[SouthLondonDaddy]

But those are access points only, right? They still need to be connected to a router; you can google the difference - one of the many explanations is here: https://www.ligowave.com/difference-bet ... and-router
 

[Tigger]

Sorry SouthLondonDaddy, you're absolutely right, they connect through to the router.  I think it was also you who made the comment about changing the router if it's even a few years old - these things seem to go out of date relatively fast (every couple of years?) and having changed ours last year it made a huge difference.

Layout of your house is also a big issue (as also commented on previously), although we are very open plan, we also now have a lot of steel in the house which can play havoc with reception.  I'm lucky enough to have a mate who does commercial installations, and has done our house, so we have 50 - 60 meg on wifi throughout.  Happy to share his details if anyone is interested but to get it properly singing, it ain't cheap...!!

[SouthLondonDaddy]

How did you run the ethernet cables to connect the various access points?

If you refurbish the whole house they are easy to hide, but if you don't? Did you get your mate or an electrician to run the cables? How did they hide them? I'm curious about the 'eyesore factor' and how to minimise it.

Thanks!

[Tigger]

We did a complete refurb in 2006/2007 so I specified data points in every room so there are no wires.  A friend of mine up the street has the Devalo's however they all have their own IP address so it's not as seamless as it could be, and as a result they have to switch to each repeater as they enter that area (unless Develo have changes this since they bought theirs, it was a few years ago).

It's worth noting that the way the Unifi's face is equally important, the signal is thrown out is around a 180 degree spread so if you get it wrong you just end up firing the signal at your neighbour!!

[SW12dadfincladviser]

Thanks for all the posts on this thread. Having 2 teenagers and both wife and I working from home, I went down the Unifi white disc route which has been installed for a couple of weeks now and making a real positive difference. I used a Clapham-based IT specialist who I found to be very useful and efficient, and well worth the peace of mind: Matthew Hinge, matthew@innovatedit.co.uk, 07999 413496

[SouthLondonDaddy]

May I ask how much it cost? Any electrician would be able to install access points on the ceiling and run cables, but would typically leave the configuration and set up to you, whereas I presume these guys took care of both installation and configuration?