Wifi Problems in Old House

JVglove2face

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Dec 10, 2005
429
NH
My house was built in 1808 and it must have been carved out of lead because this is the home where WIFI goes to die. I have trouble transmitting a signal with my Comcast X-1 modem/router combo even to the next room. I have tried 2 different Amped Wireless range extenders with very mediocre extension results and a superbly unreliable connection. Running Ethernet isnt practical as most of the walls are original plaster/lathe which I suspect is the major culprit. 
 
Before I buy more expensive gadgets like access points, range extenders, powerline adapters... does anyone know of a service that will come to my house and help me fix this problem? I think that I need someone to come analyze my signal around the house and help me to optimize the rooms where WIFI access is necessary. Does this exist or have I just given up on my own feeble attempts too soon? 
 
I am in the Manchester NH area.
 

Orange Julia

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Dec 13, 2006
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I have always lived in old homes with original plaster lathe until this one, and it wasn't an issue. I would check to see if your signal is really as strong as you think it is. I recently bought a netgear signal booster for the second floor and it made a huge difference in the signal in the room farthest from the router and modem. We are running Verizon FiOS but i don't think we pulled the trigger for the Quantum. I am going to try to run the ROKU to the extender and see if that helps with streaming in the bedroom (which is sometimes an issue--almost always an issue with MLBTV)
 

weeba

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Jul 16, 2005
3,537
Lynn, MA
Any recommendations on a signal booster?  I have used an old router as extender, but that cuts the bandwidth in half, and just creates a 2nd network piggybacking off the first.  I'd love to get a signal out in my garage/backyard
 

wutang112878

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Nov 5, 2007
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If you want to test your signal just set your wireless router up outside and walk directly away from it with your computer or whatever device you are using and see what you got.  However, that might be a big waste of time.
 
Do you know exactly what is in your walls??  Because this is the problem that I have at my house, its awful:
 
That is because Mr. Pewtherer's 80-year-old building in the Mission District, like thousands of other old homes in the Bay Area, was built with the technological equivalent of kryptonite in its walls: chicken wire. Metal wiring inside old plaster walls blocks wireless signals, frustrating San Francisco residents as wireless-equipped devices like iPhones and laptops proliferate.

The problem dates to before drywall became a popular building material in the 1950s. Before then, construction crews usually made walls out of plaster applied to lath, a base structure that holds it up. Often, lath in Victorian and Edwardian-era homes was made of wood stapled with chicken wire, a cheap fencing material that also doubles as lightweight support. The problem occurs in other cities too, but San Francisco has an unusually dense collection of old homes and gadget lovers.
 
 

topps148

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I moved from my old house before the days of ubiquitous Wi-Fi (I had cat-5e from the record room in the basement to the library on the second floor, for example), but I had occasion to open up walls and ceilings to run both electrical and network cable. What I found was even worse than wu-tang's chicken wire: metal lath. You can do a search on "metal lath" to see what it looks like, but it's way worse than chicken wire for electrical signals.

Edit: What I had is apparently known as diamond-mesh metal lath. Vive le plasterboard!

Further edit: My house was ca. 1900, but there were major renovations carried out at least twice (fifties and seventies). The untouched parts of the house had traditional wood lath: the second floor was pretty much all mesh. And, oh yeah, there were (real) tin ceilings on the first floor. I'm glad not to be trying to set up a wireless network there today.
 

Corsi

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Dec 3, 2010
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JVglove2face said:
My house was built in 1808 and it must have been carved out of lead because this is the home where WIFI goes to die. I have trouble transmitting a signal with my Comcast X-1 modem/router combo even to the next room. I have tried 2 different Amped Wireless range extenders with very mediocre extension results and a superbly unreliable connection. Running Ethernet isnt practical as most of the walls are original plaster/lathe which I suspect is the major culprit. 
 
Before I buy more expensive gadgets like access points, range extenders, powerline adapters... does anyone know of a service that will come to my house and help me fix this problem? I think that I need someone to come analyze my signal around the house and help me to optimize the rooms where WIFI access is necessary. Does this exist or have I just given up on my own feeble attempts too soon? 
 
I am in the Manchester NH area.
 
You can analyze the signal around your house using inSSIDer.  I had a similar issue when I lived in Texas and this utility was super helpful.  Allowed me to set up the repeater in the optimal position.
 
http://www.inssider.com/helper/
 
edit: Looks like they charge $9.99 for a 30-day trial of the new version.  Here's a slightly older version for free: http://www.techspot.com/downloads/5936-inssider.html
 

SumnerH

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Jul 18, 2005
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Ethernet over powerline is another option for desktops and media devices and the like if the house is chicken wire. We have 4 machines plugged into Trendnet 406E devices ($35/pair) all talking together fine.

Even if those were free, though, it's still nice to have wifi for laptops/phones/tablets/etc. I have no ideas how to overcome the problem if it is chicken wire, short of a wireless router in basically every room.
 

JVglove2face

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Dec 10, 2005
429
NH
The house has had 2 additions since it was built and I've only had occasion to open one wall that was insulated with newspaper from 1918. I'm fearful of the faraday cage effect. The other problem is that I commute for work and I'm never home enough to run it to ground. Meanwhile my wife freaks out all week about being confined to the room with the router. Thanks for the advice everyone.
 

Marceline

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Sep 9, 2002
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Canton, MA
If you have comcast you should just buy your own modem and wireless router and get rid of their device. Comcast's modem/router combo sucks.
 
I had my device set up in the next room over from the router and when I was using Comcast's router I was getting 25mbit downloads, with a Motorola modem and an Asus wireless router I'm getting 80-90mbit now and much stronger signal throughout the house.
 

JVglove2face

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Dec 10, 2005
429
NH
When speaking to the Amped Wireless tech support they suggested getting a better modem and router also. He also noted that the comcast equipment doesn't broadcast 5.0 ghz - could this be a factor?

Can anyone recommend the best available modem and router for my situation or Will almost any current generation equipment be an improvement?
 

Couperin47

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JVglove2face said:
When speaking to the Amped Wireless tech support they suggested getting a better modem and router also. He also noted that the comcast equipment doesn't broadcast 5.0 ghz - could this be a factor?

Can anyone recommend the best available modem and router for my situation or Will almost any current generation equipment be an improvement?
 
1. 5 ghz band is useless if your equipment doesn't support that band, and it is inherently less powerful and doesn't penetrate walls etc. as well, it's only really useful if your problems are caused by crowded/interference on the 2.4 band.
 
2 At most price points, the ASUS wifi/routers rank at the top for coverage and reliability these days.