WIFI signal weak

[brad225]

In our home there are places that WIFI is weak. One of them being my listening room. My iPad drops its signal to other equipment at times.

We are on the ill fated Frontier. I reached out to them and they said there was nothing else they could do.
Our router is an Aris NVG468MQ and according to Frontier is the newest product they offer.

I purchased a NetGear Orbi system and attempted to set it up. The Frontier router will not connect with the Orbi using the same WIFI system name and password even though Orbi is made to work that way.
I don't want 2 different WIFI system running in the house. I have read that Frontier units won't allow extender Mesh systems to connect.

Any suggestions what to try?

Thanks
Brad

[jmusica]

Don’t use the Frontier wifi. Turn that off, or ignore it, and set up a separate/new wifi network that supports extenders or mesh (eero, Google, etc etc).

Fwiw I have FIOS and don’t use the wifi they provide. I can’t recall whether I had them just disable it, or if I got a modem/router without it. I use Google with 1 extender, and it’s ok. If I were starting over I might go with a different brand, I haven’t been too fond of the Google one.

[pweg]

Try ubiquiti amplifi mesh system. This plugs into the arris and can be expanded all over the house with mesh points.

I use it in my house and works perfectly. Just about to upgrade to the alien version.

[brad225]

Don’t use the Frontier wifi. Turn that off, or ignore it, and set up a separate/new wifi network that supports extenders or mesh (eero, Google, etc etc).

Fwiw I have FIOS and don’t use the wifi they provide. I can’t recall whether I had them just disable it, or if I got a modem/router without it. I use Google with 1 extender, and it’s ok. If I were starting over I might go with a different brand, I haven’t been too fond of the Google one.

Do you have TV through Frontier? Without the router functioning there is no guide provided for TV service. The modem is built into the OLN outside where the fiber conversion is done so what you are saying makes sense. I just need to figure out how to get the guide still.

Thanks, Brad

[brad225]

Try ubiquiti amplifi mesh system. This plugs into the arris and can be expanded all over the house with mesh points.

I use it in my house and works perfectly. Just about to upgrade to the alien version.

From what I could find. The Alien is plugged in via ethernet cable and I would input the ip address of my frontier router. Do you have an Arris on Frontier.

This looks like a foolproof product as long as that is all I need to do is input an IP address.

They are more expensive but the ease of install would be worth the cost.

Thanks, Brad

[brad225]

Time will tell if this works.
I actually found someone in tech support at Frontier that after finding I was not going to pay rent on an extender/mesh system, gave me information.

He said they use eero Pro 6 system. The only real requirement is that it must be a Gigabit system.

I'm going to give it a try. Amazon owns eero so I will definitely be able to return it.

I will post whether it is plug and play (after adding the current ip address) as the tech says.

[brad225]

I installed the eero Pro 6 system with 3 devices. The install was as simple as I could have hoped.
Download the app with instructions to my phone and turn off the wifi on my phone.

Plug in the first unit to the router and to power.
It found the router and I put in the name and password and it connected.

I told me to go locate the next module. Plugged that into power and it found the router and sinked.

The 3rd unit was just as easy.

I'm stunned it all worked as I was told.

[Bart001]

Do you have TV through Frontier? Without the router functioning there is no guide provided for TV service. The modem is built into the OLN outside where the fiber conversion is done so what you are saying makes sense. I just need to figure out how to get the guide still.

Thanks, Brad

The right advice is not to not use the router at all, but just to turn off the router's wifi and plug a third-party wifi router into it for much improved home wifi coverage.

With Verizon FiOS, too, you must use the Verizon router if you have their cable tv (absent other work-arounds that are too complicated to mention here), but you can plug external hardware into their router for your wifi network.

[Jack]

Just set their combination device into Bridge mode then plug the first Eero Pro 6 unit into the Frontier router's Ethernet port. Then go through the set-up process again for Eero.

[brad225]

Can someone give me details on how to do the bridge adjustment on the Frontier router?

If I do this does the name and password stay the same?

[Jack]

Brad

You're going to have to log into the Arris Router through Frontier and change it to Bridge Mode in the software setup.

How to Change Your Wi-Fi Network Name and Password | Frontier.com.

[brad225]

Thanks Jack, It says nothing about changing the bridge mode.

I understand very little about all this. Why does bridging them make the signal better?

[Jack]

In their terms Bridge Mode means turning off the Frontier unit's own wifi. So your not bridging them together you're stopping them from interfering with each other. I had the same type of Arris modem with Comcast and there was a setting in the setup to turn Bridge Mode off and on. You may have to get their people to walk you through it if you don't find it in the online menu. One of their "online" FAQ said you can't Bridge it if you have their TV or Phone but don't think that is true as I did it for years with Comcast and at the time had both phone and TV. But it is in the online menu somewhere and they acknowledge several times that it does exist.

[brad225]

I will look into making those changes Jack, thanks.

The system is so much better as it is I discovered last night. We had an RTI remote/automation system installed to get rid of numerous separate remotes. In the last couple of months the main remote had stopped operating the ROKU and we went back to the ROKU remote and contacted out HT Tech. As we had issues with the ROKU box in the past we decided to order and replacement. This meant scheduling him to come install it as it needed to be programed into the RTI system. I had just procrastinated and just used the ROKU remote.

The end result of installing the eero Pro 6 system is. I picked up the RTI remote last night when we went to watch something on ROKU and it is working perfectly. My guess is an infrequent pixilation problem my be over also.

Thanks to all for you help and suggestions.

[Bart001]

I will look into making those changes Jack, thanks.

The system is so much better as it is I discovered last night. We had an RTI remote/automation system installed to get rid of numerous separate remotes. In the last couple of months the main remote had stopped operating the ROKU and we went back to the ROKU remote and contacted out HT Tech. As we had issues with the ROKU box in the past we decided to order and replacement. This meant scheduling him to come install it as it needed to be programed into the RTI system. I had just procrastinated and just used the ROKU remote.

The end result of installing the eero Pro 6 system is. I picked up the RTI remote last night when we went to watch something on ROKU and it is working perfectly. My guess is an infrequent pixilation problem my be over also.

Thanks to all for you help and suggestions.

Bridge mode may well be the WRONG solution for your setup. Here is why.

IF you have cable boxes at your tv's, those cable boxes in modern systems are actually network devices and need to get their internal IP addresses from the cable co's router. If you put the router into "bridge mode" you not only turn off wi-fi but you turn off the internal "dhcp server" that provides the internal IP addresses for the cable boxes at the tv's. Usually this results in the tv signal still working, but the channel guide, menus (to get to dvr functions etc) all won't work. If you experience this after getting it into "bridge mode," reverse it.

This is how our Verizon FiOS system works in our home. I use Google/Nest wifi devices and the Google/Nest router is plugged into the Verizon router. The Verizon router can't be in "bridge mode" for the reason above -- the boxes at the tv's MUST be on the Verizon router's network. But everything else in the house is on the Google/Nest's network.

One more caveat. If you have both wired and wifi devices on your home network, and they need to talk to each other (such as a wired music server and an app to control it on your phone), they must ALL be on the same network. All on Frontier router, or all on the router for your add-on wifi system. Otherwise they won't "see" each other and they won't work together.

Happy to elaborate further if you'd like.

[brad225]

Thanks Bart, that is one of the reasons I was not in a hurry to change the bridge mode. Not that know a lot about the system but that
I know when our WIFI goes out on the router but all other function lights are on, we lose parts of TV function as you said.

The nice thing about the eero is during set up was with each unit the app would a would tell you to wait while it located any other units and tell you when you had
a good location and good signal strength. It would also tell you if you were to close to other electronics.

[nicoff]

By the time that Brad225 is done, he should be able to teach a class! 👏👏

[brad225]

By the time that Brad225 is done, he should be able to teach a class! 👏👏

Only if you want to walk out more confused than when you class started nicoff.

I will say that we have 104 MGB download speed that we have never had before. I know that is not lightspeed but more than enough for our needs.

I would definitely recommend the eero Pro 6 for anyone needing better coverage. For those of you using Alexa it is compatible with that also.