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-   -   On Wi-Fi & Routers (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/gadgets-computers-software/64258-wi-fi-routers-65.html)

People looking for good range can consider using the TPLink 4300. ( http://www.tp-link.in/products/detai...del=TL-WDR4300 )

Available across sites for 5k approx, it has a good range as compared to several others that I tried out such as Asus RT 56U and Netgear models in a similar price range, and supports DD WRT.

Further, this was a replacement for a older dying Buffalo WHR HP G300N which was well known for its high range, and served me for almost 4 years.

Dual band means 2.4GHz and 5GHz. The 5GHz gets you better speeds but range is lesser than the 2.4GHz mode. If you run the router in 2.4GHz mode, you will see better range.

Had the TP LINK 4300 but for some reason the range was not that good. Changed it to WDR3600 and strangely the range was far superior. Using the 5ghz band does make a difference with far less interference compared to the 2.4

Not bad. I am looking at changing my old Linksys WRT120N to get better range. Right now i can only keep my modem and router in the bedroom at far end of my flat. The other end of the house where living, dining and kitchen are, suffer huge signal loss.

I initially thought of changing to a simple TP-LINK with 5Dbi antenna but am not confident this will increase the range significantly.

I then saw the Asus RT-N66u which looked insane but I don't think I need a router costing Rs.11K!!

I am now looking at TP-LINK WR841HP http://www.tp-link.com/en/products/d...del=TL-WR841HP

This is long range model.

Any other suggestions? I am not looking at repeater since I use it for facetime a lot and don't want my speed to drop.

This is decent, if it is what your budget limits you to. You should get acceptable range as well looking at the specifications. Hope you have seen online reviews as well on Amazon etc.

Remember that 300 Mbps is theoretical figure, in reality you cannot get over 100 Mbps as there are no gigabit ports to service the 300 Mb bandwidth on the LAN side.

There is another practical aspect of 5 GHz if you live in an apartment or in densely populated city you will find more then 90% of neighbours have 2.5 GHz routers and all the channels are congested so effective range reduces due to interference with 5GHZ band router you can stand out in crowd and get much better range in practice.

But 5GHZ is not good in penetrating through concrete walls and doors.
So unless your router and you are in the same room, might not be such a great idea. Added to this many old laptops cannot connect to a 5GHZ network.

I recently changed few wifi modem router setting because I was facing slow speeds on my iPhone (laptop, android devices fine):
- changed from WEP to WPA2-PSK
- changed 'user defined dns server' to Google DNS from MTNL DNS.

Although the devices are working fine for the time being. Evening came home and connected but nothing was opening. Re-booted the modem and worked fine. Again got home at night and connected and same problem; re-boot and worked fine. Any idea why it just doesn't work when in range and connected?

BUMP!

Anybody has any clues on my above problem?!

After testing for few days on WPA2-PSK, changed back to WEP. I think the problem sorted itself now. WiFi gets connected and working without rebooting the modem.

So was the encryption standard doing this? Why?

Any does WEP vs. WPA2-PSK effect browsing speed in any way?

I doubt the encryption plays a role in the speed of browsing. I've used both those encryptions with the same connection to no difference in speed. Since you have MTNL, I'd blame it on the service itself. I have BSNL broadband at my house, and I have endured many a similar experience. Everything seems to with fine and dandy for weeks together and suddenly it doesn't work for a few hours at a time or have terrible speeds. The familiar restarting of the modem fixes it usually.

The slow speeds could also depend on the time of day. Do you use the landline telephone a lot? The internet at my house stops working when someone is using the phone. It is down to a compatible modem that allows calling and broadband to work simultaneously.

I understand what you're saying, but that is not the problem right now.

There are 2 android devices, 2 iOS devices, and one laptop using this connection. So usually what happens is that when I get home, my iOS device though connects to the WiFI, but does not open anything; the android devices, and other iOS devices, which were sitting at home, or got home early than me, working! So i'm only left with an option to re-boot the modem.

Now this problem isn't restricted to my iOS device, sometimes the android devices also face a similar issue. But all this started after I changed from WEP to WPA2-PSK! And I changed to WPA2 bcos new iOS 8 was giving trouble and people had suggested to switch to WPA2.

It looked more like an IP conflict issue, but I checked under modem setting that unique IPs were alloted to all these devices.

WEP is extremely poor encryption and can be broken quite easily.
It looks like your router is quite old and cannot handle the additional load due to WPA.

WPA2 is more demanding on router as compared to WEP. Which router are you using?

Your router might be getting overwhelmed with 5 - 6 devices if it is old or otherwise under-specced.

It's Beetel 450TC1 provided by MTNL.

so it doesnt take the load of 4-5 devices on WPA, but is able to on WEP, you mean? Hmm, ok.

So just adding a new WiFi router, to the existing WiFi modem, could solve the issue?

Yes, just to be sure that it is indeed an issue with router's capacity, you can try these steps:

1. Reset existing router + modem to factory settings
2. Configure MTNL ADSL + WiFi
3. See if this helps

I not, you can either purchase a new WiFi router and disable WiFi in Beetel OR you can purchase a new WiFi + router combo.