Long Range solution with a single AP/Router

superczar

superczar

Skilled
At the risk of sounding like AK (advocating something while actually doing something else :p ) , let me pose this question
While I suggest anyone who is trying to get coverage across floors/large area to use a cheap wired AP with the same SSID to extend coverage, the approach does have its own flaws
Primarily
a) Some devices tend to stick to the 1st AP and dont switch to the second one even when you move to a poor coverage for the 1st
b) Bonjour has its own set of issues with multiple APs - Airplay and airprint are often hit&miss across multiple APs

I was wondering if there are any true long range routers or a single AP that can cover my requirement

The router is located in one corner of the ground floor - The ground floor is approx 1400 sqft and a 1000 sqft garden in front - The second floor is approx the same as the first

Current scenario: My current primary router is a D-Link DIR850L (AC1200) which is in one corner of the house
It provides coverage for the ground floor and covers the house area very well but starts fading in & out near the gate and outer reaches of the garden

On the first floor, the DIR850 signal fades away quickly so I have an old Dlink DIR600 mounted on the staircase as a wired AP
The DIR 600 fades out on the corners of the 2nd floor so I have an airport express connected as a wired AP (through a powerline adapter) in the bedroom which also helps extend coverage to the far corners of the garden)

While the above does work, I would gladly switch to a single AP/router solution if I know it would work
The current setup works and I don't want to spend time & money changing to something else that does not server the purpose
Considering you can't return electronics in India (unless defective) so can't really order & try
BAsed on reviews, the ubiqiti unifi AP seems to have got good reviews on range (but some other say that the range is really no better than their existing router)
Any real world reviews from India would help
Also, Any other suggestions?
 
I know of a friend that has a ground + 1 house. The router and this is something airtel gave him, d-link 2750 i think, is placed in a corner room on the ground floor. it covers about 1000 sqft on the ground floor as well as the top floor. Thats what wifi analyser said.

it wont work in rooms beyond. So kitchen on the ground floor which is at the other end and one bedroom on the top are out. That is it can get through one eleven inch wall in either direction but not more than one wall.

Total fluke. He knows nothing about wifi, got the router for free when airtel was giving them away and is willing to accept less than full coverage.
 
If you feel that the present router is actually powerful enough, relocate it centrally. Will need to drag a lan cable across the house, but try your best. This will not be expensive, LAN cable is hardly any cost now, and crimping is easy as well. If you can manage to conceal the wiring with help of your electrician, use these to make it look better : https://www.google.co.in/search?q=c...cDIaIuAT8sIPAAw&ved=0CB0QsAQ&biw=1242&bih=554 takes away the hassle of crimping the cable, plus is neat to see and use. Else, you end up in the budget range of 8-15k for a more expensive powerful router like a nighthawk or go business class with the ruckus type of devices (30k+?)
 
Lucky guy, your friend
As for moving in centrally, the house is wired for LAN but
a) The ugly Darth Vader cylinder that the Dlink is, it cannot be moved centrally without I getting a kick or two on the Arse
b) I think the issue with the DIR-850 is primarily with vertical coverage especially through a concrete roof - The ground floor reception is acceptable from it

axeman said:
Else, you end up in the budget range of 8-15k for a more expensive powerful router like a nighthawk or go business class with the ruckus type of devices
Click to expand...
8-10K is fine as long as I get a reasonable degree of confidence that it will solve the problem
30K is overkill though
 
superczar said:
b) I think the issue with the DIR-850 is primarily with vertical coverage especially through a concrete roof - The ground floor reception is acceptable from it.
Click to expand...
When was your house constructed ?

houses in the 80s have no problems with coverage through a floor directly below or above. However i've noticed in some cases where the signal is unusually weak when people have posted signal strength. And this is just above the router. Asus n10 with nice 5dBi antennas too (!)

They must be using more rebar of late which is odd as walls have become much thinner than they used to be. One appartment i visted recently has just 4 inch walls the thicker ones were outside and the central column which was at the extreme end of the appt.
 
Its a recent construction (2008-9) and its a RCC construction
The issue is not with the area directly above - the issue is around the corners on the upper floor
The signal seems to drop after crossing the floor and is unable to cross through any walls after that
 
signal drops 5-10dBi across each wall. what is your current antenna strength. If its 5dbi, a long range 9dbi antenna only gives you 4db. it might work but only little more. If you were starting with 3dbi antenna you would see more improvement. one walls worth.

if you reposition the AP you can get it for free.
 
blr_p said:
signal drops 5-10dBi across each wall. what is your current antenna strength. If its 5dbi, a long range 9dbi antenna only gives you 4db. it might work but only little more. If you were starting with 3dbi antenna you would see more improvement. one walls worth.
Click to expand...
Thanks for that, I was about to pay for the Asus on Amazon when I saw your post
The problem is now solved with an interesting twist
I could not reposition the primary router (since all other connections terminate near the main switchboard (kitchen) which is where this router is placed
However, I pulled out a dusty classic from my attic - A 10 year old Linksys WRT54G and swapped the cheap D Link (DIR 600 ) with it - I guess that the external dual antennas are not a gimmick
I am now getting very usable signal from this AP across the house
For the times I need anything faster than basic g, I can always switch to the 5ghz SSID from the DIR850 or the airport express
However for the connect once - take anywhere setup i was looking for, the WRT54G seems to be working well
Let's see how well it copes up over a week of uptime, In the interim, I am glad I tried this
 
Do some measurements, on android its called wifi anyalyzer or inssider. On iphone you tell me ?

measure the strength in the room above where you have signal. It should be somewhere in the 70dBm.

go to the room where you would like to have signal. how much is it ? if its in the high 80's and you already have a 5dbi antenna, then subtract the boost in this case 4dbi. if that result still places you in the 80 dBms then the 9dbi antenna won't help. if it brings it down to little over mid seventies then it will help.

This is how you can tell more reliably whether a booster will work or not.
 
superczar said:
I see this Asus device has a 9dbi antenna - The price is also quite low - You reckon it's worth a try?
Click to expand...
@bottle has the N12HP and from an earlier setup of the RT-N66U + EA-N66 (repeater) which was flaky, he now gets complete coverage with a single AP. The antennas alone aren't the difference, the N12HP also has signal amplifiers (500mW?). My only concern is that quite a few flipkart reviews mentioned this router dying within a few months.

koolcoolkg said:
The most impractical thingy is that the Steel in our RCC structures blocks a hell lot of 2.4 Ghz wireless.

5 Ghz wireless are still not available.
Click to expand...
Higher frequencies like 5GHz are blocked even more.
 
Crazy_Eddy said:
@bottle has the N12HP and from an earlier setup of the RT-N66U + EA-N66 (repeater) which was flaky, he now gets complete coverage with a single AP. The antennas alone aren't the difference, the N12HP also has signal amplifiers (500mW?). My only concern is that quite a few flipkart reviews mentioned this router dying within a few months.


Higher frequencies like 5GHz are blocked even more.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the confirmation.. Have been to bottle's place so if it covers that, it should hopefully work for me as well
And yeah, 5ghz has very poor wall penetration.. Actually make it very very poor
 
The old (and iconic ) Linksys WRT54G from the attic seems to be doing a fair job and has eliminated most dark spots
The connection is still flaky at the outer edges of the garden but is far better than the earlier setup
 
Got the Netgear Nighthawk r7000 and swapped the primary dir-850L with it
It seems to be doing the job far better than the older setup
 
One day of usage and I must say that the difference in throughput is huge
Tested with jperf on a Mac Air
iperf server running on a BPI NAS on a GBE port

R7000 - close proximity
GBE-r7000_1.jpg


DIR850L - close proximity
dir850-gbe_1.jpg


Even on the floor above and three walls away, I got 10mbps throughput where there was no signal without an intervening AP
The far corners of the garden are also well covered now

Considering that The DIR850L is not an entry level router , the R7000 is an impressive little thing to say the least
Money well spent I suppose !
 
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