Looking for the strongest wifi signal. Have tried multiple AP's! Help!

[tikigod19]

Hi all, I have a large(ish) house that seems to have very solid walls because of this I have a couple of wifi deadspots on my house.

I recently laid a cable going up my stairs under the carpet so I thought I'd make the most of this by fitting a netgear access point to it. After calling them to ask if I could simply replicate my SSID from downstairs upstairs, meaning I'd just have one wireless network to connect to and as I moved around my house my mobile device switched on its own and them confirming this will work as intended, I bought it.

Fast forward 2 weeks of endless tech chat and differnt configurations. I found that androids wifi roaming is simply not good enough to disconnect from one AP and connect to the stronger on its own without toggling off and on wifi.

I then set up a different SSID upstairs and downstairs and installed the android app BestWifi meaning it now disconnects from the weak SSID and connects to the stronger as I walk around my house.

This works perfectly however, there is no way to tell it to wait for a minute or so before switching SSID meaning that as I walk between certain rooms of the house my phone is constantly switching SSID and therefore draining the battery.

I have now decided, at whatever the financial cost, to just have one single source of wifi in my house, but one that covers the entire house and has a very very strong output signal.

I hope such a thing exists and I'm really keen to hear your recommendations.

 

[thiggins]

No, such a thing doesn't exist. Wi-Fi is bi-directional, so boosting the router transmit power may not help because Wi-Fi devices' relatively weak signal won't be received.

I'm not sure why switching SSID is causing battery drain on your device. It could be the app keeping the phone from going into power save mode.

At any rate, the simplest thing to do is set separate SSIDs for each AP and each band and switch manually.

 

[tikigod19]

No, such a thing doesn't exist. Wi-Fi is bi-directional, so boosting the router transmit power may not help because Wi-Fi devices' relatively weak signal won't be received.

I'm not sure why switching SSID is causing battery drain on your device. It could be the app keeping the phone from going into power save mode.

At any rate, the simplest thing to do is set separate SSIDs for each AP and each band and switch manually.

Well damn it. I was convinced something like that must exist even if it be in the commercial/corporate/office spectrum.

Maybe I need to get onto the app developers and ask about the battery drain and also if its possible to dial in a delay before switching.

I appreciate your reply thiggins

 

[System Error Message]

You could make a 1 MW AP but i doubt your clients could reach that far . Instead go for APs with good wifi chips and RF design. 1W transmit power is actually the most any client would have although pretty sure 90% of wifi clients have 500mW and lower. Using wireless AC with a good chip can yield better performance even with older protocols because of the newer chips.

MW- megawatt, mW - milliwatt so its not a typo.

Just remember that wifi uses electromagnetic waves, theres no such thing as the strongest as you can have the wave intensity go up to infinity watts.

What you should do is get 1 AC wifi router and see how far the signal goes and than get another to cover the deadspots. Dont rely on a single strong signal because it makes interference more significant as clients at the weaker part of the signal would have worse SNR. Wiring a few APs together can be better and if you have sticky clients some APs now have zero handoff.

Battery drain is to do with wifi setting and range. The further away you are the more power is needed so keeping your clients closer to the AP helps. It helps to tweak the advanced wifi settings as a few of them relate to power savings such as with DTIM and beacon interval.

Radio stations use kilowatt transmitters but the clients only receive. I've been to the R&D of a well regarded german brand that builds communication stuff and they showed a rack used by radio stations to transmit on the kilowatt power range and it costs thousands, is watercooled with a big hose and is definitely not practical for houses or even something nice to look at if you like the look of your housing interior. I doubt that would even be in your price range.

 

[stevech]

Hi all, I have a large(ish) house that seems to have very solid walls because of this I have a couple of wifi deadspots on my house.

I recently laid a cable going up my stairs under the carpet so I thought I'd make the most of this by fitting a netgear access point to it. After calling them to ask if I could simply replicate my SSID from downstairs upstairs, meaning I'd just have one wireless network to connect to and as I moved around my house my mobile device switched on its own and them confirming this will work as intended, I bought it.

Fast forward 2 weeks of endless tech chat and differnt configurations. I found that androids wifi roaming is simply not good enough to disconnect from one AP and connect to the stronger on its own without toggling off and on wifi.

I then set up a different SSID upstairs and downstairs and installed the android app BestWifi meaning it now disconnects from the weak SSID and connects to the stronger as I walk around my house.

This works perfectly however, there is no way to tell it to wait for a minute or so before switching SSID meaning that as I walk between certain rooms of the house my phone is constantly switching SSID and therefore draining the battery.

I have now decided, at whatever the financial cost, to just have one single source of wifi in my house, but one that covers the entire house and has a very very strong output signal.

I hope such a thing exists and I'm really keen to hear your recommendations.

Remember that WiFi is a Two-Way system. The clients' transmitter power is often the constraint. Looking at the from-router signal strength is only half of the picture. Rule of thumb: more than 2000 sq. ft. or 2+ stories or basement or patio, you need APs,

 

[pete y testing]

I have now decided, at whatever the financial cost, to just have one single source of wifi in my house, but one that covers the entire house and has a very very strong output signal.

well there is if you look at it from a different pov

ubiquiti have whats called zero handoff where you still have multiple ap's but it is seen as one single transmission

see

https://help.ubnt.com/hc/en-us/articles/205144590-UniFi-What-is-Zero-Handoff-

this way as you move around your client doesnt change ap's as such and thus doesnt drain the battery

im pretty sure this is what you are after

 

[abailey]

The last time I tried Ubiquiti Zero handoff, it was limited to 20Mhz channels (2.4 or 5ghz) and it did not work with their wireless AC products. I tried it anyhow, and it worked okay. I had just as much luck using multiple AP's without ZHO and carefully adjusting their power levels so that my devices did a good job switching from one to another as I roamed.

 

[tikigod19]

ubiquiti have whats called zero handoff where you still have multiple ap's but it is seen as one single transmission

see

https://help.ubnt.com/hc/en-us/articles/205144590-UniFi-What-is-Zero-Handoff-

this way as you move around your client doesnt change ap's as such and thus doesnt drain the battery

im pretty sure this is what you are after

This is precisely what I am after. I fear my knowledge and the amount of devices we potentially have connecting to wifi would limit me if I took SEM's more complex sounding (but very informative!) suggestion.

Are the devices going to be an issue if I use zero handoff AP's. Do they need to support a certain type of technology or will things just work?

Would I need to replace my router or could I just have a single access point with zero handoff capabilities to duplicate the SSID from downstairs. If so, could you recommend a specific model?

 

[pete y testing]

Would I need to replace my router or could I just have a single access point with zero handoff capabilities to duplicate the SSID from downstairs. If so, could you recommend a specific model?

all you need is a pc connected initially to set them up and then u are done

i have used the ubiquiti wireless N standard ap's and they worked well esp for voip

 

[tikigod19]

all you need is a pc connected initially to set them up and then u are done

i have used the ubiquiti wireless N standard ap's and they worked well esp for voip

Thanks pete.is this the puppy?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00V1QT6SY/?tag=smallncom-21

 

[tikigod19]

purchased. thanks to all

 

[tikigod19]

no real surprise (at least for me) it appears my router is blocking the AP and there is now way around it. I now need to buy a new router.

That'll be the 5th piece of networking equipment I've bought in the search for standard wifi that every other house seems to get with no trouble! Infuriating!

 

[tikigod19]

Ok so after a couple of hours on Ubiquiti's excellent live chat, I now have EXACTLY what I wanted. 2 AP's configured for zero handoff and a whole house full of wifi.

Thank you to everyone for your help especially pete y for suggesting this amazing bit of kit