HELP Broadband setup of old house

Hi guys,

I really do hope someone out there can help and give proper advice to my setup.

I live in an old house where like a lot of old houses, I have the master socket in the hallway beside the front door. It is the only master socket and that old it is a non-NTE faceplate, so not even a test socket.

The issue is I have no nearby power socket so have gone for the only realistic option but loses speed.
That is to have the router next to the main TV in the lounge but meant I have had to use a 15metres phone extension cable.

My broadband package is up to 59mps but I get 26, so lose quite a bit. My neighbour has similar package and gets around 45mps.

Finally my PC in my office is the opposite side and upstairs from the router and I only get 1/10th of the speed, so only 3mps which is drastic. Have tried using a Wi-fi extender but no improvement.

I am willing to pay for the a good setup (realistic), so could you please help me with the ideal setup with what I have, and I will be so grateful

Thank you

First test to do is to plug the router into the main socket without the extension and see what sync you get (I presume you could run an extension lead temporarily to test it). Get the stats from that and post them here and we might be able to see if the extension is causing the issue or if it might be something external.

Thank you,

I know my setup is not perfect, I mean should try and avoid 15m phone extension cable but only realistic option right now. I mean what speed reduction would you normally expect with that length?

Also the main thing with this post is to help with ideas of a setup to get the best I can with my broadband and if that means I need to pay for some sockets etc then so be it.

Especially with the issue of upstairs office getting only 1/10th of the speed of wi-fi is pretty awful.

Thanks

Potentially it may cause no drop in speed or could cause lots depending on the cable and situation of the line. Please can you test in the master socket without the extension - even just for a few minutes in order to see what the connection is like there. You could potentially spend a lot of effort to change the setup and get little or no benefit so we need to know the "ideal" and work from there.

EDIT : For the other PC that is seeing a massive speed drop then the "ideal" solution would be to run a Cat5e/Cat6 cable from the router to the location of the PC. Is that doable? If not then you are down to looking at other wireless options or powerline. Doing a temporary move of the PC close to the router could also help to see if it is the distance that is the issue or if it is the wireless card or PC setup. There are also mesh wifi networks available that might help with the coverage but they may not help if it is a fundamental issue with the PC.

Edited by ian72 (Thu 18-Jun-20 10:22:37)

Hi,

For the PC upstairs, what about using Powerline adaptors, with one plugged in near the router and the other near the PC and cable the PC in instead of WiFi?

I bought some TP-LINK powerline adaptors from Argos about two years ago and they still sell them or something similar for £25.

Powerline may well be an option as I said in my edit but as an old building it is possible the electrics won't be good for carrying the powerline signal.

I presume you have mega thick walls in your old house, proper thick doors etc.
It's a pain in the proverbial.
I own the Old Manor House where I used to live, and quite frankly when we turned it into flats, we just ended up putting hardwire cat5e with a few access points at strategic places.

At least you can paint Cat wire and hide it in various ways. Try and cross any mains cables you know of, at right angles, that keeps the interference down a bit.

That's the way we went and 15 years later, it's still running well, just considerably faster as different speeds have been introduced

If using a bad cable then performance like you've got.

If its a twisted pair cable with RJ11 connectors e.g. https://amzn.to/2YgIhtL and plugged into the microfilter at the single socket in the hall then almost no drop in signal.

Although a few solutions have been suggested, I agree entirely with ian72's suggestions as a first step. With a bit extra.

The point he is making is that if we can get the router stats with it plugged in at the main socket, (if you don't know how to get those, tell us the router make and model and we may be able to tell you how), and also perhaps a speed test if you have a laptop easy to take to the same place to connect with an ethernet cable, we will know the best you can get.

We then know what to aim for at the various locations .

Can you find or borrow a power extension or two to get power close enough?

Just as a final double-check for something that will be causing a problem if it is the case, are there definitely no other phone sockets in the house? Whether in use or not, hidden behind furniture, anywhere?

Even if there were some and they have been removed and the wires covered up where they were.

If there are any there will be probably visible wires coming out of the one in the hall. Or from a junction box on the outside wall between where the line reaches the house and enters the hall.

Without a "goal" figure I think everyone is lost.

Until we get that figure we can only guess really.