Strengthen your home Wi-Fi connection.
Strengthen your home Wi-Fi connection.
I've been working on updating our home Wi-Fi for weeks without success. We use a basic router from our provider and added a Fritz! WLAN repeater two floors above it. Both share the same network name, so devices automatically connect to the stronger signal. Still facing several challenges. Your help would be greatly appreciated! - I still get about 1 bar of signal from the upper router, so when I enter the house my phone connects to the lower one even though it shows 5 bars and the router only has 1 bar. To keep Wi-Fi active I have to turn it back on or move closer to the router, which isn’t convenient. - Sometimes I’m right next to the AP, see 5 bars, but speeds are very slow—around kbps—even though my internet is 1000Mbps. (Yes, I still get full bandwidth over LAN.) - The range of both APs is very limited; only a few meters give me 5 bars. Moving to another room drops the signal to 10% or less. The walls are thin—mostly wood and natural stone, no solid brick or concrete. (Linus installed some APs in his house that reached his garden. Is this a common issue with weak APs or something else?) These three problems together make Wi-Fi frustrating throughout most of my home. I’d love to hear any suggestions.
Often experiences disruptions and works well when connected to many devices, particularly on 2.4GHz bands. Interference might stem from Wi-Fi Analyzer showing signal patterns in your home. Lowering the second router's transmission power until the phone loses connection could help it switch to the nearest access point. This approach can be frustrating to configure. While using a repeater or LAN with an access point offers improved results, connecting directly to one SSID is simpler and more efficient.
Interference shouldn't be too severe. I'm in a rural area with no more than three routers nearby. It looks like the router and AP didn't include this feature. I've seen it before, but I couldn't find the right way to enable it. I currently have two APs set up in a mesh configuration, using just one SSID. The devices struggle to connect to the stronger one.
Good observation, regarding interference from your own AP. It seems they’re not all on the same channel, even within the same SSID. That’s a bit disappointing. I think the issue might be related to power sources, and since they’re all on the same channel, it’s likely a matter of how the network behaves. It’s described as “mesh-like,” which isn’t ideal. The Fritz! WLAN repeater still functions as a standard repeater, whereas mesh routers operate differently (at least according to their protocol). So devices connected to the mesh router should connect smoothly, but in this case it feels like you’re experiencing the same problem.
I think running cables to each router and using an 802.11r configuration makes sense. If not, I recommend a solid mesh network. I’m only comfortable with OpenWRT mesh solutions, so I can’t advise on specific hardware choices. 802.11r is a straightforward option that’s also simple to implement with OpenWRT.
Certainly yes. Even within the same network name, a different source can cause interference. Below are channels that don’t overlap and you can use. I didn’t test the 5 GHz version, so I’m unsure if the image on that band matches yours. However, the 2.4 GHz band remains consistent across all routers.