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Advice re alternative router/modem and mesh?

jimkehoe
3: Seeker
3: Seeker

Good afternoon

 
I currently have Vodafone broadband (the together package) with the latest router.
I live in a rural location where we are served via old fashioned copper wire on poles from the local exchange.
At the moment we only achieve download speeds of around 20-25 Mbps.
More annoyingly though the signal drops out quite often and the reach is not great and subsequently the signal disappears at the furthest points of our house.
The router is located upstairs in a home office, which is where the access point/main junction box/phoneline box for the house is.
The house is an old 3 bed semi with  thick walls. There is only my wife and I but the following devices throughout the house use wi-fi/internet:
Two Televisions with 2 Freeview boxes, 2 computers, a laptop, an i-pad,  2 mobile phones, Sonos system/speakers, 4 Amazon Alexa devices.
Can you please advise the best route to take and what equipment I need to achieve a strong reliable signal throughout the house with no buffering or drop outs please.
I am not a technical whizz-kid so will need specific easy to understand advice.
I am happy to spend up to a couple of hundred pounds to replace the router and do what is necessary to achieve a strong, reliable signal throughout the house. However I don't really want to attach or route further cabling around the house.
Thank you in advance.
 
 
4 REPLIES 4

timhuckle
2: Seeker
2: Seeker

I've found the TP-Link powerline extenders useful where walls are solid in the past.   They also offer a convenient way to extend ethernet cabling options if you want. 

 

https://www.tp-link.com/uk/home-networking/powerline/

Thanks for the advice. I am pretty sure these don't work that great due to the wiring - we have had 3 extensions so the wiring is safe and approved but probably not as expected. I tried these when we had the original Vodafone router and they were no good.

Then I’d leave the router in place and invest in a good wifi extender; unless your place is huge in which case google nest mesh WiFi looks like simplest option . I trust Tom with his reviews re standard extenders:

 

https://www.tomsguide.com/uk/us/best-wifi-extenders,review-2225.html

Thanks Tim.

 

My son who is a very competent electrician has installed an Asus Mesh system in his house which is substantially bigger than ours and since doing so he states his coverage is much better and the signal is consistently stronger with no drop outs or buffering.

However he does have Virgin fibre optic  or whatever it is with speeds of 100+ so very different to our steam driven broadband. He does think it would do the same for us though albeit at a much lower speed etc.

It is this one:

ASUS RT-AX92U AX6100 Tri-Band Whole Home Mesh Wi-Fi System

 

Any thoughts form anyone?