[rajeshsundaram]

Long ao, my year-long UX designer stint at Aruba Networks allowed me to learn one thing. WiFi routers have limitations. Nothing beats a direct ethernet connection when it comes to stability, security and simplicity.

One of the super-nice hardware design guy at Aruba, with whom I regularly interacted, advised me some points. Based on my understanding, here they are.

1. Keep the WiFi router in the central location of your home. The ideal location to fix a WiFi router is - the ceiling or on a side-wall. Placing it in a shelf, or enclosed spaces will affect the signal performance.

2. Remember that 5 GHz band has lesser coverage radius than 2.4 GHz band. Latch on to 5 GHz band for speedier connection, but you may have to move a bit closer to the WiFi device.

3. Concrete/Brick walls, double layered partitions can reduce the WiFi signal penetration and performance. WiFi Repeaters can help in this case.

4. Position of the antenna can improve the coverage. The WiFi signal is transmitted roughly, in a donut shape. So, in a single floored house - keep the antennas vertical to the floor. If you live in a duplex, keep one 2.4 GHz antenna and one 5 GHz antenna parallel to the ground. (I have not verified this personally, but seems valid)

5. Cheap WiFi routers may have buggy firmware with no updates, or poor troubleshooting options and even poor quality / abandoned hardware. Some ODMs use SoC's that are in their end-of-life period. Firmware for such old hardware are abandoned by the SoC manufacturer already. That means the SoC hardware will be using a firmware with unfixed bugs which may affect stability, performance, features and security. Always invest in routers with updated firmware, better hardware. Read reviews before you buy.

6. ISP provided, free no-name routers are prone to DDOS attacks and their firmware may have few backdoors opened. Security nightmare.

7. WiFi signals in apartment complex are heavily congested. So when you experience delays or if performance dips occasionally, it means your router is adjusting its radio band to avoid congestion with other routers. (I forgot the right technical word he used for #7)

8. Most Home WiFi routers are designed to handle 6-8 concurrent devices at max. So if your household has more than 6 or 8 devices, expect performance dips.

9. Buy a branded WiFi router which is regularly updated with its firmware. Home WiFi routers are the least supported in terms of Firmware. Only few manufacturers roll out regular updates to their high end home WiFi routers. Those devices are costly but gives you better performance and peace of mind.

DDRT supported routers are popular choice of some enthusiasts and DIYers.

10.. Finally, WiFi routers get hot too. So ensure they are placed in a location with proper ventilation. If the core chip / SoC gets too hot, it will immediately scale down its performance to reduce the temperature.

Having seen the firmware quality/options between professional, costlier Office WiFi APs, and the low cost Home WiFi APs, I would say - the difference is H U G E. So many cool, drool-worthy features found in office/commercial WiFi APs are not available in Home WiFi routers. So technically you are paying for the firmware and not much for the hardware.

If you really want a good networking setup, hire a qualified networking technician and invest in good hardware + network infra design.

The above are based on what I remember still. Things may have improved now.

[ps_abhijith]

We recently moved to a 2 floor house in the UK. We have been using a virgin media fibre connection which was rated for upto 1gbps, and were on a 250 mbps connection. We never had any issues with WiFi in the old house which was a smaller 2bhk single floor flat. We were using the virgin media hub which is a combined modem / WiFi router.

Once we moved to the new home, there were dead spots in and around the house, the hub was placed in the downstairs living room, and speed upstairs was low, and there was a bed room with no WiFi at all. We upgraded the network plan speed to 500 mpbs, but it didn't help much. The walls are thick here in the UK owing to insulation, and WiFi range across rooms remained bad. My initial attempt was to get a small plugin WiFi extender and try to fix the issue. But this created additional issues and was not very effective. We now had two WiFi networks within the house (original and extended) and devices were switching between these two resulting in frequent connection drops. Also there were issues with the 2.4ghz and 5ghz band networks from the original and extended networks.

In addition to this, we installed a Ring home security system, which further added a lot more devices on to the already struggling WiFi network. (Cameras, doorbell, sensors etc) During daytime when my wife and I we both were working, there were times when more than 15 devices were connected to the WiFi network at the same time. Theoretically the router should have been able to accommodate all the devices, but we noticed that the router was kicking out devices in random from the WiFi network whenever a new device connected or reconnected. All in all, it was a mess.

We had to search for a better solution, and finally decided to switch over to a mesh WiFi system. Got TP Link Deco mesh WiFi system with 3 hubs. (https://www.tp-link.com/uk/home-netw.../deco/deco-m4/) It was not cheap, around 100 GBP. But once installed and configured, this was a whole new revelation for us, and much much more convenient. Mesh systems are not a bunch of WiFi extenders, but all the devices work together and repeat the same network. We were able to use the analyser app to identify best places to place the hubs to ensure max coverage, and at the moment we have more or less the same speed and 100% coverage all over the house. The way it was set up is below:

1. Switched the virgin media hub from Router to Modem mode (Essentially turned off the WiFi in the hub).
2. Connected one Deco hub to the Virgin media Hub via high speed Ethernet cable (Cat6 or Cat 8, provided along with Deco)
3. Configured the primary deco unit via the TP link Deco mobile app.
4. Identified places in the house for the additional units, added them to the network via the deco app. The additional deco units connect to the primary deco or the nearest deco hub with maximum bandwidth.

Advantages :
1. Mesh networks are great for large houses, you end up with one network, and devices automatically switch between deco hubs in your house as you move around.
2. You can also lock certain devices to certain hubs, ensuring that they remain connected to the same hub.
3. You can turn off hubs when not in use, and turn on later when needed wit minimal disruption to the network.
4. Each hub can easily accommodate more than 20 devices realistically, ensuring you can connect a large number of devices altogether.
5. Advance management capabilities, you can limit speeds, prioritise devices etc on the network via the mobile app.
6. Each deco hub has two high speed Ethernet ports, you can either connect devices directly, or use a high speed Ethernet cable to connect to another deco unit, if its far away from other deco units.

[Aviator_guy]

After struggling to get proper signal coverage in my 3 bhk, I decided to get the Airtel provided mesh router. They provide one for 99 Rs monthly rental. Totally worth it and now I don't need to worry about extender / switching between wifi names. Very seamless experience.

[parik_ind]

Hi,

Very interesting thread.

I have a 300 Mbps connection from a local service provider and use that along with the TP-Link Deco XE75 mesh system. I bought the 2 hub pack and find it convenient for our single floor 3bhk. My Xbox Series X is connected via an ethernet cable to one of the hubs while the rest of the devices (2 smart TVs, PlayStation 5, 2 workstations and a bunch of phones and tablets) are connected wirelessly. For the most part I get above 250 Mbps across devices, even if a few of them are used simultaneously.

We will be moving to a new house in a few months and while that too is a 3BHK, the layout is very different. It is not as open as our current house and I am thinking of adding a third Deco XE75 hub for better coverage. Since all of these connect wirelessly on a 6 Ghz backhaul, I don't expect a significant drop in speeds.

I find the buffer bloat conversation interesting and will test that out later today .

Parikshith

[PatienceWins]

Originally Posted by SmartCat

- Ditch the old cheap Mi router and go for TP-Link Archer C6 router (price Rs. 2,600) in Room 1:

I also have the ACT blaze broadband plan and was getting poor speed when covid started and WFH became norm. I upgraded to TP-Link Archer C6 router as per recommendation of a friend using ACT and getting good speeds.

Most of our usage is in the master bedroom where the router is kept; for the living room I use an old TP-Link wifi extender, mostly for firetv stick when needed.

Very useful thread, thanks for creating it.

[vinodmk]

I experimented a lot with WiFi during lockdown and here is what I have learned.

1. If you want a single router solution try to keep it in the central position of the house with as few brick walls in between as possible.

• I have kept it in a common passage with the help of a Set set-top box Wall mount. The optical fiber was extended to the nearest power point.
• Higher frequency has more difficulty getting through walls so devices that are farther will work better on 2.4GHz rather than 5GHz.

This is my Current Setup

2. Single router with Repeater/Rage Extender

• I have a TP Link dual bandwidth repeater which has 1 band for connecting to the router and another for transmitting. This is essential for a repeater to be more effective.
• Keep the repeater in line of sight of the router if possible (wood/Curtains can be considered see-through)
• If you cannot manage line of sight then see if you can set up an ethernet cable between the router and the repeater, this can be routed through existing concealed power conduit also.
• Note repeater will need a UPS if you want uninterrupted coverage

3. Mesh solution

• Use a mesh router, this is an expensive solution but works well

Never considered mesh solution as this requires multiple UPS to keep the system running during a power outage.

[IamNikhil]

200 Mbps connection from Airtel Fiber. Always gives Download/Upload speeds of 240+ in the living room where the router is installed. Very happy with the service since 2 years now. In my 2BHK, gives speeds of 80-100 Mbps in the inner rooms, which is perfect according to me.

[xotiq]

Using Airtel fiber (200Mbps) at 2 locations in BLR. At both locations, speed is always in the 220-240 range. (Measured in the room where router is installed)

We have wifi extenders at both the places, but even with that - speeds at remote corners rarely cross 50Mbps. Not planning to invest any more on this.

Offtrack- At both the places, 5G works great. Jio usually 400-600Mbps and Airtel 350-450 Mbps. Yet to see a proper 5G dongle, would have used that.

[Mortis]

I have a 300Mbps connection from Jio.
The Jio router is in the bedroom near the PC and connected via ethernet so my PC gets the full 300Mbps.
Since I hadn't provisioned for this while doing the wiring, I had to run a cable to a TP link AC1200 router above the door. The Wifi from this was boosted by a range extender in another bedroom and at the other end of the hallway. It worked decently and I would get 25Mbps at the far end of the house.
A couple of months ago one range extender started malfunctioning so I replaced the entire system with a TP Link Deco X60 2 unit mesh system. Opted for this since mobile network is bad at home and this way I can use wifi calling without it dropping while moving through the house. It works excellently and I now get 150Mbps at the furthest end of the house.

[ranjitnair77]

I'm a very happy TP-Link X20 mesh user. I happen to have a two storey house with devices all over including multiple laptops, phones, ipads, apple tv, wireless printer and a connected solar inverter in the parking outside. The 3-node network was super easy to set up and has been rock-solid.

Most of the decent mesh routers have a dedicated backhaul, so you will get the same speed across the house without running cables. Sure, you might need a wired connection for a very specific need, but for a vast majority of us, a mesh just works.

I would really recommend folks who have range extenders and things like that to bin all of that and just go mesh. Mesh routers are not that much more expensive, and they solve a real need. A good router is probably as important (if not more) as any of your devices so why look to save a few bucks on something so critical?

[subie_socal]

After much consideration and the itch to upgrade the Wifi standard (eventhough a newer generation has already arrived in the form of Wi-Fi 7), I saved up for an Asus AX 1800 HP Wifi 6 router, which I managed to purchase for 6k, during Amazon GIF.

I used to be on a 100 Mbps plan from Asianet (popular ISP in Kerala), which was fine since my TV is a 1080P one and I rarely stay at my home (I live with my granny just the next door). However, we had a major renovation at our home, so the router provided by our ISP was functioning erratically after gathering too much dust from all the works. While the ethernet worked fine, the Wifi strength dropped, which was frustrating at times.

Initially, I was on the lookout for a cheap Wifi 6 router from TP-Link or D-Link (of which I wanted to go with the latter as I had satisfactory experiencewith their products in the past). But then, I realised that the range of these routers are abysmal and I wanted decent strength in the other floor. Also GIF was announced at that time and I was actively looking for options. One day I saw that the 1800HP was being sold at 6k and managed to grab it.


Performance wise, I feel Asus networking devices are the best, right behind some industry giants like Cisco or Ubiquiti. I am now on a 150 Mbps plan as we had many devices at our disposal (3 Android devices, 1 Windows laptop, 1 Android TV, IP CCTV , and an LG Smart refrigerator which is the newest addition). This router has been giving me usable range across all for corners, except for 1 small detached 1BHK setup, where you get the signal but it's too weak to be usable.

Router easily achieved consistent speeds of 160Mbps and upload speeds of about 165-170 Mbps (which is more than sufficient for my use case). I can easily control devices from the Asus Router app.

Functions like:

1. Set the bandwidth limit for each device. You can also specify upload and download bandwidth, a neat feature. I have limited my bandwidth for the CCTV system to 80 Mbps and the Fridge to 15.
2. Monitor active devices and block unauthorised ones
3. Club devices into a group, which you can then easily control.
4. Monitor suspicious activities on the network, possible attacks. If you enable AiProtection, the router will automatically take actions to suspend potentially harmful tasks. The service is free , provided by Trend Microsystems.

Some routers also get free lifetime VPN service provided by Asus. However haven't tested it on mine.

To improve network quality, I did:

• Set the router in an area where range was equally distributed. This is mainly in the centre of a house.
• TV and the CCTV system were connected via ethernet. This meant less congestion on the Wifi traffic. Fridge was on 2.4 Ghz network as with all IOT products. Also limited the bandwidth as mentioned earlier.
• Set the DNS manually. I've set it to adguard's public adblock, tracker block DNS on my router itself. You can also manually set this up on your phone, but on a router, this setting will apply to all devices. It speeds up website loading times. Note: It will not block YouTube ads and Wifi calling on Jio will NOT work (works with Airtel flawlessly).

Planned upgrades/improvements?
Well I may be adding another cheaper Asus router to form a mesh system. Those unaware, Asus routers can form a mesh system, provided both support Aimesh functionality. It saves on overhauling an entire network gear.

You can get the product here. There's also a cheaper alternative .

NOTE: Always use a high quality ethernet cable to connect from your ISP provided router/modem. Preferably CAT 6 cables.