[biker1]

If his house was built in 2009 then he almost certainly has cat5e or cat5 cable in the walls.The termination of the cat5 from the RJ-11 jacks is almost certainly in a phone block somewhere in his house. He should just remove the needed cat5 from the phone block and splice to the other cable as I indicated in my post.

Originally Posted by Malsua

That's not going to work. There are two reasons. The first being that phone wire is not ethernet cable. Ethernet cable is "Twisted pairs", and the reason they are twisted is because of electrical interference. Cat 3, cat 5, cat 5e, cat6 etc is essentially defined by the number of twists per inch. Phone cable usually has zero.

The second reason is that phone wires are joined all throughout the structure. The wires at any plug will have continuity at all plugs. Even if they used twisted pair drops throughout the structure(and they may have), there are a bunch of open ends which will act like antennae. That is no good. If it were to work, I suspect it would drop to the lowest possible speed the NIC can negotiate too.

The easiest solution in your case is powerline ethernet adapters. You can find these at Best Buy or online. You plugs these into an outlet, plug the ethernet cable from the computer to one and the router to a different one. They auto negotiate and provide a hybrid solution.

They use the electricity of your house to transmit the signal from one to the other. They work, I've installed them in a number of places over the years where WIFI signal was weak.

There are some considerations. First, they must be plugged into the wall. Plugging them into a surge strip will yield mixed results. It may or may not work, or if it works, it may be slow. Some surge strips clip noise out of the electric and this will affect the communication. It probably won't work at all if plugged into a UPS. They should be plugged straight into a wall outlet for best results. As long as the outlets are on the same electrical panel, there should be no issue at all.

One final note, the cost is related to the available bandwidth they provide. The cheapest ones will probably be plenty for most people. The more expensive ones also have a plug, so you aren't losing the wall outlet.

One at best buy is: "NETGEAR - Powerline 2000 + Extra Outlet" That's a pretty good one. I apparently can't embed a link, but go to best buy and search for that. There are others, see what they have.

[biker1]

Based on what the OP posted, he has cat5e or cat5 cable in his walls.

Originally Posted by Malsua

That's not going to work. There are two reasons. The first being that phone wire is not ethernet cable. Ethernet cable is "Twisted pairs", and the reason they are twisted is because of electrical interference. Cat 3, cat 5, cat 5e, cat6 etc is essentially defined by the number of twists per inch. Phone cable usually has zero.

The second reason is that phone wires are joined all throughout the structure. The wires at any plug will have continuity at all plugs. Even if they used twisted pair drops throughout the structure(and they may have), there are a bunch of open ends which will act like antennae. That is no good. If it were to work, I suspect it would drop to the lowest possible speed the NIC can negotiate too.

The easiest solution in your case is powerline ethernet adapters. You can find these at Best Buy or online. You plugs these into an outlet, plug the ethernet cable from the computer to one and the router to a different one. They auto negotiate and provide a hybrid solution.

They use the electricity of your house to transmit the signal from one to the other. They work, I've installed them in a number of places over the years where WIFI signal was weak.

There are some considerations. First, they must be plugged into the wall. Plugging them into a surge strip will yield mixed results. It may or may not work, or if it works, it may be slow. Some surge strips clip noise out of the electric and this will affect the communication. It probably won't work at all if plugged into a UPS. They should be plugged straight into a wall outlet for best results. As long as the outlets are on the same electrical panel, there should be no issue at all.

One final note, the cost is related to the available bandwidth they provide. The cheapest ones will probably be plenty for most people. The more expensive ones also have a plug, so you aren't losing the wall outlet.

One at best buy is: "NETGEAR - Powerline 2000 + Extra Outlet" That's a pretty good one. I apparently can't embed a link, but go to best buy and search for that. There are others, see what they have.

[grumpy@turton.us]

Originally Posted by Engine12

Any idea what speeds you’re getting with the mesh ?

I also have an Eero mesh. I have 200 mb Xfinity service and on WiFi throughout my Zinnia I get 200 mb plus.

[Engine12]

How well does the mesh work with 1gig fiber optic ?

[M2inOR]

I'm going to third the suggestion for a mesh network. I have the TP-Link Deco system. Much better than a WiFi extender.

I have used the Deco for several years in my large Oregon home. First thing I installed in my Iris when I got to my Marsh Bend home. I have several Decos installed in the house for good WiFi; not only for the computers and tablets, but also our cell phones. We use WiFi calling on our Samsung and Apple phones. We installed a Deco near tv, in the kitchen near the lanai, and in the garage. This gives great performance. In addition, we have ethernet switches at the tv and office that plugs into the Deco for hardwired connections at those locations in the house.

Even though our home was prewired for cat6 cable, the Deco mesh network solution was easier than just putting a switch in the low voltage box in the garage.

An added benefit of the Deco system was that it also offered phishing protection. It stopped access to suspected malware websites.

I have several streaming devices: Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire. Ring doorbell, and Ecobee thermostat. In addition to the cable dvr, we also have a TiVo and TiVo Extender. Someday the outside webcam, security cams, and weather station will be installed.

I've been in the tech field for decades, so all this is second nature for me. I only have 100Mbps internet from Spectrum and it's working great for my needs. I just wish cable internet had faster upload speeds as I use the cloud for all backups.

I have one other gadget that might be useful for others - Panasonic cordless phones. This system has a Link-to-Cell feature that connects to 2 cell phones. This way, we can leave both our cell phones at the charging station and use cordless handsets in kitchen, office, and bedroom when calls come in. We don't have a landline. Yes, they work well, so we don't have to run to our cell phones when we are in another room.

I've also used power line networking. Works great in smaller home, not as well in larger homes.

Here is a link explaining mesh network technology.

Wireless mesh networks explained | PCWorld

I hope this helps.

[Villages Kahuna]

We also had a Lantana with exactly the same problem. After years of trying all kinds of things to get decent wi-fi speed in that front bedroom, I finally did what I should have done years ago. I went to Lowes and bought a roll of Ethernet (CAT 5) cable and two sets of wall plates and connection inserts. I hired a TV installer who had worked for us before to run the cable from where the Comcast cable entered the house, in the laundry room just inside the entry door from the garage, up through the attic and down to the wall in the front side of the dining area. It was an easy project given the structural design of the attic. It took him no more than 1/2 hour. He only charged me $25 for the project. I then had the wall jack necessary in the laundry room to plug in the Ethernet cable into the xFinity modem-router right next to the necessary electrical outlet, both next to each other in the laundry room.

But I went one step further and plugged a “mesh point” wi-fi extender system to the new centrally-located Ethernet outlet in the dining area.There are several kinds of mesh point systems available on Amazon or at Best Buy. Several are mentioned in replies to your original posting. The one I bought had a small base unit plugged in to the new Ethernet outlet in the dining area and two extenders, which I plugged into electrical outlets in the front bedroom and another just inside the sliding door to the lanai. There are several name branded mesh point systems like xFinity, eero, Google Netgear and Amazon and the one I bought online, an Amplify HD system. They all cost between $200-300 at the time, but are cheaper now.

After plugging your xFinity modem-router coming in from outside, you’ll need to set the xFinity modem-router to “bridge” the router part of the device. (Call xFinity or check online instructions to do this easy step, or order a service call). Then plug the outside line into the modem-router and into one end of your new Ethernet line. Then plug in the mesh point base in the dining area and you’re good to go. After installation I was getting well over 150 Mbps wi-fi through the house and even out on the lanai.

It was the best thing I ever did to eliminate the wi-fi frustrations you’re experiencing.

[sullinr]

I converted all the jacks to cat5 in my house with no problem. I used a 10/100 switch from the router to where the lines meet in the attic. That is where you need to cut the lines and add a rj45 ends to each line. Let me know if you need help.

[positiveinlife]

Converting my cat5e phone lines provided me with speeds above 100mbs . The cost of hardware was under $50. I see that a mesh router can cost $200-$300. and you may need more than one. Ethernet will not drop out or have interference problems.Yes mesh is easier but does not out perform.

[Rickanvic]

Originally Posted by Engine12

Any idea what speeds you’re getting with the mesh ?

My house in North Georgia is 3 stories. I decided to drop cable and go to streaming. My father-in-law lives in my lower level apartment with a laptop and three TVs. On our main floor we have 3 TVs and two computers. On our top floor we have two TVs and guest use laptops. I also have 5 cameras outside and a Ring doorbell. Needless to say my routers (I had 2) couldn't handle everything. My son told me to put in a deco mesh system. I ordered it from Amazon TP Link 3 pack. I think I paid about $179 for it. It was very easy to hook up I put one on each floor. I just ran the speedtest. I got 100.94 on the furthest away computer. I have Spectrum and pay for 100. I got 136.44 on the computer sitting on the desk next to the deco. I have one TV playing on the main floor while testing.

[Heyitsrick]

I'd recommend - as others have - a Mesh system. Just be careful of what you buy, if going that route. Some can be exorbitantly expensive with all kinds of home automation features, etc. You're really interested in extending wifi coverage, so for now, there's no reason for overkill on that score.

(One quick aside - others here have recommended "Powerline" systems. I've used them and they work well for me, but Powerline is a "your mileage may vary" proposition. Powerline ethernet works by connecting a base Powerline box into a wall outlet where your router is, and then connecting the base unit to your router. Then, you take another Powerline unit to another room and plug it into the wall, and connect its ethernet (or wifi, if it has wifi) to your far end device. What's "your mileage may vary"? Powerline systems require the base unit and remote unit(s) be on the same electrical grid or block in your home. If the rooms you're using are on separate electrical grids (probably not the right word), Powerline might work very slowly or not at all.)

If you get a Mesh system, you need to get one that has three units included. DON'T just buy a single "hub"- that's not going to help you at all. You need to get a three-unit system so you can place the hub where the internet connectivity comes into your house, and then put the other two units in other locations in the house (bedroom? lanai?).

Mesh is really a plug-and-play system, in essence. You normally use an included smartphone app to set these up. Plug in the hub, follow the instructions on the app (network name/password, etc.), then once that's done, move to the other areas and plug in those units. The phone app should detect these right away and configure them.

What's a "reasonable" Mesh system in terms of price? The TP-Link "Deco" Mesh system is $170 from Amazon now. (Note: There's also a "Deco PLUS" system that's more advanced - and more expensive - but I'd go with the baseline system right now just so you can try it out and see if MESH is going to work for you.) Some high-end Mesh systems can cost $300-$400 plus. So, to try Mesh to see if it's going to help you, I'd go with a highly-rated, reasonably-priced system.

TP-Link "Deco" Mesh System

If you want a primer on how Mesh works in your house, take a look at this video. You'll see it's really a case of connecting the base Mesh unit (aka "node" or "access point") where your internet service provider has brought internet into your home, configure it quickly with the smartphone app, then connect the other units in the "dead spot" areas of your home and let the smartphone app configure them, too.

[Malsua]

Originally Posted by biker1

If his house was built in 2009 then he almost certainly has cat5e or cat5 cable in the walls.The termination of the cat5 from the RJ-11 jacks is almost certainly in a phone block somewhere in his house. He should just remove the needed cat5 from the phone block and splice to the other cable as I indicated in my post.

Sure if you know how to punch down cables and have some idea where they originate from. I use a tone generator, think he's got one? If he knew how to do that he'd have done it already.

Granted he only needs to get the white/green-Blue and white/blue-green pairs correct. Wanna take odds on if he can manage it? Unless you know what you are looking at, the color codes on punchdown jacks don't make a lot of sense. Which one is the White/Orange? The sticker shows it in 2 places. A or B? The same for every color. It's really easy to get wrong.

Mesh is easy, sorta, if you get the right system. A power line adapter is the easiest. Plug it in two places, connect cables, done.

I'd start with replacing his Linksys router, the issue might not be "bad wifi signal" but crappy router. A VERY common problem these days.

[biker1]

It is not rocket science. Anybody can do this. Punching down is beyond easy. The stencils on the jacks I use are quite clear. I already told him to use the "A" stencil. The biggest issue is figuring out which cat5s to splice together, as I already indicated. Since he asked how to do this, I responded with how to do it. Just because he hasn't done it already doesn't mean he can't do it. If you reread my first post you will also see that I said the easiest thing to do would be to install a mesh network.

Originally Posted by Malsua

Sure if you know how to punch down cables and have some idea where they originate from. I use a tone generator, think he's got one? If he knew how to do that he'd have done it already.

Granted he only needs to get the white/green-Blue and white/blue-green pairs correct. Wanna take odds on if he can manage it? Unless you know what you are looking at, the color codes on punchdown jacks don't make a lot of sense. Which one is the White/Orange? The sticker shows it in 2 places. A or B? The same for every color. It's really easy to get wrong.

Mesh is easy, sorta, if you get the right system. A power line adapter is the easiest. Plug it in two places, connect cables, done.

I'd start with replacing his Linksys router, the issue might not be "bad wifi signal" but crappy router. A VERY common problem these days.

[champion6]

As has already been suggested, use a TP-Link Powerline Ethernet Adapter for your wife's computer. This is one model that is available:
Robot Check
There are other models. I have used this in my house with success.

[islandtiempo]

You don't need to go through this difficulty. Purchase a mesh network. Google Deco from Tplink. We had all kinds of connection problems, until we installed it. We have fabulous Wi-Fi even outside. Deco is easy to set up.

[ron32162]

99% of the time its the cheep cable modem routers all of the cable company's use and their go to saying for an excuse is the signal cant penetrate the walls or something like . The truth is the modems are controlled by the internet company and are dialed back to a slower speed so they can put more people online in that area and blame it on your walls or distance from the router. Go to best buy buy a router mine is a nighthawk router for 189.00 and is comparable with xfinity,spectrum and cox. after hooking up its easy call your cable provider and they will connect your router to the service via phone. now I get the speeds 200 mgb im paying for and my firestick works without buffering I still have the same walls comcast was telling me was the problem. They do tell you everything to keep you from doing this like we cannot work on equipment we dont rent you no problem get a warranty like 15.00 with your modem for 3 years just take it back and bestbuy will give you another one. The Cable company wanted to increase my bill instead of taking off the 15.00 it will go up 20.00 a month because the contract included the modem they rented you and your no longer will be in that special I just said cancel the extra hbo that I never watch and that took care of that im still at the same price without hbo but internet is at 200mgb's and im getting NO buffering on the firestick and amazon prime takes the place of hbo