Help increasing WiFi strength

[Homerboy]

I currently am just using my AT&T provided router/gateway for WiFi signal:

Manufacturer ARRIS
Model Number NVG599

It provides 2.4ghz and 5ghz WiFi but I can't seem to see which 802.11 a/b/g/n standards it supports
I just have it residing in my basement on a shelf in my rack.

Needless to say, the signal on the 2nd floor of my house is pretty damn weak. PCs up there are running older WiFi cards and appear to only be connecting via 2.4ghz

LOTS of lag in games and just generally speaking slow browsing (yes I know WiFi suck for gaming, but this is beyond that with pings routinely spiking in the 600-1000ms range most times)

Would getting 5ghz cards be a better idea and give me better performance? I guess I could get a wireless A/P put it on the 1st floor somewhere central and connect WiFi to that? But trying to avoid that due to expense.

Thanks in advance.

 

[razel]

5ghz cards maybe worse if the signal is weak. 5ghz's range is worse by it's nature compared to 2.4ghz. Since it's in the basement try raising it as high up toward the ceiling as you can and avoiding the thick 2x4 (or even thicker) corners and sides of walls. Otherwise, yes, get a Ethernet cable somehow that floor just above the basement and run a WiFi router. You may want to really plan now to Ethernet wire up your home. It's the future. Not everyone can easily do it, but it's becoming a necessity.

 

[Homerboy]

5ghz cards maybe worse if the signal is weak. 5ghz's range is worse by it's nature compared to 2.4ghz. Since it's in the basement try raising it as high up toward the ceiling as you can and avoiding the thick 2x4 (or even thicker) corners and sides of walls. Otherwise, yes, get a Ethernet cable somehow that floor just above the basement and run a WiFi router. You may want to really plan now to Ethernet wire up your home. It's the future. Not everyone can easily do it, but it's becoming a necessity.

It's an 70 year old home with plaster and slat walls - getting Ethernet up to the 2nd floor is virtually impossible (at least cleanly and easily). I actually DO have a cat5 run into what was new edition put on about 10 years ago. I could certainly pop a wirelss AP there. Suggestions?

Good to know about 5ghz being a weaker signal than the 2.4ghz

 

[razel]

Well... 5ghz doesn't travel through stuff as well as 2.4ghz. It does tend to stay indoors better, so if you are in the same room, awesome!

 

[JackMDS]

Perfect Wishful Solutions only exist in Movies.

Just like we do not have functional Flying Cars there is No one Wireless Router that can combat all environments.

Lay a wire to the second floor and put there a second Access Point.

Using Wireless Routers (or Modem/Wireless Router) as a Switch with an Access Point - http://www.ezlan.net/router_AP.html

 

[MushyNAT]

Drill a Cat5 sized hole through the floorboard from the basement in the corner of a room. Run the cable up to the second floor. Cover the cable with something like Wiremold cable track and paint it the same color as the wall.

Looks like any other weird utility thing in a random wall corner that you'd find in an old house, gives you the functionality you need, and avoids trying to run cable drops through old walls.

 

[HutchinsonJC]

If it's possible, elevate the provided router within the basement. The closer to the ceiling, the better it'll be for the floor above.

Different routers may have varying power output options or defaults. Perhaps take a look at the settings and see if you can find anything about transmit power.

Consider buying a dedicated router (assuming you think you can get higher transmit power than what AT&T provided), and hard line connect that to the AT&T box, and use that dedicated router's wireless capabilities instead of the those provided in the AT&T box.

Consider wireless access points (a wireless extension) and the strategic placement to cover your needs.

2.4GHz band goes through walls/objects better than 5GHz band, and even when objects aren't in the way, 2.4GHz will generally cover a larger distance.

5GHz band can provide more bandwidth than 2.4GHz band and usually tends to be the ideal connection for situations where the router and computer are in the same room, or next room over.

 

[Homerboy]

If it's possible, elevate the provided router within the basement. The closer to the ceiling, the better it'll be for the floor above.

Different routers may have varying power output options or defaults. Perhaps take a look at the settings and see if you can find anything about transmit power.

Consider buying a dedicated router (assuming you think you can get higher transmit power than what AT&T provided), and hard line connect that to the AT&T box, and use that dedicated router's wireless capabilities instead of the those provided in the AT&T box.

Consider wireless access points (a wireless extension) and the strategic placement to cover your needs.

2.4GHz band goes through walls/objects better than 5GHz band, and even when objects aren't in the way, 2.4GHz will generally cover a larger distance.

5GHz band can provide more bandwidth than 2.4GHz band and usually tends to be the ideal connection for situations where the router and computer are in the same room, or next room over.

yeah -- signal strength is set to 100% on it already.
As I previously mentioned I actually DO have a cat5 run that goes up to a recent edition on the house that is on the 2nd floor. What I guess I could/should do is plug an AP into that run and have all the PCs/devices on the 2nd floor connect to that AP instead of the basement WiFi.

Assuming that is the plan of attack, does anyone have suggestions on a good/cheaper AP?

 

[ch33zw1z]

Put a switch in the addition in you need extra ports, run the WAP off the switch.

I would get a Ubiquiti UAP-AC-PRO or UAP-AC-LR

I use the UAP-AC-LR, solid.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I'm a big fan of the Asus routers like the AC68U and friends. You can run 3rd-party firmware on those too.