Since I was crashing out at a relatives place for the night - decided to check out the range issues faced with the stock MTNL router - Apart from Hathway, only MTNL provides net connectivity here. So got along my spare 740N which was bought for a friend.
The MTNL router is a Binatone 856 W model which comes with WiFi and the usual works plus a WiFi on-off button on the front (which seemed not to work). its a FastEthernet enabled WiFi router with speeds upto 150Mbps.
The other router is a TP-Link 740N, running DD-WRT. The hardware version was 4.24. The only limitation noticed was that WiFi was limited to 72Mbps - even though the max supported is 150Mbps - a minor flaw.
Both seemed to be using 5dBi antennas - since they looked the same and the TP-Link box has very clearly mentioned that it has a 5dBi antenna for extra long range.
On the location - the 740N is kept on a slightly higher surface than the 856 - the positions cannot be changed as there is no space. The layout of the house is a box style with one room opening into the other - there are three rooms in total and the router is in the corner of room 1 and the laptop and mobile were on the same side, but the last room.
Range - Last room : the signal strength of the 856 was lesser than -90dBm; so no connectivity, while the 740N was about ~ -80 to -90 dBm.
First room : 856 was between -60 to -70 dBm while for the 740N it was -40 to -50 dBm.
In short : the binatone is good enough for two rooms/1 wall. With two walls and obstructions, its useless.
Suggestions I plan to make : 1. Increase the height at which the router is kept. Its too low now.
2. Ditch the ADSL router for a ADSL modem + router. The 856 kept hanging periodically.
PS : Just wrote this because was bored. And since there was no high speed buffering from YouTube nor was anything good on TV. Mods can put this in GT if needed.
The MTNL router is a Binatone 856 W model which comes with WiFi and the usual works plus a WiFi on-off button on the front (which seemed not to work). its a FastEthernet enabled WiFi router with speeds upto 150Mbps.
The other router is a TP-Link 740N, running DD-WRT. The hardware version was 4.24. The only limitation noticed was that WiFi was limited to 72Mbps - even though the max supported is 150Mbps - a minor flaw.
Both seemed to be using 5dBi antennas - since they looked the same and the TP-Link box has very clearly mentioned that it has a 5dBi antenna for extra long range.
On the location - the 740N is kept on a slightly higher surface than the 856 - the positions cannot be changed as there is no space. The layout of the house is a box style with one room opening into the other - there are three rooms in total and the router is in the corner of room 1 and the laptop and mobile were on the same side, but the last room.
Range - Last room : the signal strength of the 856 was lesser than -90dBm; so no connectivity, while the 740N was about ~ -80 to -90 dBm.
First room : 856 was between -60 to -70 dBm while for the 740N it was -40 to -50 dBm.
In short : the binatone is good enough for two rooms/1 wall. With two walls and obstructions, its useless.
Suggestions I plan to make : 1. Increase the height at which the router is kept. Its too low now.
2. Ditch the ADSL router for a ADSL modem + router. The 856 kept hanging periodically.
PS : Just wrote this because was bored. And since there was no high speed buffering from YouTube nor was anything good on TV. Mods can put this in GT if needed.