Moved to a new house, using a n66u: looking for replacement for better range

[pontus karlsson]

Hello, I recently moved to a new house. My old n66u did a good job in my old apartment, but my new house got a lot more rooms/walls and doesn't have any/poor signal strength in the most far away rooms in the house.

What's my best options? Sitting on a 100/100 line so I would need to upgrade anyway for higher wifi speed.

Been looking at a "Asus RT-AC86U" (also saw a "Asus RT-AC88U" , but specs were worse?) and a "Netgear Orbi RBK40 Kit", would any of these increase the wireless range significant compare to my good old n66u?

Using my speed for gaming, movie streaming(plex/netflix), and some hobby streaming for friends.

Not to happy about the high price for the netgear. any other recommendations would also be very welcome.

 

[degrub]

How is the new house wired ?
Is there CAT5e or 6 in all the rooms ?
Is there coax RG5 or RG6 to any of the rooms ?
What is the shape and dimensions of the house ?
one or two story ?
Can't do much for you until we understand the physical situation.

 

[pontus karlsson]

How is the new house wired ?
Is there CAT5e or 6 in all the rooms ?
Is there coax RG5 or RG6 to any of the rooms ?
What is the shape and dimensions of the house ?
one or two story ?
Can't do much for you until we understand the physical situation.

Its not wired at all afaik, internet comes in in the hallway, 2 stories.

sorry for poor paint job:

https://puu.sh/z29gL/70f1ebfae5.png

rough skets on how the house looks like and were the router is located. not proper proportion but should cover the most of it.

spray-painted the areas were the current signal strengths is the weakest, honestly the connection on the top floor overall ins't that great, like half the strength as best.

could possible to move the router to entrance b under the stairway if i get longer cables and drag it thru the the door, wont look pretty, but an alternative I could be willing to do.

Also sidequestion: been playing thru wired before I moved, how bad will the latency for wireless hit me compare to wired with modern routers?

 

[degrub]

use wired if at all possible for gaming. Are you able to run wire through the attic or walls ?
upgrade to wireless AC 2x2 radios at least.
moving the wireless access point to the center of the building would help. It should be to the North (up) side of the stairs to minimize blocking structure. You may want to investigate powerline/homeplug AV2 based wireless extender for the second floor and place it towards the East (right) side, preferably on the ceiling

 

[pontus karlsson]

use wired if at all possible for gaming. Are you able to run wire through the attic or walls ?
upgrade to wireless AC 2x2 radios at least.
moving the wireless access point to the center of the building would help. It should be to the North (up) side of the stairs to minimize blocking structure. You may want to investigate powerline/homeplug AV2 based wireless extender for the second floor and place it towards the East (right) side, preferably on the ceiling

I have very little knowledge about the walls as the house was prebuilt, and it really isn't my area of expertis, but lets assume I cant run wires thru the walls as I really have no idea how to do it. It's also a rental house so I'm not sure they would be very pleased if I started doing mayor modifications to the house.

>wireless AC 2x2 radios
does that mean a 2-stream router for receiving and 2 for transmitting?
Any recommendations on a specific one?

>powerline/homeplug AV2 based wireless extender
powerline extenders are better than regular wireless extenders?
Never owned an extender, what am I looking for?

Sorry for all the questions, networking really isn't my thing.

 

[Klueless]

Sorry for all the questions, networking really isn't my thing.

Mine neither : -)

I'm skeptical a simple router upgrade would "fix" a "bad area" that large.

If you haven't already then load a WiFi analyzer onto your dual band smart phone or laptop. Get an idea as to what signal levels correspond to your "weak" areas. While you're at it look at the WiFi analyzer and see if any of the channels you're using are conflicting with any of your neighbors. If so a simple channel change on your router might help. (Also round up the usual suspects; baby monitors, 2.4GH cordless phones, get the router off of the floor, etc.)

Then grab a loose length of 25' Ethernet cable (and power extension cable of similar length) and walk your router to different locations like your "entrance B" idea or by the inside doorway along the wall where it's currently located and see what changes. If things improve then the Asus RT-AC86U might finish the fix. If things still suck a wired access point should help. If you can't wire then maybe a power line adaptor. Last resort a dual band range extender. Set one radio to be a back haul and the other radio for clients, that will reduce latency and help with performance.

• Walking around with that router attached to that loose length of Ethernet cable roughly locate it where you think your access point should go. If that "fixes" the "bad areas" (both floors) a single access point "might" be the solution. If not then your answer might be a three node orbi (or equivalent).