Does anyone have any suggestions for boosting our WiFi signal without spending loads?

I’ve just got a Chromecast and it seems to be struggling a bit to pick up a decent signal from the router. The router is central in the house but there is a fairly substantial wall and a floor between it and the tv and the tv is in the front corner of the house.

We’re on Virgin fibre BB and using the Virgin Hub3 router.

Are boosters worth it or would I be better looking at a different router?

Any thoughts or advice?

You may find some useful advice here…
https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/improving-wife-signal-in-house/

Get an ethernet adapter for the Chromecast, and run a cable.

Hardwire the Chromecast with a couple of power line adapters?

Edit: doh.

Something I’ve worked out recently is if your router does both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz and you’re having signal issues you may want to force the device to use 2.4Ghz.

I’ve got that with my Amazon Fire box which is tucked away in a corner hooked up to AV amp and struggles with signal.

Reason being, 5Ghz has a shorter range than 2.4Ghz. You may get faster throughput with 5 if in range, or at least not have it clashing so much with other signals nearby, but you can struggle getting a signal unless you’re close to the router / access point.

From quick Google it looks like Virgin Hub 3 routers have both 2.4 and 5, and newer Chromecast devices support 5. However apparently the hub defaults to a single SSID for both frequencies, so it will be random which the device connects to. You may be able to go into the router settings though and configure a different SSID for each and then can set the Chromecast to pick up the 2.4.

Alternatively if Chromecast can be set to only use 2.4, then try that.

I’d check first if the Chromecast says what frequency it’s on. Not sure how you’d do that or if it can tell you. If it’s already on 2.4, then ignore all this.

Have you been able to establish if it is the wifi or your actual broadband that’s limiting the speed.? You could go 2.4GHz but the problem with 2.4GHz is that it is a frequency that most if not all other wireless devices use so interference is often the reason for going dual band. But 5Ghz doesn’t penetrate walls as well.

If it is your wifi that is the limiting factor then your only solution might be to use an additional wifi router or mesh system or find a way to use a cable either directly or via a power line adapter.

Depends how big your house is and if you have concrete walls/old tough construction.

Using 5ghz in a 4 bed detached 1970’s without an issue. Still picks up WiFi in the driveway.

Many ISP routers are ok for browsing the web but are otherwise shit. Virgin routers are really really shit. I also have the super hub and not only is the signal strength poor but it has very poor capability for supporting auto discovery services, which means that some streaming services can be very hit and miss because different devices can’t “see” or “speak” to each other. It is possible to adjust settings on the superhub but the gains are likely to be marginal.

I bought a decent aftermarket router which gave a much stronger more reliable signal. Setup involved switching the virgin router to modem
Only mode, connecting the new router to it with Ethernet cable and letting that take care of Wifi duties. I recommend this as your first option as it will do more than just improve signal strength and you won’t have to trail wires throughout your home. If after that you still need stronger signal you could add a WiFi repeater.

Also, for info the router cost about £80

Thanks everyone.

Countrybumpking; that’s great cheers. Sound like a worthwhile way to go about it. What router did you go for?

I got a Tenda WiFi mesh extender. Really good, now even have decent WiFi in the garage.

Depends how big your house is and if you have concrete walls/old tough construction.

Using 5ghz in a 4 bed detached 1970’s without an issue. Still picks up WiFi in the driveway.

As said, my Amazon Fire box struggles on 5Ghz. It’s in the corner of the room and got a decent TP-Link access point in the adjacent hallway and only partition wall between and open doorway. Got the access point to improve signal through the house and it does. I can get 5Ghz other side of the house and almost outside, unlike my old router’s WiFi, but the Amazon box struggles not being that far away. I think it’s because it’s right at the back of the AV kit (plugged into an HDMI input) and there’s a lot of other equipment and various radio sources between it and the router. It gets a 5Ghz signal but it’s weak and it’s been causing a lot of buffering streaming 1080p / 4K video. 2.4Ghz, no problem.

OP, I have a tplink archer c7 router. It’s not actually the most powerful router out there for the money but is powerful enough to get 5Ghz signal to most of my 3 floor Victorian terraced house, is reliable and very easy to set up. More pricey routers have more power and overall capability…you pays your money.

If you have a current model Chromecast this supports dual band networks, 1st gen models are 2.4Ghz only and chromecast ultra is 5Ghz only. If yours is dual band you’ll need to set it to operate on one band or the other and have your streaming device (your phone?) operating on the same band. Try it on both frequencies for comparison. As others have said 2.4 gives better range and is less affected by barriers such as walls but gives slower speeds for a given signal strength and is much more vulnerable to interference from neighbouring networks and other devices.

The tplink, like all good routers, has loads of settings to optimise performance that ISP routers don’t have. Also it has external antennae and tiny adjustments to their position can make a big difference. You can’t do that with the virgin hub.

I also had a WiFi repeater for a while and that made a huge difference too but no need to try that unless you have no luck with a good router on its own. Less complex is usually better for WiFi networks.

Finally, I suggest you load a decent WiFi scanner app on your phone so you can track how your WiFi setup affects signal strength in different parts of the house.

Good luck with it!

Mint, thank you.

Just found one on ebay. Cheers