Whilst spending time in my temporary home and also back at my real home the mobile signal coverage is best described as "fickle".  My phone is set up for wifi calling but that means I seem to have to find an approximately 150mm zone, stand on one leg and don't dare move by more than a few mm or I lose the call. To put it mildly, it's frustrating.  And yes, I have put it rather less than mildly on a number of occasions too!

 

A friend wot reckons he noze fings says a Mesh Wifi would be the dog's danglies here, but whilst I've played with wifi repeaters in the past they didn't give me a uniform signal zone as the phone has to swap wifi signals as you move about the house.

 

Any suggestions of what to do (and not to do) out there, please?  I'm on a pension so I'm not looking at the gold-plated end of solutions

 

1 hour ago, MikeTheThinker said:

Whilst spending time in my temporary home and also back at my real home the mobile signal coverage is best described as "fickle".

One of my mates and I found that to get a solid mobile signal, we had to stand in the front porch or go outside (subject to weather).

I agree, mesh wifi is the way to go. They work a bit differently to wifi repeaters, especially if there are three of more access points. 

 

A mesh wifi will use multiple antennae in each unit which then communicate with each other to create a single wifi network (one SSID) with multiple access points. If the device supports it, you can connect to one access point and go walkabout and it will seamlessly switch a nearer one with a stronger signal. Most modern phones, tablets and laptops will support roaming.

 

Some of the more expensive models of mesh wifi have a dedicated wireless channel for the interconnects between access points. This makes for a faster user experience as there is less contention. So, if you have a busy household with several users streaming media and/or gaming then I suggest investing in one with the dedicated channels - assuming your broadband also has the bandwidth.

 

For several years I've been using a TP-Link Deco M5 mesh with three access points (without a dedicated interconnect) and it's been fine.

What are you currently using for your WiFi routing?

Seems like a mesh system could be overkill, if it's just that you've got a dodgy router that isn't any good, or setup badly, giving you bad coverage?

Obviously if you have a huge house, or concrete walls (or both), then maybe you need to look at meshing or more infrastructure to make it work. But I had a single router serve our old 4-bed victorian (brick!) townhouse with spare signal for the garden, so might be worth looking into whether a decent router/placement would work better than investing into 2-3 mesh APs? It'd likely be cheaper if so.

4 minutes ago, Mort said:

so might be worth looking into whether a decent router/placement

This 100% 🤝

 

Height can help usually (though mine is on the floor practically it seems ok)

Checking that you don't have microwave near/blocking things like fridge freezers etc.

1 minute ago, Mort said:

What are you currently using for your WiFi routing?

Seems like a mesh system could be overkill, if it's just that you've got a dodgy router that isn't any good, or setup badly, giving you bad coverage?

Obviously if you have a huge house, or concrete walls (or both), then maybe you need to look at meshing or more infrastructure to make it work. But I had a single router serve our old 4-bed victorian (brick!) townhouse with spare signal for the garden, so might be worth looking into whether a decent router/placement would work better than investing into 2-3 mesh APs? It'd likely be cheaper if so.

Thanks for the comments. 

 

Where I am at the moment is a 1930s brick 2-storey semi with broadband via Shell Energy (don't know who's service they are reselling) and their wifi box - which looks very much like the EE one we had at home.

Home is a single floor 1965 detached bungalow.

Both locations suffer from borderline mobile signal so I'm relying increasingly on wifi connection for mobile calls.  I'm finding the locations for workable signal to be painfully exacting - within 150mm movement - and also variable depending on the weather, phase of the moon, local tide heights, pollen count etc. etc.  Holding a mobile conversation - even via WhatsApp - for more than a couple of minutes is akin to a mountain goat's balancing on a rocky point over a chasm - you daren't move a muscle.

Wifi for static computer equipment seems fine.

 

I have always tended to move about or wander around when on the phone so the current restrictions are irksome to me but far worse for either myself or my co-conversationalists when trying to maintain a discussion about just when the damp contractors will have signed off on our house post flood or just what is in scope for the kitchen stripout team who want to start work yesterday.  Do I sound frustrated? TFRB!

 

To return to our normal service here I've tried moving the wifi router around within reason - it's currently above head height on a plate rail - but it doesn't seem to make much difference overall.  I'm using a 5GHz band and a check on wifi signal strength and other local services doesn't indicate overloading or swamping from other consumers.  Connection here is fibre to the green box (DSLAM?) and copper for the last few metres.  Download speeds run around 40Mb/s.

 

Oh, and mobile service is via EE.

 

28 minutes ago, varooom said:

This 100% 🤝

 

Height can help usually (though mine is on the floor practically it seems ok)

Checking that you don't have microwave near/blocking things like fridge freezers etc.

As mentioned the router us currently tastefully set on a plate rack by the stairwell so about 2m high.  There is almost line of sight (via an open doorway) to the desk where I usually make calls but even if I go upstairs to try for a better signal the location is always extremely precise.

 

If I move the router upstairs that would take it further away from my normal workplace and add 1 or 2 brick walls and a lath and plaster floor to the signal path.

Edited 19 June, 20232 yr by MikeTheThinker

Piccies of the router in situ (yes, it's a very temporary installation whilst the flood work at home gets sorted).

 

The network cable is to be used anon for direct connection to a file server project I'm working on.

 

Router type is a Technicolor DWA0120.

 

BTW Router is upside down for convenience of the wiring but I don't believe that should cause a problem.

 

Does your router have a single SSID for the 2.4 and 5.0GHz combined?

Can you split them to two SSID's?

 

Can you disable the 5GHz spectrum and see if it's any better with just 2.4GHz radio?

2 minutes ago, varooom said:

Does your router have a single SSID for the 2.4 and 5.0GHz combined?

Can you split them to two SSID's?

 

Can you disable the 5GHz spectrum and see if it's any better with just 2.4GHz radio?

In simple terms; dunno   But I'll investigate.

Some phones can be stupid, and try to use a signal it cannot hold onto.

Worth a check and see if you can hack into it, no doubt admin password and login are on back side of this (if you haven't changed anything)

27 minutes ago, MikeTheThinker said:

BTW Router is upside down for convenience of the wiring but I don't believe that should cause a problem.

Technically it's on its side. Assuming it has tuned antennas then I'd say it's possible that you're directing the majority of the 'signal' up and around a vertical plane and a bit forward (towards camera). I'm not saying this will be affecting your signal to the point that you're having issues, but laying it flat will likely get you better signal behind the router (the way the camera is pointing) if that's got some dead spots currently, and possibly some range horizontally (at the expense of vertical range you're maximising right now).

If you can log into the web interface it'd be interesting to see if there's a power setting or anything to help coverage.

 

A 1960s bungalow should 100% easily be served by a single AP. I'd hold on looking into a mesh solution unless you're after max speeds at all corners of the house and maybe garden coverage. Even if you just replace the Technicolor with something newer you'd be at half the cost of a mesh setup and should have a good enough signal all over. I'd still look at optimising the current router, then checking it's not an issue with the phone, then looking at a decent WiFi router before looking at multiple mesh APs.

On 19/06/2023 at 12:29, varooom said:

Does your router have a single SSID for the 2.4 and 5.0GHz combined?

Can you split them to two SSID's?

 

Can you disable the 5GHz spectrum and see if it's any better with just 2.4GHz radio?

On 19/06/2023 at 12:32, MikeTheThinker said:

In simple terms; dunno   But I'll investigate.

 

That is a good shout. 5GHz wifi is good for speed, but 2.4GHz works better through walls and over longer distances.

The Technicolor router are generally sh*** for wifi. Have a look at Tenda nova mw12 mesh WiFi on amazon. I've got this fitted at my semi detached house and works a treat. I work in telecoms myself.