I am on TPG's NBN but my routers connectivity is terrible.

[Bean]

I recently moved into my new home and joined TPG's NBN 100 where they gave my an Archer VR1600 modem. My house is a 2 storey and the modem is fine downstairs, with my 2.4Ghz wifi reaching 40mb/s and 5.0Ghz reaching 80 mb/s quite consistently, however the connectivity to upstairs is a joke. the 2.4Ghz wifi barely manages to reach 20mb (with a budget wifi extender, without it we are looking at less than 10mb) at good times and the 5g is non-existent upstairs. My home is not that large, with only about 150m^2 of living area and the walking distance from upstairs to my router is only about 5m. 

I have tried moving the router to different parts of my downstairs (not upstairs yet as I do not have an ethernet cable long enough but also it would look extremely ugly to run a cable that far in my house) but it has not improved any results. I was wondering if any people had a similar problem and what TPG can do to help fix this. From looking at other threads, it seems this router is not that good but it is the only one that TPG provides. I do not believe my situation is that desperate to warrant a wifi extender system (e.g. mesh or powerline) as my house isn't that large. I hope TPG can give appropriate advice and solutions to this problem and I appreciate all responses about this matter. Thanks in advance!

[BasilDV]

Hi @Bean

Welcome to the Community!

We've created some articles that will help you improve your home network. Here are the links:

• Easy Steps to Improve Wi-Fi Connection In Your Home
• Wireless Channel on your modem - what is it and why should I change it?

If you are still experiencing issues with the WiFi connection upstairs, then we recommend for you to get an extender or a mesh system to boost your WiFi network.

BasilDV

[Bean]

I have tried some of these solutions but they have not really worked effectively. I don't think TPG should be suggesting additional WIFI systems if the router they provide struggles to reach a 5m radius 

[Walzz]

@Bean I think you need to lower your expectations regarding the TPG router. Although you are getting excellent WiFi speeds on the ground floor, coverage upstairs is greatly dependant on the building construction of your home. I recently installed a ceiling mounted Ubiquity wifi access point in the upstairs hall of my son's two story house. This provides good coverage over the entire house because it has timber internal walls and floor which the WiFi penetrates without too much signal loss.

I installed the same model Ubiquity AP in my house in the upstairs hall and it provides reasonable coverage to upstairs rooms but fairly poor downstairs because all internal walls are rendered brick with concrete slab floors. To provide good coverage across the entire house I have three WiFi access points. One upstairs, and two downstairs in selected spots. These are all interconnected by a gigabit wired network.

My preference is for a wired network but as you don't want to run any cabling, my suggestion is to use a powerline extender between your TPG router and an additional router upstairs. That should improve things quite a bit. Better still you can get powerline extenders combined with WiFi access point. (Much cheaper than buying individual hardware, and a lot neater)

The TP-Link TL-WPA4220 looks like it might suit your needs.
https://www.ijk.com.au/branch/ijk/product/149364p28_530/TL-WPA4220-KIT.html 

[Bean]

Thanks @Walzz 

I guess I am just a bit disappointed at the poor range of the router but I have looked at powerline adaptors as a solution. Would you mind answering some quick questions about the product you linked?

- With this adaptor, I know that one has to be connected to the router by an ethernet cable but with the other adaptor which you can place in any powerpoint within the house, will that adaptor rebroadcast the network around the router at the same speed (without the need of an ethernet cable connected to the device being used)? And if yes, does this happen under the same WiFi name or a different one?

- Also is this product 5g compatible? 

Thanks in advance for your help. 

[Walzz]

@Bean  It should broadcast upstairs at high speed and has a clone feature that synchronises the SSID (WiFi name) and security key between the two. It is only single band (2.4GHz) but operates on 802.11n protocol with a maximum theoretical speed of 300Mb/s.  As for all WiFi links, speed gradually drops off as signal gets weaker.

Click the link in my earlier post to view the product brochure - all the info is there

[MichelleVic]

Hi

experiencing exactly the same issue. Interested to see if you found a solution? do you recommend that it's easier just to change Internet service providers? ADSL2 had much better coverage with TPG than the free NBN wi fi modern they provided to convince us to stay with TPG.

in Melbourne lockdown trying to work without internet because the room I'm in is 10 metres away from the TPG NBN modern. 😕😟😷

[Ahra_G]

Hi @MichelleVic, 

Recent update indicated that a tech appointment has been booked tomorrow, 18 FEB 2021 between 1-5PM. 

Please ensure to reply to the SMS should you have further queries. 

We apologise for the inconvenience. 

-Ahra_G

[MichelleVic]

Yes, and tonight I'm using TPG mobile data from a personal hotspot on my phone via TPG mobile data to type this message about 15 metres away from the Brand new free TPG NBN wi fi connection because the range is so poor..🙄🤣

Just yesterday, my old TPG adsl 2 + had a better range and I'm regretting upgrading. How ironic! Hello alternative internet provider I think.

Glad I didn't lock myself into a contract on this one. Will keep you posted on how much money I will need to spend on boosters extra cabling or better modem etc after the TPG tech contractor comes tomorrow. Might be cheaper to move to Aussie Broadband which friends recommend as a better cheaper telco. Will let you know! 

🙄