Considering purchasing a Librem 15, but the poor wi-fi performance could be a deal breaker, given my circumstances. Not sure how well I could use it at home. I don’t have wired internet service.
I use a family member’s comcast account to connect to xfinity wi-fi. In this multi-unit building, it means the signal comes from one or another of the neighbors. The signal is usually medium, sometimes better. Serves my smartphone very well, but I’m getting old, need a computer to work from home, trying to keep utility expense down.
I’m not technically proficient, but have a little experience, and can follow things. For example, I’m writing this on a recently borrowed chromebook, using Firefox esr, that I set up on the Linux partition. NOT developer mode. Running Linux 10, with Firefox backported. It seems to lose connection here and there, which might be a chromebook thing. I can always get it back by dropping and reconnecting the vpn, or the wireless connection directly. The point is, though I’m not technically proficient, I think I can benefit from some technical advice here.
Really want a Librem 15, but I won’t spend the money if I think I’m going to be fighting poor/inconsistent connectivity.
Found this article about leveraging an old router, as an extender. I’m wondering if the thing might be better at picking up the xfinity mesh signals than the Librem 15? If so, would this actually act as a signal booster? I have a Netgear AC1900 R7000, same as used in the article. Thinking I could bring it to my daughter’s place (not in the same building, she has cable internet) and set it up, bring it back to my apartment to use. I’d love to flash open firmware onto it too, maybe dd-wrt, especially if that would help it with the signal in any way.
Here’s that article:
https://www.tomsguide.com/us/how-to-turn-old-router-into-wifi-extender,review-5166.html
Appreciate any advice.