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Originally Posted by PoorMansCamaro
Ok, so a little update. Everything seems to be running fine with the Dell XPS wifi connection. I'm a little laggy with the iphone4s when i'm in the bedroom. The modem/router is located on the furthest corner in the living room away from the master bedroom. so the speed in there is not the greatest. Especially when my other half is streaming video for school in the living room, I am in the bedroom trying to watch hulu or play online games on my phone. I did a speed test on the phone and I would get anywhere from 0.xx - 2.xx Mbps download. With the iphone4s, it is only able to connect to the 2.4Ghz band, so I think if I can upgrade to an iphone5s or even the new 6 and connect to the 5Ghz band, that would work.
I was also thinking about getting a wifi signal booster. Any insight on those? Should I stick to a netgear brand, since that's the modem/router I have, or anyone suggest a better brand, or even a better option?
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Caution, long!
Keep in mind that the 5ghz band for WiFi has less range than the 2.4ghz band all else being equal. 5ghz will have a tougher time going through walls and other objects so if you are attempting to create a reliable connection at the extreme limit of your router under its present conditions switching to 5ghz will likely make it worse. I would recommend that you relocate your current router to a more central location in your home for more even coverage to see if this corrects your issue. On the flip side if the problem you are having is due to interference from other devices on the 2.4ghz band switching to 5ghz could fix your problem. (FYI most devices use the 2.4ghz band) If you go searching for WiFi networks from your home do you see many entries or just a handful? If the former your issue may very likely be caused by interference and you would benefit from either searching for a less congested channel on the 2.4ghz band or switching to 5ghz router/devices.
Unless you are OK with trouble shooting your WiFi connection on a regular basis I would recommend against WiFi boosters or signal extenders. I have never used them myself but all I hear are complaints about them. I often see them used as a bandaid fix when something as simple as relocating the router to a better location will work much more reliably. However YMMV just understand they are probably not supported by your cable provider and they often require frequent attention to keep them working correctly.
Just to clarify the older type of Coaxial cable is called RG59 and has a smaller conductor and much less shielding than the newer RG6 that is in current use by cable providers. RG59 is extremely detrimental to signal strength and should never be used. Also as
Caddyroger mentioned poor quality splitters are another big source of problems. Many cable providers have spent lots of money to expand the frequency ranges that their cable plants can transmit on. Some of those poor quality generic splitters will only pass frequencies below 600-700mhz if that. If your cable provider has located most of your DOCSIS channels in the 800-900 mhz range those splitters will make it nearly impossible for your modem to operate correctly. Cascading splitters (wiring one splitter to another splitter to create even more connection points) can cause a rapid degradation of your signal strength too. Also leaving ports open on splitters can create locations where outside interference can enter your cable lines. If you don't need 4 ports on a splitter it is better to go to a 3 port splitter than it is to keep the 4 port and not connect anything to one of the ports.
Most splitters will be labeled for their frequency pass range (for example 1-900 mhz) as well as how many DB (decibels) will be lost on each leg. The smaller the DB drop the better in most cases. That will depend on how high the signal is coming into your home, as you may need to lose a few DB in some situations to achieve the desired +10 to -10 DB downstream signal strength range. For example if the signal is coming into your home from the street at +18 DB and you connect that directly to your modem it will not work and will need to be "padded" down by one method or another to get it into the desired operating range. I see many people make the mistake that Bigger/Higher is better and add amplifiers on their own in the mistaken assumption that it will resolve a signal issue. (also keep in mind amplifiers will amplify the signal as well as the
noise on the line it can not discriminate between the two)
And finally please understand that the signal strength coming over your cable line to your modem has nothing to do with the signal strength of your WiFi. The signal to your modem could be perfect and you can still have WiFi issues, and no matter how many splitters you change or what type of cable you use it will not change your WiFi strength. Your WiFi strength is a function of your routers broadcast strength, what frequency it is broadcasting on, the distance from your router, and other factors that create interference. (other routers on the same frequency solid walls etc.) Things can get complicated really quickly if you don't understand all of the factors involved, so I hope if you have read this far that some of this information will help resolve whatever issues you are having.