(03-29-2018, 11:48 AM)cookie2 link Wrote:Thanks D. That statement made me think about it a bit. The first test I did (18mbps) was on my Android tablet via my wifi range extender. I then tried on my Android phone and got 5Mbps via the range extender. Tried that again direct to the modem and got 22Mbps! Then tried on my W10 laptop direct to modem and got 37Mbps! Finally tried the Android tablet again direct tp modem and got 36 mbps. So I guess the lesson is clear! This is on Telstra cable broadband (non-NBN) btw.
Your WiFi has the same constraints as Wireless NBN, it's affected by reflections, line of sight obstructions, etc., etc..
Generally in a house having the WiFi router antenna as high as possible is a good idea. On some modem routers the antenna are detachable and you can purchase after market antenna that has extension cables. Keep in mind, you might have foil lagging/insulation, metal stud walls, fridges, TV's ovens or microwaves in your line of sight which cause interference and reflections. Newer modems and hardware switch to 5GHz band from the 2.4GHz wireless band, many do both to maintain support for older devices, to eliminate some of these interference effects 5GHz is excellent. Newer phones, tablets and PCs will support 5GHz by default.
Another issue is how many devices you have connected at once, even if they are not all being used they influence the WiFi router stability. The Telstra TV and other similar boxes are good for about 8 to 16 devices maximum, this is because the routers use a version of those ACLs I discussed earlier but they do so on very low powered CPU hardware. If you have many devices and want better performance you can plug a more commercial grade AP into an wired port and support many more devices. It's amazing when you start adding up phones, tablets, laptops, TVs, game consoles, PVRs, eReaders, etc., etc, how many smart devices you can have, people often underestimate the count.
That reminds me, game consoles have a huge impact on performance, they want low latency connections so they aggressively keep live connections, and if they are running off WiFi they hog the WiFi with thousands of requests even though they are not using that much WAN bandwidth on average. If possible put game consoles on a wired connection, it's a cheap and easy way to try and improve performance.
Depending how old your WiFi router is you could look at an upgrade to 802.11ac, but it's only worth doing so if your devices also support the same level of protocol. I think if you are only using the Telstra TV Box they are doing upgrades anyway as part of renewing the subscriptions, you should ask your local Telstra shop about this because I know the old Telstra TV boxes are not going to be compatible with many new Apps. I think they re doing this deliberately to force people to upgrade.
If the Range Extender you talk about is a Wireless Extender / Booster, they always diminish overall performance because they open a dedicated connection to the main router and consume a lot of the available bandwidth. Think of it as adding extra hoses to a single tap. If you can you it will always be better to connect a Wireless AP (Access Point) to a wired port and place the Wireless AP in a more central location.
Finally, do not bother spending too much money trying to get your WiFi working at the same speed as your wired Ethernet connections. It is possible but hardware to do so it usually outside of domestic budgets and it requires a lot of tuning to make it happen reliably, you have to know about things like aggregation and edge routing.
