Networking: I require assistance!

[Toothless]

Okay so the roommate and I want better network connections in our rooms. We currently have two modems and a beefy router to our free use with his room having a phone line. The issue is I'm no expert in networking so I need y'alls loving attention in this.

Here da layout

As you can see my room gets the shitnet while my roommate gets perfect connection. He's on the 2.4ghz and I'm on the 5ghz with the same speeds, while if I run the 2.4ghz my net is like a moldy potato, and I don't like moldy potatoes.

So I figured to use the old Q1000 modem in the living room but that killed the whole house on net, and it won't connect the internet unless it comes in at the main modem spot even if only one modem is on. I thought about using powerline ethernet but I don't know how well it would work.

A 100ft ethernet under the house is a nono, already established that with landlord.

If the router was coming off in the living room then the network would be perfect but we don't have a second router for an AP and we really need the R65u as the broadcaster router from main modem since that's the only way we can get the full speedz. Main modem is a Z1000 or something like that junk.

halp pls.

 

[dorsetknob]

I thought about using powerline ethernet but I don't know how well it would work.

powerline probably better choice than wireless or Ap repeater

 

[Toothless]

powerline probably better choice than wireless or Ap repeater

But what's a good one that won't make me more poor and works good?

 

[dorsetknob]

used a couple of TP link 500mb/s powerline adapters for an awkward spot worked ok

apart from that not alot of experience ( not enough to make recommendations that will extract greenbacks past your cobweb encrusted wallet ....)

 

[Athlon2K15]

Do you have access to coaxial lines, TVs in bedroom?

 

[Toothless]

Do you have access to coaxial lines, TVs in bedroom?

I do actually. Not sure if I can get access from the main modem area but I do have it in my room.

 

[Solaris17]

Do you have access to coaxial lines, TVs in bedroom?

Hes probably on to something. MoCA might be the way to go as opposed to powerline

 

[dorsetknob]

Hes probably on to something. MoCA might be the way to go as opposed to powerline

Cost /Budget /Availability of relevant hardware ???????

But what's a good one that won't make me more poor and works good?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multimedia_over_Coax_Alliance#Products

 

[jboydgolfer]

powerline isnt too expensive, unless your trying to get 200Mb/s transfer speed, or tons of options( just get a basic ethernet version and your good), you only need a lower end, or mid range unit. $30/each or maybe less depending on sales, i saw some nice TP links for sale not too long ago on Newegg.

 

[Toothless]

I'll add in my modem speeds if it helps.

It's amazing.

 

[Solaris17]

Cost /Budget /Availability of relevant hardware ???????



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multimedia_over_Coax_Alliance#Products

not that much. My converter box was like $40

ahh scrolled up, its unlike you to get so snappy. I was not trying to shoot down your idea. but power in the USA isnt what you think it might be. Area matters here. If Moca is more doable and affordable for the OP its less of a risk to run over coax than deal with signal degradation because of electrical problems in an apartment.

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

MoCA was intended for larger homes. Dont go throwing money away when you dont need to.

If the OP is getting shit internet speeds it could more likely be a badly configured router and modem. It also could be from someone else hogging up the bandwidth anytime the OP wants to do something.

I suggest change the router config to share equal bandwidth instead of Free-for-all (first come first serve). Also, I'd make sure everyone is connecting thru the router and not the wireless modem. If the others connect thru the wireless modem and the OP is connecting thru the router, well....

 

[Athlon2K15]

I do actually. Not sure if I can get access from the main modem area but I do have it in my room.

If you have access to coaxial near the main router and in your room send me your address i have a full set of adapters ill ship to you.

 

[Toothless]

My laptop, tiny desktop, chrome book, roommate's phone and laptop are all on the 2.4ghz band with absolutely no issues. My desktop is the only computer on the 5ghz and I doubt it's the router config. Also nothing is on the modem wifi. This thread isn't straight on fixing a shitty, slow connection but a more stable one. I've been talking to who gave the equipment to me and we've been trying a few thing such as drivers to no avail.

I should note that my wifi card is doing quite well since putting a powered USB hub in there that is throwing in 5v on 1000mA and not running off of the normal USB port since I do need to run a USB extension on there. We'd still prefer having the router closer or better yet, my desktop being on an ethernet network/opening up the 5ghz for other devices.

If you have access to coaxial near the main router and in your room send me your address i have a full set of adapters ill ship to you.

Not to the main modem, that's taken up by the cable box AND is too far as it's awkwardly placed between the tv, modem, and a huge amount of sewing stuff in between. Thank you though!

 

[Toothless]

Bumpdabump, i know tpu has more greatness in networking!

Also dumb question; can you plug a modem into the ethernet of a desktop and broadcast a shared network? Food for thought.

 

[hat]

Bumpdabump, i know tpu has more greatness in networking!

Also dumb question; can you plug a modem into the ethernet of a desktop and broadcast a shared network? Food for thought.

Can you? Yes. Should you? Meeeeeeeeeh. Whatever you're thinking of using a computer for I highly suggest replacing it with a dedicated network device.

So it appears your landlord doesn't want you running ethernet under the house. I assume this also means he wouldn't want you drilling through walls either? It seems you're okay with getting wireless internet to your desktop, so I see two logical choices:

Move the modem/router somewhere more compatible. You can accomplish this with a longer coaxial cable from the wall to wherever the modem will be. If moving the whole setup isn't feasible, consider getting a wireless access point to configure as a repeater. This will require running some length of ethernet inside the house, however.

IMO, the best option would be to run ethernet straight from the router to you. You could run ethernet inside the house without drilling through walls, but you'll need a longer cord to accomplish this. I don't know how big the place is, so 100ft may not be enough. You'd need to find a way to neatly tuck it along the wall, up and around doors where applicable...

 

[Toothless]

Can you? Yes. Should you? Meeeeeeeeeh. Whatever you're thinking of using a computer for I highly suggest replacing it with a dedicated network device.

So it appears your landlord doesn't want you running ethernet under the house. I assume this also means he wouldn't want you drilling through walls either? It seems you're okay with getting wireless internet to your desktop, so I see two logical choices:

Move the modem/router somewhere more compatible. You can accomplish this with a longer coaxial cable from the wall to wherever the modem will be. If moving the whole setup isn't feasible, consider getting a wireless access point to configure as a repeater. This will require running some length of ethernet inside the house, however.

IMO, the best option would be to run ethernet straight from the router to you. You could run ethernet inside the house without drilling through walls, but you'll need a longer cord to accomplish this. I don't know how big the place is, so 100ft may not be enough. You'd need to find a way to neatly tuck it along the wall, up and around doors where applicable...

Ethernet is out of the question and coax isn't a choice either, and a good repeater I'm assuming might induce latency since right now I ping at 27ms and I'd like to keep it that way. I might have to just leave it as is since the landlord got bitchy with me trying to improve the networking for the roomie and myself, in which the roomie threw me under the bus in terms of explaining what we were doing. Oh well if he wants to keep being that way I do have the passwords to be able to lock out all devices on the network since they're all on the router, and it's my precious.

MY PRECIOUS.


Well thank you everyone for your help! I think Ima test out the modem/desktop thing some day and see if it works. Probably won't work but yeah.

 

[hat]

If the people you live with won't work with you then there's not much you can do unfortunately. What sort of setup are you planning with this modem/desktop? Surely it would work better if you used a switch or repeater instead of a desktop.

You could get a beefier antenna on your end? Perhaps make one of your own? Fun project...

 

[Toothless]

If the people you live with won't work with you then there's not much you can do unfortunately. What sort of setup are you planning with this modem/desktop? Surely it would work better if you used a switch or repeater instead of a desktop.

You could get a beefier antenna on your end? Perhaps make one of your own? Fun project...

A relay for my laptop and tinybox desktop (AM1) / repeater of a sort. Think it would work since both have msata wireless chips? I've got $16 to my name until tomorrow (payday) and I'd rather not have to pay for a repeater for two minor devices.

 

[hat]

Any time you run Windows ICS you need two network cards (be it expansion or onboard). Assuming this desktop has ethernet and wireless, you could recieve internet through one and pipe it over to the other. I'm assuming you'll be receiving internet wirelessly and you'll be piping it via ethernet to your other device. I still think it's kind of a crappy solution, honestly... You can configure any wireless access point to act as a repeater for you. You could set it anywhere in your room, set it up to wirelessly connect with the router, and your computers can wirelessly connect to the AP. You'll get great strength to your AP, but the quality of your internet connection will depend on the strength of the connection between the router and AP you set up. This way could be advantageous because you can place the AP wherever the best signal is from the main router and re-broadcast it closer to you. Then, you'll most likely be able to add whatever antennas you want to the AP to help boost the signal more. You could use an old wireless router to do this, it doesn't have to be a standalone AP, but a router will require more configuration to work in this way.

The AP doesn't have to be expensive. I'm sure one of our members probably has something laying around they'd be willing to cut you a deal on.

 

[Toothless]

Any time you run Windows ICS you need two network cards (be it expansion or onboard). Assuming this desktop has ethernet and wireless, you could recieve internet through one and pipe it over to the other. I'm assuming you'll be receiving internet wirelessly and you'll be piping it via ethernet to your other device. I still think it's kind of a crappy solution, honestly... You can configure any wireless access point to act as a repeater for you. You could set it anywhere in your room, set it up to wirelessly connect with the router, and your computers can wirelessly connect to the AP. You'll get great strength to your AP, but the quality of your internet connection will depend on the strength of the connection between the router and AP you set up. This way could be advantageous because you can place the AP wherever the best signal is from the main router and re-broadcast it closer to you. Then, you'll most likely be able to add whatever antennas you want to the AP to help boost the signal more. You could use an old wireless router to do this, it doesn't have to be a standalone AP, but a router will require more configuration to work in this way.

The AP doesn't have to be expensive. I'm sure one of our members probably has something laying around they'd be willing to cut you a deal on.

It's a Quest Q1000 and it has no AP options.

However I do have a netbook with a wireless card (well it's a monitor mounted laptop, if this sparks interest i'll post pics) that I can use for any networking funsies.

 

[xvi]

Fun story, this is from my college instructor's website, turnpoint.net. You can buy directional antennas for not too much. You could either stick something directional on your computer or put the directional antenna on the router. You might consider arranging your antennas so that they're rotated 90 degrees from each other (either in a "v" shape or one horizontal and one vertical). This should give you coverage on both polarities. Might also be able to look for one of the directional "quadcopter antennas" for something inexpensive (looking now, I'm not seeing

If it's supported, you could also see about putting something like DD-WRT on your router and increasing the wireless transmit power past what the manufacturer defined. Wouldn't help your upload back out to the web at all, but it'd certainly fortify your down speeds.

Edit: You could attach an additional access point to the router too. Maybe something like this NanoStation Loco M2? We do ~3-5 mile links with these at work. On their higher-gain brothers, we do ~25-30 mile links.

 

[hat]

It's a Quest Q1000 and it has no AP options.

However I do have a netbook with a wireless card (well it's a monitor mounted laptop, if this sparks interest i'll post pics) that I can use for any networking funsies.

What is that, some sort of modem/router combo? Those aren't too great.

It may be possible to install dd-wrt x86 on that netbook, though. No guarantees, but it may be possible to make your netbook act as a repeater with this software. Still, buying an actual AP would be a smaller footprint solution, and it would work better. Your netbook probably doesn't have an external antenna.

 

[newtekie1]

Seriously, for the DSL speeds you are getting, just go powerline and be done with it. If you had a 100Mbps Cable connection I'd say powerline might not be fast enough to give you full speeds, but for DSL(especially that slow of DSL) you'll be fine.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833156417

That kit should get you up and running. It will be fast enough to easily handle your internet connection, and it will be stable. And remember, always plug powerline adapters directly into the wall socket, not into a surge protector.

 

[hat]

Any updates here?