@nickdiamand wrote:
Is there any way to boost the signal w/o having to use a mesh or extenders?
Any advice you can give is much appreciated, thanks, Nick.
The problem is (almost certainly) that building materials are blocking Wi-Fi signals, and the transmit power is limited by federal regulations. Even if you could "boost the signal" from the modem, you would still run into connectivity issues because of the limited transmit power of your mobile devices.
A Wi-Fi mesh is the best solution but can be tricky to install in some locations, especially if you cannot establish strong Wi-Fi (or wired) connectivity between the nodes in your mesh.
Do any of the areas in your apartment have Ethernet connectivity to the Gateway in your home office? If so, you could install an Ignite Wi-Fi Pod to provide Wi-Fi connectivity in your "dead zones", and connect the Pod via Ethernet to your Ignite Gateway.
You are free to change the active outlet yourself, however if you are not knowledge in this area then you can hire a third party technician or rogers to do it, but fees WILL apply.
I learned how to do this when I was very young, like a teenager and rewired my parents whole house myself. To this day they have the best wiring configuration and no issues.
@nickdiamand log into your modem and check the wifi channels that your modem is using. Look at the channel selection for both 2.4 and 5 Ghz networks to see what they are and to determine if the 5 Ghz channel can be changed or if its locked out by Rogers.
The wifi channels, everywhere, are limited in terms of their output power level. In Canada:
1. the lower channels (36 to 48) are limited to 200 milli-watts conducted power;
2. the Dynamic Frequency Selection (DFS) channels (52-144) are limited to 250 mw; and
3. the upper channels (149 to 161) are allowed to run 1 watt max.
Have a look at the following link to see this in a chart form:
https://semfionetworks.com/blog/5ghz-band-channel-availability-in-canada/
We had another case recently that looks to be identical to yours. In that particular case, with the customer who lives in an apartment, running just the modem, Rogers had locked out the channel selection and the modem was running in the low power 36 to 48 channel range. End result, any use of the 5 Ghz channel was limited in range and bandwidth. Rogers tech support refused to change the channel. Its possible that tech support can't change the wifi channel as this might be a backend control situation and tech support is also locked out of changing the wifi channels.
With a low power 5 Ghz channel enforced by Rogers, and Band Steering running in the modem, the modem should kick down the far range, or poor reception devices to a 2.4 Ghz channel which has reduced bandwidths and data rates.
So, fwiw, check your modem to see what its currently using and determine if you're locked out of changing the 5 Ghz wifi channel.
That difference in power levels, from 200 milli-watts to 1 watt conducted power can make a considerable difference in the received power levels at the mobile device and the data rates between the modem and device.
In your home, wherever the inbound cable meets the house cabling, you should see an F-81 connector which connects the inbound cable to the house cable that runs to the modem. That connector looks like this:
https://www.homedepot.ca/product/ideal-3ghz-f-splice-adapter-10-pack-/1000751479
You should also see the cables that run to the other cable wallplates around the home. If you're interested in moving the modem, you can move it to another location and connect it to the cable port at that location. Then, you would need to connect those other cables, one at a time until you determine which is the correct cable.
The Ignite modem is the only device that is connected in the home these days. The days of multiple cable fed devices, modems, Nextboxes and Home Phone are long gone. The installation tech should have removed those devices, removed the splitter used to feed those devices and connected the inbound cable to the modem cable with the F-81 connector. As long as the other cables and their connectors are serviceable, there isn't any reason that you can't move the modem yourself.
Fwiw, first thing I would do is look at the modem's wifi channels and determine if Rogers has locked you out of any changes to those channels. If you can change the wifi channels, change the 5 Ghz channel to channel 149 or 161. The bandwidth should be set for 80 Mhz. To set the 2.4 Ghz channel you would need a wifi analyzer on your laptop to see if there are any 2.4 Ghz channels that aren't over crowded. Lastly you could consider disabling Band Steering and forcing the mobile devices and tv set top boxes to run on the 5 Ghz channel if you're able to set the 5 Ghz channel to one of the higher channels.
-
360 views
-
3 Likes
-
-
