Asus RT-AC68U, WiFi too short range

[Mazie]

Hello SNB

I signed up here since, I figured you guys might be able to help me figure out the best solution for my issue.

My girlfriend and I moved to our new house this weekend, and i bought an Asus RT-AC68U for our 300/300 connection. But the WiFi doesnt cover our entire house, and I am a bit limited in where i can place the router.

Floorplan with router placement:
https://imgur.com/fAO61gC

Red circle is the router, green triangle is our TV that loses connection to the WiFi.

The room where the router is placed, is my office. Where I have my computer connected with cable. I dont want to have to run this cable through several rooms, so the router must be in this room.

Due to this I am considering if maybe some kind of extension of the WiFi signal is the right choice?

I considered getting a simple wifi extender, using powerplay or possibly AiMesh by picking up another RT-AC68U.

But I am pretty much clueless when it comes to router settings and network stuff, so figured maybe someone here can help me make the right choice?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Grisu]

I think if you could place it just outside the door of your office room the whole flat would be covered, best 2m high in the middle of the vertical small wall beside the door. You only would need to run round office and a small whole for power and line in the wall.
Otherwise a second one in Aimesh node mode (very easy to configure) with wireless backhaul, left of the door to your living room (about in the middle of TV to main router) or even same place as mentioned above should be fine.

Just test it with your router placed there if you get everywhere better than -70dB Wifi power.

 

[MarkyPancake]

You could also try a couple of Powerline adapters.

You plug one in a wall socket near the router and connect it to one of the LAN ports using an Ethernet cable and you plug one in near the TV and connect that with an Ethernet cable as well. This creates a wired connection between the two using the property's power cables. It's not a good as a direct cable from the router to the TV, but it's an effective alternative in my experience.

If the TV doesn't have a LAN port, you can get Powerline adapters with Wi-Fi capabilities.

I use an old pair of TP-Link AV1200 adapters to wire my Xbox One X to my AC86U.

https://www.tp-link.com/uk/products/details/cat-18_TL-PA8030P-KIT.html

 

[Mazie]

I think if you could place it just outside the door of your office room the whole flat would be covered, best 2m high in the middle of the vertical small wall beside the door. You only would need to run round office and a small whole for power and line in the wall.
Otherwise a second one in Aimesh node mode (very easy to configure) with wireless backhaul, left of the door to your living room (about in the middle of TV to main router) or even same place as mentioned above should be fine.

Just test it with your router placed there if you get everywhere better than -70dB Wifi power.

Tested the position, and its definetly good. I will look into getting the wiring done, but might end up picking up another Asus RT-AC68U and set up an AiMesh with the 2nd one being in the middle of the house (The big open room on the bottom part, is the entrance which is open to the 2nd floor, so might be optimal)

 

[Mazie]

You could also try a couple of Powerline adapters.

You plug one in a wall socket near the router and connect it to one of the LAN ports using an Ethernet cable and you plug one in near the TV and connect that with an Ethernet cable as well. This creates a wired connection between the two using the property's power cables. It's not a good as a direct cable from the router to the TV, but it's an effective alternative in my experience.

If the TV doesn't have a LAN port, you can get Powerline adapters with Wi-Fi capabilities.

I use an old pair of TP-Link AV1200 adapters to wire my Xbox One X to my AC86U.

https://www.tp-link.com/uk/products/details/cat-18_TL-PA8030P-KIT.html

I did consider this, but im not sure the wiring is optimal for it. And I need WiFi in the entire house, and as i understood, the WiFi from the Powerline adapters is seperate from the router WiFi, so I would essentially have 2 different WiFi networks?

 

[MarkyPancake]

I've never used a Powerline Wi-Fi adapter, so don't know about that.

The wiring is old in the area where the router is and much newer where the console and it performs well.

I haven't used ASUS' AiMesh yet, so can't comment on how effective that is.

I'm lucky that the 68U Wi-Fi and now 86U Wi-Fi covers the whole house and that's with the router in the lounge, directly behind the TV, which is not ideal.

 

[Grisu]

I did consider this, but im not sure the wiring is optimal for it. And I need WiFi in the entire house, and as i understood, the WiFi from the Powerline adapters is seperate from the router WiFi, so I would essentially have 2 different WiFi networks?

sure they spread their own WiFi, but instead you could connect the second 68U or 86U over there, so they are used just like an ethernet cable running over there.
But far not so reliable, need their own power all year, not that cheap, slower and in best case makes no further problems, if you get the chance always use real ethernet.
Second choice for me would be Aimesh with wireless backhaul, just place second router "between" far point of your flat and the main router, maybe the horizontal wall above the open room in your plan will be fine, you need only a power supply over there.
Third choice if no other possibilities as there is no good WiFi connection and no ethernet would be Powerline.

 

[Mazie]

sure they spread their own WiFi, but instead you could connect the second 68U or 86U over there, so they are used just like an ethernet cable running over there.
But far not so reliable, need their own power all year, not that cheap, slower and in best case makes no further problems, if you get the chance always use real ethernet.
Second choice for me would be Aimesh with wireless backhaul, just place second router "between" far point of your flat and the main router, maybe the horizontal wall above the open room in your plan will be fine, you need only a power supply over there.
Third choice if no other possibilities as there is no good WiFi connection and no ethernet would be Powerline.

I think using the Powerplay as a cable for a 2nd router is on the pricey side for me. But I think I pretty much have decided on using AiMesh.

New image of potential placements:
https://imgur.com/iLgSONm

Pink and blue circles. Neither has a power outlet, and it would be easier making one at the pink circle.
The pink circle leaves me with -60dB in the living room and upstairs rooms (only issue is at the very far end of the house in 1 upstairs room where i got -80dB)
The blue circle I havent tested, but from the original placement of the router (Red circle), i have 4 full bars on my cellphone WiFi signal, so the AiMesh would definetly work here, and that would leave it closer to everything. And this room is the hall, which is open to the 2nd floor, so likely better signal upthere.

So Im leaning towards the current router being at red circle, with a mesh at blue circle.

 

[Grisu]

with -80 you wont get stable wireless connection, -60 is ok for most things.

Take your time for testing best positions for 1 or 2 routers, place it there and look (test needed devices) in all rooms.
Time you invest now (testing, running ethernet cable or install power-outlets) will save you much headache in the future!
And things will go worse with all the furniture inside (more reflections and attenuation)!

 

[Mazie]

with -80 you wont get stable wireless connection, -60 is ok for most things.

Take your time for testing best positions for 1 or 2 routers, place it there and look (test needed devices) in all rooms.
Time you invest now (testing, running ethernet cable or install power-outlets) will save you much headache in the future!
And things will go worse with all the furniture inside (more reflections and attenuation)!

Yea, the -80 was with the placement at pink circle. Thats why Im thinking blue circle is more optimal. But ill test out the blue circle when Im home from work