I started a new job on Monday where I will be working from home a majority of the time. My new company has given me the computer equipment to set up my home office, which I am in the process of doing. My home is an atrium ranch, with the office in a bonus room above our garage. My current router, an Asus RT-AC68u, is downstairs in the atrium. Pretty much the middle of the house, with the garage and this room at one end.

I'm thinking I may need a wifi extender with the amount of data I will be sending and receiving (not 100% sure yet, but want to be prepared if that is the case). From what I've seen there are 3 options:
1. A plug in extender like this one.

2. A Powerline setup like this one.

3. Buying another Asus router and setup their AiMesh wifi network.

Anyone have experience with any of these 3 options and their viability. I'd obviously like option 1 due to cost, but will spend more if necessary.

Another question, if I can stream Netflix from a PS3 in this room off of Wifi, then is all this a moot point? I haven't tried yet, but my kids tell me it won't always stream smoothly.

Thanks in advance.

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Originally posted by Erick85:
1. A plug in extender like this one.

Extenders are horrible. I won't waste any more time on that topic.

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2. A Powerline setup like this one.

If the wiring is right in your home, this 'can' work quite well and is a cheap fix. Personally I'd opt for something like this TP Link Pair and connect the computer upstairs to one via a CAT5 (or CAT6 cable) and the other one to an open port on your ASUS router below if its just your new PC you're trying to have on your network.

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3. Buying another Asus router and setup their AiMesh wifi network.

Always an option, and a pretty good one. I just installed a TP Link DECO Mesh WiFi System in my neighbor's home, and its worked out great for them. Good strength and speed throughout the house. And of course you could simply buy the two puck model for your install.

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Another question, if I can stream Netflix from a PS3 in this room off of Wifi, then is all this a moot point? I haven't tried yet, but my kids tell me it won't always stream smoothly.

I'd be more likely to use option 2 or 3 above if streaming content was part of my goal. Some Powerline Adapters have a two port configuration so you could simply plug in your PS3 upstairs, or you should have adequate bandwidth (assuming your internet connection is speedy to begin with) via a MESH solution like the one I noted above.

You didn't mention how fast your internet connection is at your modem, so everything I noted above is dependent on that factor.

A couple of questions, then a rule of thumb that I go by and a statement:

-What is your connections speed at the ISP?
-How far is the office from the Asus?
-What are the walls made of?

If your overall ISP speed is lower than 75 or so MBs, then nothing you can do will eliminate stuttering from Netflix if your kids are online. Well, nothing that money couldn't fix anyway.

I have the AC68P and love it. However, the router is about 30' from my office in an old house with expanded metal lath in the 3 walls between so 5g never gets through and 2.4 is about middling. But the high speed is lost. You can test it out by going to your new location and logging into DSLReports and do the speed test over your existing WiFi so you could get a sense of what to expect.

My rule of thumb is any device that is stationary, or a mobile device that needs to be stationary should be hard wired using CAT5 or 6. Only mobile or inaccessible devices should be WiFi.

That said, any repeater or extender (Mesh included) will slow down the throughput. I upload and download multi gigs of data when I am image processing and in page mode and I hard wired CAT5e to a switch where I needed access.

That will get you your best and most consistent access.

I have the three unit Orbi system. I have coverage over most of my 3 acre yard. I have one unit in an outside garage and 2 on opposite sides of my house. Works like a champ. Check Costco for sales.

I was thinking about a MESH network for the house, the extender I have to allow the Ring Doorbell WiFi to work because the Ring unit has a crappy weak wifi ability works but it's slow to transfer.

Some of the reviews I've seen point to the Google Mesh units as one of the better, it gets 4.5 stars on Amazon

Link to Amazon google mesh wifi thingy

I have a three unit Orbi system too. Installed it after Christmas and it's working really well - much better than the router + range extender we used to have. Orbi is a NetGear product that uses the newish "Mesh WiFi" technology. It's a bit pricey though.

I’ll do a speed test when I get back home. I’ve done one in the past, but can’t remember my numbers.

As far as option 2, the powerline option. Is wireless not a good choice in this particular setup?

Btw, I did turn Netflix on. It streamed just fine, but I did notice some lag in the computer that wasn’t there with Netflix turned off.

I’ve never had a positive experience with a WiFi extender and have given up on them. It’s a sketchy premise, in my opinion. Let’s take a degraded signal and somehow magically fix it and then rebroadcastvit further? Meh. Sounds like a marketing guys’ idea. If one works I’m sure it’s costs far more than the cheap ones which further relegates it to the irrelevant bin.

If it twere me I’d add one of these:
Ubiquiti Unifi Ap-AC Long Range - Wireless Access Point - 802.11 B/A/G/n/AC (UAP-AC-LR-US) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B015..._api_i_QFfcBbR95T1D0

They are fantastic. You can add it, wired to your existing router, and then either turn off the WiFi generation in the router (because I’m sure the Unifi is better) or simply create a second WiFi SSOD with the Unify. You could designate as “work use only” and keep the rest of the family off, though properly setup it would zero trouble handling all the traffic you can throw at it.

I've just been looking this up. Mesh routers are a new technology and per testing by PC Mag and CNET, give a strong and high-speed signal over a large area. Problem is price-$300-400.
Contenders are NetGear's Orbi, LinkSys Velop, and eero. Velop rated as top for speed by PC Mag. eero is nice and compact, but speed was lower in testing. There's a Google product, but I wouldn't touch it because Google.
Link to review

I assume running a CAT-5 cable to the work computer isn't an option?

I've grown to realize WiFi is a mere toy when it comes to serious data transfer and when it comes to much of what I need to do for work.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I'm in agreement with radioman and others; save the WiFi for your iPad, cell phone, and other toys. For reliability and true speed of your data transfer capability, I'd investigate getting your office hard-wired, except I'd go with CAT-6 over CAT-5. Certainly your company will pay for that installation??

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Originally posted by erj_pilot:

I'm in agreement with radioman and others; save the WiFi for your iPad, cell phone, and other toys. For reliability and true speed of your data transfer capability, I'd investigate getting your office hard-wired.............

Funny, my screen name here is "Radioman" yet I advocate for a wired solution, if possible. That should tell you something

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
I was thinking about a MESH network for the house, the extender I have to allow the Ring Doorbell WiFi to work because the Ring unit has a crappy weak wifi ability works but it's slow to transfer.

Some of the reviews I've seen point to the Google Mesh units as one of the better, it gets 4.5 stars on Amazon

Link to Amazon google mesh wifi thingy

Read up on and watch videos on the TP Link DECO Mesh System. It rates very good to excellent and is a breeze to setup and manage.

If you can run a cable to your office then your options are plentiful for both wifi and wired.
WiFi can be adequate if the proper analysis (aka site survey) is done.
Note it is not JUST the router/access point that makes all the difference, the client such as the laptop or phone is just as important among a plethora of other conditions.
Otherwise IF a wired connection is possible the this is much better as there are plenty of obstacles in a wireless connection.
I see a varied amount of success/failure in proper WiFi installations done by non-professionals and most are done without thought and succeed or fail on pure luck.
Wired connections will eliminate that so if you can run a wire do that.
If you must have a wireless environment then it needs thought and planning.
YMMV

quote:

Originally posted by thumperfbc:
They are fantastic. You can add it, wired to your existing router, and then either turn off the WiFi generation in the router (because I’m sure the Unifi is better) or simply create a second WiFi SSOD with the Unify. You could designate as “work use only” and keep the rest of the family off, though properly setup it would zero trouble handling all the traffic you can throw at it.

Not to get too far into the weeds, I have a Ubiquiti WAP installed in the core of my home and its the bee's knees. But if you're going to use one, turn off the WiFi on your home router and let the Ubiquiti unit handle routing. That way you can set up two SSID's (one Guest, one Private) and manage them both through the WAP. That also will give you the ability to throttle the Guest SSID so it doesn't negatively impact your Private SSID. that's what I do to keep my son and his friends from degrading my network too much with their gaming.

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let the Ubiquiti unit handle routing

Actually Access Points don't do any routing, in fact they don't even need an IP address to function. It is only needed to configure the unit.

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Originally posted by smschulz:

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let the Ubiquiti unit handle routing

Actually Access Points don't do any routing, in fact they don't even need an IP address to function. It is only needed to configure the unit.

Yet you do manage the function through the WAP.

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Originally posted by bigdeal:

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:

quote:

let the Ubiquiti unit handle routing

Actually Access Points don't do any routing, in fact they don't even need an IP address to function. It is only needed to configure the unit.

Yet you do manage the function through the WAP.

Configure/manage > same thing.
The point is that WAP's operate at layer two and routing is not involved.
You are correct that it is generally wise to turnoff the wifi on the "router" when you add a WAP.

Went to speedtest.net and got the following numbers:
From personal laptop (Macbook Pro) in bonus room/planned home office - Download 32.1 mbps; upload 11.65 mbps.

From our desktop at the modem/router which is wired - Download 117.64 mbps; upload 11.4 mbps.

From personal laptop sitting at desktop location next to router - Download 134.18 mbps; upload 11.6 mbps.

Important to note, our wired desktop is 11 years old and on its last legs.

Quite a bit of loss going wireless upstairs in bonus room/office.

Hmmm....need to think a bit more.

Sooooo.....I had a moment of enlightenment or remembrance, or whatever you want to call it....

When we built our house, I asked them to run Cat-5 to every room. Totally forgot about that until just now. Checked and sure enough, I have Cat-5e already ran to this room, but being used as a phone jack. All of our phones are wireless so it serves no purpose in this bonus room. I just need to get an RJ45 outlet, wire it in, follow the cable in the basement where it terminates, unhook it and run it to the current router and I should be good to go....correct?