Best solution for old house with large stone walls

[bemo47]

Hello,

My house is very old with wide stone walls, 70 cms, the wifi is not able to cross the walls, and each room is totally isolated from any wifi network.

I have a standard box from Orange, french provider, and several wifi extenders ( from TPLink) able to take the network on the CPL side and replay the wifi with the same SSID as the box. But the solution is not stable, many issues, losing configuration, loss of communication, poor bandwidth, etc....

I am considering to renew this system.

One first option is to install an additional WifI router, the box staying as modem, in order to get a better WiFi network around this router. Then i will still have the issue for rooms not able to catch the Wifi.

I have seen the Orbi system, but i don't understand how the satellites communicates between each other ? Is it via WiFi ? if Yes, how can i be sure that it will work in my configuration with difficulties to go through large walls ? How can i get WiFi outside of house, around my swimming pool for example (30 meters outisde the house, but electrical plugs available there with CPL) ?

Is it necessary to have a router AND the Orbi system ? Or is the Orbi system alone enough ?

Thansk for your advice based on Netgear products.

[TheEther · Accepted solution]

Many homes have coax installed for cable TV. This is common in the U.S.. Since you are France, and living in a stone house, this may not apply to you.

[TheEther]

Orbi uses Wi-Fi, so it's unlikely to have any more luck penetrating your thick, stone walls. The best solution is run Ethernet to one or more rooms and install a Wi-Fi Access Point at the end.

If installing Ethernet is not practical, then coax is another alternative. You will need to buy MoCA adapters. These basically convert Ethernet to run over coax.

The least preferred option is Powerline. It's really hit or miss. It works great for some people. Others, not at all.

[bemo47]

Thanks for this advice.

When u say Powerline, u mean ethernet over electrical plugs ? what we call CPL in France ?

[TheEther]

Yes.

[bemo47]

Ok, thks, got it

But when u say coax could be more practical than ethernet, i don't see why coax could be more easy to install than ethernet ? Its still cable to install across rooms or area to connect ? what is the easy side of coax compared to ethernet ?

[TheEther · Accepted solution]

Many homes have coax installed for cable TV. This is common in the U.S.. Since you are France, and living in a stone house, this may not apply to you.

[bemo47]

Ok, i checked Moca and i see that its can be easier if the house is already cabled with coax for home tv, but here there is no other cable than electricity, so anyway i will need to install cables, so better to install directly ethernet i guess.

So, my first step will be to buy a good WiFi router to replace the WiFi from the internet provider's box. I could get some improvement in WiFi only with that.

Then, where i will not get enough WIFi, i will install ethernet cables and WiFi access points where needed.

This could be a plan....

Thanks anyway for help.

Regards