For the last 7 years the WiFi reception in my home has been very poor. I am curious how others have gone about troubleshooting and solving WiFi reception issues.
More details: I pay good $$$ for a business-grade fibre (FTTP) connection (500 Mbps down / 200 Mbps up). I have a direct Ethernet connection to my main work computer, and from there I do actually get these advertised speeds and low latencies (a few milliseconds) to my local AWS data centre, and life is good. But whenever my wife or I try to use our laptops (both Mac and Windows) or iPhones in the home, the WiFi reception is intermittent and often unusably slow from most rooms. For example, here's what I see right now on my MacBook Pro (2021):
```
$ networkQuality -s
==== SUMMARY ====
Uplink capacity: 0.000 bps
Downlink capacity: 349.330 Kbps
Uplink Responsiveness: Low (10 RPM)
Downlink Responsiveness: Low (18 RPM)
Idle Latency: 220.875 milliseconds
```
In other words, the downlink capacity is 1000 times worse with WiFi than with Ethernet.
I have tried a DLink COVR mesh network with multiple access points (and am using it now), but WiFi speeds in most rooms are woeful either way. The house is not large (130 m^2 or 1400 sq feet). I've tried some WiFi scanning tools and there's no significant WiFi interference from the neighbours (it's a low-density area). Signal strength to my nearest COVR mesh router is apparently -59 dBm, with a SNR or 36.
Perhaps the exterior fibro walls are to blame (good old asbestos cement sheeting) but that's just guessing; WiFi speeds are often terrible even from rooms adjacent to the router with only flimsy interior walls in between.
What I really want is a recommendation for a systematic approach to identifying the real cause of the abysmal WiFi, along with some troubleshooting tools (preferably open source). Or some success stories about how you overcame crap home WiFi!
More details: I pay good $$$ for a business-grade fibre (FTTP) connection (500 Mbps down / 200 Mbps up). I have a direct Ethernet connection to my main work computer, and from there I do actually get these advertised speeds and low latencies (a few milliseconds) to my local AWS data centre, and life is good. But whenever my wife or I try to use our laptops (both Mac and Windows) or iPhones in the home, the WiFi reception is intermittent and often unusably slow from most rooms. For example, here's what I see right now on my MacBook Pro (2021):
``` $ networkQuality -s ==== SUMMARY ==== Uplink capacity: 0.000 bps Downlink capacity: 349.330 Kbps Uplink Responsiveness: Low (10 RPM) Downlink Responsiveness: Low (18 RPM) Idle Latency: 220.875 milliseconds ```
In other words, the downlink capacity is 1000 times worse with WiFi than with Ethernet.
I have tried a DLink COVR mesh network with multiple access points (and am using it now), but WiFi speeds in most rooms are woeful either way. The house is not large (130 m^2 or 1400 sq feet). I've tried some WiFi scanning tools and there's no significant WiFi interference from the neighbours (it's a low-density area). Signal strength to my nearest COVR mesh router is apparently -59 dBm, with a SNR or 36.
Perhaps the exterior fibro walls are to blame (good old asbestos cement sheeting) but that's just guessing; WiFi speeds are often terrible even from rooms adjacent to the router with only flimsy interior walls in between.
What I really want is a recommendation for a systematic approach to identifying the real cause of the abysmal WiFi, along with some troubleshooting tools (preferably open source). Or some success stories about how you overcame crap home WiFi!