wifi signal strength

[jbraner]

Hi,

This has probably been discussed before - but I haven't found it yet 😉

Can we please talk about wifi signal strength?

My flat is not that big, but the VM router (hub3) comes in at one end, and it's in a box room at one side of the flat. (so has to go through a few walls to get anywhere) This never used to be a problem - my PC is connected to the router via ethernet and wifi coverage has been OK for phones and a laptop - throughout the flat.

Now I've just set up some wireless hifi equipment and I realise that I think my wifi signal strength (which I never bothered to measure) is borderline OK for my living room and kitchen (where the devices are).

VM connect says everything is OK, but it's only concerned about wifi *speed*. It's showing a signal strength in both rooms of -65dBm. (for some reason, where the strength is better it doesn't actually tell you the strength - but I have other utilities to measure it). Anyway - am I correct in thinking that -65dBm is just *borderline* OK? (less than -67dBm won't be too good for streaming music?)

Today it's -60dBm in the living room, so it seems to vary a little - should I just leave it, unless the audio drops out a lot? (there have been minor hiccups, but nothing serious). Or should I start looking at solutions?

I like the idea of the VM pods and the mesh - but wonder if it's worth £8/mo. I guess I could try a cheaper repeater/booster to see if it makes a difference - but again I wonder if just leaving things alone is better.

Does anyone have any advice?

Ideally, I'd ask for a VM engineer to come out and make measurements, and maybe see if a hub 5 gives a stronger wifi signal - or even a "test period" for a couple of pods would be nice (if I can give them back if they don't make things better)

I know better than to phone VM support (where I'll get someone who tells me what they think I want to hear, without actually answering any questions) so I'll try here. I've always had success posting here on the forums - either with forum users or the VM people who monitor.

Thanks in advance for any advice/information.

Rgds,

John B

[Adduxi]

VM will not "loan" you any Pods, nor I suspect will they send an engineer to do a Wifi survey.  Simplest way is a powerline Wifi extender.  Best way is extending an ethernet solution to the dead spot, and get a proper Wifi Access Point.

[jbraner]

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@Adduxi wrote:

VM will not "loan" you any Pods, nor I suspect will they send an engineer to do a Wifi survey.  Simplest way is a powerline Wifi extender.

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I didn't think so - I just thought I'd throw it out there 😉

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Simplest way is a powerline Wifi extender.  Best way is extending an ethernet solution to the dead spot, and get a proper Wifi Access Point.

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But the point is - would you be looking at this with levels of -65dBm?

[Adduxi]

At the moment, my Wifi strength is showing as -43dBm, so -65 is quite a bit lower.  Even my most distant AP is showing -70dBm at this location, so I would reckon you wouldn't go amiss with an extender.

[jbraner]

That's kind of what I'm thinking...

[Steven_L]

Hey jbraner,

Welcome to the community and thanks for taking the time to post here on the forums. I’m sorry to hear of the issues that you’re having with your WiFi signal strength at the moment, I have been able to get this looked into on our system and can see that you have an issues with all of your downstream channel power levels that they are all too high to be able to sustain a stable connection, so we will need to get a technician visit booked in to resolve the issues. I can arrange the appointment from here but would need to confirm a few details via a private message, that I will drop over in a moment. Please look out for the private message and we can get started.
Kind Regards,
Steven_L

[jbraner · Accepted solution]

Hi Steven,

Thanks a lot for having a look. I'll look out for a PM from you.