Improving home wi-fi

[NanLaew]

I have fiber optic internet service from 3bb, using the original Huwaei HG8145v ONU. No issues with the service, but the Wi-Fi range has always been an issue across the 5-bedroom, single-floor villa.

 

I now have a 4-bedroom annex about 50m away (signal has to pass through 4 regular walls, all on the same ground-level), the signal strength 'out back' was poor. I had a spare TP-Link RE305 Wi-Fi extender and installed that about 2/3 of the distance in between and that has solved the signal strength issue, but the speed still is limited. No issues with YouTube and streaming, but it's no use for gaming.

 

The Huawei ONU doesn't have external antennas and depending on who you talk to and what you read, that can be a limitation on some home installations. I was wondering if I connect a newer Wi-Fi 6 router to the Huawei and disable the Huawei wi-fi, that would improve my "customer satisfaction"? I could also relocate the new wi-fi router somewhere better to optimise the signal. The Huawei is limited by the length of f/o cabling and available furniture in the master bedroom at the front of the main house.

 

I have a liking for TP-Link products, so any other solutions or recommendations are welcome.

[jas007]

I had a similar situation back in the US,.  The last house I owned was a Mid Century ranch style home. 5000 sq ft, all on one level. Steel beam construction and concrete walls.  And for whatever reason, the wi-fi reception in the far ends of the house was more or less nonexistent.  
 

My solution was to buy some mesh extenders.  I’m not sure how they work, exactly, but they did do the job. They were kind of pricey, but since then prices have probably come down.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[NanLaew]

11 minutes ago, jas007 said:

I had a similar situation back in the US,.  The last house I owned was a Mid Century ranch style home. 5000 sq ft, all on one level. Steel beam construction and concrete walls.  And for whatever reason, the wi-fi reception in the far ends of the house was more or less nonexistent.  
 

My solution was to buy some mesh extenders.  I’m not sure how they work, exactly, but they did do the job. They were kind of pricey, but since then prices have probably come down.
 

 

 

 

My friend has a duplex condo in Kuala Lumpur and the amount of rebar in the walls has been a big challenge for his home Wi-Fi. He's retired, and hedging on buying any upgrades that should solve his issues until the prices improve.

 

Yes, the mesh option looks good, and the prices aren't as high as they were when it was all new tech.

 

The RE305 extender I used supports mesh but the native wi-fi out of the Huawei isn't so I think I need to get something 'in between' like maybe the TP-Link AX55 or maybe AX21.

 

At the same time, I need to see what devices can connect with 802.11ax. The gaming laptop Wi-Fi hardware is Intel Wireless Wi-Fi 6 AX200 802. 11ax Dual-Band 2. 4GHz and 5GHz featuring 2x2 MU-MIMO technology (Max Speed up to 2. 4Gbps) so should be good to go.

[phetphet]

Are you only connecting over wireless?  What about a LAN cable from the Huawei to the TP-Link if possible?

 

 

 

[LogicThai]

Back in the day in our house in Singapore, that was built like a pre-war bunker with near-impossible wifi propagation, I solved the issue with Power-line communication (PLC), or rather Broadband over power line (BPL), i.e. using the house's own electricity cabling to propagate the internet signal from plug to plug. One plug for the router, and as many plugs as needed for access points. It worked like a charm, and it provided speed identical to cabled ethernet (which it is, in essence). Some plugs have a wifi repeater built-in, to support mobile devices.

 

In our condo in Bangkok, which presents the same challenge, I installed a Mesh solution, which works fine, but eventually I asked the management to install a second router directly accessing my home office. It required additional outside cabling and gutting of ceilings, but it works like a charm. We now have 2 different wifi networks, but that's not an issue for me. 

 

I think that Broadband over power line (BPL) is a hidden gem, that solves the problem without requiring any hacking.

 

 

[stubuzz]

3bb has a mesh package.

https://fiber.3bb.co.th/en/supermesh/

 

 

 

[gargamon]

Mesh wifi is the way to go. I have a cheap tp-link wifi router (ax3000) and a mesh repeater (re330). Plug the router into your fiber router and install as many repeaters as necessary. You can, of course, get faster versions of the ones I bought. I like the re330 because it plugs directly into a wall plug as opposed to the ones that require table space. Setup was very easy.

[Cameroni]

Powerline adapters would be better, you get the full fibre internet juice out of the power socket, plus wifi extension if you choose the right powerline adapter.

 

Devolo make the best, but TP Link is also a viable option.

 

You basically plug your routher's ethernet cable into an adapter and plug it into a power socket. Voila. Internet from every power socket in the house, you put in another adapter where you want it and you get wifi or ethernet right there.

[stubuzz]

7 minutes ago, gargamon said:

Mesh wifi is the way to go. I have a cheap tp-link wifi router (ax3000) and a mesh repeater (re330). Plug the router into your fiber router and install as many repeaters as necessary.

Is the fibre router in passthrough mode?

[Will B Good]

We stuck these in......dirt cheap and seem to work well. Lazada.

[gargamon]

Just now, stubuzz said:

Is the fibre router in passthrough mode?

I just plugged the input for the tp-link into one of the outputs in the fiber router with no messing with the settings on the fiber box.

 

As for gaming, you're going to get more lag the farther (more boxes it needs to go through, not distance) you are away from the fiber router.

[OneMoreFarang]

5 hours ago, NanLaew said:

I have a liking for TP-Link products

I use TP-LINK (EAP245) and they are pretty good.

But 50m is a long way...

[recom273]

It sounds like you need a decent home network, like you said, put your router into bridge mode, connect a series of mesh wifi access points throughout your house. I have used TP deco mesh in the past, but moved to unifi because I wanted PoE rather than mains powered. The deco M9 was a solid choice, although not always great for range.

 

I would run some external cat6 cable in hdpe pipe underground to the annex, or an outhouse and place a AP to cover the annex. A drum of cable isnt expensive and hdpe is just cheap irrigation pipe.

 

Cheap range extenders and power line might seem like an alternative, but I think with a network, you just want to setup and forget, there's nothing worse than being pestered to restart the router or the extender keeps on dropping out, maybe you want to expand one day and you have to rethink again.

 

I installed a cat6 infrastructure to points around my property, then I can run switches and AP's into that to ensure coverage, I can add or adjust as necessary. Unifi have an online tool to assist with network design, https://design.ui.com/wizard - I uploaded the floorpan of my house, provided a scale and I can visualize the wifi coverage over my land - I'm not suggesting you should go out and buy a unifi system, but you can use their online tools to see what would be a viable solution rater than use trial and error.

[NanLaew]

20 hours ago, phetphet said:

Are you only connecting over wireless?  What about a LAN cable from the Huawei to the TP-Link if possible?

 

 

Only interested in improving home Wi-Fi for the itinerant users. My shed is wired.

 

A friend has suggested that I can reconfigure the TP-Link extender as an AP and use a Cat6 cable to connect it to the Huawei, then disable the 'host' wi-fi. I may give that a shot today.

 

17 hours ago, stubuzz said:

3bb has a mesh package.

https://fiber.3bb.co.th/en/supermesh/

 

 

I did see a display of new Huawei hardware at the local mall branch of 3bb yesterday, that included a newer Wi-Fi 6 capable modem/router (with no external antenna). Looking at the link, that looks like a promo for a new customer and requires a 24-month contract. My contract was set up ages ago and the Huawei hardware was free on a minimum 1-year contract. So I own this one now, but I may still see if I can get an upgrade.

 

17 hours ago, Cameroni said:

Powerline adapters would be better, you get the full fibre internet juice out of the power socket, plus wifi extension if you choose the right powerline adapter.

 

Devolo make the best, but TP Link is also a viable option.

 

You basically plug your routher's ethernet cable into an adapter and plug it into a power socket. Voila. Internet from every power socket in the house, you put in another adapter where you want it and you get wifi or ethernet right there.

 

I would give that a shot, but the annex is on a separate power, utility pole, meter, account, etc..

 

17 hours ago, gargamon said:

As for gaming, you're going to get more lag the farther (more boxes it needs to go through, not distance) you are away from the fiber router.

 

Noted, thanks. Hopefully it will only need the one box.

 

17 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I use TP-LINK (EAP245) and they are pretty good.

But 50m is a long way...

 

The annex is 50 m away from the 'source' and too far for existing hardware and tech. I was looking at a wall or ceiling-mount option and checked out the EAP425 among others but decided that was more expense and work.

 

 

 

[NanLaew]

33 minutes ago, recom273 said:

It sounds like you need a decent home network, like you said, put your router into bridge mode, connect a series of mesh wifi access points throughout your house. I have used TP deco mesh in the past, but moved to unifi because I wanted PoE rather than mains powered. The deco M9 was a solid choice, although not always great for range.

 

I would run some external cat6 cable in hdpe pipe underground to the annex, or an outhouse and place a AP to cover the annex. A drum of cable isnt expensive and hdpe is just cheap irrigation pipe.

 

Cheap range extenders and power line might seem like an alternative, but I think with a network, you just want to setup and forget, there's nothing worse than being pestered to restart the router or the extender keeps on dropping out, maybe you want to expand one day and you have to rethink again.

 

I installed a cat6 infrastructure to points around my property, then I can run switches and AP's into that to ensure coverage, I can add or adjust as necessary. Unifi have an online tool to assist with network design, https://design.ui.com/wizard - I uploaded the floorpan of my house, provided a scale and I can visualize the wifi coverage over my land - I'm not suggesting you should go out and buy a unifi system, but you can use their online tools to see what would be a viable solution rater than use trial and error.

 

Thanks for that. When I wanted fast internet in my shed, the obvious solution was running cat6 in conduit but with that went into the 'too hard' basket as I have enough issues with existing buried and hanging stuff getting broken. Opted for a 4G/5G router with the 1-year data SIM option.

 

Running cat6 to the annex will be similarly challenged due to cement, paving, existing drainage and once again, the perils of a suspended conduit. I won't rule it out though, especially option to run cat6 to an AP near the annex.

 

But I think I do need to replace the original Huawei first, then everything on out will be latest tech.

[OneMoreFarang]

42 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

The annex is 50 m away from the 'source' and too far for existing hardware and tech

With special antennae that is no problem at all. There are a couple of YouTube videos about that.

[recom273]

40 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

 

Thanks for that. When I wanted fast internet in my shed, the obvious solution was running cat6 in conduit but with that went into the 'too hard' basket as I have enough issues with existing buried and hanging stuff getting broken. Opted for a 4G/5G router with the 1-year data SIM option.

 

Running cat6 to the annex will be similarly challenged due to cement, paving, existing drainage and once again, the perils of a suspended conduit. I won't rule it out though, especially option to run cat6 to an AP near the annex.

 

But I think I do need to replace the original Huawei first, then everything on out will be latest tech.

 

No need to replace the Huawei , but possible - just put it into bridge mode and like your buddy said, hardwire to the extender and use AP mode. 3BB will supply you with a ONT if you ask and pester them - you can even buy your own - this is an optical terminal that has no routing capability - if you want to buy your own from lazada @Mutt Daeng wrote a guide on how to config it, then run an ethernet cable to your TP link router.

 

ETS: Bridge mode to ethernet > router > AP - you will need something to handle the routing of your traffic over the whole system.

Edited September 25 by recom273

[NanLaew]

On 9/25/2024 at 11:26 AM, recom273 said:

 

No need to replace the Huawei , but possible - just put it into bridge mode and like your buddy said, hardwire to the extender and use AP mode. 3BB will supply you with a ONT if you ask and pester them - you can even buy your own - this is an optical terminal that has no routing capability - if you want to buy your own from lazada @Mutt Daeng wrote a guide on how to config it, then run an ethernet cable to your TP link router.

 

ETS: Bridge mode to ethernet > router > AP - you will need something to handle the routing of your traffic over the whole system.

 

After a few short-term internet outages over the past six weeks or so, that 3BB have managed to fix quickly without a house call, the 3BB tech dropped by yesterday and replaced the original Huawei router with a Huawei AX3000 HG8045X6 Mesh WiFi6 router. Smaller unit with a couple of external antennas. Painless replacement, I just gave him the wi-fi passwords and all online in less than ten minutes.

 

First thing I noticed is the 2.4 GHz signal strength was low (red LED) on the TP Link extender at the back of the house. I have relocated that to an outlet that a bit nearer the source and now have four blue LED's. Signal strength looks good, or as good as a freebie wi-fi network analyzer app says. So with a new WiFi6 mesh router and mesh extender, I will get the lodgers in the annex to check if the speed is any better for gaming.

[NanLaew]

I am wondering if anyone can shine a light on the considerable difference between the following two internet speeds tests.

 

Both devices connected via 5 GHz wi-fi to the same 3BB fiber home network.

Both devices are the same distance, about 3 meters line-of-sight, from the router.

 

The top one is on my 4 year-old Nokia X20 and the lower one is on my 2 year-old Asus ZenBook. Test run within a minute of each other. No VPN, using the default testmy.net Japan test mirror.

 

^ Nokia X20

 

^ ASUS ZenBook

[topt]

2 hours ago, NanLaew said:

The top one is on my 4 year-old Nokia X20 and the lower one is on my 2 year-old Asus ZenBook.

Simplistically I would guess that the Nokia is only using 802.11n or maybe ac and the Zen ax?

 

 

[NanLaew]

1 hour ago, topt said:

Simplistically I would guess that the Nokia is only using 802.11n or maybe ac and the Zen ax?

 

 

 

I reckon you've cracked it.

 

Nokia Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac

 

ASUS Wi-Fi 802.11ax

 

Thanks!