Wifi mesh systems

Clareman

Optimus Prime wrote: »

Hi, does anyone have this Fritzbox mesh repeater ?

I have Siro with Digiweb and the provided the Fritzbox, but i had to get it put in the front room behind the TV. im finding the signal drops sometimes in the back of the house now. I was thinking about getting this

https://digiweb.ie/product/fritz-3000-repeater/

But wanted to see if anyone has any experience with it first?

Thanks a lot

I have an ISP supplied Fritzbox and when I was looking into getting mesh first I decided against going down the Fritz route as I didn't want to be tied to a router supplied by the ISP, I wanted to be independent.

degsie

Optimus Prime wrote: »

Hi, does anyone have this Fritzbox mesh repeater ?

I have Siro with Digiweb and the provided the Fritzbox, but i had to get it put in the front room behind the TV. im finding the signal drops sometimes in the back of the house now. I was thinking about getting this

https://digiweb.ie/product/fritz-3000-repeater/

But wanted to see if anyone has any experience with it first?

Thanks a lot

The positioning of the router means that your wifi signal is likely partially blocked by the TV due to shielding. Reposition your router to where the radio signals have a clearer path.

Optimus Prime

I have it up over the height of the TV on the wall.

Clareman

Optimus Prime wrote: »

I have it up over the height of the TV on the wall.

Looking at the device you linked to it's €139 for 1 device, for that price you could get a decent mesh Deco or something that will work no matter what ISP router you get.

meztli

that repeater is not cheap. Wouldn't a mesh be better for that price?

Deagol

Optimus Prime wrote: »

Hi, does anyone have this Fritzbox mesh repeater ?

I have Siro with Digiweb and the provided the Fritzbox, but i had to get it put in the front room behind the TV. im finding the signal drops sometimes in the back of the house now. I was thinking about getting this

https://digiweb.ie/product/fritz-3000-repeater/

But wanted to see if anyone has any experience with it first?

Thanks a lot

Hi, I have one of them, great piece of kit. And for those who are not aware, it is MESH compatible.

Optimus Prime

Deagol wrote: »

Hi, I have one of them, great piece of kit. And for those who are not aware, it is MESH compatible.

Thanks , so if I went with that , I just put it in another room within signal range and it connectors to the router extending the WiFi network ?

Deagol

Optimus Prime wrote: »

Thanks , so if I went with that , I just put it in another room within single range and it connectors to the router extending the WiFi network ?

Yup - I was trying to remember the exact way it works but was so simple I've totally forgotten how it went

There's a LED on the front that glows different colours depending on how good a connection it has to the base router. So you can plug it in in different power sockets / locations to see where is best place.

For reference, I have the Fritzbox from Digiweb plus the Fritz mesh repeater covering a two storey, 3500sqft house. Signal everywhere though I could do with a bit of a boost in the very furthest corner.

Optimus Prime

Clareman wrote: »

Looking at the device you linked to it's €139 for 1 device, for that price you could get a decent mesh Deco or something that will work no matter what ISP router you get.

Which one did you go for it you don’t mind me asking ? Thanks

Deagol

Clareman wrote: »

Looking at the device you linked to it's €139 for 1 device, for that price you could get a decent mesh Deco or something that will work no matter what ISP router you get.

Bit of a loss to understand what you are talking about here. The Fritzbox stuff is not tied to any ISP etc.. and the repeater will work with any other mesh compatible router / mesh repeater etc...

Mesh (802.11s) is an open standard that is interoperable regardless of manufacturer.

Deagol

meztli wrote: »

that repeater is not cheap. Wouldn't a mesh be better for that price?

No idea what you are talking about there. Mesh refers to 802.11s, which is an open wifi standard. Fritzbox 3000 repeater is mesh compatible so I can't figure out what you mean when you refer to 'a mesh'?

Clareman

Optimus Prime wrote: »

Which one did you go for it you don’t mind me asking ? Thanks

I've the Google setup myself but I got 1 of these for a friend and they are a great job
https://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-Deco-S4-3-pack-Beamforming/dp/B0851D6MXY/ref=sr_1_18?dchild=1&keywords=TP+Link+AC1200&qid=1606495489&sr=8-18

Gregor Samsa

Deagol wrote: »

Mesh (802.11s) is an open standard that is interoperable regardless of manufacturer.

Deagol wrote: »

No idea what you are talking about there. Mesh refers to 802.11s, which is an open wifi standard.

I think you misunderstand what mesh networking is.

802.11s is indeed an open wireless LAN standard that facilitates mesh networking. But not all mesh networks use 802.11s. "mesh" is a topology, not a standard. You can create a mesh network using various different standards. 802.11s is just one of them. "Mesh" products from different manufactures will not necessarily work with each other.

Have a look at the table on this page:

https://www.tp-link.com/uk/mesh/

TP-Link Deco mesh products, for instance, don't use 802.11s. They use 802.11k/v/r for their mesh protocol.

Netgear Orbi uses 802.11k/v

Google WiFi does use 802.11s

The two do not mean the same thing.

Irish Gunner

Bluefoam wrote: »

A good mesh WiFi is well worth the money. I have a 250mb line & a two part mesh... It's fanfeckin'tastic. The cable modem has wifi disabled and connected directly to the mesh. Anything needing a wired connection is direct to the modem. Only downside is that they need to be located in one location, or I need another mesh point with an ethernet port.

I don't have a TV connection + working from home with lots of zoom calls, large file downloads, wireless printing, plus I have gone overkill on smart home etc... & it was well worth investing in.

The future is going to place more demands on our data needs... This has me future proofed, at least for the medium term...

Currently have Archer C9 modem that is linked to the Virgin router and working fine so far

Was looking at getting the Orbi mesh

https://www.netgear.com/home/wifi/mesh/rbk50

Or google but that does not have Ethernet ??

So take it one of these orbi would replace Archer and would have to go through the bridge method again to the Virgin router and the hard wire cable to pc would connect to orbi?

Then place second Orbi in the weak spot of wifi in house ?

Could add more if necessary. Dont want to muck around with internet while WFH so hopefully easy to install. Also give me more access to limit internet time via app etc

This correct?

Deagol

Gregor Samsa wrote: »

I think you misunderstand what mesh networking is.

802.11s is indeed an open wireless LAN standard that facilitates mesh networking. But not all mesh networks use 802.11s. "mesh" is a topology, not a standard. You can create a mesh network using various different standards. 802.11s is just one of them. "Mesh" products from different manufactures will not necessarily work with each other.

Have a look at the table on this page:

https://www.tp-link.com/uk/mesh/

TP-Link Deco mesh products, for instance, don't use 802.11s. They use 802.11k/v/r for their mesh protocol.

Netgear Orbi uses 802.11k/v

Google WiFi does use 802.11s

The two do not mean the same thing.

Sheesh- why do people always complicate it. Most mesh devices will work with one another - yes? Wasn't aware that some where not using 802.11S though so fair enough.

In this case, some people are giving advise that makes no sense - saying that they you are somehow tied to using Fritzbox stuff if you have a Fritz router.

Not true at all. The poster asked about the Fritz repeater 3000 and instead of saying nothing because they didn't have an answer, some people instead muddied the waters by answering a question the poster didn't ask. I was trying to clear up the confusion by pointing out that they didn't seem to have any expertise in the subject.

Leftwaffe

Took the plunge on the Deco M4 3 Pack. €120 in Harvey Norman. Now to set it up.

Gregor Samsa

Deagol wrote: »

Sheesh- why do people always complicate it.

Maybe because it's actually more complicated than you said it was. Twice.

Deco mesh products (incredibly popular on this thread) don't work with Google WiFi mesh products (also very popular), for instance.

You can't just come on here and say they'll all work together when they actually won't. Well, you can, but you're going to have to deal with being corrected for doing so.

dam099

Clareman wrote: »

Looking at the device you linked to it's €139 for 1 device, for that price you could get a decent mesh Deco or something that will work no matter what ISP router you get.

The Deco's are great value and a fine choice but if Optimus only needs one additional Wifi point to get coverage and doesn't want to or can't use wired backhaul the Fritz repeater looks like it's tri-band so may give an performance advantage over the cheaper Deco's.

Leftwaffe

Question. The Deco M4 created the one network for 2.4ghz and 5ghz WiFi. I never know which one I’m on. Is it advisable to set up 2 separate networks for 2.4ghz and 5ghz?

Also, do they relay 5ghz effectively? I have approx 450mb (from 500mb line) when next to the main Deco. But when I move to the upstairs one I’m picking up around 50mb. I know they have band steering so can I expect the deco to switch me to the 5ghz whenever it is needed?

Cyrus

Redordeadqwwer wrote: »

Question. The Deco M4 created the one network for 2.4ghz and 5ghz WiFi. I never know which one I’m on. Is it advisable to set up 2 separate networks for 2.4ghz and 5ghz?

Also, do they relay 5ghz effectively? I have approx 450mb (from 500mb line) when next to the main Deco. But when I move to the upstairs one I’m picking up around 50mb. I know they have band steering so can I expect the deco to switch me to the 5ghz whenever it is needed?

Set up two separate ssids and connect to the 5ghz one only on devices that can take a 5ghz signal.

Leftwaffe

Cyrus wrote: »

Set up two separate ssids and connect to the 5ghz one only on devices that can take a 5ghz signal.

I just tried this. Set up a guest network for 5ghz only and still only got 58mb. Strange, I thought it would give me at least 50% of the 500mb available. Maybe it doesn’t extend 5ghz well?

Gooey Looey

Redordeadqwwer wrote: »

I just tried this. Set up a guest network for 5ghz only and still only got 58mb. Strange, I thought it would give me at least 50% of the 500mb available. Maybe it doesn’t extend 5ghz well?

5ghz has faster speeds but has half the range of 2.4ghz, it doesn't penetrate walls very well and will be poor in the next room so your device should roam to 2.4ghz

Leftwaffe

Gooey Looey wrote: »

5ghz has faster speeds but has half the range of 2.4ghz, it doesn't penetrate walls very well and will be poor in the next room so your device should roam to 2.4ghz

I’m assuming it’s best to leave the guest network off then. I have a good few IoT devices so best to be on the same SSID for all of them?

When downstairs in a room next to the main unit I’m getting 450mb on 5ghz but when on upstairs unit (short distance, small house) I’m getting 58mb. I feel like that drop off shouldn’t be as big.

Gooey Looey

Redordeadqwwer wrote: »

I’m assuming it’s best to leave the guest network off then. I have a good few IoT devices so best to be on the same SSID for all of them?

When downstairs in a room next to the main unit I’m getting 450mb on 5ghz but when on upstairs unit (short distance, small house) I’m getting 58mb. I feel like that drop off shouldn’t be as big.

Guest network will have no bearing.

You could have foil backed plaster slabs or other material blocking signal. 5ghz doesn't penetrate well you will only get high speeds in the room it's in!

Leftwaffe

Gooey Looey wrote: »

Guest network will have no bearing.

You could have foil backed plaster slabs or other material blocking signal. 5ghz doesn't penetrate well you will only get high speeds in the room it's in!

Ok thanks for this.

Gooey Looey

Redordeadqwwer wrote: »

Ok thanks for this.

You could run a cable to a node upstairs giving you full speed

Leftwaffe

Gooey Looey wrote: »

You could run a cable to a node upstairs giving you full speed

Would probably be absolute hardship tbh. Do I just cable from one node to the other?

Gooey Looey

Redordeadqwwer wrote: »

Would probably be absolute hardship tbh. Do I just cable from one node to the other?

Yes from the main one to the node. That is if they have Ethernet. I'm not sure what model mesh you have some some do not have Ethernet ports!

Leftwaffe

Gooey Looey wrote: »

Yes from the main one to the node. That is if they have Ethernet. I'm not sure what model mesh you have some some do not have Ethernet ports!

Deco M4 there’s two Ethernet ports on each node.

As an aside I just realised I’ll have to set up a separate guest network on 2.4ghz for my smart plugs etc. Getting no response from my plugs when on the main network as it’s a combo of both 2.4 and 5ghz, bit frustrating.

Edit: Scratch that seems to be working now in the main network. Phew.

Leftwaffe

Alright so I’ve got it all set up. Everything appears to be working well but then occasionally the connection will drop altogether and I can’t access anything on any device. It will come back after a while then.

Right beside the main node I get 450mb but then when it drops out I can’t even load a google page.

Is there any reason for this loss of service? It comes back all of a sudden then after a while.