Need some advice with strange router behaviour

[Tejas01]

So, I recently got Airtel FTTH and while speeds are great in the room where the router is, they go for a toss when I am in other rooms. Please refer the image below to get an idea out my flat layout. I have 100mbps plan, with speeds upto 120mbps. Router is Nokia 2425-A

When I am in hall and along pathway(path from from room3 to hall), with door open, speeds are decent on 5ghz. However, anywhere in hall away from the line of pathway, speeds drops to 30-40mbps on a single wifi-bar. I haven't done speed test with door closed, but I am assuming it would drop even further.

With the extender, standing in front of it gives 70mbps and speed decreases as I move away from extender. On 2.4ghz with extender, it drops to 24-25mbps in hall.

While I am aware that on 5ghz, distance is less so it shouldn't be surprising, but it doesn't serve the purpose of having an extender if speeds were to drop to this level.

I was thinking of ridding the TP-Link RE305 Extender and getting a decent router in my room which can actually give 80% of the speeds in the hall or atleast till the TV. The signal has to pass through 3 bathroom walls before reaching the hall. I would be keeping the door open to allow signal to come to hall.

I cannot get any drilling done to setup wires and stuff. If the recent routers upto rupees 5k can actually help resolve range issues, I am willing to give it a try. Can ayone suggest the same?

I apologise if anything is unclear from the diagram or handwriting for that matter. Do ask if any confusion prevails.

house-1-curr-cmp hosted at ImgBB

Image house-1-curr-cmp hosted in ImgBB

ibb.co

Thanks for reading.

 

[JB701]

I think the cheapest way to get good speeds everywhere is to have an AP centrally located between room 2 and bathroom 1. However, I see that you can't drill for wiring so it'll be kinda messy to have loose wires hanging.

I've EAP 245 located in the center of the house (650ish sqft) and I'm able to get 40MB/s file transfer on 5Ghz in most of the home.

Mesh WiFi could also work, but I'm not sure how many you'll need given the concrete walls.

 

[Rickysin]

TP-Link re305 is not good at all. Tried with 300mbps connection and got only 100mbps even when this re was right next to the router for testing. On continuous usage it heats up a lot and reduces the speed

 

[Rickysin]

Mesh wifi is the only solution for whole home coverage

 

[pranav sharma]

r/india - Airtel FTTH users, what router model has Airtel provided to you?

2 votes and 14 comments so far on Reddit

www.reddit.com

 

[netfreak]

You need not drill for laying wires. Talk to local electricians, they should be pull Cat-6 ethernet cable along existing wiring (for example, wiring for intercom, phone or cable TV). With this cable, add an extender with LAN port you should get 200 mbps everywhere (RE305 that you have is also good enough).

Cost of cable will be 2 to 3k.

 

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[igloo]

Tiles in bathroom are a big obstacles to wifi network imo.
Two openwrt router wired with fast roaming is cheapest solution but need to wired.
Or Better invest in mesh. use it wirelessly before the next house-paint job.

I wasted a lot in these repeaters n powerline stuff. Avoid for peace of mind.

 

[venkatachar]

My suggestion is to have a wired connection from room3 to hall. If you have windows closer to the router you can buy a 10-15 meter lan cable and pull to the hall. Or get an electrician to pull the wire in electrical outlet. In the hall you can have a router connect to LAN and act as AP . You will get full speeds this way for cheap and no dead spots.

 

[Tejas01]

@igloo and others how is the performance of the wifi-repeater if I use RE 305 as an access point through ethernet cable. I mean if I can somehow get the wire reach the common wall joining bathroom 1 and 2 and attach it to re305, then the coverage to hall and kitchen shouldn't be an issue.
Assuming that 305 has a good coverage given its small size. More importantly, I will have to drill hole in the door frame which is along the common wall for bathroom 1 and 2.
Mesh would be expensive at this point, no body uses net in room 2. Might be good for future.

 

[netfreak]

I have an RE 305 lying unused. I'll set it up as AP (via LAN) and share performance numbers.

regarding :

"More importantly, I will have to drill hole in the door frame which is along the common wall"

No drilling should be required. Does this house already has cabling for cable TV or intercom ?

 

[Tejas01]

It has provision, yes. But theere are two issues.
1. The electrician who was well versed with how the wiring is done with conceal is no more available.
2. Also, some conceals are not accessible as they are hidden behind TV(hall)or Almirah(room 2).
Also, I am not sure if I can draw a cable out from an electric point when inserted through a conceal.
For instance, there is an electric board in my room (room 3)for tubes, fan etc. If I insert cable then will it go to the common wall which has a provision for lights, switches. If I can make small adjustment to draw the cable out then my job is done.

 

[netfreak]

Do you use DTH or Cable for TV content ? If you do, how was that cable brought up to TV ?

 

[Tejas01]

It was through conceal, but now the conceal is blocked due to tv. Hence took cable from outside. It is also for same reason that I had to take fiber from outside as the conceal was blocked.

 

[Rickysin]

@igloo and others how is the performance of the wifi-repeater if I use RE 305 as an access point through ethernet cable. I mean if I can somehow get the wire reach the common wall joining bathroom 1 and 2 and attach it to re305, then the coverage to hall and kitchen shouldn't be an issue.
Assuming that 305 has a good coverage given its small size. More importantly, I will have to drill hole in the door frame which is along the common wall for bathroom 1 and 2.
Mesh would be expensive at this point, no body uses net in room 2. Might be good for future.

305re is having 100mbps lan port. So if you have a connection less than equal to 100 mbps then it should work fine

 

[igloo]

Also most of these repeaters have single core processor so only good for few devices and certain speeds. They do good speed on test but only for short burst.
If yoy are to connect via cable then get ap with atleast dual core processor and repeater mode or openwrt support.
edit :archer c6 or a6