WiFi Booster Advice

We finally changed our supplier from EE to Virgin as we were constantly losing connectivity. All went well with the installation but our computer, which is in an upstairs bedroom could not receive a signal. The engineer returned with some kit, which he plugged into the computer. Although we can now use the computer without any noticeable problems, the download speed is only somewhere between 1 and 5 mbps Elsewhere in the house it's above 30mbps.

He did say we would get a far better coverage throughout the house if we had a wireless WiFi Booster by the computer. Are these worth getting ? Our only concern with the current set-up is if the low internet speed on our computer will be a problem when we Zoom our other family members. We don't download films or the like and browsing is not yet a problem.

So any thoughts on buying WiFi boosters ?We could rent them from Virgin but it seems like an unnecessary cost.

We had a similar problem with losing connectivity/very slow connection upstairs, bought a wifi booster and it works perfectly

Ours cost somewhere in the region of £15

I was reading this the other day.
It might help
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/u...oster-19607081

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Originally Posted by City123

We had a similar problem with losing connectivity/very slow connection upstairs, bought a wifi booster and it works perfectly

Ours cost somewhere in the region of £15

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Cheers for that. Are they easy to install/set up ?

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Originally Posted by Moodybluebird

Cheers for that. Are they easy to install/set up ?

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It was relatively straightforward and came with instructions. All we had to was plug it in, hold down a connectivity button and it was working

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Originally Posted by dandywarhol

I was reading this the other day.
It might help
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/u...oster-19607081

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Very interesting, thanks for that. Made me smile people having an outage for a whole morning. The last 6 months with EE we lost connectivity at least 12 times a day and before we went over to Virgin yesterday we were losing connectivity every 30 minutes !

I think we will get WiFi boosters, just depends whether it's from Virgin or bought separately.

if you can hard wire it in, do it. I had exactly the same issue (back bedroom connection) I spent £10 on ethernet cable and ran it from the router up to the bedroom (took all of half an hour). It's now like s**t off a shovel.

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Originally Posted by PhyllisStant

if you can hard wire it in, do it. I had exactly the same issue (back bedroom connection) I spent £10 on ethernet cable and ran it from the router up to the bedroom (took all of half an hour). It's now like s**t off a shovel.

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The Virgin engineer plugged in some unit or other (I'm not technically minded !) next to the computer in the upstairs bedroom and plugged an ethernet cable into it. I'm not sure if it's a WiFi Booster but at least we can get a signal now. Rather than run more cables through the house we probably will get a wireless WiFi Booster if we find the coverage becomes unacceptable but thanks for your suggestion anyway.

It is quite amazing how much the internet speeds can vary. I stood outside the bedroom door on the landing and did a broadband speed test. Got a download speed of 32mbps. Moved forward less than a foot into bedroom and got 2mbps. So weird !

Wireless boosters can only boost the signal they receive. The booster needs to be sat somewhere where the signal is known to be good, so it can then 'throw' it a bit further. If you site it next to the computer, you already know that the signal is poor there, so the booster doesn't have much to work with. Does this make sense?
Hard wire cabling is much better - or move your server.
I moved mine into the hallway, to get a better signal upstairs. It still works downstairs.

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Originally Posted by Moodybluebird

The Virgin engineer plugged in some unit or other (I'm not technically minded !) next to the computer in the upstairs bedroom and plugged an ethernet cable into it. I'm not sure if it's a WiFi Booster but at least we can get a signal now. Rather than run more cables through the house we probably will get a wireless WiFi Booster if we find the coverage becomes unacceptable but thanks for your suggestion anyway.

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that's a homeplug or powerline

it runs the internet from the router to the computer via the home electricity circuit.

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Originally Posted by tforturton

Wireless boosters can only boost the signal they receive. The booster needs to be sat somewhere where the signal is known to be good, so it can then 'throw' it a bit further. If you site it next to the computer, you already know that the signal is poor there, so the booster doesn't have much to work with. Does this make sense?
Hard wire cabling is much better - or move your server.
I moved mine into the hallway, to get a better signal upstairs. It still works downstairs.

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The Virgin box is current plugged in by the TV. My understanding is that the booster would come in two parts, one next to the TV where the signal is strong and the other in the area you want a better signal, in this case an upstairs bedroom. Is this right ?

Got you Mike. Cheers 👍

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Originally Posted by City123

It was relatively straightforward and came with instructions. All we had to was plug it in, hold down a connectivity button and it was working

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Worth pointing out that was pugged into a plug socket, no need to mess around with the wiring on computers, routers etc