Internet technical question

Hi :wave:. Our internet is connected through the phone lines in the house. There isn’t any cable connection in our area.

The router is in my brothers room across the hall.
I have a horrible time getting kicked off the connection and with buffering on apk’s like cyberflix and cinema.

I’ve plugged in a device my bro had that’s the same as a WiFi booster (no idea who manufacturer is) and still an issue.
I’ve talked with my bro about it but (shrugs) and it’s his house.

Does anyone have some knowledge in this area that has had the same experience/issues?

Ive no idea what device out there is worth the expense (ie netgear booster $50+) or if there’s something I can add to firestick.
Thanks in advance for any advice. :slightly_smiling_face:

This question kinda goes way outside of cord cutting questions, but I’ll give my two cents from a general standpoint.

Firstly, it doesn’t matter how strong your wifi signal is from the router if your internet speeds are too slow to stream consistently.

If you are able to stream anything then I’m assuming it’s a DSL connection and not dialup. In some cases you may have good results with a power line adapter. But I have no firsthand experience with them. I think I’ve read that both ends have to be on the same electrical circuit. So the outlet that the router is plugged into has to be on the same electrical circuit as the outlet that your firestick is plugged into (or at least an outlet in the same room as your firestick). Then you can use an ethernet adapter with your firestick to plug into the power line adapter.

You can use a wifi extender if you place one halfway between the router and your firestick somewhere in the house. Or you can upgrade the wifi to a mesh network. There’s a ton of different ways to go about this, as your question is very broad. Your other option could be to see if there are any wireless internet solutions in the area and you can sign up for your own service. If you get decent cell phone reception then there is definitely a way to use that for your internet. Just depends how you go about it.

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Good points and advice. I would add if you are going to use a wi-fi router which is shared by others, make sure it is a tri-band with separate connections, one of which you can dedicate to your streaming. Multiple users on one band connection will hog too much bandwidth and you will get buffering for sure.

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Hey Wolfie…

Or maybe look into power-line extensions
(turns electric outlets into ethernet outlets)

Good luck…

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Hey LadyWolf…1st off…have you taken any speed tests? Residential DSL over phone lines has never been the fastest internet out there & as Jayhawks eluded to, you may not be attaining enough speed to consistently stream. Signal may be irrelevant if the speed isn’t there…

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If your speed IS decent then might it be the young lady’s Internet Provider throttling the granny out of it .
I dunno what it’s like over there but here in the UK streaming ANYTHING for free that your IP could charge you for through their services is an absolute no-no unless you’re streaming through a VPN and Real-Debrid .

Just a thought …

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@Tim48

I wouldn’t go to say throttling, speed tests aren’t done yet and phone lines are terrible. It’s possible but I doubt it with what she is posting about.

Test this with a vpn. But you need to run speed checks with it on and off.

@LadyWolf

Lots of helpful advice here, first thing to do is run speed tests wifi and hardwired along with some trouble shooting. Don’t want you to spend money without having knowledge of what your speeds are first.

Focus on your speeds and what your paying for before we tackle your streaming issues.

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Those boosters work best when the plug you use for your router is also on the same circuit as the one you use for the booster. Try plugging in your router or booster on different wall outlets, and run some speed tests.

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LadyWolf…

On a computer… https://www.speedtest.net/

On your firestick… download Analiti WiFi Analyzer from Amazon Appstore (Free)

Let us know the results from either & we can go from there…

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Thank you everyone for sharing your thoughts and knowledge, very much appreciated.
I am using IPVanish and I’ll try out the speed test app. I believe I used it once before but I didn’t really understand it.
I’ll also try plugging the booster in the same outlet the router is on.

:+1::blush::peace_symbol::wave:

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Best solution will almost certainly be a pair of poweline extenders - one plugged into power supply near the router and connected to it via ethernet cable - the other plugged in near your device and connected to it via ethernet cable.
This will supply your device with the strongest possible internet connection from the router.

They must be plugged directly into the power supply wall socket and not into any power adaptor.
Because of this it is best to buy “pass-through” version if available - that will mean that you can plug other devices into power via the extender if you are short of direct mains sockkets.

Remember that the total capacity of the broadband connection should be taken into consideration if there are other internet users all using the same broadband line at the same time. To view FHD streams about 20 mbps should be available to your device in addition to that used by other users.

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