Modem location in home

[LoEdge]

I moved into a new home about 6 months ago, and when the technician came to hook up the internet he went from room to room with machine, hooked it up to the wall coaxial and "tested the connection" he concluded that the best connection was in the living room. Long story short this meant that i would have to go wireless on all my devices. Right now over my home wifi I'm at 50 down 50 up, sometimes a little less. My question is, if i moved to modem/router to another room where the tech said the connection is "not as good as the living room" will i see a considerable drop in speed or any connectivity issues? thanks for your help.

[Philip]

Usually cable modems work best with a clean signal without many splitters on the line (every splitter cuts the signal strength in half). What you should probably do is, connect to the cable modem's stats page (at http://192.168.100.1 for Motorola/Arris cable modems, for example) and look at the downstream power level.

The power level should be as close to zero as possible, stronger signals are indicated with +db values, weaker with -db. Ideally, your modem should be between -8db and +8db, it may or may not work well between -15db and +15db. Once you note the signal level, you can move the modem and look at it again, if it is close to zero you shouldn't notice a difference.

There is more to it than that (like upstream power, etc.) but that basic test and a speed test should give you enough info to make a good decision.

[LoEdge]

Usually cable modems work best with a clean signal without many splitters on the line (every splitter cuts the signal strength in half). What you should probably do is, connect to the cable modem's stats page (at http://192.168.100.1 for Motorola/Arris cable modems, for example) and look at the downstream power level.

The power level should be as close to zero as possible, stronger signals are indicated with +db values, weaker with -db. Ideally, your modem should be between -8db and +8db, it may or may not work well between -15db and +15db. Once you note the signal level, you can move the modem and look at it again, if it is close to zero you shouldn't notice a difference.

There is more to it than that (like upstream power, etc.) but that basic test and a speed test should give you enough info to make a good decision.

Thanks for the reply, my down is at +3.20-3.40 range. SNR is 39. Up "power" is 49. So i should have some wiggle room even if it drops a point or two ill still be in the 4-5 range.

[Philip]

Yes, it should be ok to move it. There is -3.5db drop on each leg of a splitter... And a splitter can also be replaced with a tap, which has approx. -1db on one output leg and -6db on the other if need be.

[SamirD]

Philip's advice is solid. But I'd also look at your providers contract. If it says that they will install the modem in a room of your choosing, then the original installer didn't do their job and you should be able to get them to do it right.

[davidmorris]

Well, Philip gives the correct advice and if it is not working so you can manage another router and connect it with the original one via cable wire, with that you can expand the signals of your WiFi and can use anywhere in your location.