NETGEAR is aware of a growing number of phone and online scams. To learn how to stay safe click here.
Forum Discussion
KC12
Jul 04, 2018Aspirant
Wifi Help
I dont know if this is the right place to post but I'm out of ideas....
i live in an apartment block - around 40 floors with 8 units per floor. Wifi coverage is spotty at best and I'm hoping s...
AC641
Jul 04, 2018Luminary
I suspect that you will find that there's some sort of metal mesh reinforcement or foil sheet insulation in the walls that will be attenuating the signal terribly. This is far more likely in a tower block. Can you find out from the building management how the walls are constructed? If this is the case then more satellites will help but from your diagram you'd almost be looking at one in every room where you want strong coverage. Probably a cheaper/neater solution would be the Orbi plug-in extenders.
- KC12Jul 04, 2018AspirantHey thanks for the reply however it’s a bit confusing.
The reception in the bedrooms are already not very good - why would adding a satellite improve it - especially if there’s something in the walls interfering with the signal.
Also Ho w would buying a satellite for each room be cost effective?
Basic Orbi is meant to cover 1500 sqft - adding 2 extra satellites would be more than 2000sq ft (double the size of my apartment) but also wouldn’t necessarily work. It would also cost a lot as the satellites are not cheap- AC641Jul 04, 2018Luminary
I suspect you're struggling as you're building is, in effect, a series of Faraday cages that will hugely inhibit RF (WiFi) signals. This is somewhat borne out by the fact that you have already tried 3 routers prior to the Orbi, none of which provided satifactory coverage. You will need to link the router and satellite via wired backhaul (Powerline adapters would work well for this but ensure you use teh encryption and buy the pass-through type i.e. those with built-in plug sockets as they're better at filtering noise in the mains. I use Devolo dLAN 1200 for this purpose). Then purchase the Orbi extenders for each room where you want WiFi. If you confirm the construction then this will be the only way to get apartment wide coverage and will come at a cost. You can't beat the laws of Physics.