Crowded WiFi but small space

[Bobthemagicmoose]

I have a small 2 bedroom apartment facing a courtyard of a rectangular complex. This means we have a ton of WiFi interference. The 2.4 ghz band is completely unusable while 5ghz is usually fine but has its moments where connections stutter (not sure if it is tx and/or rx having issues, but happens on most devices). My work computer's VPN connection is rather sensitive to networking hiccups and I'm looking to upgrade from my Asus RT-N66U. The current setup has the router in the other room, but sharing a wall with the main room and results in strong 'bars'.

Is this a problem that a modern router (esp. 'ac') would solve? Any suggestions for routers that are especially suited for this problem? I care less for bandwidth capabilities and more for just latency/resiliency. Thanks! (first post)

 

[MichaelCG]

Best solution will be a hard line. Next best solution is to minimize the the distance and amount power required for transmission between the client and the AP.

 

[degrub]

hardwire your vpn connected device and any other that you want a reliable connection.

 

[ColinTaylor]

A while back I upgraded from an N66U to an AC68U. Whilst the coverage and signal strength were much the same the "robustness" of the connections on 5GHz was significantly improved. I'm guessing that's down to some sort of "AC magic" going on.

 

[Bobthemagicmoose]

A while back I upgraded from an N66U to an AC68U. Whilst the coverage and signal strength were much the same the "robustness" of the connections on 5GHz was significantly improved. I'm guessing that's down to some sort of "AC magic" going on.

That gives me some confidence to give it a whirl, I'll try it out from retail and return if it doesn't work magic . Thanks to the other comments for suggesting dropping a line between the router and devices or moving the AP closer - I wish I could but I think the wife-approval-factor and landlord-approval-factor limit my options (and an ethernet cable for the phone just doesn't seem practical).