So we recently moved to a house we are renting, and decided to continue our contract with AT&T U-verse because we were very happy with the quality of the service we were getting at our apartment. When we moved into our new place and got the service added we have noticed a very obvious change in the quality.
We primarily use our wireless for our AppleTV and game consoles. And supposedly we are getting the same speed as we had before. There are definitely some house issues, as I think the walls in our new house are a lot sturdier than in our apartment, and the router had to be placed on opposite sides of the house from the TV.
Whenever we try to watch something it seems to have difficulty displaying in HD. Even my Apple TV doesn't seem to give HD as an option anymore on shows/movies we have purchased even though we purchased the HD quality versions. However I'm not even sure if distance is that much of an issue. I also connected my DS to the router signal, walked right up to the router, and could still barely get it to download quickly and correctly.
We are looking into upgrading to the fastest service available in our area, but I'm wondering if it's even worth it. Will speed help these matter or am I completely missing the real issue here? I've attempted reading various net articles on the subject, and I haven't gleamed much from them that make much sense. Some think that the layout of the house is a problem (and it could be, but doesn't explain why a DS can't communicate well when it's right next to the router). Some mention interference from other wireless signals in the area and suggest swithing network channels, although I have no idea how to do that with this router.
Am I missing something simple here?
#2
PatrThom
The most obvious candidate is the current provisioned download speed.
Second would be signal strength.
Third would be interference.
Each should be tested and eliminated.
Short on time right now, if you need help doing the above, I will continue later.
--Patrick
#3
General Specific
Run some speedtests and see what the average speed is:
speedtest.net
If you have a laptop or a tablet, run that at each end of the house.
#4
Shakey
Also, try hooking a laptop into one of the wired lan ports of your router and do a speed test. Then unplug it, take the laptop somewhere else, and try it with wireless. If there is a big speed difference that could be the problem. Lots of things can mess with a wireless signal, but make sure it's actually the wireless signal that's the problem first.
I've had it for years now, and whenever I move, I just stick it on the new router by default. I haven't had wifi problems in a long time.
#6
PatrThom
I have also seen issues with the 2Wire router Uverse likes to use. The signal strength is usually good, but the noise is so high that the connection suffers. My normal advice in these cases is to turn the router broadcast power down from 10 to about 8, which reduces its range but also reduces signal distortion. My best advice with those routers is to turn off the wireless entirely and just get a dedicated access point. Airport Express, Asus range extender, even a Belkin, and then connect to it with the Uverse router in DMZ mode.
