Wifi detective help

Submitted by Danomite44444 t3_11bpz13 in washingtondc

Anyone know of a home decorator like business but for wifi? I just want a person to come to my house, fix my wifi and get it perfect and I pay them for it.

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carnesik t1_j9zo0em wrote

Seriously - before you hire anyone just buy an Eero mesh pro system. Trust me. If that doesn’t work then go ahead and hire someone.. but it will work and you’ll be very happy.

I say this with over 15 years of experience setting up networks.

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jpbronco t1_j9zro9y wrote

Eero is the easiest thing to set up. Google Wifi Mesh is another solid system.

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WinterMedical t1_ja0db0a wrote

Does the one in the new Echo dot work well? I know nothing.

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NotSherman t1_ja0nw6g wrote

Second this. Especially if you have an old house where it’s difficult to run Ethernet.

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Shot-Shame t1_j9z8r8y wrote

Get a mesh system. Quick and easy

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solidrecommendations t1_j9zabz9 wrote

Absolutely… I have a mesh system with the base station in the basement and a node on the second floor … I have 5/5 coverage throughout the house

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ibeecrazy t1_ja0283m wrote

Mesh is great and all but our router was placed at the front of our house and i can’t get a decent signal in the way back. I’d move the router but it’s connected to our tv.

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rolo-lolo t1_j9za49b wrote

Get a mesh system. If you have Ethernet jacks throughout your house, I’d use wired backhaul if speed is important.

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app_priori t1_j9z4qnr wrote

How big is your living space? They do sell WiFi extenders if your house is sufficiently that big. Most routers these days have pretty decent range, enough to cover the footprint of most rowhomes here.

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Danomite44444 OP t1_j9z6jk1 wrote

townhouse 2800 sq ft: NetGear AC1750 router and NetGear CM1200 modem. Extender NetGear EX6120 - up to 1500 sq ft.

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app_priori t1_j9za6c2 wrote

Ah yeah. You might want an additional extender. That's a nearly twice the square footage of a usual house here.

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posam t1_ja33qul wrote

You need a mesh network.

I had to get one for 1000 square feet because my walls and the closet doors between rooms destroy wifi signals (glass plus dense lath and plaster = bad signal strength).

When you decide where to put them, think of each as having a circle and each circle needs to overlap heavily.

I have my satellite only around 15-20 feet from the main hub because of the objects and walls in the way. Some mesh setups will show you the signal strength of the satellites and you want those strong. Generally speaker direct line of sight can be further apart but the more “stuff” between two points the closer they will need to be.

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C3NK0 t1_j9z8mhs wrote

There is no such a thing as perfect wifi, but you can have a great set up. Msg me i’ll guide you free of charge.

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afrozenfyre t1_j9zaj0m wrote

The thing people miss with wifi extenders and mesh systems is you want them to have strong signal to each other - NOT positioned in the rooms you want signal in (because they will still have bad signal there). Ideally you want the extender/mesh point halfway between the source/router and the location you want to improve the signal.

In a townhouse, you want them aligned vertically with as little metal, glass, and plaster between them as possible.

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Danomite44444 OP t1_j9zbot1 wrote

So if my router is in the front of the house and middle of my first floor halfway through my dining room the router signal dies, I put it in my dining room as close to halfway as possible. Your saying I should put it in an outlet that is closet to my stairs or beneath my front room where the router is, so instead of overlapping it would just boost it 1500 more sq Ft past the point it does now?

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afrozenfyre t1_j9zcxsi wrote

Usually townhouses have issues with vertical signal because the antennas are optimized as a disc. If you have horizontal issues, then moving the router more central may help (if possible). And yes, usually hallways are good for repeaters as they are usually central. I'm not really following your layout though. Do you have plaster and lathe walls or any metal? They are pretty bad for signal penetration.

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Evening_Chemist_2367 t1_ja030fq wrote

Our unit has steel studs in the walls and I suspected they soak up a lot of the wifi signal. Couldn't get much signal in our back room that's only 20 feet from where the router was, even with high gain antennas. So I got a mesh system (Amplifi Alien) and ran an ethernet cable to the second unit and since then wifi has been rock solid everywhere in the house.

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Midnight_Rising t1_ja013ok wrote

I mean, man you slip me a couple hundred and pay for the equipment and I'll come get your wifi set up for you. But it'll literally just be me buying a mesh system I don't have to host and running a few hundred feet of ethernet.

EDIT: Also I don't provide support because that's a lifetime of hell in front of me.

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tonei t1_ja016lb wrote

my boss hired hellotech and they did a great job on her house

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Irhsjakdjj t1_ja241k5 wrote

I can do it for you. I’m in the area

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