best router placement in 2-storey house

[krysia]

Do people have experience of the best place for a router in a two-storey Victorian mid-terrace house?  Someone I trust said it's best to place routers on the ground floor, but everything I've read online suggests it's better to put them on the first floor (near the floor, or else near the ceiling on the ground floor).  Our router is presently in the middle room of the first floor and sends a really strong signal down to the through sitting-room below and to the front bedroom upstairs.  The signal is only fair in the back bedroom and the kitchen below it, but that's not surprising given the shape of the house.

[robinc]

I found that a basic Mesh system from Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07CTKHRG8 - improved matters no end.

One unit attached to the router, in your case if you can install one slave close to or in the other bedroom with minimal physical interruption between it and the one on the router, then another one in the kitchen below should be OK.

I've no idea what shape the wireless signal is, and they can be mounted on a wall so the one in the kitchen could be mounted higher up if you can get power to it.

Tried various Powerline solutions over the years - total waste of money - this just works.

[Simon]

I would second the idea of a Mesh system.  I'm in a two-bedroom flat and my Wi-Fi struggled at the other end of the flat to where the router is.  A TP-Link mesh system from Amazon resolved the problem and I now have seamless Wi-Fi throughout the flat.

[krysia]

Thank you both.  I'm intending to get a Mesh system once I move from FTTC to FTTP. In the meantime, I've got a new router and discovered the signal in the kitchen and back bedroom is much stronger than the one from the okd router.  But what about the question of router placement itself in a two-storey house - is ground floor or first floor better?

[Simon]

I think it just needs to be as central as possible for even coverage.  Not sure whether signals fire upwards or downwards.  Experimentation might be your best bet, but avoid the kitchen and thick walls if possible. 

Bear in mind when your get your FTTP, there may be limitations as to where the router is located. 

As always, others may have better advice. 

[nowster]

If you can, wired LAN between access points and router will always beat mesh for throughput and latency.

[krysia]

Thanks for your further thoughts!

[Gary]

I have a Wi-Fi 6E router and am beta testing a mesh unit Wi-Fi 7 unit, mesh is a royal pain at times but Wi-Fi 7 in 2024 will sort that out with latency equal or better than wired, cant say about what I'm beta testing due to a NDA but the info is freely available on Wi-Fi 7. Even 6E has great low latency and it works over a reasonable distance to my PS5 at 20 foot though a wall with full speed at 50Mbps (no FTTP until next year at least), 6E is more line of site but much greater bandwidth. Wi-Fi 7 doubles the bandwidth to 320MHz. But the routers are £700 at the moment, but are using 2Ghz SoCs but I cant see people paying for that when bills are so high, EE I think will offer a Wi-Fi 7 home hub as BT rebrand that side of things to EE.

[nowster]

None of that helps if the intervening walls have foil-lined plasterboard or are solid stone.

[Gary]

None of that helps if the intervening walls have foil-lined plasterboard or are solid stone.

which is why you place the router at the centre of your property in the loft is possible. Mine goes though 4 brick walls with no issues and a UPVC door and I can face time outside at the boundary of my property. Routers use OFDMA and TWT and BSS to try to help along with with Beamforming as well, but attic placement works well. Or Grab some Cisco geaar or Unifi if you want as its cheaper but the dream machine has awful coverage so you will need access points. Netgears ORBI line works very well using 5Ghz as backhaul.

[nowster]

Or Grab some Cisco geaar or Unifi if you want as its cheaper but the dream machine has awful coverage so you will need access points. Netgears ORBI line works very well using 5Ghz as backhaul.

I have two Unifi UAP-AC-Lite (both wired) but my parents (with much lower bandwidth) have cheap GL.iNet Opal travel routers as access point/switches (all wired).

[Gary]

I have two Unifi UAP-AC-Lite (both wired) but my parents (with much lower bandwidth) have cheap GL.iNet Opal travel routers as access point/switches (all wired).

The access points generally seem fine but the Dream Machine on its own is not enough, I work with Cisco gear mainly which has its pains believe me, same with Ruckus. In a SOHO environment Unifi is good not really enterprise but way better than a standard set up but people sign up for the beta program and then have issues with their main router, as some patches cant be reversed, a case of RTFM and never beta test on your main device.