Home Internet: Network issues

1,752 Views | 12 Replies | Last: 7 yr ago by NPH-
NPH-
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AG
Good afternoon all --

I have suddenlink as my isp. 200 mbp down/idk mbp up.
I use the suddenlink modem, and a D-Link DIR-813 Wireless Router - 750 Mbps - 2.4/5 GHz - 802.11b/a/g/n/ac.

My wireless signal strength is complete **** through our fairly new 2013 house. I have some cat5 running through the house, but I think an electrician put it in as the lines are run very closely to existing power outlets. When my gadgets are hardwired into the cat5, the internet is either **** or doesnt work at all. When connected to wifi, I do speedtests and the connection is kindy l****/freezy/jumpy (its really hard to explain)... it will shoot up to 45 down..... freeze at that speed, then continue to run a while longer, freeze again, and finally finish out the test.


I had a network cabling guy come out to the house and he was quoting these outrageous prices for hourly rates, what he needs to do to move ethernet cables, add switches, blah blah blah, and add a WAP.

He says adding a WAP will dramatically improve my wifi connection throughout the house, even going so far to say that I can stand on the complete outer edges of our lot and get just as good of signals as I would if I were standing 20ft away from the wireless router.

Does any of this make sense to you guys? Is a WAP really what he is saying it is, and will it really help that much? Is there anything I can do/try on my own to improve our internet throughout the home?
Olag00
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AG
Where is your modem/router in relation to your house? Is it centrally located or off to one side or the other? And how big of house is it, square footage wise? Single story or two story?

Do you get good wifi when standing next to router? If you don't get good reception next to it, you wont get good reception far away no matter how good of a WAP you have.

Do you have a network closet/box where everything is ran to? For a newer home, there should be one or two Cat cables ran from the outside of the house to a box located somewhere in your house (typically master closet). Then there is a switch located in this cabinet to distribute the internet through the cat5 cable around the house.
Whitetail
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AG
Your router should be doing better than it is...unfortunately it is not. If it were me, I'd get a new router. Save yourself the headache.
akaggie05
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AG
I have a hunch that the problem may lie with your cable modem's connection and not with your router. Given that you're using Suddenlink's modem, no guarantees that an admin/diagnostic page is reachable, but see if you can get access. You'll want to look for the number of correctable/uncorrectable errors on the cable line (big indication of trouble right off the bat would be tens/hundreds of thousands of uncorrectables). Also take a look at SNR on the downstream path (you want higher than ~35dB on all downstream channels) and received power (anywhere from -12 to 12 dBmV is within spec, but the closer to 0 the better).
NPH-
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AG
House is 2,750 sqft. The modem/router is located in the office of our home, which is towards the front exterior of the home's layout (probably located about a 1/3 of the length of the home).

I get a strong signal close to the router. In our master bedroom (located across the house -- furthest point possible), I get little to no signal.

I will try to log in/look at the admin page of the modem. I doubt I have access to it but it's worth a shot.
NPH-
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AG
I forgot to mention... I do have a network box, but my modem/router combo is not plugged into it. It's plugged into a coax outlet that's located in our office.

The network box does have a cat5 feeding into it, but I can't tell where that's coming from or where it's going.

The office has the main connection for all the cat5 running through the house (I guess it's the wall jack where all the cat5's feed to).

This is my setup:

Coax from wall to modem >>>>> Ethernet cord from modem to router >>>>>>> Ethernet cords from router to wall jack inputs (where all the cat5 are connected).

Is this the proper setup?
Olag00
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AG
Can you plug computer directly to router and do speedtests. You mentioned you did wireless speedtests but see if you get same behavior when wired to router.

Then unplug router and hardwire computer directly to modem. See if you get same behavior.

Depending on results will narrow down problem.
NPH-
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AG
I'm really starting to think it's my p.o.s. DLink router I'm using (when I bought it I thought it was a good one at the price, but obviously not).

I'm considering picking up the Netgear Nighthawk AC1900 today from WorstBuy... Would anyone argue against this particular router?

From what I gather, it has tremendous reviews, excellent range and connection, and provides a very strong wireless signal throughout.
Whitetail
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AG
I had a similar story, a router that should have had great speeds and great coverage...but due to interference and an incompatibility with my cable internet service, I was getting only 50meg near the modem and like 2 megs through a few walls.

I went with an AC2350 Nighthawk (R7500v2) when they were selling it for the price is now (~$175) for the AC1900 on prime day. No regrets, I now get the 100 megs I am paying for. I am sure I couldn't tell the difference between AC1900 model and the one I got. Go for it.

Also, amazon has the AC1900 (R7000) model for $5 cheaper, make sure to have them price match.

NPH-
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AG
Yeah, I saw that as well. Thanks for the heads up and reply!

From what I gather the ac1900 should be a solid choice. If this doesn't solve my issue I'm going to reevaluate.
Whitetail
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AG
Yeah, you can always return it to BB.
NPH-
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AG
Boom. Purchased will report back as soon as it's set up and tested extensively.
Whitetail
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AG
You got some baby monitors on? Wireless phone? You may try it with and without those on too.
NPH-
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AG
So I purchased the Netgear Nighthawk AC1900 from WorstBuy last night.

Set up/installation was a breeze. I immediately noticed a significant impact on wireless strength throughout the house. And, for the first time, I was able to utilize the 5g signal throughout the house (as opposed to only 20ft away with the last wireless router).

Just for added ****s and giggles, I converted the old router to a wifi repeater and now we have a consistently strong signal throughout all nooks and crannies of the house.


I guess in short, you get what you pay for. Want a cheap router? Get a cheap signal. A solid router is worth its weight in wifi strength for sure.
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