I share a house with a few other people and unfortunately I have basically zero control over where the router is.
It’s downstairs near the front of the house, while my room is upstairs at the opposite end. There’s also already a WiFi repeater but I’m not allowed to move that either.
Browsing is mostly okay, but gaming is rough and Discord calls randomly turn robotic or cut out. Ping usually starts around 70–80ms and can jump way higher once everyone else is home.
I know Ethernet would probably be ideal, but running a cable all the way through the house may not go over well.
Anything else worth trying before I give up?
If there’s any way to get a cable closer to your room, even if it doesn’t go directly to your PC, I’d use it for another access point. That gives you good WiFi where you actually need it without moving the main router.
@GardenGuardian44 I might be able to get a cable to the upstairs hallway. Getting it all the way into my room would be harder.
@smart_fish That’s still useful. A wired AP in the hallway could be a massive improvement compared with trying to receive the downstairs router through half the house.
Download a Wi-Fi analyzer — check out Netspot for Windows/Mac/Android. Your goal is to check for free channels that aren’t so crowded by neighbors. If you’re on 5 GHz , try enabling DFS channels if your router can handle them. And if 5 GHz doesn’t work at all, try switching to 2.4 GHz : yes, your ping will be worse (latency will be lower), but your range will be better, which might even improve your roaming experience.
@SignalHunter95 I honestly don’t even know which band I’m connected to most of the time. Router uses one name for everything.
@smart_fish Yeah, definitely check that first. Otherwise you’re changing things blind.
Long Ethernet cable. It’s also the answer that works.
Do you have coax outlets downstairs and near your room?
If yes, look into MoCA. You can use the existing coax as the wired link, then either plug your PC in or add an AP upstairs.
@Night_Owl Actually there is a coax jack in my room from an old TV setup. Didn’t know you could use that for networking.
@smart_fish Yep. Worth checking whether the cabling is connected properly, but if it is, that’s probably the option I’d investigate before wireless mesh.
Mesh is another possibility, but don’t expect it to automatically fix gaming latency. If the new node itself has to talk wirelessly through several walls back to the router, you’ve still got a wireless bottleneck. Placement matters a lot.