I’ve been looking to improve the signal on my second floor since I’ve had several connectivity issues since building a new PC with a Gigabyte B650i motherboard (version 1.0 w/ intel RZ616 wifi 6e card) and using the included antenna. Oddly enough never had any issues with laptops (getting full 300mbps, no packet loss problems), but now I get only 1-2/5 bars on my desktop pc , max at ~100mbps, and have significant packet loss issues playing games. Router/modem is in the basement (stock verizon one)
Main question- Which of the two have the least latency? Any recommendations on either? I have low bandwidth (300mbps from verizon) so I’m not concerned about that. House is from the 60s i believe and afaik never had any wiring issues.
wifi extenders half your bandwidth and double your latency. avoid these if at all possible.
with the powerline you’re capped at 100 Mbps but at least the latency won’t be trash since you’ll be hardwired. The throughput really tanks if you’re trying to connect thing between different circuits.
Honestly just don’t do it. Run a cable ugly as it might be.
Given that his WAN connection 300mbit there’s quite a bit of room for even older 11ac hardware to perform decently. I have a similar setup where I have two cheap 11ac routers (https://www.totolink.net/home/menu/newstpl/menu_newstpl/products/id/176.html) linked using WDS and I get about 400mbit via cable from each router. They’re not particularly well aligned and there’s a contrete floor between the wireless devices. Latency is about 10-25ms when the link is maxed out otherwise it’s around 5ms
Oh god, please save your sanity and avoid wifi repeaters. I made the mistake of buying some during the years and each and every one started exibiting issues at some point.
Just invest the money to get a LAN run where you need internet and connect an AP to it.
Thanks! I’m not worried about bandwith bc I use my laptop and run a wifi hotspot when I need to download games (and I get 300mbps ). Living with 100mbps is fine for me since this is a gaming only system I have. I just need to stop with the packet loss and disconnects.
I will definitely look at running a cable, but that is probably a future project when I’m not feeling so lazy.
I pretty much only see TP-link and companies I’ve never heard of on amazon. I’ve never used TP-link for anything before. Are their products generally reliable? I’ve only heard the talk (most of which sounds ridiculous) about them being a risk bc of their connection to China.
I don’t think Intel makes this wifi adapter. Which exact adapter or motherboard do you have?
I’m assuming this is an external antenna with wires that plug into the back of your board.
Try double checking that the connections are solid, and also try to put your antenna elsewhere and test different orientations. It’s a radio after all, and interference locations and/or angle can make a difference.
Make sure the wifi driver is updated.
Unless your house is huge and your wifi router and PC are on opposite corners of said house, you shouldn’t need a repeater to get good signal. Your laptop working fine (assuming in the same location your desktop is having issues) should be a good indicator that this is the case.
They have the same problem that all consumer gear has, that you only get patches for so long and that there are always some (corner?) use-cases, which cause problem.
Some years ago I switched from consumer Wi-Fi gear to used pro gear and bought a used Ruckus R610 with the Unleashed firmware(!) from eBay. Rock solid ever since and a year later I bought a second until, which essentially runs as a repeater (in what the firmware calls “mesh” mode. These days I’d buy a newer (used) model, but I love their system.
The caveat is that they support multiple WLAN names (e.g. for a guest network) though VLANs, so your router (and any switches in-between) needs to be VLAN-aware, if you want to use that feature.
Yep looks like it was some other manufacturer (listed as MD Wi-Fi 6E RZ616 (MT7922A22M)), just some wrong marketing material when I bought it. Moving my antenna around didn’t seem to help. It could be that my kitchen is directly under me and I am in one corner of the house on the second floor while my router is on the opposite side in the basement.
When I bought this motherboard (Gigabyte B650i) there were several reviews about the problems with the 1.0 (with AMD Wi-Fi 6E RZ616 (MT7922A22M) (PCB rev. 1.0) ) and 1.2 (using Realtek® Wi-Fi 6E RTL8852CE (PCB rev. 1.2) )revisions having inferior wifi cards compared to the 1.1 (Using Intel AX210). I guess I have the AMD RZ616 which reviews seemed to say was the second best of the group.
Unfortunately there is a pretty big lack of good mini-ITX AM5 motherboards and wifi card was mostly an afterthought for me as when I built it my top option ASrock B650E-ITX was out of stock in the US.
I recall now that I actually changed the wifi card on my laptop from (something) to a AX211 after encountering software issues connecting with a different router. Seeing as how I can grab another for ~$20 I’m going to do that and see if it fixes the issue. Thanks for the help!
MoCA adapters are the best you can do to extend to rooms that dont have wired ethernet but do have coax. They work extremely well and have the lowest latency out of your typical options between MoCA, PowerLine, and Wifi.
Powerline works great if you don’t have any of the “gotchya’s”, which there are a lot of:
You need to use an “AV2000” product if you are going to use this route at all.
If your house wiring is more than 20 years old, it can have performance problems
If your house wiring doesnt use modern line+neutral+ground then it has problems
If the total distance is more than about 200’ through wires you tend to have performance problems.
If the circuits you are trying to connect are not on the same power phase that goes into your house you have problems
If you have to pass through a GFCI circuit breaker you probably cant use powerline at all
If you have to pass through a GFCI power outlet on the way to the outlet you want to use then you probably cant use powerline at all.