Improving WiFi in the house

[DanSej6]

Couldn't think of a better title so bare with me.

Currently have a BT Home Hub 6 in the master bedroom. That's where the main BT line comes in. Don't know why, was like that when we moved in.
It's a old house with solid walls in the original part then 2 extensions at varying times.
Our issue is there's no WiFi coverage in the dining room or kitchen, which are the furthest points away from the Hub.

I'm not the most techy person going, but I believe we've got some Cat5 wiring in place. There's a socket with Cat5 written on it next to the Hub at least!
There's another socket downstairs in the hallway too.

My question is this, if I were to acquire another Hub 5 or 6, is it a case of popping an Ethernet cable from the upstairs Hub into the Cat5 socket, then doing the same downstairs and it'll all work hunkydory?
Or is there some bits and bobs to do, or even an easier way?

 

[jamesycc]

Have you tried a WiFi booster.

We've got a belkin one and works a treat.

Our hub is downstairs but we've just had a loft conversion and it wasnt getting that far up.

Plugged the booster in on what is now the middle floor and get a decent signal now.

It's rated upto 300mb which fine for most things.

About £30 iirc from argos.

 

[Ex-User (19928)]

Google Wifi

 

[GiT]

Replace the crap hub with some proper kit.

You can even still use the hub to do the modem work and use another router as a HUB for the WiFi (That's what I do).

 

[adamlstr]

Powerline boxes + wifi access points, which would give you decent coverage, and only 'average' performance.

 

[Ay Ay Ron]

The hub is an absolute pile of dog s**t.
We've got one in a 60's brick built bungalow. It's in the dining room (probably in the middle of the bungalow) and if I go to my son's room in the front (3 walls) it'll drop signal. We've had to get 2 WiFi extenders to use the BT box and PlayStation for streaming as over WiFi they are crap.
BT's suggestion is to drill holes and have wires running everywhere. I might get them in to move it to the living room and check the line into the property as it's probably the original. If they find no fault with the line they charge £150 I think they said.

Need to look at decent routers tbh if there are any suggestions.

 

[botfch]

Netgear nighthawk routers are pretty good but pricey.

 

[Darren S]

Wireless is s**t compared to cables - end of.

I use CAT5 powerline adapters and while far from perfect, are a massive step-up from wireless. The only wireless devices we use are the mobile phones and iPads - that's it. If I can circumvent using wireless with a reasonable amount of wired effort - I'll pick that every time.

 

[Andy_con]

The hub is an absolute pile of dog s**t.
We've got one in a 60's brick built bungalow. It's in the dining room (probably in the middle of the bungalow) and if I go to my son's room in the front (3 walls) it'll drop signal. We've had to get 2 WiFi extenders to use the BT box and PlayStation for streaming as over WiFi they are crap.
BT's suggestion is to drill holes and have wires running everywhere. I might get them in to move it to the living room and check the line into the property as it's probably the original. If they find no fault with the line they charge £150 I think they said.

Need to look at decent routers tbh if there are any suggestions.

sounds same as mine

my house was built in 1973, so its properly built from brick

got a HH6 and coverage is shocking.

 

[botfch]

Wireless is s**t compared to cables - end of.

I use CAT5 powerline adapters and while far from perfect, are a massive step-up from wireless. The only wireless devices we use are the mobile phones and iPads - that's it. If I can circumvent using wireless with a reasonable amount of wired effort - I'll pick that every time.

I guess the trouble with that is it won’t be long before we start seeing things without a wired connection (TVs, consoles etc)

 

[Ex-User (19928)]

I guess the trouble with that is it won’t be long before we start seeing things without a wired connection (TVs, consoles etc)

I don't see it tbh. A lot of business customers use ethernet for everything so making a WiFi only TV would be cutting off a big potential revenue stream for the sake of dropping a tiny port on a huge device.

Same with consoles. The first console manufacturer that drops the ethernet will get crucified for it, of course it'll still sell. But for the sake of a tiny ethernet port it wouldn't be worth it.

 

[Darren S]

I guess the trouble with that is it won’t be long before we start seeing things without a wired connection (TVs, consoles etc)

Very true. It's only going to get more and more common.

 

[Ex-User (60778)]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01KVRRSNI/?tag=cliospnet01-21

 

[botfch]

I don't see it tbh. A lot of business customers use ethernet for everything so making a WiFi only TV would be cutting off a big potential revenue stream for the sake of dropping a tiny port on a huge device.

Same with consoles. The first console manufacturer that drops the ethernet will get crucified for it, of course it'll still sell. But for the sake of a tiny ethernet port it wouldn't be worth it.

It will be gradual but give it 10 years I bet a lot of stuff won’t have a wired connection.
Even further ahead It will be all done through 4/5/6G and we will do away with routers all together.

 

[Ex-User (19928)]

It will be gradual but give it 10 years I bet a lot of stuff won’t have a wired connection.
Even further ahead It will be all done through 4/5/6G and we will do away with routers all together.

It has to provide a valid benefit though. Until radio is more reliable than electricity or light, then it won't be the backbone of the internet.

Consumer stuff I agree there is a lower barrier to the switch, but as long as it's available in business it'll be available at home for those that demand a low ping. (And tbh eSports is big business, so for that reason alone any enthusiast hardware will have wired connectivity). IMO.

 

[Strell]

I just moved into a house that was built in 1911. So suffer the same problem with the thick, solid walls.

I bought this and tagged it onto my virgin hub (now set to modem only mode).
Not cheap but works great.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01N5M9NNB/?tag=cliospnet01-21

Still get 200mb/s up in the loft.

 

[sn00p]

Unifi FTW!

 

[Cropper]

Dont buy them yourself mate, I work as an engineer for TalkTalk and they raise a fault for wireless issues. BT will be the same, They will send you wireless boosters out for free. Also like to add that things in your area can cause interference if they run at the same frequency as your router distributes.

If none of these things work, you can actually pay Openreach £80-120 to move your master socket to an ideal location. Or free if BT deem it to be faulty.

 

[rctempire]

Easiest way is above. Get BT to provide the "wifi boosters" If your comfortable, buy your own, the Powerline Wifi Adapters by TP-Link are cracking. Been using and installing them for years for customers. Normal wifi boosters require mulitple hops when you scale them out, but powerline use the internal wiring of your house to transfer the signal then boot out the wifi at the socket you plug the adapter into. Super easy to configure too.

If your wanting more professional id look into BT Whole House Wifi, Ubiquiti or TP Link Deco.

 

[Chrisgti6]

In our previous we suffered a similar issue. The VM router was in the garage (at my request) but it made the wifi signal poor in the living room and a couple of bedrooms.

I sorted it on the cheap with 50m of eBay special cat 6 cable routed around the perimeter of the house externally, an old ADSL router (configured like an access point) and a cheap 5 port switch, giving wired access to the TV, Bluray etc and a second wifi source. I configured both routers with the same wifi names/passwords and it worked really well.

Cheap option if you have the ability to run network cable to the area of the house that is struggling for signal (and have old routers etc laying about)