When I first built my man cave, I was so excited. I had my TV hooked up to the internet, and I started to stream my very first show in my new room. To my horror, it was almost impossible to stream because of how slow the internet was. Since then, I have fixed the issue and things are working great!
Some of the reasons your internet may be slow in your man cave are the distance your wireless signal needs to travel to your man cave from your router, the ethernet cord you are using to hardwire the connection is too long, or your router’s being on a separate floor is messing with the signal. To fix this, try moving your router closer to the man cave, hardwire a connection, or buy a Wi-Fi extender.
This article is going to give you a few reasons why your internet may be slower than it could be. You may be feeling as discouraged as I was, but don’t worry, the solutions are not as hard as you may be thinking!
Potential Issues:
- Long Wireless Distance From Router to Man Cave
- Ethernet Cable Too Long
- Ethernet Cable Damaged
Long Wireless Distance From Router to Man Cave?
The first thing you should look at is how long your wireless signal needs to travel to reach your man cave from your router? Your signal’s effectiveness depends heavily on which tier of router you have. I am sure you already have one now, but usually paying a little e extra for the higher tier of routers is worth it.
When I say “tier” of a router, I am referring to the strength and integrity of the signal your router puts out, and how much traffic it can handle. If you are wondering about the range of your router, go ahead and give it a quick google search. Just type “what is the range of _____ router”. From my experience, the number they give is for when there are no obstacles in the way…
Most houses have walls, those walls can lower your router’s maximum distance. Depending on what is in your walls, the signal may be less impacted or more impacted. You will also want to pay attention to if your man cave is on a different floor than your router. Floors can also impact the effective distance of your router.
The closer your setup is to the maximum effective range of your router, the less reliable your internet will be. Based on my past experiences, I would much rather have more router than I’ll need than not enough. This goes along with what I have said in other posts, plan for the future.
Ethernet Cord Too Long/Damaged?
This was the issue I had with my man cave. It the such a demoralizing feeling when you feel you have already taken the extra measures to prevent this very issue! There are a few things that could be causing problems if your hardwired connections are being fussy.
The first thing you should look at is how long is the ethernet cable that you are running. There are a few types of ethernet cables, cat5, cat5E, and cat6. Cat5 ethernet cords are the slowest, oldest, and cheapest of the bunch, while cat6 cables are the fastest, newest, and most expensive.
All cables can be run a max of 275ft to 295ft before their performance is affected. On top of that, cat5 ethernet cables are much less effective than cat6. Similarly, cat6 cables are more durable and can handle tougher conditions.
In my situation, my ethernet cable was not being run anywhere close to 275ft. So why was the connection so poor? Like I previously mentioned, not all ethernet cables are created equal. Cat5 cables are noticeably slower than cat6 and are more easily damaged.
When I first was doing this project, I did not know this information. I assumed all ethernet cables were created equal, and I just used the first one I found. Bad idea. The cable I ended up using had been around the block a few times. It had seen better days. It ended up being damaged somewhere over the course of its life.
Now that we have figured out some of the reasons our connection is not as strong as we feel it should be, what do we do? Let’s take a look at some of the potential solutions you can try.
Potential Solutions:
- Relocate Your Router
- Hardwire Connection to Your Man Cave
- Upgrade Your Ethernet Cable
- Buy a Wi-Fi Range Extender
Relocate Your Router:
The first solution I suggest you try is the one that is free. Simply relocate your router. You may find that you are doing a lot of streaming or other more intensive internet activities while in your man cave. If that is the case, it may be worth having the router live in your man cave.
The connection will still be good enough for the rest of your house (assuming you have a decent router). But the room that relies most on reliable internet should probably be closest to the router.
This is also a good first test to validate the issue is not your router. If you move your router and things start to work better, then you know it has to do with the internet connection.
Hardwire A Connection To Your Man Cave:
Depending on the router you are using for your home (I know you are tired of hearing that), it may be a good idea to hardwire your needed toys to the internet. I have a smart TV which I do a lot of streaming on. I want that connection to be the best it can, so I have it hardwired to the router downstairs.
This is a good solution if the internet reaches your man cave, but it isn’t quite fast enough to be seamlessly streaming the big game or your favorite show. A hardwired connection is one of the quickest and secure connections possible.
This can take a little effort. I had the electrician run it up to an ethernet outlet. If you are feeling particularly brave, this is totally something you can do yourself because it does not require any wiring. However, it does require you to make some holes in your drywall. My partner would not have been happy with me if I made a mistake, so an election was well worth it…
Upgrade Your Ethernet Cable:
This solution can be a little bit of a pain if you have your ethernet cable wired through your walls to your router. There is a chance that the ethernet cord you originally used is damaged or not working as well as it should be. Like I mentioned previously if you are going through the trouble of getting and installing a new ethernet cable, make it a cat6 one.
This is the best way currently available to futureproof your man cave. Improved performance and durability are well worth the extra money. If you are going to do it, do it right!
A word of caution, before you go calling your electrician or drilling holes in your drywall: make sure that this is actually the problem. Go set up your router and modem in your man cave, and use a shorter ethernet cable you have to check and see if it works. If hardwiring here doesn’t work, then there is something else going on.
Buy A Wi-Fi Range Extender:
Going through the hassle of hardwiring things up is not for everyone. Another great option is to go buy a Wi-Fi range extender. In a lot of ways, this is similar to moving your router closer to your man cave.
This solution does not take much effort. Usually, there are certain extenders that work best for your specific router. Usually, these extenders can cost anywhere for $40 to $70. There are all kinds of different types, but usually, they plug into an outlet, take the signal that your router is already pumping out, and provides another closer signal for your man cave.
This is not the cheapest solution at your disposal, but it is probably one of the most flexible.
Final Thoughts:
I hope that gives you a little bit of hope while you work through your internet troubles. Do be careful though, before you jump into a solution, try a less drastic test. Before you tear out the old wire that is running through your walls, bring your modem and router to your man cave and hardwire to test it there first.
Depending on who you are getting internet from, the problem could be coming from a software issue (internet company’s fault) and not a hardware issue. Part of what I love about this whole man cave thing in troubleshooting my own problems. I don’t know about you, but it feels pretty good once I figure out what the heck was going on.
Internet problems can be frustrating. But if you are deliberate with how you troubleshoot, and you buy good quality hardware, the problems should be able to be resolved.
Until next time,