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New House, new Wifi

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Vax

Occasional Visitor
hey guys,

so we finally moved from the small flat into our new house. 250sqm over 3 floors with thick concrete walls between the rooms and floors. currently running 1x RT-AC86U on latest merlin, which is the leftover device from the small flat we were in before. worked well there. in the new house not so much. its installed on the ground level floor currently. wifi there is reasonable but gets very weak on second floor and drops off completely on third floor. now im looking to upgrade the setup.

all rooms have LAN ports installed. I dont need to setup a mesh. all routers/APs can be connected via cat7. I want a clean signal on all floors in all rooms and the garden area which spreads approx 100sqm.

now, what would your optimal setup look like? which devices/config? budget is not an issue.

looks forward for some inspiration!

regards
 
There are small modular 5 GHz based APs with adjustable power level, that you can use in each room if needed. Mount on wall box or plug in. With concrete floor, exterior walls, and interior walls ( if i read correctly), you will have difficulties if there is not line of sight or a simple reflection path for the RF signal.
At a minimum, you probably need 1 AP per floor with the router being non=wireless or wireless turned off.
 
all rooms have LAN ports installed. I dont need to setup a mesh. all routers/APs can be connected via cat7. I want a clean signal on all floors in all rooms and the garden area which spreads approx 100sqm.
Smart move to avoid mesh if possible.

Your house sounds similar in size to mine -- about 44 feet x 40 feet by 3 stories -- which was built in 1902 and thus has very thick walls covered with plaster over wire mesh. It is working fine with an RT-AX86U (as a router) on the 2nd floor in my office, and an RT-AC86U (access point) on the 1st floor with the audio/visual equipment.

Get a modern AX-version for the location that needs the most range. The AX86 was the leader the last time I looked. Even the AC86 can be heard back in the brick garage 70 feet away.
 
Even the AC86 can be heard back in the brick garage 70 feet away.
This is hard to believe in the US. So, you are going out from the house's exterior wall which I assume is brick, if the garage is brick, and through a brick garage wall 70 feet away using 5 GHz and your phone is connecting and working? And of course, this is giving you the benefit of doubt by not assuming any interior house walls.
 
Half right. One brick wall in the path, glass window at the other end. The Wi-Fi in Samsung mobiles is head and shoulders above iPhones. :cool:
 
Half right. One brick wall in the path, glass window at the other end. The Wi-Fi in Samsung mobiles is head and shoulders above iPhones. :cool:
The glass windows does help. So, you are getting 5 GHz not 2.4 Hz right? I can see 2.4 Hz working.
 
The glass windows does help. So, you are getting 5 GHz not 2.4 Hz right? I can see 2.4 Hz working.
Yes, 1 glass window, 1 brick wall, 5GHz, Samsung S10+.

Screenshot_20230412-103100_Speedtest.jpg
 
My guess is you are running 2.4 GHz. My Spectrum test looks different as it has a different interface. I think Spectrum has changed the interface. This is my iPhone with my wife on the internet at the same time.

IMG_1263.jpg
 
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As I said - all this information is irrelevant. Reading older @Vax posts they are talking about EU, not the USA. The same model equipment is tuned differently and the channels available in the USA are not available in EU. You can have 1W power on better wall penetration channels 36-48, but in EU the limit is 200mW. Many houses there have not only brick external walls, but reinforced concrete load bearing internal walls.
 
My guess is you are running 2.4 GHz. My Spectrum test looks different as it has a different interface. I think Spectrum has changed the interface.

Definitely 5GHz.

Not using the Spectrum test, this is the actual Ookla site as accessed from an Android mobile.
 
When I lived in a new home, I put the AC1900P on the third floor, and the 2.4G on the first floor was still fine for watching Douyin, and I could even pay with my mobile phone for shopping at the store on the first floor next door. Two rooms away in my hometown, 5G can still watch Douyin. Looking at the surrounding WiFi6, I personally feel that the AC is old, and it is recommended to buy the new AX86Upro
 

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