On 19:57 8 Sep 2020, John Rumm said:

On 08/09/2020 18:36, Pamela wrote:
On 14:02 8 Sep 2020, Martin Brown said:
On 08/09/2020 13:37, polygonum_on_google wrote:
On Tuesday, 8 September 2020 11:37:27 UTC+1, R D S wrote:


I've never had bother with WiFi in the past but then i've never
really challenged it. At home and prior workplace everything is in
close proximity.

At my current workplace it just doesn't work. But there are more
walls, there's a metal security gate between one PC and the router
because of the L shape of the building (seemingly a complete no
go), upstairs is particularly bad and i'm wondering if that's
because we have a lot of flourescent lighting.

So, is WiFi just a bit ****? Shall I knuckle down and run cable
(would be a ballache) or persevere resiting the router and PCs and
trying different channels? (Which I have done today and it's
currently usable)

I'm starting to think it's only suitable for domestic/non critical
applications.

I find wifi wonderful.

[snip] The range extender I am directly connected to is a cheap one
from Lidl last week. Might still have some. Can be setup in various
configurations. (I got it so that I could plug a television in
somewhere as the TV has not itself got wifi.) The one upstairs is a
four-year-old TP-Link one. Both handle 2.4 and 5 GHz.

I'd get at least one range extender. You can use one cable to plug
that into your router, or make it use wifi.

The only thing to watch out for with range extenders is that the basic
plug and play ones essentially halve your peak end to end speed. This
can be an issue if you want to cast something like video a streamed
video wirelessly from your laptop or phone to a smart TV. These issues
tended to show up when everyone and their dog was using Zoom or Teams.

Does a mesh network of (two) routers have the same problem?

No, decent mesh kit usually has mimo with multiple radios in each unit,
so it can transmit to several clients clients and on the backhaul
connections to other mesh devices at the same time.

It may also support beam forming to allow directional targetting of
devices, which again can free spectrum in some directions as well as
optimise bandwidth use and use lower transmit power.

(dual band kit may also have band steering as well which will push
capable clients up onto 5GHz where its supported and advantageous - so
that frees up 2.4GHz capacity)

I have several Sonos speakers throughout the house configured to use their
own mesh network and (although I think Sonos is vastly overrated) their
performance is rock solid even in far-off rooms.

If mesh routers are anything like that then they would be quite
impressive.