I got 99 problems but my WiFi ain't one

Sorry, are we talking about signal strength or noise?

Signal Strength - attached is sat at the other side of the room to the router.

Ethernet to router has had better speeds, but with similar inconsistencies - so I think I've probably narrowed it down to slightly aged router struggling along with a slightly unreliable connection.

Have ordered a little router upgrade to compare things to, and will have to get on the phone to BT doing my best senior voice...

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Those S and N values look good. As you say, if you get variability over Ethernet it's 1) your router is rubbish/needs a reboot, and/or 2) connection to the home. Either way, requires a phone call to BT :)

Thanks - appreciate the actual knowhow, waiting for mr delivery man to drop of some of this new fangled mesh-ter-net...

well holy smokes wifi technology has moved on a bit - from set up via app to range - now to get BT to finish the last bit. thank you all.

Hey guys. I won't need my Powerline anymore.

Does anyone want a:
TP-Link, TL-WPA8730KIT AV1200 Powerline Adapter(pass though plug), Range Extender for say £30?

This thing has been brilliant pushing quick net down my long hallway.

Hi John, I’ll take it, could I pick it up Sunday over at the Olympic Park, I was going to pass by anyway to apologise for not making a ride the last couple of years

Ha ha, np!

Happy to bring to park. Please shoot me a reminder PM as I am going to be busy tomorrow.

Ta!

I have successfully solved the WiFi issues my parents were having in their Edwardian home. The existing Virgin Superhub 3 wasn't cutting the mustard (dropping devices sat right by it, poor range etc) and they were reluctant to spend a lot to fix it as they thought it was 'fine'.

So I have set the up with a Mesh network on the cheap - I bought them three Fritz!Box 3490 ADSL modem/routers for around £25-30 each from eBay. It seems that lots of ISP's (inc my own, which is were I got the ideal orignally) are upgrading everyone to the new model 7530, so they come up regually for cheap.

They're an...interesting looking design....

Updated the OS on them all to the latest version, put the Virgin box in modem mode and then set a fritz as the Mesh Master and the other two as repeaters, link them up and away you go. Yes its not as high performance as other options, but it cost less than £100 and now they have 'whole house WiFi (as well as garden and workshop)' without the confusion of repeaters broadcasting seperate overlapping SSID's.

I think they have now realised how much better it is now; they dont have any mobile signal in the house at all, so WiFi is pretty useful for them, especially as now they're not limited to using it in only a few rooms. I'd recommend it for anyone looking to do it on the cheap or if just coverage is your aim.

Eerie. I'm back looking into things like this to resolve the random glitches with our Superhub 3.

Lots of people must have read your post tho as prices on ebay seem to have gone up.

Is the OS the manufacturers? Or are you using something like dd-wrt.com?

Also has anyone used a Ubiquiti UniFI Dream Machine? Seems like a nice looking less complicated solution to the usual Ubiquiti stuff.

Ignore all the chancers who are putting them up for £40-70. One person put one up for £70 and then a load of people who listed them followed suit, they have all been there for ages, relisted several times. eBay themselves tell me the average sale price was £24-37 when I last submitted an offer for one. This was to a person who had one up for £40+ p&P, I offered £30 and got a message from the seller saying it was already a bargin so they wouldnt do any cheaper (presumably they thought that becuase they were looking at the £70 one), and I note its still for sale. Set up a saved search and wait, they come up pretty often and regually for cheap, I missed a new one that went for £15. The day after I had that failed offer I bought one for £28 posted.

I dont think DD-WRT is support nor Tomato for that matter, I just used FRITZ!OS, the newest version for the 3490 is 7.12. I've had no complains about it tbh, does everything I want, easy to use and solid documentation.

My one tip for the Superhub setup is, setup up the whole Mesh network with the superhub still in router mode THEN restart it into modem mode, without power cycling the mesh master. For some reason when I powered the master down, restarted the superhub into modem and the powered up the master, it wouldnt pick up the connection from the superhub.

Also has anyone used a Ubiquiti UniFI Dream Machine

I have one and really like it. BUT, if you want to do anything vaguely non vanilla with it, avoid it. There are long threads of moans about what you can't do with it. One of those things is use it with a particular UK ISP, I can't recall which one. (Sky I think).

I am a bit miffed that I can't get it to act as a VPN termination point.

More expensive and fiddly to get the separate Unifi boxes, but probably a better option if you want complexity.

More expensive and fiddly to get the separate Unifi boxes, but probably a better option if you want complexity.

I think the dream machine is quite a lot pricier than the separate unifi boxes. You can get a router/security gateway and wireless AP for about £150.

The simplicity appeals.

A perfect eg was me just trying to check if what aggi said is true. It's hard to even find out which one is a router and how much it's costs. And then what do you need to add for WiFi?

Also the controller. But you can put that on an RPi.

Ah yes, I've had that running on my Plex server and on my file server so not needed a separate one.

I think they're doing a free cloud one now but I've not looked too much into it. Each new iteration of software seems to be 50:50 whether it requires setting up from scratch or not.

The cheapest setup is an Edge Router X for router and Unifi AP for WiFi (although there are many different models, the AP AC lite would probably do the job).

The annoyance with that is the router uses different controller software to the AP so you may want to switch it out for the more expensive Security Gateway (although it makes no difference in day to day operation).

I wouldn't bother with the controller, for basic operation it doesn't need to be running 24/7, just install it on a machine somewhere.

But one, nice box is a lot simpler.

Its not perfect but the Goodle/Nest Wifi is the simplest if simple is what you want.

My tp link mesh had been perfect since I set it up. I don't need any special features or anything though.

Bit of a WiFi dilemma, moved into a 6 month let in the midlands. Partner needs WiFi to work from home. No phone line but landlord said they had enquired and it would be quick and cheap. Moved in and been told by openreach around 4 months to get a line installed. Virgin don’t have service in the area. Does that only leave a dongle? There’s about two bars of 3G outside the house...are dongle aerials such a thing?

Something like a MikroTik router on a poll attached to the chimney/roof with an Ethernet cable feeding back inside is your best bet. Not especially easy to setup though.

Another option is to find a neighbor with a decent Internet connection and come to an arrangement to share it over WiFi (maybe a point to point link). Perhaps difficult if you are new to the street.

You say there is a a poor 3g signal, have you tried every network?

Thanks @jellybaby, will check out that router. @Stonehedge yeah tried 3, 02 and EE, only EE gets anything.

Had a look around the back and there is a phone pole with wires going to the neighbouring house (funny how once you start looking you notice them everywhere!), guessing that puts us in a slightly better position?

Something like a MikroTik router on a poll attached to the chimney/roof with an Ethernet cable feeding back inside is your best bet.

I used to work with a guy that had a bit of a side lark going on installing this kind of thing in regional areas. Basically created small town networks for signal dead zones. We actually used some Mikrotiks in the business for a while.

What about microwave internet? I guess if you need a mast you may as well try it with 4G first.

Or satellite options? Slow up though and spendy and no idea if that's even a thing in the UK.

I also remember looking into ISDN lines in a time before ADSL was available in Australia. Expensive though