Need advice on getting a better connection

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Tempus35

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I recently moved into a house where the far room, my bedroom, is not getting decent internet with the current setup. The set has the router at the polar opposite of my room and it can not be moved from there, it is where the outside connection comes in. I would love to use wired but that seems unfeasible at the moment. I have researched many options and was wanting to get other peoples advice.

First off the connection in my bedroom is about 50% on my main PC and about 10-15% on my phone. The current router is this one Netgear N900. I was looking at extenders like this one Netgear AC1200 but I think that a new router would be a better option. So I have looked into these two Netgear AC3200 and Netgear AC1900.

I am using the Netgear brand as examples but it doesn't have to be one of them I get. The idea is would it be better to get the extender or the router. And if I get a router which would do what I need, after all the first one (AC3200) is expensive.

Some specs:

  • ■ If I had to guess it would be that the distance from the router to the bedroom is about 125-175 ft.
    ■ There is multiple walls and appliances between the two areas.
    ■ There are multiple devices, roughly 3 computers, two rokus, phones etc that will all be on it at any given time
    ■ The bedroom computer, ie the one with only about 50%, is the only real gaming computer.

If any more details are needed do ask. Thanks in advance.
 
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It is very hard to predict if a different router will make any difference at all. Netgear routers are know to transmit at the maximum legal power levels and when you look them up in the FCC database you will find all three routers you list transmit just under the legal maximum.

This means the distance the radio signals will travel is the same.

What is different is how much total radio bandwidth the routers can use. The 1900 used 4 of 5g bands and the 3200 users 2 groups of 4 of the 5g bands.

So if you were to get 50% signal you would get more data throughput with 802.11ac over 802.11n at the same exact distance. The signal level though would not increase. So if you get 0% signal changing to 802.11ac would not increase it...
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bill001g

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It is very hard to predict if a different router will make any difference at all. Netgear routers are know to transmit at the maximum legal power levels and when you look them up in the FCC database you will find all three routers you list transmit just under the legal maximum.

This means the distance the radio signals will travel is the same.

What is different is how much total radio bandwidth the routers can use. The 1900 used 4 of 5g bands and the 3200 users 2 groups of 4 of the 5g bands.

So if you were to get 50% signal you would get more data throughput with 802.11ac over 802.11n at the same exact distance. The signal level though would not increase. So if you get 0% signal changing to 802.11ac would not increase it.

The large problem with going to 802.11ac is that it only runs on the 5g band. This has much less coverage than the 2.4g band. If you are going to be forced to use 2.4g then the 802.11ac router will likely work exactly the same as your current router since it runs 802.11n on the 2.4g band.

The only feature that these 802.11ac routers have that may help is called beam forming. I have not seen much comment if this actually has much impact when you had lots of walls in the path.

Really all you can do is try this and see. You of course need to try the 5g band on your current router to see if it is worth your while. If you are getting no signal or a completely unusable signal on the 5g band then you likely will get a unusable signal on these newer routers also.
 
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Tempus35

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The 5g Band area does not seem to get as much signal as the 2.4 band. So I guess a new router is not going to help much. Should I get an extender like the above than, configure it to an access point?
 
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bill001g

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A AP requires you run a ethernet cable at least part way. If you can run the ethernet cable all the way you of course would get the best results. In any case this is your best option to increase the signal. As long as you can run the ethernet cable just close enough to get good signal it will work very well.

Using the device purely as a wireless extender will likely work..you still need to place it about 1/2 between but it greatly degrade the signal for all the devices in your house. It is transmitting a signal on the same exact channel as the main router so it will interfere. As long as it works better than your current situation it may be ok. Pretty much I only recommend a wireless repeater as a last option. When it is choice between a poor connection and no connection something is always preferred to nothing.

I would still try powerline devices you might get lucky and they work just buy them from a place you can return them.
 
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Tempus35

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So for powerline, the house I am in was made around the 70's. The part the router is in is newer than that. It would have to traverse a distance between the two. Would it really work well?
 
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bill001g

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What you do is run the powerline and then place a wireless device on the end and use it as a AP. It is the same design as running a ethernet cable to a AP you just use powerline as your ethernet cable. They make powerline models that have a AP wireless radio built into the far device. I have never used these myself so I can't say how well it works compared to a separate AP.

Unfortunately some houses do everything they can to prevent you from having good internet. When you get frustrated enough you decided it worth crawling through a attic or basement to run a ethernet cable. You can always use the cable companies trick of running the wire on the outside of the house even though it looks like crap.
 
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