Recommendations for a Wifi Booster

[Jay85]

I've got a few dead zones in my home, one in the master bedroom and one in my office both upstairs. My wireless adapter for computer works fine and gets an okayish signal but my phone and some other appliances sometimes gets a weak signal.

I'm not after anything fancy like a mesh system, but need a solution so figured a decent wireless booster that plugs into the wall would be ideal for my needs.

a little info: I'm using a virgin hub 3 which is located downstairs in the kitchen, never had an issue with it and not really had any drop offs with it either. I'm on virgins M200 fibre plan which is great at the moment.

Any recommendations please?
Thank you

 

[Avalon]

If possible run cable and add an access point, a repeater is a technically inferior solution.

 

[Jay85]

If possible run cable and add an access point, a repeater is a technically inferior solution.

Would it better to get a power line adapter? I mean it just extends the network without much loss compared to repeaters?

 

[Avalon]

Powerline is all about loss, firstly anything that claims to be 500/600Mbit is quoting full duplex speed so halve it, then ignore that number because it'll have a 100Mbit capable chipset on the LAN side of each adapter, so anything going into the powerline link is limited to 100Mbit and the same coming out, not that it's likely you would see that anyway - expect 60-80% top end, and that's assuming all the sockets are on the same MCB, jumping them will result in significant loss.

 

[Jay85]

Powerline is all about loss, firstly anything that claims to be 500/600Mbit is quoting full duplex speed so halve it, then ignore that number because it'll have a 100Mbit capable chipset on the LAN side of each adapter, so anything going into the powerline link is limited to 100Mbit and the same coming out, not that it's likely you would see that anyway - expect 60-80% top end, and that's assuming all the sockets are on the same MCB, jumping them will result in significant loss.

So looking like its gonna be a Mesh system that's gonna see the most benefit then.

Whats the go to brand or recommended for a 4 bedroom 2 story house? Do i really need £300 mesh systems or will a TP link AC1200 mesh wifi system work just fine?

My ISP is Virgin Media and im on a 200mb line.

 

[wellibob]

Tp link M4 pack will work great. Virgin hub into modem mode. I had big issues using Virgin hub as a router with the tp link units. I had a various other routers so I went modem mode and used a 1900ac WiFi router I'm familiar with (need it's functions) and turned off the WiFi and the M4 units as wifi access points (2 Lan ports, so and in and out gigabit) (you can use the M4s as a router but more limited functionality as a router). I also hard wired every M4 access point, the 4 spread evenly over my property gives me 100% coverage and full speed (500 Meg VM) Don't use the E4 units. They don't have gigabit Lan (bonkers in 2020 so your limited to 100mbs max wifi)

 

[Silly Goose On The Loose]

Powerline is all about loss, firstly anything that claims to be 500/600Mbit is quoting full duplex speed so halve it, then ignore that number because it'll have a 100Mbit capable chipset on the LAN side of each adapter, so anything going into the powerline link is limited to 100Mbit and the same coming out, not that it's likely you would see that anyway - expect 60-80% top end, and that's assuming all the sockets are on the same MCB, jumping them will result in significant loss.

Some of the newer Develo adapters have 1GB ports FYI.

 

[bremen1874]

Powerline adapters have had Gigabit ports for years. As soon as they managed speeds of over 100 Mbps they needed them.

The best of them still only manage maybe 250 Mbps on a good day. They have their place (mainly as an alternative to wireless) but aren't ever going to be a replacement for network cables.

 

[WJA96]

Powerline adapters have had Gigabit ports for years. As soon as they managed speeds of over 100 Mbps they needed them.

The best of them still only manage maybe 250 Mbps on a good day. They have their place (mainly as an alternative to wireless) but aren't ever going to be a replacement for network cables.

The best of them (Mikrotik) manage 500-600Mbps. I still wouldn't use them unless there was simply no other option and someone had literally taken my reel of CAT6 cable and punchdown tool and hidden them in a cave guarded by dragons. And even then I'd moan about having to do it.

 

[Silly Goose On The Loose]

Can get 500-600Mbps over AC Wi-Fi.

 

[WJA96]

Yes. Under good conditions with the right access point and the right client. I don't think (and I'm very happy to be proved wrong) that you would get anything like 500Mbps over a mesh or booster device.

 

[Silly Goose On The Loose]

Yes. Under good conditions with the right access point and the right client. I don't think (and I'm very happy to be proved wrong) that you would get anything like 500Mbps over a mesh or booster device.

Now you've got me curious to test my Plume mesh system.

I'll be back with some iPerf tests.

 

[Avalon]

Some of the newer Develo adapters have 1GB ports FYI.

Netgear, TPLink, BT and most of the others had 100Mbit chipsets on the LAN side for anything under 600Mbit, you had to buy a gigabit rated product to get a gigabit capable port, even then it would literally never, ever deliver anything near that in the real world.

The best of them (Mikrotik) manage 500-600Mbps. I still wouldn't use them unless there was simply no other option and someone had literally taken my reel of CAT6 cable and punchdown tool and hidden them in a cave guarded by dragons. And even then I'd moan about having to do it.

I’d rather take the dragon option tbh, thankfully Prime Now and local suppliers are a thing