Router/modem question for wifi improvement

[Dadnatron]

Currently have Windstream via DSL. Only thing available in my area, and the wired isn't bad at 100mps.

However, the wireless off this 'company' router/wireless system sucks.

I get about 10mps down wireless, but it is spotty at best.

Windstream says I can get another router, but it must be 'Bonded' or able. I suspect that is because I also have satellite DISH which also utilizes the wireless part of my system for some things. They are a package deal.

I don't watch a lot of TV, but I do use the wireless system at this house quite a bit.

Can I purchase a different router that will perform better than the current one?

I don't know what goes into it, so I don't know what I can get out of it. I have just the little standard 'hardback book sized' router. My house isn't that big, and even sitting right next to it, the speed sucks. But my computer plugged directly into that same router gets close to 100mbs down.

I was at Fry's the other day, and saw this massive multiantenna'd behemouth that looks like it should connect me with PLUTO at 1M mbs.

And it got me thinking, will an aftermarket router give me appreciable better wireless speed??

 

[kcflhrc]

Bonded means it is basically 2 DSL Lines to get the speed you bought. So instead of 2 wires from the CO you have 4 wires. That is the only way to get 100MBS over copper is with bonded. It has nothing to do with the Satellite Dish. Yes you can buy a different modem/router. What I would do is leave their modem/router in place and get a NetGear Night Hawk and plug it into one of the wired ports on their modem.

 

[ning]

You should be able to use any ADSL modem/router with Windstream (eg [disclaimer: I haven't used this one, nor do I presently have ADSL] amazon link).

To swap devices, you'll probably have to talk to someone at Windstream customer support to register the new one; having never dealt with them, I can't say how painful that may or may not be.

Before you go swapping devices, though, try a couple other things first.

1. Change the direction of the antenna(s) that your current device has. Most antennae are sticks about 4" tall, and they should pretty much be pointing straight up, because their coverage is in a circle around the mid-section of the stick - think a pancake of reception. They won't talk much at all to the floor above or below them; if you have two floors, you pretty much need another WAP, though a second antenna which is tilted may give enough coverage to part of the other floor to be useful.
2. Move router so it's not behind a bunch of metal, which will block/reflect the radio.
3. Download this app: Wifi Analyzer (for Android). There's probably an iPhone version, idk. It will be able to show you wifi sources; you don't want to have more than one thing on the same or adjacent channels (the channels are actually spreads as you'll see and much overlap is bad).
4. You may have interference in your house on the channel that your present router is using for WiFi. See if you can get to the configuration page for your router (try http://192.168.0.1 or http://192.168.1.1 as likely web pages to access your router - from your network, of course; these addresses shouldn't work from outside a network - they're considered "network private" addresses and routers should not pass them to the internet). Once you're at a config page, see if you can modify the channel. If it's autoselecting, it may do a lousy job selecting.
5. Change from 2.4GHz band to 5GHz band, or vice versa, if possible. Note that some older device may not be able to talk 5GHz.
6. Another possibility is if your current router has wired Ethernet ports (looks like a big phone jack) on the back, you can probably buy a WiFi access point, and then you can use that WiFi instead of the router's one (assuming that the router has a lousy WiFi for some reason).
7. If you have a big house, WiFi may not work across the whole thing. My house is long and has two floors, and my internet access point is in my shop... so I have a wired Ethernet going through the house and 3 wireless access points hanging off of the wired net so I can wifi reasonably well (ie, I'm still not overly impressed, but then I live in the sticks and I'm lucky to pay $200/mo for 3Mbps, which is literally a good deal compared to the T1 line I used to have) from the whole house. The WAPs are all on different channels (chosen with the WiFi Analyzer graph helping) but use the same SSID, so I don't have to change "networks" - they all look like the same one - but in different parts of the house one will have better coverage than the other.
8. Don't expect too much from WiFi, but definitely expect more than 10mbps (10 megaBITperSec... which is about 1megaBYTE [one byte = 8 bits, but after encodings and other protocol cruft WiFi adds, it takes more than 8 bits of WiFi to get you one byte of file transfer, and WiFi counts the raw bits on the radio, not useful bits! marketing!).

 

[kcflhrc]

You should be able to use any ADSL modem/router with Windstream (eg [disclaimer: I haven't used this one, nor do I presently have ADSL] amazon link).

To swap devices, you'll probably have to talk to someone at Windstream customer support to register the new one; having never dealt with them, I can't say how painful that may or may not be.

Before you go swapping devices, though, try a couple other things first.

1. Change the direction of the antenna(s) that your current device has. Most antennae are sticks about 4" tall, and they should pretty much be pointing straight up, because their coverage is in a circle around the mid-section of the stick - think a pancake of reception. They won't talk much at all to the floor above or below them; if you have two floors, you pretty much need another WAP, though a second antenna which is tilted may give enough coverage to part of the other floor to be useful.
2. Move router so it's not behind a bunch of metal, which will block/reflect the radio.
3. Download this app: Wifi Analyzer (for Android). There's probably an iPhone version, idk. It will be able to show you wifi sources; you don't want to have more than one thing on the same or adjacent channels (the channels are actually spreads as you'll see and much overlap is bad).
4. You may have interference in your house on the channel that your present router is using for WiFi. See if you can get to the configuration page for your router (try http://192.168.0.1 or http://192.168.1.1 as likely web pages to access your router - from your network, of course; these addresses shouldn't work from outside a network - they're considered "network private" addresses and routers should not pass them to the internet). Once you're at a config page, see if you can modify the channel. If it's autoselecting, it may do a lousy job selecting.
5. Change from 2.4GHz band to 5GHz band, or vice versa, if possible. Note that some older device may not be able to talk 5GHz.
6. Another possibility is if your current router has wired Ethernet ports (looks like a big phone jack) on the back, you can probably buy a WiFi access point, and then you can use that WiFi instead of the router's one (assuming that the router has a lousy WiFi for some reason).
7. If you have a big house, WiFi may not work across the whole thing. My house is long and has two floors, and my internet access point is in my shop... so I have a wired Ethernet going through the house and 3 wireless access points hanging off of the wired net so I can wifi reasonably well (ie, I'm still not overly impressed, but then I live in the sticks and I'm lucky to pay $200/mo for 3Mbps, which is literally a good deal compared to the T1 line I used to have) from the whole house. The WAPs are all on different channels (chosen with the WiFi Analyzer graph helping) but use the same SSID, so I don't have to change "networks" - they all look like the same one - but in different parts of the house one will have better coverage than the other.
8. Don't expect too much from WiFi, but definitely expect more than 10mbps (10 megaBITperSec... which is about 1megaBYTE [one byte = 8 bits, but after encodings and other protocol cruft WiFi adds, it takes more than 8 bits of WiFi to get you one byte of file transfer, and WiFi counts the raw bits on the radio, not useful bits! marketing!).

He has bonded DSL, the modem/router you linked to will not work.

 

[hawkeye08]

X2 on just adding a new wifi router to mix. Plug the WAN port into the LAN port you get 100MPS on with your current setup (doing it this way makes it another network). You can Google "cascading router" to see what I am talking about.

 

[kcflhrc]

Just make sure the new router isn't the same IP address as the existing one and you should be fine.

 

[EddieWalker]

... What I would do is leave their modem/router in place and get a NetGear Night Hawk and plug it into one of the wired ports on their modem.

I don't understand a lot of what has been said, but I just bought a Netgear Nighthawk from Best Buy and it's AMAZING!!!! We have been struggling with spotty coverage around the house and dead zones. Now we have super fast connections anywhere in the house and around the yard.

 

[JRobyn]

I agree with Eddie - don't understand a lot of this. I've been trying to decide if it will be worth the cost to upgrade the 2 routers I have now from 1/4" shank to 1/2". ;-)

 

[ustmd]

+1 on the Nighthawk Router.

Just buy one, configure it per the instructions in the box and plug it into the back of the Windstream Router (just like you plug in your computer into the router). You will then have 2 wireless signals in the house-one from the Windstream and one from the Nighthawk. Connect all your wireless equipment to the Nighthawk signal and away you go.