Improving Home Wireless

[Techie-v2]

Morning all,

 

I've recently had a two story extension built and need to improve the wireless signal in there.

 

My current setup is a Sky Q router in the living room of the original build and a Sky Q mini in the master bedroom upstairs so signal in the main part of the house is fine but as soon as you walk into the extension the signal drops to barely useable. I have a couple of Amazon echos and a wireless camera in the extension that only work some of them time, the echos say they are not connected to the internet and the camera is always buffering. Move them into the main part of the house and they work fine.

 

As part of the build I put network sockets, both high and low level into each room in the extension which all go back to a POE switch which is connected to the Sky Q router.

 

Can anyone reccomend an access point or range extender I can plug in in the extension that would work with my current wireless so I dont have to have another SSID.

 

Thanks

[chazzy2501]

I'm thinking a powerline wifi extender, (ethernet to powerline, powerline to wifi) you'd have to manually change the ssid of the booster and password to match your skyq router's and WPS would also not work.

[Davit2005]

As you have gone through the process of running cables and purchasing a PoE switch have you considered getting some Unifi access points. They do some in wall access points from around £80 pound each and even have Ethernet ports built in and look pretty cool, I've never used these type myself but have been running a couple of Unifi UAP-AC-PROs at home for around 3 years now.

 

So you could disable the WiFi on the BT Router and use the Unifi instead. The other option is to use an extender as as previously mentioned but it just seems a waste to me after the effort you already put in.

Edited October 16, 2019 by Davit2005

[Rob_D]

Given you've got POE networking in there it seems a shame to not get a proper AP working in there. I know you said you wanted to keep your existing wifi, but have you thought of switching to something like unifi?

 

What about the sky wireless boosters? Sounds like it's almost exactly what you want (I can't find a link, but apparently only about £22 from sky direct).

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sky-Wireless-Booster-Extend-further/dp/B00HUPCYNY

 

[wright-fi]

Assuming you work for a school (this is Edugeek after all) you can get a free access point from Cambium Networks here: https://www.cambiumnetworks.com/cnpilot-free-ap/

 

You can then configure the AP to have the same SSID and password as your Sky Q device.

[Techie-v2]

Thanks for the replies,

 

If I was to get a single unify ap, could I just set it up to use the same SSID and passphrase and everything would work swimmingly? Obviously with channel separation etc.

 

I've looked at the sky range extenders but have read bad things about them, like they only extend the strength of signal they receive, so if the are receiving crap signal, there only going to extend crap signal

[wright-fi]

Thanks for the replies,

 

If I was to get a single unify ap, could I just set it up to use the same SSID and passphrase and everything would work swimmingly? Obviously with channel separation etc.

 

 

Yes that's right

[bald_pig]

they only extend the strength of signal they receive, so if the are receiving crap signal, there only going to extend crap signal

 

That's kind of the point, you're supposed to put them in an area with good coverage to extend the signal into an adjacent area with poor coverage.

[Jon]

Take sky up on their WiFi guarantee ... "WiFi Guarantee: With Sky Broadband Boost we'll guarantee WiFi in every room of your home or your money back."

 

https://www.sky.com/help/articles/sky-fibre-speed-guarantee

[abillybob]

If you have some money to burn... these are brilliant bits of kit. Installed one in my father in laws home. He has problems as the house is very large and BT's homeHub wouldn't cut it. Installed this as he didn't want wiring around the house and I was surprised how well it works!

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ubiquiti-Amplifi-4-Ports-System-Wireless/dp/B01L9O08PW/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=unifi+amplifi&qid=1571306485&sr=8-1

[DJ-1701]

If you have some money to burn...

 

Send it my way.

[Techie-v2]

Take sky up on their WiFi guarantee ... "WiFi Guarantee: With Sky Broadband Boost we'll guarantee WiFi in every room of your home or your money back."

 

https://www.sky.com/help/articles/sky-fibre-speed-guarantee

The extension was built after we had Sky installed, I haven't read the t&c's of that guarantee but I'm sure they'll have a loophole for that kind of thing