Corona Time: Setting up a powerful home network
The internet takes a big part in our lives. Sometimes, our demand for hi-speed internet exceeds greatly the supply we get. This mostly occurs, not because of a problem at the source (SIP), but because of a failed network set-up on our homes.
Do not underestimate the knowledge needed to set up a suitable home network! Networking and communication is a spacious, delicate, and vague subject, still, you won’t need a science degree to get a powerful network at home. My experience at home and enterprise networking taught me a lot! Today, I’m going to summarize relevant information to help you set up your network.
Disclaimer — This article will help you recognize which part of your home network is bad and try to fix it. This means that you may need to edit the router’s settings. If you are not confident enough doing so (it may break your internet connection) then don’t do it. Sometimes I may recommend you buying new devices to replace/add to your network. But before buying any piece of networking, you should check a relevant buying guide to understand what matches your needs. I’ll try to provide recommendations/buying tips if I feel it is important.
I don’t take any responsibility for actions taken (buying or changing existing devices) following the steps below.
First things first, we need to assess how much of our internet supply is underutilized. To do so, we need to connect a PC via an Ethernet cable directly to your router and run a speed test. You can run a speed test using any app/website; I recommend you use SpeedTest.
The speed that you get on your PC should match the speed that you pay for. If your speed doesn’t match (+/- up to 10Mb) then you should troubleshoot your router in the next section, if you’re happy with the results you could skip that.
Router — Speed
Causes for speed loss on the router can be for different reasons. The most common one would be that your router needs a restart to clear things up. Routers are just like any “mini” PC, after long workdays, eventually, they need a restart. For some routers, you could even schedule a daily restart (you can check this in the router’s manual). If a reset didn’t help then you should contact your ISP to see if they can fix this issue. If a drop of speed happens in less than 24 hours, then there is probably something wrong with your router (continue reading).
Router — Instability
Routers are a hard-working piece of tech. They need to work 24/7 infinitely. But let’s get real, they are made from chips after all, and those chips have a short lifespan! Home routers are usually the cheapest networking devices in the world of communication.
A restart can hold your router fresh (playing at full-speed) for long periods (days to months, after that a speed drop occurs and the router needs another restart). If you are not satisfied with the length of that period then it is probably the right time to replace your old router with a new one (don’t go cheap please, and consider buying a good brand; you can check reviews online). But before rushing into buying, you can try to update your router’s firmware. All instructions are available at the router’s manual. The latest firmware version can be found on the router’s brand website. But be careful with this and read all the instructions.
Note — the router is the most important part of your home network. If you have a bad one, adding extra devices to try and improve your home network may be useless.
WiFi
WiFi issues are the most confusing. If you do a speed test to your WiFi when you are near your router, having 80% of your internet speed is considered good. If you have less than that, it is mostly because of signal collision with other devices/WiFis. You can check that using the WiFi analyzer Android app (I don’t think there is an iPhone app for this, but if you have a Windows laptop/mobile you can find alternative apps). The app scans your WiFi and recommends to you vacant channels (frequencies). Not all devices/routers support all channels so you should try if the most vacant channel is good for your router and other devices connected to the WiFi (if they don’t support that channel your device won’t connect to the WiFi). If the tested channel didn’t work, just go for the 2nd most vacant channel.
Note — It is best if you repeat the process of signals analysis at least on 3 different points in your house. Signals occupancy can change from one point to others and you’d want to set up a channel that is best overall.
Changing the channel of your WiFi is usually easy, check your router’s manual. If a channel change gains back your WiFi speed then you are done, if not, you need to reset your settings to default and repeat the process after a restart (use the user manual). If you’re experiencing instability, then it is probably best you buy a new router.
Weak WiFi signal
If your house is small (one floor of up to 1100sqft or 100sqm) and you’re experiencing a weak WiFi signal, you should reinstall the router in a more strategic place. The best place is around the center of your house and at the highest point (70% of the wall’s height).
If all of the above didn’t help, I recommend you buy a new better router (no need for extra hardware).
Extending your WiFi
On big houses/apartments with multiple stories, you should extend your home network to the different points in your house using one of these options (from best to worst):
Cables through the house
Ethernet cables are the best! It is the only thing in networking that can be relied on in 99.999% Of the cases. You should fill your house with these cables to get to every point that you wish for a superb internet connection (if this means Netflix to you, then connect your TV/smart box with a cable). The more you connect with cables, the better WiFi you get for other mobile devices (less crowded WiFi).
Besides, you can extend your WiFi with a second router (can be an old one) by connecting it to an Ethernet cable and turning on the WiFi with the same configuration (check here).
Ethernet over power line (EoP) — Cable-free between rooms
If you don’t like cables all over the house, you can use EoP devices. Those devices (simply) convert Ethernet cables to power lines. And I bet you have many power line sockets; this is the time to use them. These adapters work just as if you connected an Ethernet cable between rooms. But they are hard to install right and can be easily underutilized. There are simple devices that have only a cable connection, and there are devices that have a built-in WiFi access point. You can mix these. There are also single/three-phase options (as indicated by your power supplier). Read here to see what suits you.
What you need is one non-WiFi adapter connected to your router (as a source of the internet) on one side, on the other side, you need a second adapter for the rooms that have weak WiFi. The WiFi built-in into the device is weaker than the ones your router has, but it should cover at least the room that it is installed on.
If there are devices in other rooms that have WiFi coverage but you wish for better speeds and stability, then you should buy an adapter for those rooms too (I recommend you connect internet-hungry devices with a cable to a non-WiFi adapter).
Setup instructions for these adapters can be found in the official guide and on YouTube (I recommend you pair them initially in the same room).
If your house has multiple floors, you may experience a bad connection (or pairing problems) between the two adapters. If this happens, you should check other sockets on the floor to see if this solves the problem. These adapters have limited distances that they work with. These distances can vary, but if you bring two adapters closer (closer sockets) they have more probability to connect and at higher speeds.
If you can’t bring those adapters closer, you could buy another non-WiFi adapter and connect it to a socket at the center of the two other adapters. The new adapter can act as a bridge between the two far points.
One trick I learned using these adapters is that they don’t work with power cable extenders or power-strips! Power lines installed in walls are solid core cables. Extenders and power-strips probably use non-solid/flexible cables for conveniences. Flexible cables are not good for network connectivity. If you must connect an adapter to a cable extender, simply buy a solid core cable extender.
Note — I recommend buying from the same brand, even though mixing will probably work (if the supported protocol matches).
Buy a HomePlug AV 2 protocol with the best working distance you can find (be aware that distances declared on these products is not air distance! It is the length of power lines in the walls from one point to another; it is very hard to anticipate).
WiFi Mesh/WiFi repeater
These are pretty well known in the market. If one WiFi extension is enough for you, you should go with a good WiFi repeater (you could use an old router, that supports WiFi repeater mode, as a replacement for the WiFi repeater).
When multiple WiFi extensions are needed, I advise buying a WiFi mesh devices. These work on the same concept as WiFi repeaters with the extra advantage of automatic pairing. This allows you to chain many nodes (a mesh WiFi repeaters) together to extend your WiFi to longer and wider areas.
This is the easiest (and the less affordable) option to set up a powerful multi-stories home network.
I tried chaining simple WiFi extenders (non-mesh repeaters) together, it worked, but I wouldn’t rely on it for heavy usage. There are cases where I’d recommend connecting devices to cables (such as for gaming) and these mesh devices, mainly, rely on WiFi. The more WiFi chaining you have, the greater the network latency you get.
Note — for WiFi meshes, you should go with the same brand. Mixing brands is possible only if the two devices have an Easy Mesh certificate.
Other options — WiFi amplifiers, bigger antennas…
This won’t solve any problem. I tested cheap and expensive ones. It was a waste of money and time. The option that worked best was buying an antenna cable so you could separate your router’s WiFi antennas in a way that you cover wide open spaces. This could give you stronger, more focused, WiFi signals for these areas.
My internet is a rocket, but when using XXXXXXX it is slow
It may be that your ISP is blocking or has limited bandwidth to this service. I came across ISPs limiting/blocking the usage of torrents, remote controls, adult sites, streaming services, gaming, and so on… So contact your ISP, and if they don’t help you, don’t hesitate to go to other ISPs. You deserve to get a powerful internet connection!
I hope this helps you build the home network of your dreams.
Have fun with your new internet experience 😁.
