best way to increase household wi-fi coverage

Others more knowledgable than I will likely to chime in, but I think your 2003 (16years old) 802.11g router is likely the bottleneck. Upgrading the router to a mesh network will give you the widest range that can be easily extendable, but simply upgrading to any of newer 802.11ac router is likely to give you a huge boost on both coverage and speed. I recently upgraded our almost 10 years old 802.11n router with Nighthawk R7000P AC2300 router bought on sale for less than $100. Both range and speed increased tremendously. I have at least 10 devices connected all the time but have no noticeable slowdown or dropoff.

R7000P | WiFi Routers | Networking | Home | NETGEAR

 

802.11g is 2.4 GHz.
There are others that are 5 GHz. (some newer ones are both frequencies)

You want something (anything) that is newer than 802.11g, such as 802.11n or 802.11ac, just depending on the price you want to pay.
You'll have to configure it and then change the settings in your phones, laptops, etc.

 

comcast has these plug in things that extend the range to rooms it doesn't reach

 

Who is the service provider(are they a national outfit) and what speed are they offering?
A list of network repeter choices.
Top 10 Network Repeaters of 2019 - Best Reviews Guide

Does your phone offer fast speeds and is your phone plan unlimited?
Your phone can be a network, and it can combine the phone network and your internenet service providers network, and it's network can be repeted for a larger range, so, what speed do you have to play with, but yes, the signal can be extended.

 

If you're just going for maximum range, then use 2.4GHz antenna. Put it in the center of the house and it should cover everything.

You should get a new router with 802.11n and 802.11ac. The old 802.11g is obsolete

If you're looking for speeds above 50mbps, you'll need to go to 5GHz antenna. But this will be much shorter range

 

If you are still on DSL, and all you want is to be able to connect to the internet on the first floor, the simplest solution would be to move your current router to downstairs. Your DSL modem should be able to connect anywhere you have telephone jack. Now if your desktop computer upstares is connected by ethernet cable currently, and do not have wifi capability, then to preserve the desktop connectivity upstairs and extend wifi signal downstairs, you might be able to use wifi extender as suggested in comment #5. However, with DSL and antiquated router, you may not have enough bandwidth to begin with.

 

From the square footage top and bottom floor I guess your house is shaped like a big cube or rectangle. I have our router on the first floor, but on the tallest stand, towards the center (but more towards the back) of the house. Some routers have wall mountable backs and you could try nearer to the ceiling, and as near the center of the house as possible.

 

This is probably DSL's only advantage, and is a simple fix.

To keep the desk top connected;

• give it wifi, there are usb wifi dongels, and place router as close to it downstairs
• use a 50ft ethernet cable, but not pretty and potential tripping hazard
• put in a LAN, there are widgets that let you use electric outlets and the home wiring for the network.

 

Maybe something like this? The Best Wireless Range Extenders for 2019 | PCMag.com

 

If you're getting 10mbps down, you should just use your phone data plan and make it a hotspot

 

As noted in post #7, I do not think her phone does data.

 

....plus she wanted ...’affordable.’
This, like “speedy” is not the same for everyone.

I’d move your present access point as described above and see if that moves the needles enough to kick this issue to the right a little.
My fallback would be a budget priced newer router.

Telecommunications is changing at warp speed.
Even in rural Oregon, and spending $300 on some gollywogg router right now may be overkill AND it might introduce some unforeseen problems with your connected devices which will have to learn to talk and listen to the new access point (router.)

The last time I danced this dance I gave the new router the same SSID and password as the old.
It made things easier.

YMMV

 

You've got 9, but what is your isp offering, and what speed are you paying for?

192.168.1.1 in a new browser window will call up your router, the username is usually admin and the password 1234, don't change anything but look around and find how many devices are usng your bandwidth, if the upstairs PC is eating bandwidth, turn it off, alexa uses bandwidth, etc.

Agree, move the dsl modem closer,

I pay for 25 m get 18ish but can get 22 if I turn off blink (security camera) and the network printer.
9 isn't bad, it beats 1.5.

Your isp can talk you through moving the modem.

 

Upgrade the husband.

Move router.

Upgrade the router.

 

The signal strength goes down by the square of the distance. Have the WiFi router located closest to laptop room.

A smooth aluminum foil reflector ‘umbrella’ over the WiFi router will provide more signal to the lower floors.

It the router has a small, stick antenna, try it horizontal both pointing to and 90 degrees to the laptop room.

Antenna are as much art as science and Google can provide more than you might want to know ... although entertaining reading for me.

Bob Wilson

 

We went with a Google WiFi mesh network...we have three nodes.. Works really well and is easy to set up!

 

I went with a SmartThings Mesh WiFi system with Plume. Excellent coverage all over the house and the out buildings. Perfect handoff between units and it extends my Zigbee and Z Wave networks.

 

Not knowing what a mesh network is, I found this; What Is a Mesh Wi-Fi Router, and Do You Need One?
The main soundbite is that they are easier to set up and use than a router with extenders, but costs more.

If you only have a few wifi devices in use, with that use regularly isolated to a portion of the house, and other stationary devices, like the desk top or TV, can be plugged into the ethernet, I'd look into powerline networks. These are the systems that use your house's electrical wiring as ethernet wiring. If you need more wifi coverage, you can get powerline nodes that are also wifi spots.
What is Powerline Ethernet And How Do You Use It? | Digital Trends
The Best Powerline Networking Adapter: Reviews by Wirecutter | A New York Times Company