We upgraded from older telephone lines plus modem/router to fiberoptics. Our needs were minor (only 2 users, 2 computer systems, and one TV), but while working remote, we were hoping for faster, better connections. Oddly, after the switch, our service was no better. Speed difference was barely noticeable, and connections intermittent in many rooms of the house (older construction, plaster walls).
We were originally told by sales, that we could return to the old system if we didn’t like the new, but when we asked to do so, were told that would be impossible. They sent numerous technicians to try to fix the issues, and replaced the router. We pay a nominal fee to rent their router. While we could purchase our own and save money, renting likely helped in our situation. Otherwise, I’m guessing instead of assisting us multiple times, they would have simply said it was our issue to solve, and not theirs.
One technician finally shared that other neighborhoods were being offered mesh systems when they upgraded to fiberoptics. We were never offered this, so I insisted based on their original “promises”, and they did finally supply (3) Google mesh pucks. The mesh system helps, but we had to play with many location alternatives before finally reaching most rooms of our house.
Early last year I added a Google Mesh system (1 plugs into the router, then 3 others placed in range but where the signal was getting weak). Even though our router is somewhat old, signal was more of an issue. Bought the mesh system at Costco in case I wanted to return it, but it works great. Easy setup. Our irrigation and landscape lighting boxes are on the far side of the garage and are now in range (put one in the garage) so I can control them from their apps.
ETA: @kjofkw We did have to play with placement a bit, mostly getting full upstairs coverage. Ended up with the point in the hall bathroom because it is the center point upstairs. Bonus that the power light works as a soft nightlight.
I have a google mesh system as well that works great. But rather than just give an equipment recommendation, here are some tips to help isolate the issue.
Take your wifi device, e.g. iPad/laptop and stand right next to the router. Go to speedtest.net and see what your speeds are. Your download speed should be relatively close to what the service provider promises. In my case it’s about 20% lower (800 mbs vs 1000 mbs) but that’s expected. If you’re able to hardwire directly to the router, that provides a good performance comparison point as well.
If your speeds are much lower than expected, then the problem is either your provider, modem, or router. So start your debugging there.
If speeds are good then check your signal strength - it should be full bars right next to the router. If it’s not, then that’s a router issue.
Now move to a problem spot and check the signal strength and speed. Presumably signal will be bad and you’ll also have bad speed as a result, which indicates you need either a better router (I’m assuming a wifi router) or a mesh access point. Newer routers support more channels so it’s possible that a new router alone will provide wider and stronger signal than a very old router.
So assuming you have good signal and good download speeds… what if your actual internet performance is still spotty? Then you need to dig deeper into the actual signal strength - it might look good in terms of bars, but true strength might be spotty. On a Mac you can do option-left-click on the wifi icon in the top right and see RSSI which is a more granular indicator. Poor signal strength is a good indicator that you need a mesh access point.
One final thing to be aware of is that an access point will give stronger signal strength, but performance may not be as good as a non-access point connection. This is because the access point is essentially a network hop, which has an impact on performance. So if you end up daisy chaining multiple access points to reach the furthest point of the house, performance will likely still be degraded - strong signal, but lower throughput.
There are apps on your phone that can test both signal strength and speed in different locations of your home, as well as check for which channels have the most/least interference in different locations. I happen to like WiFiMan. This app also other useful features beyond Wifi testing. For example, using the Bluetooth signal strength, I was able to find a hearing aid lost while hiking in a wooded area.
The testing above should give you some idea of the weak points. If the WiFi transmitter (router) is in a back bedroom, and you have a low signal in more distant areas from that bedroom, I’d start with changing the position of the transmitter to a more central location, ideally with fewer physical barriers, such as walls. Alternatively if you don’t want to move the transmitter, then you could use an extender or mesh network to improve signal level at more distant locations (see below).
If that’s not adequate, then next I’d review whether speeds are adequate when near the router. If you don’t have sufficient speed, then review where the speed is being lost and what can be done to increase it. For example, if you are paying for 300Mbps, and are getting 30Mbps per second when near the router, then you have a problem. Your ISP can help debug this step. If the router is very old, you may also be operating at higher speeds than supported by router. Sometimes switching to a different channel with less interference can resolve this type of issue.
If you getting sufficient speeds when near the router, but not when away from the router, then next I’d review expanding coverage. Different routers have different signal strengths, better coverage across barriers, etc. An extender or mesh network can repeat the signal to better reach particularly troublesome areas. A simple $25 extender could make a world of difference, but a mesh system costing hundreds is likely to be more reliable, without having to switch to a different WiFi network name in different sections of your home.
Just depends on who you get–my dad’s TV guy was Spectrum and was just great. He not only fixed the internet but took time to show my dad how to use features on his TV. Maybe he just liked my dad–I don’t know.
Same thing has happened with Comcast–you either get someone who just shrugs their shoulders or says “hope this helps” or someone who actually really knows their stuff and fixes you right up.
I did have a real problem initially setting up the now replaced mesh network. You need to have the modem in bridge mode. Otherwise, both it and the router are trying to assign IP addresses for the same device and that creates instability in the system. It worked fine for a while.
Then Xfinity asked if I wanted something called a Flex box (I think), which enabled free streaming for a range of TV shows. It was free, so I said sure, but never plugged it in. It turned out that when a customer has a Flex box, then Xfinity automatically disables bridge mode in the modem. It took a while to figure that out and then I had to physically bring them the box, in the middle of a pandemic, for them to reenable bridge mode.
Yes, Spectrum is a national company. There are a variety of different employee and experience qualities within the company. I have Spectrum for Internet. My experience was the guy who installed seemed to be knowledgeable and interested in helping, but he was limited based on the appointment schedule Spectrum kept for him. He was behind Spectrum’s schedule, so he couldn’t stay as long as he would have liked.
However, he did show me how to continue further with the testing I wanted to do. For example, knowing he didn’t have enough time for everything, we prioritized testing which cable wall outlets go which cables in the junction box, in my bedroom. This way, after he left, I could switch the modem/router to other wall outlets in different rooms and compare WiFi performance in different locations on my own, while he was on another job. He also gave me the extra cables and cable holder clips that I requested. After he had left, he came back (may have been writing report in car) because he noticed my Internet happened to be down. I was rebooting modem as part of my test, so this was expected, but he took the extra time to check.
Of course, many people also have different experiences. Spectrum in my area has some of the worst Yelp reviews I’ve ever seen. >90% of reviews are 1 star. None of the 1 star reviews I checked complained about the installation. It was more often making robocalls, their internet not working, locked in contract, very long phone waits that may be >1 hour to talk to someone, billing issues, etc.
We have a spectrum modem and the speed check was good only at the router. We replaced the 7 year old nighthawk with a google nest with 2 node points. The main one is at the TV, the nodes are upstairs and 2 rooms over main level. Works very well. We chose this because our kids figured this out for their homes. We bought it at Best Buy (around 380) but would have bought it at Costco if we lived closer or had time for delivery. I did this on my own with the goole home app.
The problem your in-laws have isn’t a speed issue. It’s a coverage issue. If the coverage is poor in their living room, a wi-fi extender placed appropriately would be sufficient. A mesh system will also work, but it’s probably an overkill for their house.
If speed is also a problem, they need to determine where the bottleneck is. The overall speed is only as good as that the worst of its components is capable of. The type of service they subscribed, the modem, the wi-fi router, the distance from the router, and/or the barriers (walls, etc.) between the router and the computing device, all affect transmission speed.
We initially used a wifi extender to spread our signal but eventually switched to a mesh system (3 units) and it’s a better solution IMO. One of our mesh units can serve as the router but we did upgrade the old modem for better speed. We actually have a combined router / modem so I set up the mesh as an access point instead but could have just as easily disabled the built-in router (in the combo) and used the mesh as the router. I believe that dual band mesh is sufficient for most applications, and it isn’t necessary to step up to tri band.
For far reaches we also extended our Ethernet with powerline adapters. You can plug the extended Ethernet lines directly into devices or a switch, or use as a backhaul with the mesh. I’ve just started to replace those powerline adapters (which work fine for us but some find flakey) with MoCA adapters (better speeds and reliability) which employ the coax that is already wired all over our house.
We get strong signals all over our home and have a single SSID with the mesh system.
Unfortunately, as you’ve discovered, there are many possible solutions / technologies, and choosing among them can be confusing and complex. Hiring an honest tech at a reasonable price is likely money well spent.
tl;dr - I like a simple mesh solution for extending wifi signals.