Muso suffering due to weak wifi signal

Prem

2 potential solutions:

1. Complain to Virgin.

I happened to be reading on another forum some complaints about the Superhub 1 and whilst I have no personal experience, apparently the new Superhub 2 is a considerable improvement. Allegedly if you 'negotiate' they will send you the 2 for free. Got to be worth a try to see if there is any improvement.

2,The Apple Route

I have had similar issues with WiFi and Hires files where I couldn't fully ethernet wire and I invested in an Apple Airport Extreme router (you will need to retain the superhub as a modem only but that is easily done) and extended the signal with an Airport Express sited by my streamer. An added advantage of this is that you can ethernet wire the Express direct to the streamer which further improves the position. This is going to be more expensive, c£250 at best, but will definitely work and also increase other wifi performance.

Premmyboy

Are Naim talking about Powerline adaptors?

Dave

Hi Dave, No I don't think so. They specifically said D Link adapter and also mentioned that a wifi repeater may also help.

thanks Prem.

Hi Camlan, Thanks for your advice. I will contact Virgin to see what they say. To be honest I have had no problems with my Superhub1. The problem is its location. It is in the loft at the front of the house and I wish to put the Muso on the ground floor at the back of my house basically as far away from the superhub1 as it could be. I do receive signal there enough to use my iPad but not good enough to enjoy my Muso. I will ask Virgin if their latest superhub has a better range because if it does it may solve the issue.

I am considering the apple solution but it is expensive. The Devolo plug in adaptor also has Ethernet connection so there is also the option to hardware the Muso via Ethernet also.

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

prem.

Prem

You used the phase ".....apparently uses mains cabling to provide better wifi signal" hence my question.

Out of interest what Devolo adaptors are you looking at?

Dave

I would complain to virgin and if that doesn't get you a better hub then just get a wi-fi repeater (maybe do both). No need for expensive apple things.

Sorry Dave, Yes I think they did mean power line adapters. I was getting confused with Naim Powerline which is what I thought you meant.

thanks Prem.

What Devolo adaptors are you looking at?

Dave

Hi Prem, 

I am not the best person to give any advice as I can't say that I fully understand what is going on but I have a BT router and two portable Devolo dLAN 200 AV units that I have been using for the past 4 yrs. The Devolo unit closest to the MU-SO is about 4 metres away and works fine. I have only had the MU-SO for 3 weeks so cannot give you much information but I also experience the odd dropout on iradio and spotify. 

I can certainly recommend the Devolo units which have been a great success. My broadband speed into the house is only 1.9 mbps.

Paul

i had a similar problem in my house. Wireless router at one end, hi-fi at the other.  

Just two weeks ago I broke down and paid for another broadband router. I paid my provider and now my problems are gone.  for me, since I was going to buy something anyway it was well worth buying the device from my provider and I'll have their support for it if needed.  I could have gone the Powerline, or airport express route.  It was well worth the $100 fee to just have one device to work with and support.  My new router is dual band , with wireless AC support.  So I say go get the Superhub 2, if it will give you an increased range.  

I did did actually try the Ethernet over mains route. It was a miserable failure.  My tube amp buzzed like crazy when I had the Powerline adapter plugged into the wall. Those devices put a modulated signal onto all of your wall sockets. Then the other adapter interprets this signal.  Guess what, that modulation is now being fed through your entire building through the electrical panel.  It isn't limited to just where you put the two adapters.

Another option is to use a Wireless Bridge and a long cable instead of a repeater.  Repeaters are notorious for reducing your bandwidth by 2. Think of a bridge as an external wireless adapter. You place it where the wireless signal is still good and run an Ethernet cable from the bridge to the Mu-So.  

(I actually do this in conjunction with my new router, since it use a Qute it gives me wireless N speeds for the Qute.). 

Good Luck

Hi Dave, I was looking at Devolo 1200 + wifi kit and also Devolo 500 av wireless kit.

I will speak to Virgin on Monday too see if the newest version of the superhub may solve my problems.

thanks for your reply.

Curious why the hub is hidden away in the loft? Wifi always suffers when it has to go through walls etc, so the loft strikes me as an odd place for a router if you are struggling for signal. Are there lots of nearby signals too? 

Hi Paul, currently I am experiencing dropouts maybe 4 or 5 times per song!! Other times it may play ok for 10 minutes before dropping out. 

Basically unusable. Closer to the router no problems. 

I will ill check with Virgin whether a newer version superhub may solve my problems if not I will Pursue the Devolo option.

thanks Prem.

I had the loft converted into an office some years back so at the time it seemed the best place to site the router. 

I had had never envisaged the need for streaming any kind of music. Then at Christmas I was lucky enough to receive a Muso. There begins my problems.

Funnily enough I receive enough signal throughout the house to use Internet etc on iPad etc but it's not good enough for the Muso to operate satipsfactorily.

Hmm your experience regarding Ethernet over mains route is what worries me. I don't really want to spend money to have that kind of problem. 

i will try for an upgraded superhub from my internet provider first to see if that solves the problem.

thanks for your reply.

I have been a little cautious because I was surprised Naim were recommending powerline adaptors. In this neck of the woods they don't get a very good press from some "senior" forum members. However, I've had very good results using adaptors from the Devolo AV200 range but I think these are now discontinued. Devolo 500, 650 and the new 1200 will obviously give potentially higher speeds but it's like broadband, the manufacturers quote the maximum transmission speeds. Actual throughput will be dependent upon factors such as distance, quality of wiring, etc. Hard wired ethernet should always be the preferred solution but, in my experience, powerline technology provides a more robust solution compared to wireless where hard wiring isn't practical or cost effective.

Obviously if you can move the router closer to your equipment that will help enormously.

Dave

Hi Dave, Thanks for your feedback. I emailed Muso support team with my problem and that was their suggestion for my particular problem with the Muso. I am not sure Naim are recommending Powerline adapters per se but just as a possible solution in my case. 

I can't really move the superhub easily. Firstly I will see if I can get the latest version of the superhub to see if it has a better range. If not I will Pursue the Devolo option.

thanks for your input.

The fact that the iPad is ok is more down to the fact that Apple use much better Wifi receiver hardware than most. All their current ranges are 5GHz capable and have been for a while. 

 

Unfortunately most other companies fit the cheapest nastiest receivers which struggle badly to hold a decent signal, especially if there's a lot of interference.

 

As others have said else where, sometimes it's best not to use the broadband suppliers Wifi router, and use it purely as a modem connected to a decent Wifi model. That way your ISP can't complain you're not using their modem, and you can use a wifi router that works  

 

Originally Posted by Premmyboy:

Originally Posted by Ian_S:

Curious why the hub is hidden away in the loft? Wifi always suffers when it has to go through walls etc, so the loft strikes me as an odd place for a router if you are struggling for signal. Are there lots of nearby signals too? 

I had the loft converted into an office some years back so at the time it seemed the best place to site the router. 

 

I had had never envisaged the need for streaming any kind of music. Then at Christmas I was lucky enough to receive a Muso. There begins my problems.

Funnily enough I receive enough signal throughout the house to use Internet etc on iPad etc but it's not good enough for the Muso to operate satipsfactorily.

 

I guess that could be another option. Question is which wifi router? How would I know it would be any better without trying it first and therefore having to purchase it on the off chance. It would still have to sit in my loft plugged into the superhub presumably.

Before doing anything I'd try and run a wifi scanner app to see how much interference you have. OS X has one built in if you have any macs. 

I currently use use a linksys router, but how powerful you need may depend on interference. Having one that does 5 GHz may allow you to move devices from the 2.4 band which the Muso will be on. WiFi is half duplex so more devices means more time slicing. Wifi is fine for Internet browsing less fine for streaming tbh, especially if you have a busy network 

The Superhub 2ac is MUCH better and can be had free of charge by phoning Virgin Customer Services (choose the 'thinking of leaving us' option for a speedy response) and complaining about the wireless range (Which is known to be very poor).

G

Hi G I may as well give your suggestion a go but when you say it's much better is the range going to be better? 

The Muso from what I understand will not benefit from ac or 5 mbit technology so it will come down to whether it has a better range on 2.4 mbiT. Nothing to lose though.

thanks Prem.

Yes the range is much better. I managed to do away with the Belkin router/switch I had to use with the Superhub 1. The latter was poor to the point of uselessness.

G