WiFi Range NetDuma R2

[JimDuff]

Can someone explain why the WiFi range isn't good? 

It has the same range as my PlusNet Hub One. This is insane considering the 4 huge aerials and the router has beamforming.

Can the range be improved?

Router is in a good place, no obstruction. Free of nearby electronics.

[Newfie]

It does not have beamforming like most wave 2 routers. This is a wave 1 router. These tend to have less coverage than a wave 2 router for example. There are limitations to range depending on hardware, drivers, environment and so on. Beamforming offers 2 ways Implicit or Explicit the old way required clients to support this just like the new way. 
As with all WiFi there are many variables involved so it’s not really about antennas alone.

As you progress up to WiFi 6 the range improves but then the client must also be able to talk back. Too far for a client then that introduces issues. 
 

With a wave 1 router a bit more care is needed like placement, channel selection but the R2 I have has the same coverage of my old Apple routers which is about right for this type of router. 
 

If it’s not covering your property then it’s a case of adding an access point or using an access point to take care of the wifi. Each depends on the property and layout but some users use other routers like the XR500 as an access point to handle the wifi. You could add a wifi 6 AP but the bottleneck is the gig connection rate if that’s a concern but Duma will be able to control the network easily this way if you wish to take that route.

 

[JimDuff]

11 hours ago, Newfie said:

It does not have beamforming like most wave 2 routers. This is a wave 1 router. These tend to have less coverage than a wave 2 router for example. There are limitations to range depending on hardware, drivers, environment and so on. Beamforming offers 2 ways Implicit or Explicit the old way required clients to support this just like the new way. 
As with all WiFi there are many variables involved so it’s not really about antennas alone.

As you progress up to WiFi 6 the range improves but then the client must also be able to talk back. Too far for a client then that introduces issues. 
 

With a wave 1 router a bit more care is needed like placement, channel selection but the R2 I have has the same coverage of my old Apple routers which is about right for this type of router. 
 

If it’s not covering your property then it’s a case of adding an access point or using an access point to take care of the wifi. Each depends on the property and layout but some users use other routers like the XR500 as an access point to handle the wifi. You could add a wifi 6 AP but the bottleneck is the gig connection rate if that’s a concern but Duma will be able to control the network easily this way if you wish to take that route.

 

I understand that this doesn't have the best hardware. But I would have thought it would offer better range than the router PlusNet gave me, which is a terrible router lol.

It doesn't help that I live in a Victorian house with thick walls.

I have optimised channel selection.

Thank you for the response.

[JimDuff]

11 hours ago, Newfie said:

It does not have beamforming like most wave 2 routers. This is a wave 1 router. These tend to have less coverage than a wave 2 router for example. There are limitations to range depending on hardware, drivers, environment and so on. Beamforming offers 2 ways Implicit or Explicit the old way required clients to support this just like the new way. 
As with all WiFi there are many variables involved so it’s not really about antennas alone.

As you progress up to WiFi 6 the range improves but then the client must also be able to talk back. Too far for a client then that introduces issues. 
 

With a wave 1 router a bit more care is needed like placement, channel selection but the R2 I have has the same coverage of my old Apple routers which is about right for this type of router. 
 

If it’s not covering your property then it’s a case of adding an access point or using an access point to take care of the wifi. Each depends on the property and layout but some users use other routers like the XR500 as an access point to handle the wifi. You could add a wifi 6 AP but the bottleneck is the gig connection rate if that’s a concern but Duma will be able to control the network easily this way if you wish to take that route.

 

I have an iPhone 7. Would my reach improve to my phone if I had the latest iPhone?

[Netduma Liam]

34 minutes ago, JimDuff said:

I have an iPhone 7. Would my reach improve to my phone if I had the latest iPhone?

It's possible yes, though I don't think it will be a massive difference. Do you have any newer devices you can test with?

[JimDuff]

3 hours ago, Netduma Liam said:

It's possible yes, though I don't think it will be a massive difference. Do you have any newer devices you can test with?

Unfortunately not. It's not big deal anyway. It covers my house, just not my garden. I was just expecting performance to be better than standard routers from ISPs

[Netduma Fraser]

Put the antennae like this _ | | _ and that should boost the range a bit for you

[Newfie]

14 minutes ago, JimDuff said:

Unfortunately not. It's not big deal anyway. It covers my house, just not my garden. I was just expecting performance to be better than standard routers from ISPs

If you had a newer phone while it might have better range the router still needs to talk to the phone. Normally with outside use it’s best to place an AP outside for coverage. 

Yes the older properties have thick old walls and probably really restrict the signal. 
 

[Newfie]

25 minutes ago, JimDuff said:

Unfortunately not. It's not big deal anyway. It covers my house, just not my garden. I was just expecting performance to be better than standard routers from ISPs

I’ll be honest and say I’m using a Unifi UDM at the moment. It’s a wave 2 router with all the so called bells and whistles yet the R2 has better 2.4 throughput but the UDM has slightly better 5Ghz throughput but there’s not much difference in the range. What the R2 does and I’m being honest and straightforward, it beats the hell out of the UDM when it comes to traffic control on the network. Duma is very good for controlling latency and while the hardware is not the same as some of the bigger routers it really does a fantastic job and that’s down to the team knowing what gamers want. 
I’ll be frank again but the UI on the UDM is a mess, it’s got lots of bugs, it’s confusing and while they update and run betas it proves that it takes time to perfect an update and rushing out updates is not the way forward. 
Dumas UI is very easy to understand, navigate and has what I believe to be one of the best looking UIs out there. It’s even got the help button on its functions to help end users. 
Lastly support, I still say you will not find any manufacturer that offers such great support. When I brought up the issues on my UDM on Unifiy community I never had a single response from them, not once. Here Fraser and Liam will stick with you to the end.

So while the R2 might not be up there with some of the modern WiFi 6 routers to be honest if the environment is against you you might need to think about an additional AP for coverage and that would apply to many routers costing far more. 

 

[JimDuff]

17 hours ago, Newfie said:

I’ll be honest and say I’m using a Unifi UDM at the moment. It’s a wave 2 router with all the so called bells and whistles yet the R2 has better 2.4 throughput but the UDM has slightly better 5Ghz throughput but there’s not much difference in the range. What the R2 does and I’m being honest and straightforward, it beats the hell out of the UDM when it comes to traffic control on the network. Duma is very good for controlling latency and while the hardware is not the same as some of the bigger routers it really does a fantastic job and that’s down to the team knowing what gamers want. 
I’ll be frank again but the UI on the UDM is a mess, it’s got lots of bugs, it’s confusing and while they update and run betas it proves that it takes time to perfect an update and rushing out updates is not the way forward. 
Dumas UI is very easy to understand, navigate and has what I believe to be one of the best looking UIs out there. It’s even got the help button on its functions to help end users. 
Lastly support, I still say you will not find any manufacturer that offers such great support. When I brought up the issues on my UDM on Unifiy community I never had a single response from them, not once. Here Fraser and Liam will stick with you to the end.

So while the R2 might not be up there with some of the modern WiFi 6 routers to be honest if the environment is against you you might need to think about an additional AP for coverage and that would apply to many routers costing far more. 

 

I am definitely happy with the router overall. I noticed instant improvement to traffic management when I got it. I previously I would always suffer in performance when my other half was watching Netflix. I love the UI.

The support here has been great.

Main thing I'm disappointed in is the Wifi range. I initially had loads of problems with the Wifi constantly disconnecting as well. I seen that is a common issue on here. But I fixed that using Wifi Analyzer and configuring to the optimal channels. @Netduma Fraser I would recommend this solution, worked perfectly for me.

 

Thanks guys.

[JimDuff]

18 hours ago, Netduma Fraser said:

Put the antennae like this _ | | _ and that should boost the range a bit for you

I will try this. Although it's already a bit similar to that