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I've got the opposite problem, a big old house with dense old pine shiplap full of nails covered with sheetrock. My wifi can't cover the house. Any recommendati

I've got the opposite problem, a big old house with dense old pine shiplap full of nails covered with sheetrock. My wifi can't cover the house. Any recommendations for good router/APs with large range or maybe repeaters?

hijp 6y ago
Eero worked well for me.
tertius 6y ago
Ubiquiti.
- capableweb 6y ago
  I want to love Ubiquiti and put their gear all over my house, I already have some long-range WiFi antennas from Ubiquiti, but my APs are all Linksys right now. However, the recent fiasco and managements apparent fail to even try to fix the issues at Ubiquiti makes me start looking for other gear instead... Worth keeping in mind.
  - wayoutthere 6y ago
    Yeah the gear and software are very good but the management response to basically try to sweep the whole thing under the rug has really soured me on the company as a whole. You might as well just hand foreign intelligence the keys to your network.
    - tertius 6y ago
      Or generate new keys and then you're golden.
  - dkdk8283 6y ago
    Ubnt is junk. Full of bugs not to mention sec issues.
loloquwowndueo 6y ago
Probably better off with a mesh / repeater setup, a single super powerful router will still be sketchy at the edges as in that case the other device’s radio and signal strength also begin to play a role. I’m angry because I just had a TP-Link (ax20) router go bad on me, so I’d just advise you to avoid that brand but do your research - maybe I just got bad luck :)
zeckalpha 6y ago
Ours is similar, but our floors are less naily so I put our wifi router in the basement and have decent coverage. Also pollutes the neighbors less.
luma 6y ago
In most cases, your best bet is multiple, lower power APs with copper backhaul to your network.
- fatnoah 6y ago
  I do this in my own house w/powerline networking as the backhaul. Cable Modem is located at the main TV and connected to an Ethernet switch with local devices and powerline node. Three more power line nodes power two additional APs and an ethernet switch for wired connections in my home office. It's not the most elegant solution, but it works and allows me to have Inet/WiFi access in and around my house.
  - galangalalgol 6y ago
    I have powerline modules already and they work so I'll probably go this route. What APs did you get?
    - fatnoah 6y ago
      I used the Netgear EX6150. I have no idea if they're "good" or not, but they seem to work fine so far.
  - labawi 6y ago
    Trade single band noise for broadband noise? Wouldn't recommend powerline. Not that powerline doesn't work (sometimes), but it radiates and raises the noise floor for all sorts of frequencies, pretty much by design.
StavrosK 6y ago
How about Powerline? I use them and they're quite good.
- JohnJamesRambo 6y ago
  I don’t know what was wrong with the wiring in my old house but powerline didn’t work worth a damn.
tzs 6y ago
Others have already suggested that your best bet is access points connected by copper. Ethernet is the most obvious choice, but it might be a lot of hassle to run Ethernet through the walls or attic or basement and add outlets everywhere you need them. If you don't mind visible cables, running along the top of walls can work. Here's part of the Ethernet cable that is connecting opposite ends of my house and also speaker cable for on of my rear channels [1]. Ugly, but since when I'm indoors I look down a lot more than I look up, I'm fine with it. Powerline networking has also been mentioned. One more alternative to consider is MoCA [2], which is an option if your house is wired for cable TV. The easiest way to think of MoCA is that it is like powerline networking except instead of running Ethernet over your power lines, it runs Ethernet over your cable TV lines. A typical MoCA adapter has two coax ports and one Ethernet port. You hook up one MoCA adapter at your cable modem between the modem and the wall using the two coax ports on the adapter, and hook up the adapter's Ethernet port to an Ethernet port on the modem. (If you don't have cable internet, same instructions except you only need one of the coax ports on the adapter, and the Ethernet port gets hooked up to your DSL or fiber or Starlink or whatever modem). Then anywhere else in the house that you want Ethernet and have a coax outlet you hook up another MoCA adapter to the outlet via one of the coax ports on the adapter. The MoCA adapters do their magic, and that Ethernet port is logically on the same Ethernet as your cable modem. You can use the other coax port on that adapter to hook up another coax device, like a cable TV box. [1] https://imgur.com/gallery/uZ0VvtM https://imgur.com/gallery/uZ0VvtM [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multimedia_over_Coax_Alliance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multimedia_over_Coax_Alliance

hijp 6y ago

Eero worked well for me.

tertius 6y ago

Ubiquiti.

capableweb 6y ago
I want to love Ubiquiti and put their gear all over my house, I already have some long-range WiFi antennas from Ubiquiti, but my APs are all Linksys right now. However, the recent fiasco and managements apparent fail to even try to fix the issues at Ubiquiti makes me start looking for other gear instead... Worth keeping in mind.
- wayoutthere 6y ago
  Yeah the gear and software are very good but the management response to basically try to sweep the whole thing under the rug has really soured me on the company as a whole. You might as well just hand foreign intelligence the keys to your network.
  - tertius 6y ago
    Or generate new keys and then you're golden.
- dkdk8283 6y ago
  Ubnt is junk. Full of bugs not to mention sec issues.

loloquwowndueo 6y ago

Probably better off with a mesh / repeater setup, a single super powerful router will still be sketchy at the edges as in that case the other device’s radio and signal strength also begin to play a role. I’m angry because I just had a TP-Link (ax20) router go bad on me, so I’d just advise you to avoid that brand but do your research - maybe I just got bad luck :)

zeckalpha 6y ago

Ours is similar, but our floors are less naily so I put our wifi router in the basement and have decent coverage. Also pollutes the neighbors less.

luma 6y ago

In most cases, your best bet is multiple, lower power APs with copper backhaul to your network.

fatnoah 6y ago
I do this in my own house w/powerline networking as the backhaul. Cable Modem is located at the main TV and connected to an Ethernet switch with local devices and powerline node. Three more power line nodes power two additional APs and an ethernet switch for wired connections in my home office. It's not the most elegant solution, but it works and allows me to have Inet/WiFi access in and around my house.
- galangalalgol 6y ago
  I have powerline modules already and they work so I'll probably go this route. What APs did you get?
  - fatnoah 6y ago
    I used the Netgear EX6150. I have no idea if they're "good" or not, but they seem to work fine so far.
- labawi 6y ago
  Trade single band noise for broadband noise? Wouldn't recommend powerline. Not that powerline doesn't work (sometimes), but it radiates and raises the noise floor for all sorts of frequencies, pretty much by design.

StavrosK 6y ago

How about Powerline? I use them and they're quite good.

JohnJamesRambo 6y ago
I don’t know what was wrong with the wiring in my old house but powerline didn’t work worth a damn.

tzs 6y ago

Others have already suggested that your best bet is access points connected by copper. Ethernet is the most obvious choice, but it might be a lot of hassle to run Ethernet through the walls or attic or basement and add outlets everywhere you need them. If you don't mind visible cables, running along the top of walls can work. Here's part of the Ethernet cable that is connecting opposite ends of my house and also speaker cable for on of my rear channels [1]. Ugly, but since when I'm indoors I look down a lot more than I look up, I'm fine with it. Powerline networking has also been mentioned. One more alternative to consider is MoCA [2], which is an option if your house is wired for cable TV. The easiest way to think of MoCA is that it is like powerline networking except instead of running Ethernet over your power lines, it runs Ethernet over your cable TV lines. A typical MoCA adapter has two coax ports and one Ethernet port. You hook up one MoCA adapter at your cable modem between the modem and the wall using the two coax ports on the adapter, and hook up the adapter's Ethernet port to an Ethernet port on the modem. (If you don't have cable internet, same instructions except you only need one of the coax ports on the adapter, and the Ethernet port gets hooked up to your DSL or fiber or Starlink or whatever modem). Then anywhere else in the house that you want Ethernet and have a coax outlet you hook up another MoCA adapter to the outlet via one of the coax ports on the adapter. The MoCA adapters do their magic, and that Ethernet port is logically on the same Ethernet as your cable modem. You can use the other coax port on that adapter to hook up another coax device, like a cable TV box. [1] https://imgur.com/gallery/uZ0VvtM https://imgur.com/gallery/uZ0VvtM [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multimedia_over_Coax_Alliance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multimedia_over_Coax_Alliance