Wireless router recommendation for a 4 floor home

We use luma in a four story house plus basement. We have 100mb speed from spectrum and get above 70mb from all floors with four units.

orrsuz

in General Discussion 7 years and 4 months ago

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bdz | 7 years and 5 months ago

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We continue to have issues with our wifi range throughout the house. Does anyone have a recommendation of what to use for 4 floors. We purchased an extender last year and I am not sure it has made much of a difference. We also recently installed a new wireless router and modem from Optimum. Optimum now recommended purchasing a new router as what they gave us may not have enough range. Any recommendations on what to purchase and do?

Thank you in advance.

EJR | 7 years and 5 months ago

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Do you have a central chute in your home, which was quite common in older houses that is sufficiently enclosed from the elements that you can run wiring through it? If so, you can have an AV/Systems guy run hardwired wireless access points from your internet router to each floor of your house. I did this and it’s a great solution. These are the ones I have: https://www.mwave.com.au/product/ubiquiti-networks-uap-indoor-80211n-wireless-access-point-ab68396

For a less invasive approach, try a “mesh” network: https://www.pcmag.com/roundup/350795/the-best-wi-fi-mesh-network-systems

SoSlope | 7 years and 4 months ago

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I second what EJR wrote. I used Open Mesh access points and am really happy. They are not cheap, but vastly better than all the money I spent on cheaper “solutions” that never fully worked.
https://www.openmesh.com/

SoSlope | 7 years and 4 months ago

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Reading that, it sounds like an ad, but I have no connection to the company. Our IT guy used these in our office, so I decided to copy it at home.

oliver_nyc | 7 years and 4 months ago

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we recently installed an orbi system (http://www.netgear.com/orbi/) – main unit is in our cellar (where our cable modem is) and we have two satelites for a four story home (one one on parlor and one on top floor.) very good coverage as long as you experiment with the placement of the units. i’ve heard good things about the eero as well (https://eero.com). i went with the orbi for some geeky technical reasons: the eero is a mesh system, the orbi is a hub-and-spoke model but has a faster and dedicated router-to-satelite connection. i think either would be fine for a brownstone.

neilw | 7 years and 4 months ago

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I put an Eero system in my house – 3 story brownstone – and can stream a video conference call on my laptop while walking up and down through the house. Mesh networks operate much differently than do traditional routers with repeaters. Worth a look.

chipito | 7 years and 4 months ago

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Agree with the mesh recommendations. Wirecutter recommends orbi but eero is probably what I will eventually go with (smaller units). If you have an old router you could possibly use a Powerline solution through the electric system to have a second router a couple floors away from your main one re-broadcasting the same network.