Unstable/weak internet - Setup issue or is it my old router?

K

karthik316_1999

In the zone
Hi all,

After shifting to a new residence, my Wifi on a 100 Mbps ACT fibernet connection seems to be unstable with disconnects now and then.. I'm also unable to attend video conference calls where-in the camera gets paused (even with just 2 or 3 participants having their camera ON).. I would like to know whether it is my new setup that is causing this issue or is it my almost 10 year old router..

My networking knowledge is very limited and I shall try my best to explain the issue since the setup at both my previous & new residence was done by the ACT installation personnel

Router Details
Old Router purchased in 2015 - Tp link TL-MR3420 V2
*www.tp-link.com/in/home-networking/5g-4g-router/tl-mr3420

New Router purchased in 2020 - Tp link Archer C6 V2
*www.tp-link.com/in/home-networking/wifi-router/archer-c6/v2

Old setup at my previous residence: (Single floor apartment with concrete walls)

Incoming fibernet cable connected to the WAN port of MR3420
Ethernet cable from LAN port of MR3420 connected to the "LAN port" of Archer C6

The work setup was very near to the C6 router connected via WiFi and was stable..

New setup at my current residence: (G+1 floored individual house with brick walls)

Incoming fibernet cable connected to the WAN port of Archer C6 in the ground floor
Ethernet cable from LAN port of Archer C6 connected to the "WAN port" of MR3420 in the 1st floor

The work setup is in the 1st floor very near to the MR3420 router yet experiencing WiFi connectivity issues as highlighted above. Connection via ethernet is not an option since I need mobility..

The installation personnel asked me to replace the MR3420 router in order to solve the issue (he said the WiFi indicator light on the router should be constantly lit but it is blinking continuously on my router). I wasn't convinced since it has always been blinking in my old residence as well.

I need guidance on how to get this Wifi issue resolved.. If buying a new dual band router to replace the MR3420 router is the only solution, I'm afraid that would mean I need to keep switching between 4 different Wifi networks within the house ! (2 in the ground and 2 in the 1st floor) I was told to connect to 5Ghz when nearby the router and the 2.5Ghz for when I was away from the router..

Thanks in advance for all the help !
 
Gollum

Gollum

Collector
Test your setup with just the Archer. Bring your laptop/desktop downstairs for testing. If you don't get any drops in connection then Archer's wifi and your new internet connection is OK.
Now swap Archer for old router and do the same test.
If you get the issue. Old router=bad/replace
If you don't get the issue. LAN cable=bad/replace
 
OP
K

karthik316_1999

In the zone
Instead of bringing the work setup downstairs, can I do the test by swapping the router's position? (Old router in the ground floor and the Archer in the 1st floor)
If so, do I need to change any settings within the routers?
Also, I do not use any LAN cable at all.. The office setup is connected via Wifi only..
 
OP
K

karthik316_1999

In the zone
LAN cable isn't an option unfortunately since I need mobility with the laptop moving around the space...

Is it true that the Wifi light on the router needs to be constantly ON without blinking?

Also, what's the difference between connecting the primary router to the secondary router via the secondary router's WAN port and LAN port? Is one type of connection stable than the other?
 
patkim

patkim

Cyborg Agent
Am not a networking expert but I suggest a few things.

I am not too sure if for a second router LAN to WAN is recommended. To setup second router as an AP the config I am aware of is that you connect from LAN of router 1 to LAN of router 2. I do not know exactly what functionality is offered by MR3420. To my knowledge LAN to WAN is followed when you setup Bridge Mode.

Who did this home networking setup? Did you set it up or the ISP guy did it for you?
If MR3420 has specific AP mode you can use that, else there are guides on the net that tell you how to correctly configure a second router as AP, you can refer to them and setup second router as AP.

Some routers incorporate blinking WiFi indicator to indicate that WiFi is ON + it’s transmitting data to/from connected clients. This varies from router to router.
Try setting up fixed & separate channels on both for 2.4G. Preferably 1, 6 or 11 as they are non-overlapping in this frequency range. A router may offer dual band WiFi but it’s not compulsory to use both. You can keep both on 2.4G and ignore 5G for the time being. Keep things simple to begin with. Your MR3420 seems to have only 100Mbps ports, you won’t get any faster internet than 100Mbps when hooked to it. 5G might just bit improve LAN file transfer.

If required consider factory reset MR3420. Do a network reset on your Windows laptop.
 
OP
K

karthik316_1999

In the zone
The setup was done by the ISP guy.. I did tell him about my previous LAN to LAN setup but he said they usually follow the LAN to WAN setup only..

The channel on both the routers was set to 'Auto'.. Let me change this to '1' on the Archer and '6' on the old router and observe..
 
Gollum

Gollum

Collector
karthik316_1999 said:
LAN cable isn't an option unfortunately since I need mobility with the laptop moving around the space...

Is it true that the Wifi light on the router needs to be constantly ON without blinking?

Also, what's the difference between connecting the primary router to the secondary router via the secondary router's WAN port and LAN port? Is one type of connection stable than the other?
Click to expand...
Didn't read my response?
I said connect the 2 routers with Lan. Do you plan to move the routers constantly?
 
OP
K

karthik316_1999

In the zone
Gollum said:
Didn't read my response?
I said connect the 2 routers with Lan. Do you plan to move the routers constantly?
Click to expand...
oops.. did you mean connect the 2 routers in the LAN to LAN configuration.. I thought you suggested that I connect the computers to the router via a LAN cable instead of using WiFi..
I do not move the routers around but the laptop needs to be moved around the house anytime..
Now that you suggest that I change the way the 2 routers are connected, do I need to change any settings within the router configuration page?
 
TheSloth

TheSloth

The Slowest One
Are you from Chennai. I am also facing similar problem with ACT. I took another internet connection from Airtel and facing same issue there also. Now I just switch between wifi networks whenever there is a connection drop but sadly i get often drop from the meetings.
 
Gollum

Gollum

Collector
karthik316_1999 said:
oops.. did you mean connect the 2 routers in the LAN to LAN configuration.. I thought you suggested that I connect the computers to the router via a LAN cable instead of using WiFi..
I do not move the routers around but the laptop needs to be moved around the house anytime..
Now that you suggest that I change the way the 2 routers are connected, do I need to change any settings within the router configuration page?
Click to expand...

As I understand, act just gives you a lan cable wan input which will go to your downstairs router. In this case, connect the new 20m+ cat6 lan cable to your primary routers yellow lan port.
Connect the other end of this lan cable to the blue lan (wan) port of your upstairs router.
Go to your upstairs router settings and de-select repeater mode. Else just rest the upstairs router and set a new wifi password. It's designed to take wan input from the blue lan port and give output via wifi and the yellow lan ports.
Connect your pc to the upstairs router. You will now get full speed and no drops.

Another thing to check is your pc wifi card. Realtek wifi 6 and above cards are notorious for wifi issues.
 
OP
K

karthik316_1999

In the zone
Gollum said:
As I understand, act just gives you a lan cable wan input which will go to your downstairs router. In this case, connect the new 20m+ cat6 lan cable to your primary routers yellow lan port.
Connect the other end of this lan cable to the blue lan (wan) port of your upstairs router.
Go to your upstairs router settings and de-select repeater mode. Else just rest the upstairs router and set a new wifi password. It's designed to take wan input from the blue lan port and give output via wifi and the yellow lan ports.
Connect your pc to the upstairs router. You will now get full speed and no drops.

Another thing to check is your pc wifi card. Realtek wifi 6 and above cards are notorious for wifi issues.
Click to expand...

This is exactly how the current configuration already is ! where-in the Wifi is unstable..

I guess its time I let go of my old router and invest in a new one to solve the issue ..

Can I get recommendations for a good WiFi6 router from tp-link?

The shortlisted models include Archer AX10 and AX12

Could anyone help me understand the actual difference between the two apart from the no. of LAN ports please..
 
Last edited:
patkim

patkim

Cyborg Agent
Routers sometimes do go bad, I am not denying that, however now that you have made up your mind to buy a new router, I suggest you try some more things with current setup to eliminate any other lurking variable.

  • Factory reset (Hard reset) the router-2 and set up again correctly
  • See the online guides how to set a router as access point and follow that
  • Do a network reset on your Windows Laptop. Create a restore point before you do that!
  • If you are using manufacturer drivers for your network card on your Windows, uninstall that and see if the default Windows inbox drivers are working fine or not.
  • If there’s a new Firmware release for your router, consider flashing that
  • For a day considering hooking to first router, it may be a bit inconvenient if your work setup is on first floor, but try that and see if the connection is stable, if not may be it’s the laptop that need to be checked. If not possible, then when not working, just hook to first router and play some long YT videos HD and above and see if it’s stable or not.
  • Boot your laptop thru Live Linux say Mint, see if you can hook to router-2 and then play some long YT videos HD and above and see if it’s stable or not.
  • When WiFi disconnects, just check if Windows has registered any event in Event Viewer.
  • If you work for a company with IT department and they have provided the laptop, do talk to them for a possible solution assuming something is wrong with networking on laptop.
  • How about any other devices hooked to router 2, like your phone?


Anyhow as far the two shortlisted routers are concerned, you can simply copy the specs from TP-Link site and put them side by side and compare. A few years ago I guess TP-Link site offered comparison page but I don’t find it anywhere. I guess AX12 additionally supports TP-Links One-Mesh, which is not available in AX10.

*www.tp-link.com/in/home-networking/wifi-router/archer-ax10/#specifications
*www.tp-link.com/in/home-networking/wifi-router/archer-ax12/#specifications

 
OP
K

karthik316_1999

In the zone
Thanks much for your response :)

The 2nd router in the 1st floor (the old one) was restored to factory settings by the installation personnel at the time of obtaining the connection just about a couple of weeks back.. Further, I have verified that the firmware in use is the latest one offered by tp-link.. Moreover, looks like this model (TL-MR3420) does not support the access point mode as per this community posting..
*community.tp-link.com/en/home/forum/topic/692318

A network reset / driver update / booting into a different OS to check are all unfortunately not feasible since there are admin restrictions on the company owned laptop.. However, I can say that I haven't experienced Wi-fi drop issues on the same laptop when using other WI-fi networks outside the home.. (at office or at relatives place etc)

Just for the sake of testing, I connected my old personal laptop to the 2nd router via WiFi and played a HD YT video that seemed to be ok at first but when I try to seek the video, there is a buffering of 5 secs on each seek.. The same was the result when I connected the laptop via LAN cable as well.. Did a speed test on the laptop (via LAN cable) and could get about 75/80 on my 100 mbps connection.. I did the same test by connecting my desktop via LAN to the 2nd router and could get around 90 mbps.. The HD YT video played better with no buffering when seeked.. Maybe its just that my 10 yr old personal laptop isn't able to compete with the desktop that was recently built.. The office laptop is a relatively new one but there is no way for me to do a speedtest/video playback test on it..

As far as other devices like mobile that I connect to the 2nd router's WiFi, I'm not happy with the performance either.. In fact, when I connect my mobile to the 1st router's Wifi when still in the 1st floor.. the connection is comparatively better I must say..!

Looking at the specifications, it's the AX10 that supports One-Mesh which the more recent AX12 does not..
 
Last edited:
patkim

patkim

Cyborg Agent
Many routers do not support AP mode, but there's a very simple procedure using which any router can be put into AP mode. (At a very basic level, you have to assign a static IP in same subnet but different IP than main router and disable DHCP on it) If you want to check, you can try that. There are plenty of guides on the net.
Since this is office laptop, discuss the matter with office IT also.
Asus are expensive, TP-Link are mid range and in general popular.
 
patkim

patkim

Cyborg Agent
Basically the config I suggested LAN to LAN for AP mode, is most widely used and a known config when the second router does not support AP mode thru its firmware. I have done that numerous times and it has never failed. So now that you have almost made up your mind to go for a new router, why not try that and see how it behaves.
You can refer to online guides but in short the process is like this
1. Note the IP address of first router (say 192.168.1.1) and it's DHCP range is say 192.168.1.10 - 192.168.1.255 so 192.168.1.2 is available for second router
2. Disconnect from Router 1 WiFi, Now Connect to second router by LAN port using your PC. FIRST setup your WiFi on it say for 2.4 Ghz. Ensure separate channels for 2.4Ghz on both. and set its IP as 192.168.1.2 and disable DHCP totally. Save. Now since DHCP is disable by default you will lose access to router 2 by default.
3. Now connect router 1 & 2 by LAN to LAN. Restart both. Now when you hook on to Router 2 it will just act as relay from 1.
Now when router 2 is connected to router 1 you will be able to access it admin console by 192.168.1.2

Here's some sample YT Video *www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MT0O2--iKM

If that also does not work, may be it's time for a new router. Also I suggest since your laptop is company owned, discuss the issue with the IT team, just in case something is wrong in the Windows networking.
 
Last edited:
OP
K

karthik316_1999

In the zone
It seems I can use the same WiFi SSID on both the routers when the 2nd router is configured in AP mode.. Is this correct?

If so, how will I know if the devices are connected to the 1st router or the 2nd one?
 
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