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Hi @nickdiamand my apologies for not responding before.
Your responses to the questions look pretty normal for Rogers modems, with Rogers controlling the wifi settings instead of allowing the users to set the parameters as required to suit the home environments.
You're running channel 157 for the 5 Ghz wifi network, so, in theory the modem is maxed out in terms of the output power for the 5 Ghz channel.
The Band Steering setting is clear as mud. Here's the link to Rogers Band Steering page:
So, the setting is to allow the modem to use the same network name (Band Steering enabled) or use different network names (Band Steering disabled). Clear as mud ......
So, for experimental purposes, you could go in and check the selection to allow different network names, rename the 5 Ghz network, and then connect to that network with a laptop or phone if that is what you're testing with. With the laptop connected, you can then walk around the house, running the occasional speedtest in various locations to see what the data rates are for various locations around the home and the connected link rate with the modem as detailed just below.
Do you happen to have a Windows laptop by any chance? On a Windows laptop, the lower right hand corner of the task bar should show a wifi connected symbol. Right click on the symbol and select "Open Network and Internet settings". Select Properties on the popup Status page and then scroll down to see the Link Speed (Receive / Transmit). That will show the laptop's receive and Transmit link rate with the modem or router, which ever the laptop is connected with.
If you do happen have a Windows laptop on hand, just for the heck of it, without changing any settings in the modem, just bring up the Network page on the laptop to show the link rate, and take a tour of your home, noting the link rate as you start near the modem and then as you tour the house. What you should see is a maximum receive link rate around 866 Mb/s for a typical 5 Ghz connect rate with two antenna connected to the laptop's wifi adapter. That won't represent the data rate however, just the connect rate with the modem. The receive and transmit link rates are dynamic, varying with the power level and signal to noise ratio at the modem's location. If you're near the modem, that link rate should max out at 866 Mb/s.
Getting back to your original observation of weak wifi signal levels as you walk away from the modem, that could be a combination of house construction in terms of the materials in the walls and modem location and the wifi network that the modem is assigning the devices to. The 2.4 Ghz network should have a longer range compared to the 5 Ghz network. So, if the modem is assigning the devices to the higher data rate 5 Ghz network, then yes, you would probably experience reduced signal levels as you walk away from the modem's location. That's where renaming the 5 Ghz network comes into play, so that you can test that network in various locations in the home, and then connect to the 2.4 Ghz network and run the same test for signal strength and data rates. That will give you some idea of what the modem is deciding for you, instead of you deciding what works for your home.
If I were in your situation, that is what I would do, test each network individually to see what the results are. If the 2.4 Ghz network works at longer ranges, hurrah, problem solved. That will result in reduced data rates compared to the 5 Ghz network, so the trade-off is reliability of the wifi connection versus data rate.
If you find the locking a device to the 2.4 Ghz network still doesn't solve the problem, then you're left with three options:
1. move the modem to a more central location. This will be a compromise that in theory solves the signal issues for all locations. The question is, what do you have connected to the modem via ethernet in your office that really requires that ethernet connection?
2. ask rogers for a pod, to extend the operating range. That will cost $10 (??) per month I believe. those pods can run via wifi or ethernet connection to the modem.
3. buy a router which will give you better wifi performance and put the modem into Bridge mode.
Does your home have ethernet cabling within the walls, or possibly telephone cabling (ethernet) where you're not using a home telephone system. If you have telephone cabling running to various rooms and it happens to be Cat-5e, you can repurpose that cabling to ethernet cabling by changing the connectors at both ends. Put an unmanaged gigabit switch or multi-gigabit switch in the apartment comms closet, where all of the cabling typically starts, connect the ethernet cabling and voila, you have an ethernet network throughout the home. That would allow you to move the modem to a more favourable location and connect it to the ethernet network, allowing network access in your office if you happen to be running ethernet connected pc's.
If you check the comms closet, have a look at the telephone cabling. Hopefully its blue in colour and on the cable jacket you should see the manufacturer's data and "Cat-5e" or higher printed in the data, depending on how old the building is. I'd also look for ethernet cabling that might be present but not used for anything. That would be the ideal circumstance.
Hope this helps....
@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.
Hi @nickdiamand my apologies for not responding before.
Your responses to the questions look pretty normal for Rogers modems, with Rogers controlling the wifi settings instead of allowing the users to set the parameters as required to suit the home environments.
You're running channel 157 for the 5 Ghz wifi network, so, in theory the modem is maxed out in terms of the output power for the 5 Ghz channel.
The Band Steering setting is clear as mud. Here's the link to Rogers Band Steering page:
So, the setting is to allow the modem to use the same network name (Band Steering enabled) or use different network names (Band Steering disabled). Clear as mud ......
So, for experimental purposes, you could go in and check the selection to allow different network names, rename the 5 Ghz network, and then connect to that network with a laptop or phone if that is what you're testing with. With the laptop connected, you can then walk around the house, running the occasional speedtest in various locations to see what the data rates are for various locations around the home and the connected link rate with the modem as detailed just below.
Do you happen to have a Windows laptop by any chance? On a Windows laptop, the lower right hand corner of the task bar should show a wifi connected symbol. Right click on the symbol and select "Open Network and Internet settings". Select Properties on the popup Status page and then scroll down to see the Link Speed (Receive / Transmit). That will show the laptop's receive and Transmit link rate with the modem or router, which ever the laptop is connected with.
If you do happen have a Windows laptop on hand, just for the heck of it, without changing any settings in the modem, just bring up the Network page on the laptop to show the link rate, and take a tour of your home, noting the link rate as you start near the modem and then as you tour the house. What you should see is a maximum receive link rate around 866 Mb/s for a typical 5 Ghz connect rate with two antenna connected to the laptop's wifi adapter. That won't represent the data rate however, just the connect rate with the modem. The receive and transmit link rates are dynamic, varying with the power level and signal to noise ratio at the modem's location. If you're near the modem, that link rate should max out at 866 Mb/s.
Getting back to your original observation of weak wifi signal levels as you walk away from the modem, that could be a combination of house construction in terms of the materials in the walls and modem location and the wifi network that the modem is assigning the devices to. The 2.4 Ghz network should have a longer range compared to the 5 Ghz network. So, if the modem is assigning the devices to the higher data rate 5 Ghz network, then yes, you would probably experience reduced signal levels as you walk away from the modem's location. That's where renaming the 5 Ghz network comes into play, so that you can test that network in various locations in the home, and then connect to the 2.4 Ghz network and run the same test for signal strength and data rates. That will give you some idea of what the modem is deciding for you, instead of you deciding what works for your home.
If I were in your situation, that is what I would do, test each network individually to see what the results are. If the 2.4 Ghz network works at longer ranges, hurrah, problem solved. That will result in reduced data rates compared to the 5 Ghz network, so the trade-off is reliability of the wifi connection versus data rate.
If you find the locking a device to the 2.4 Ghz network still doesn't solve the problem, then you're left with three options:
1. move the modem to a more central location. This will be a compromise that in theory solves the signal issues for all locations. The question is, what do you have connected to the modem via ethernet in your office that really requires that ethernet connection?
2. ask rogers for a pod, to extend the operating range. That will cost $10 (??) per month I believe. those pods can run via wifi or ethernet connection to the modem.
3. buy a router which will give you better wifi performance and put the modem into Bridge mode.
Does your home have ethernet cabling within the walls, or possibly telephone cabling (ethernet) where you're not using a home telephone system. If you have telephone cabling running to various rooms and it happens to be Cat-5e, you can repurpose that cabling to ethernet cabling by changing the connectors at both ends. Put an unmanaged gigabit switch or multi-gigabit switch in the apartment comms closet, where all of the cabling typically starts, connect the ethernet cabling and voila, you have an ethernet network throughout the home. That would allow you to move the modem to a more favourable location and connect it to the ethernet network, allowing network access in your office if you happen to be running ethernet connected pc's.
If you check the comms closet, have a look at the telephone cabling. Hopefully its blue in colour and on the cable jacket you should see the manufacturer's data and "Cat-5e" or higher printed in the data, depending on how old the building is. I'd also look for ethernet cabling that might be present but not used for anything. That would be the ideal circumstance.
Hope this helps....
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