Will Tri-band wifi help me?

tomtendo

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Right now, I'm using a Dual-Band Airport Extreme by Apple (I own a lot of Apple products and computers along with my Gaming PC), however when I get 70-100mbps download and 10-20mbps uploading near the wifi, I get sometimes less than 10 and 2 when I'm upstairs about 20-30 feet away with 2 bars out of 3 of strength (sometimes even full wifi strength) which causes my Apple TV to buffer a lot and/or poor quality.

I'm not far from the router at any point in my house... I even have a wifi extender (AirPort Express) and its still only 30-40% of what I would get right next to the router.

Would a Tri-Band wifi router help me? It seems like Tri-Bands help with congestion more so than speed, but maybe thats my problem? With all my devices and the houses around me, I'm getting signal issues?
 
Solution
Tri band won't help. 5Ghz signals don't penetrate walls as well as 2.4Ghz. Tri band adds a second 5Ghz radio.

Your best option is to get more wired connectivity. Either have ethernet cable installed or try powerline network adapters.

kanewolf

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Tri band won't help. 5Ghz signals don't penetrate walls as well as 2.4Ghz. Tri band adds a second 5Ghz radio.

Your best option is to get more wired connectivity. Either have ethernet cable installed or try powerline network adapters.
 
Solution

tomtendo

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I can't have more ethernet cables installed without a serious home network geek coming in and rewiring my house. Also, all of my cable outlets in my house are Directv except for the one in my office, which is comcast for the internet.

I also do have powerline adapters, but they still seem to be a lot slower.
 

avarice

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If you have Ethernet pulled (assuming Cat 5 or better) you should be able to hook up a wireless router on your various levels and provide sufficient coverage. I have 3 routers - one near the TV for wired connections, one in my office and one in my garage. All are hard wired and provide good coverage. I was lazy and they all have different names - but it may be possible to configure them all as extensions of the main WIFI named router.

Even the lazy way - you can select the router that is closest and you should have the bars and bandwidth you need.
 

tomtendo

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Honestly, I don't know what Cat cables I have... also, isn't it true that when you extend a wifi, that extended wifi wont be as good as the main router.
 

avarice

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Let's assume that the back plane of your network is Gigabit - very typical - but you can put in the concept of 100M or 10M as you wish.

The WIFI network does not approach the gigabit speed of the back plane and will work as fast as it works. Each router is essentially it's own WIFI network. There really would be no concept of extending in this scenario.

As for the back plane - the routers will talk to each other as fast as the backplane will allow. As for internet bandwidth - that is limited by your cable modem or whatever you use to connect to the outside world and the amount of bandwidth you purchase through your provider.

Hope this answers your question.


You can do some research on the categories of network cables and their bandwidth.
 

Pooneil

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That is true for a wifi extender device, but not true for adding additional wifi access points. If you own the home, I suggest you look up a telephone installer on Yelp or by a web search and ask for a bid. Let them know what you need, it is amazing how much they know about routing wires. You will never regret spending the money to get a just works network.
 

tomtendo

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What do you mean, additional wifi access points?
 

tomtendo

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Sorry, but you might have to dumb that down even more for me. Not fully following
 

kanewolf

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Access points are tied back to the primary router via wired access. Extenders are wirelessly connected to the primary router.
 

tomtendo

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Oh, well in that case, I've done powerline adapters to do that. While, I got better speeds, still didn't match.
 

kanewolf

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Are you certain that you are connected to the nearby WIFI source? If you have the same SSID you may still be connected to the downstairs WIFI. Temporarily create a unique SSID on the upstairs unit and connect to it. That will remove any ambiguity as to what WIFI you are connected.

As to your powerline devices, which model do you have?