AirPort Extreme (6th G) horrible speeds upstairs?

[tomtendo]

I live in a 3400sf house, not big, but not small. And I have my AE (6th generation) in my office on the bottom floor - mainly because thats where I play games both Xbox and on my gaming PC but also because that is the only room with Comcast outlet (the rest are Directv).

My WiFi signal downstairs is full and works fine, but upstairs it is 2 or 3 bars (4 being full, i guess) but when I am upstairs where the signal is a little weaker, the speeds go from 80 up and 12 down to pretty much unusable... prob 1-5 down and 1-2 upload...

I've tried extending the network in the past with another AE (5th Gen), but it doesn't always help.. or it'll work for a little bit, then go back to sucking even with full strength.

I am seriously at a lost here. I cant even use my wifi (thus my apple tv) in our "play room" (kids).

Can anyone help me? Maybe a real wifi-extender instead of another AE will be better? Or maybe AE's are just not good enough for my house... My house is in FL, so the studs are metal instead of wood.

Thanks for your comments and help ahead of time.

 

[Tomorrow]

What a curious problem. I have an old AE upstairs in my house, and I have full bars anywhere I go in the house, upstairs or down. Full bars in my car in the driveway as well.

You've probably thought of this already, but are you on the "main" network and not the "guest" network?

 

[LiveM]

Consider a powerline adaptor to connect your AE upstairs with ethernet to mains socket. Should make quite a difference.

Also try tilting your base station.

 

[Fishrrman]

As LiveM said above, PowerLine-type adapter may be easiest way.

Stringing a -real- ethernet cable from downstairs to upstairs is THE BEST way ...