Telmex fiber modem wifi signal strength

[RickS]

Any personal experience about the wifi signal outside. For example can I/how far may I expect to pick up a good signal out on the patio maybe 100' away? Through a sliding glass door, not a thick wall.

Gracias 

 

[chicamysterious]

It depends on what type of router. Internal antenna or external.

It also depends on placement.

I have found that the rebar in the concrete can even effect the signal.

You also can login to your router and put strength at Maximum.

192.168.1.254 is the address you put in the address bar and you will be presented with logging in to your router. They come from the factory at medium strength. There are many settings and pages. You can rename the wifi to broadcast HOME or SMITHS instead of Infinitum##### You can change the password. If you ever forget it just reset the router. (The tiny button) it will revert to factory settings. You can also setup multiple wifis. It can broadcast several names. Each with its own password. Great for guests. You will see when you login to router and look around the pages.

You can also set auto channel. This will help it avoid any other routers nearby using the same channel.

You can also buy an after market router with Four External Antennas

[sm1mex]

Maybe give it a try and see how your signal is. Our living room would not pick up a signal from around the corner in the office where the modem is. Bought a 4 antenna booster from Steren. Sits on an end table. Strong signal. 

[Whipstock]

I had a HUGE drop in range when I went from Telmex's ADSL to their fiber optic router. Multiple friends have said the same.

2.4 gives much more range than 5.0. I can still stream off of the 2.4 speed. Telmex must have different boxes, because when I am at one of my friends, the 2.4 option isn't available. 🤔

I've got an external router plugged into output 1 that vastly increased the distance.

I've been told to only use output one if doing this. I do not recall why; but it works.

[Floradude]

I have trouble getting the signal in my bedroom.

[Alpha1]

A mesh system will do the job. I use:LinkSys Mesh AC1300

Others are available...

https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-wi-fi-mesh-networking-kits/

[RickS]

Thanks all.  I am aware of the possibilities if one adds a good router or mesh to the mix. I should have stated that I was asking solely about the capabilities/strength of the 'new' stand alone Telmex fiber modem's wifi.

Thanks again....

[chicamysterious]

23 hours ago, Whipstock said:

I had a HUGE drop in range when I went from Telmex's ADSL to their fiber optic router. Multiple friends have said the same.

2.4 gives much more range than 5.0. I can still stream off of the 2.4 speed. Telmex must have different boxes, because when I am at one of my friends, the 2.4 option isn't available. 🤔

I've got an external router plugged into output 1 that vastly increased the distance.

I've been told to only use output one if doing this. I do not recall why; but it works.

Everyone should login to their routers. They come from Telmex at Medium Signal Strength. You enter an IP address and it access your router. Hundreds of settings one being signal strength and another set channel to auto. If it detects for example your neighbors router it will select a different channel to help with interference. I believe the router page to login is 192.168.1.254. You enter this in your address bar. Like where you enter telmex.com

[Whipstock]

1 minute ago, chicamysterious said:

Everyone should login to their routers. They come from Telmex at Medium Signal Strength. You enter an IP address and it access your router. Hundreds of settings one being signal strength and another set channel to auto. If it detects for example your neighbors router it will select a different channel to help with interference. I believe the router page to login is 192.168.1.254. You enter this in your address bar. Like where you enter telmex.com

Even set to maximum,  the new routers just don't have the same strength as the old ADSL ones.

[chicamysterious]

1 minute ago, Whipstock said:

Even set to maximum,  the new routers just don't have the same strength as the old ADSL ones.

Most of the new routers I have seen do not have external antennas.

[Lou Quillio]

I simply don't rely on ISP gear whatsoever. I only want a dumb pipe from them, and my home network is formed by my own networking gear.

Likewise, WRT wifi, I don't rely on my wifi points to effectively mesh, and certainly don't get involved with snake-oil "extenders."

Each of my three wifi points gets its own wired (ethernet) backhaul. Mesh is meant for stick-built northern homes, but Mexican construction (ladrilla, concreto, y acero) and mesh networks simply don't mix. It took some effort and a bit of money to build the network, but at my house everything needing a wireless or wired connection just works, even for streaming video.

Note my mention of "backhaul," above. Not only does each wifi point not rely on a wifi mesh connection to handle my requests (like clicking a link, starting a video, etc.), the responses travel back to the wifi point over ethernet. Only the last few meters are wifi. Fast, fast, fast.

In my experience, getting norte home network performance in a Mexican house requires pulling some wires. The alternative is endlessly sifting through anecdotal advice on message boards. 😉

LQ

 

[RickS]

Lou, what you say about Mexican homes, with their thick 'concrete' walls as opposed to NOB stick built homes, is obviously true. But not everyone here is prepared to do what you have done vis a vie ethernet wiring throughout. And you are a 'pro' whereas most folks are neophytes. 

I had, in a very large concrete home, good success installing a Google Mesh system. I did take care to place the 3 'slave' cubes as best I could with respect to walls vs the base unit. My speed tests/ping in all portions of that large house are very acceptable. 

As always, YMMV

 

[ibarra]

We have 3 TPlink mesh units. House is 2 story with concrete walls hindering direct service from main fiber unit.  We are able to get service everywhere in our house and yard.  Averaging 51 Mbps.

[Lou Quillio]

7 hours ago, RickS said:

As always, YMMV

Yes, certainly.

I mention all of this because because home networking gear -- whether from one's ISP or personally owned -- is documented for the stick-built context. The performance you can expect, where to position mesh points, and so on does not anticipate interior brick walls. Same for information one finds on the web.

Here's a typical case where that matters:

7 hours ago, ibarra said:

... able to get service everywhere in our house and yard.  Averaging 51 Mbps.

In general, requests are lightweight and responses are heavy. Clicking a link, for example, just requests whatever's at a URL. But the response is more likely a heavy web page, a video stream, etc.

To say that your wifi coverage is good because you get 51 Mbps only tells us it's easy to make that lightweight request. The heavier response of a web page or video must travel back to you over approximately half of that 51 Mbps wifi signal, which is janky, and is also still listening for other requests you might make.

In short, "51 Mbps" is misleading. "I don't understand why my video is buffering, Lou. I have 51 Mbps." Actually, you don't. You're believing in mesh magic, but mesh ain't magical.

In a house made of two-by-fours and drywall, that "51 Mbps" isn't so big of a lie. In a Mexican house, it's practically meaningless.

When you wire your wifi points, they can use the full throughput you buy from your ISP, and things go swimmingly.

If your mesh setup works well for you Lakeside, that's great. But in these parts it's always best practice to use access points that accept an ethernet input (as well as mesh), and pull ethernet to them.

Here's what my setup looks like:

If I didn't run ethernet to my access points, they would try to mesh instead, and would say Wireless instead of Wired.

LQ