Wifi Strength in Son's Bedroom

[#1]

Everyone is looking at the “suspected” WiFi performance and not considering that the issue could well be the mobile phone. Some phones are notorious for random WiFi roaming. A Google search of the make, model and OS version could identify familiar issues.

I would be surprised that a small brick house is contributing to this issue. If this were a large sandstone house then maybe.

I’d also inspect the WiFi spectrum (use anyone of the readily available analysers on either a phone or windows PC).

Until you are certain that this is a WiFi signal issue from the router, I would not be spending money on kit to fix an ill defined problem; yes the symptoms might be well perceived, but similar symptoms can arise from different causes.

If dLAN adapters are thought to be a suitable solution I’ve had good results with Develo kit … but it is not cheap … whilst cheap kit rarely delivers optimal solutions.

[#2]

@lahbrannan1

Whilst all of these have similar objectives, WiFi extenders use WiFi as the back-haul to the router thereby reducing the WiFi performance for all connected devices.

A WAP wired over Ethernet (cable or Ethernet over power) will always perform better.

What device were you thinking of under the term “broadband booster”.?

[#3]

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@Townman wrote:
Everyone is looking at the “suspected” WiFi performance and not considering that the issue could well be the mobile phone. Some phones are notorious for random WiFi roaming. A Google search of the make, model and OS version could identify familiar issues.

I would be surprised that a small brick house is contributing to this issue. If this were a large sandstone house then maybe.

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I agree with you there, @Townman - especially the bolded bit.

[#4]

@Townman
Could you give an example of what Android app you might use to check the WiFi? Please, treat me like I know nothing.

[#5]

Also, is there a way to force his phone to use 2.4 GHz instead of 5 GHz?

[#6]

A Google search will offer guidance at various levels of knowledge, from novice to expert. Searching the device’s application store will also offer suggestions. Some products are free, others cost a bit.

As an initial tool, start with a free one. As a first step you are looking to see how busy and cluttered is the local WiFi spectrum. SSIDs (think of them as radio stations) sharing the same channel are less of an issue than ones which overlap. Good player use of the 2.4GHz spectrum should stick to channels 1, 6 and 11.

The router configured in smart channel mode could be switching channels to find better performance frequently leaving the phone to follow the channel change … or just give up and switch to mobile. Setting the router to a fixed but least congested channel might deliver benefits.

See this article I found on Google discussing various tools. https://www.reddit.com/r/HomeNetworking/comments/smflf5/best_android_app_for_wifi_mapping/?rdt=47595

[#7]

Before forcing anything, I’d want to know more about the environment and the phone’s connection behaviour. At present you can see symptoms but you have no evidence informing you of the cause. You can determine if it’s switching bands by inspecting the router’s log.

You can switch off one or the other bands in the router settings, but the technique of splitting the SSID for the two bands is not available on the Hub Two.

[#8]

Best solution, if possible, is an ethernet cable from the router to your son's room, either internal or external.