New Router??

[Blujelly]

Hi all,

I’m currently on Virgin 300mb 3.0 hub. What I’m trying to find out with my current situation is if a new router, mesh, booster or setup of some devices would need to be changed.

I currently have 12 devices connected 10 of those are WiFi of which 8 are 2.4ghz the remaining 2 are 5ghz, then 2 devices connected via Ethernet. Is this overloaded already for this router?

I have 4 Ring cameras, 1 is connected EoP, 2 WiFi to router 1 via the chime pro (which obviously connects to the router) so the EoP is fine 99% of the time for the obvious reason, one of the camera connected via WiFi is great like 80% of the time. The door and floodlight… now from my router to both of them devices is say 6-7m, so I’m guessing there is a lot of interference with other devices, the walls etc. Is there any way I can help reduce all of this? I mean I don’t get massive amounts of lag to a certain extent but there signal strength isn’t great!

Right now I’m at download speed of 340 (same room as router) by the doorbell it’s at 130 and for the flood light it’s at 2-3mbs bare in mind from the door to the flood light is about a meter.

I know to a certain extent there is a bit more too it, such as Ring’s servers etc but I feel the router being a standard from Virgin isn’t best cut out for this operation? The camera on WiFi is about 4-5 meters from the router and it’s RSSI is showing 45, the front door is 61 and the spotlight is 67… just seeing if I can get those numbers down basically?

also apologies in advance if this is in the wrong sections on the forums. Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[Blujelly]

Bump

 

[SpyderTracks]

These days, having just a wireless router serving a house is a big no no, they're not designed for that, they're designed for very small 1 bed flats. They aren't powerful enough to blanket an entire house and you'll have deadspots all over the place.

The optimum solution IMHO is ALWAYS to use a 3rd party router, never ever use an ISP provided one, they're extremely locked down, for instance with BT's ones, you can't even set a custom DNS, and BT's own DNS are incredibly poor and will cause problems for various sites.

I would recommend Asus routers for ease of use. You don't need a wireless one, or anything fancy, just a basic router that deals with the actual WAN connection.

Then invest in a mesh wifi setup to link to it. This is a system whereby you can order as many as you require to fill your space, start with 2 and then build up.

I personally have the original Google Wifi with 3 pucks, but this is a first generation device and things have moved on quite rapidly.

I recently advised a friend in a large 5 bedroom house to invest in a Ubiquiti system which he is extremely happy with:

AmpliFi | Faster, Whole-Home Wi-Fi

Not Just a Wi-Fi Router, It’s a Mesh Wi-Fi System.

amplifi.com

The ones in my reckoning of performance and reliability (and hence price) are:

Netgear Orbi
Linksys Velop
Ubiquiti Amplifi
Google Nest - Worth noting, sends all traffic through google servers and scrapes for advertising
TPLink Deco

 

[Blujelly]

So I bought a D-Link Gaming AX1800 and the ring doorbell already has a better signal strength and my floodlight also has better strength, bare in mind the new router isn’t placed in the correct place yet, just need to make it more central to the house. Amateur question is this setup ok so far, or is it a pointless router and I should invest in something else?


Even though the VM hub is in modem mode 2/4 devices plugged in are still working? Surely they shouldn’t be working all together, or can I somehow make the VM hub work with the devices plugged in?

Also doing a speed test via D-Links app says I’m hitting 350 but if I use the Speedtest app my iPhone hits about 50mb even though before the new router came it was doing 350 on averag

 

[SpyderTracks]

So I bought a D-Link Gaming AX1800 and the ring doorbell already has a better signal strength and my floodlight also has better strength, bare in mind the new router isn’t placed in the correct place yet, just need to make it more central to the house. Amateur question is this setup ok so far, or is it a pointless router and I should invest in something else?


Even though the VM hub is in modem mode 2/4 devices plugged in are still working? Surely they shouldn’t be working all together, or can I somehow make the VM hub work with the devices plugged in?

Also doing a speed test via D-Links app says I’m hitting 350 but if I use the Speedtest app my iPhone hits about 50mb even though before the new router came it was doing 350 on averag

D-Link are a big no no, they have had consistent security issues and have refused to address them over years now, I would avoid.

Hackers Are Targeting D-Link Home Routers: Here's How To Secure Yours

D-Link routers are among those being targeted in a sustained DNS hijacking campaign. Which routers are vulnerable and how can you secure them?

www.forbes.com

Naked Security – Sophos News

nakedsecurity.sophos.com

 

[Blujelly]

Damn it, 😂 any alternatives?

 

[SpyderTracks]

Damn it, 😂 any alternatives?

I would always recommend Asus.

 

[Blujelly]

I’ll have a look thanks! Any reason why some devices are still working on the VM router and the speed issue?

 

[SpyderTracks]

I’ll have a look thanks! Any reason why some devices are still working on the VM router and the speed issue?

As above, a single router is not designed for IOT setups or whole home coverage.

 

[Grumpywurzel]

I'll second the Netgear stuff, I havent the need for a MESH system but I've got Virgin also and it plays havoc with my work's VPN etc. Whacked in a very basic and cheap XR300 router and blam, snags gone.

VM routers dont seem to cope with the amount of devices for whatever reason, I get a 10% ish speed loss through the second router but everything is stable, so a price worth paying IMHO. I'm sure it's a setting or something that I have messed up but meh.

 

[melocolic]

Fed up with random disconnections (5 or 6 times a day) and variable speed I recently switched my VM hub 3 to modem mode and for £195 managed to bag an Asus RT-AX88U router (also to take full advantage of my £19 PCS wifi 6 card). It's made a big difference and although the PC is at the opposite side upstairs in a largish house I'm getting between 480-540mb (paying for 500) with no drop off even with about 10 other devices in the house. Even getting over 400mb on my Huawei mobile. It's been in a week and I haven't had 1 dropped connection. Wish I'd done it much sooner.

 

[Blujelly]

My main problem now is my download speed on my iPhone, it’s an 12 pro and before I got the router I’d get 300 on average. Now I’m connected to the new router I’m at 50… have no idea why there is a massive drop.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Fed up with random disconnections (5 or 6 times a day) and variable speed I recently switched my VM hub 3 to modem mode and for £195 managed to bag an Asus RT-AX88U router (also to take full advantage of my £19 PCS wifi 6 card). It's made a big difference and although the PC is at the opposite side upstairs in a largish house I'm getting between 480-540mb (paying for 500) with no drop off even with about 10 other devices in the house. Even getting over 400mb on my Huawei mobile. It's been in a week and I haven't had 1 dropped connection. Wish I'd done it much sooner.

That's impressive for a single router. But I'm guessing that's not including IOT devices, the router itself would struggle with lots of connections.

I do swear by Asus. I've had a few over the years from Netgear, DLink (although a long time ago), Linksys and others, and Asus have been the best performers and are really well supported with updates much longer than others. Plus setup is a breeze on an Asus router.

I've got an older Asus RT-AC88u and it's phenominal, but have the wifi disabled and the google wifi setup dealing with wifi.

 

[melocolic]

That's impressive for a single router. But I'm guessing that's not including IOT devices, the router itself would struggle with lots of connections.

I do swear by Asus. I've had a few over the years from Netgear, DLink (although a long time ago), Linksys and others, and Asus have been the best performers and are really well supported with updates much longer than others. Plus setup is a breeze on an Asus router.

I've got an older Asus RT-AC88u and it's phenominal, but have the wifi disabled and the google wifi setup dealing with wifi.

I wasn't expecting max speed with VM even with wifi 6 so that's a bonus but the stability of the connection is the big win, particularly with work VPN video calls being able to be made more reliably now. Although the bandwidth will be shared out between the devices, we've had a number of them streaming/downloading simultaneously without any stuttering so I think for most people even 300mb would be more than enough.

 

[SpyderTracks]

I wasn't expecting max speed with VM even with wifi 6 so that's a bonus but the stability of the connection is the big win, particularly with work VPN video calls being able to be made more reliably now. Although the bandwidth will be shared out between the devices, we've had a number of them streaming/downloading simultaneously without any stuttering so I think for most people even 300mb would be more than enough.

Yeah, it's not the bandwidth so much but the number of devices the router can support concurrently on the wifi and also signal range.

300mb internet is HUUUUGE! We're on 36mb and I'm running a media streamer out onto the internet off that very successfully.

A normal modern router will support maybe around 20 concurrent connections on the wifi. For most households that's fine, but when you're factoring in IOT devices (Internet of things) as the OP is, quite often you'll go way over this and get devices trying to connect but not having an available slot and so just dropping off for no apparent reason, or failing to connect.

A mesh wifi system willl support more like 100.

With a normal router, when the range power starts weakening which won't be that far, you'll lose speed significantly with each meter.

With a wifi mesh setup, there's no speed degredation over the covered area as the pucks beamform the signal to the active hosts. It's really clever, proper industrial satellite technology going on.

 

[Gavras]

I have VM and Netgear Orbi.

it’s really good, had it a while now and it has a fair bit of stuff hanging off it, including NAS, cameras, Alexa‘s Sonos, Tv’s, IPads etc etc.

currently have https://www.netgear.co.uk/Orbi/rbk53.aspx

but moving to https://www.netgear.co.uk/orbi/rbk853.aspx when eventually move house, as will have 2 garden offices to cover (including mini meeting room).

I cannot praise the Orbi enough, it’s just there and does it’s thing.

Even sitting in a neighbours couple doors down I still get coverage.

The apps not bad either and you can setup guest WiFi, which is handy.

 

[SpyderTracks]

I have VM and Netgear Orbi.

it’s really good, had it a while now and it has a fair bit of stuff hanging off it, including NAS, cameras, Alexa‘s Sonos, Tv’s, IPads etc etc.

currently have https://www.netgear.co.uk/Orbi/rbk53.aspx

but moving to https://www.netgear.co.uk/orbi/rbk853.aspx when eventually move house, as will have 2 garden offices to cover (including mini meeting room).

I cannot praise the Orbi enough, it’s just there and does it’s thing.

Even sitting in a neighbours couple doors down I still get coverage.

The apps not bad either and you can setup guest WiFi, which is handy.

Can I ask how many satellites you use? I love the Orbi, when I buy my house, I'm definitely going to invest in their latest wifi 6 range that you linked.

 

[Gavras]

Can I ask how many satellites you use? I love the Orbi, when I buy my house, I'm definitely going to invest in their latest wifi 6 range that you linked.

I have 3, however I could really get away with 2 at moment, the 3rd one has been used at a bit of a community guest access point over lockdown, some of my more elderly neighbours had pretty pants WiFi, so my 3rd satellite is in bottom of garden in shed lol.

Which is why when I move I am having similar setup but with two purpose built 365 day year garden offices.

Power, heating, WiFi and wine fridge.

 

[Blujelly]

So here’s a question, what setup would be best the router I’ve bought or a mesh system?

 

[Gavras]

So here’s a question, what setup would be best the router I’ve bought or a mesh system?

A good Mesh System

however really depends on size of property and what you have or likely have on your network, that and ISP network speed etc do play a part.

Oh and of course budget lol.