Wifi mesh systems

Ray Donovan

I have FTTH being installed on Thursday. My house is all concrete, two storey roughly 2700 sq ft. Thankfully when buliding I ran ethernet cables through the walls so I have 3 connection points downstairs and one upstairs ready to go.

So I have decided on the TP Link Deco M5 3 pack and I am going to use the ethernet backhaul. Fingers crossed it's all pretty straightforward because I don't have a clue about these things!!

maxamillius

If I was to get google WiFi and put one of the units in a garden shed, would that provide coverage to the garden?

Shefwedfan

maxamillius wrote: »

If I was to get google WiFi and put one of the units in a garden shed, would that provide coverage to the garden?

Do you have power running to the shed from the house?

Coverage on a standard mesh will depend on distance etc

Shefwedfan

My Huawei Q2's have arrived, All 6 of them. Wife going nuts :-)

Now time to set up and test

DFS UTD

Shefwedfan wrote: »

My Huawei Q2's have arrived, All 6 of them. Wife going nuts :-)

Now time to set up and test

Good luck!! Let us know how you get on ...

Gerry T

Shefwedfan wrote: »

My Huawei Q2's have arrived, All 6 of them. Wife going nuts :-)

Now time to set up and test

I'm guessing the same reaction when mine arrive :pac: not the smallest of units. She prob doesn't appreciate the technical ability of this kit !

degsie

Shefwedfan wrote: »

My Huawei Q2's have arrived, All 6 of them. Wife going nuts :-)

Now time to set up and test

Wife + solid wifi = \o/

GinSoaked

degsie wrote: »

Wife + solid wifi = \o/

But its down the pub asap if the Wifi fails.

Shefwedfan

degsie wrote: »

Wife + solid wifi = \o/

A huge box arrived :-) I maybe bought a few other things :-) plus its about the 5th mesh system I have bought....


all going good so far, report back later. 5 of the 6 units connected

Shefwedfan

OK 5 out of 6. I don't need the 6th one but because of the price it was cheaper to buy the set with all 6.

Setup: this was so easy. So plugged main unit into router, connected to its wifi. Open up app and set my wifi network name and password. It auto started to pick up all my devices. Other two units in that box just plugged in, walked away and a few mins later they turned blue.

Second box, now I started messing and I should have done nothing, on the 4th one it wouldn't pick up so I had to pull out the manual. It was flashing red. It has a H button button at front so pressed this, it flickered blue and then 30 secs later it was solid blue which means it connected. Now in the app I had kicked off adding a device so not sure which one worked :-)

5th device, just plugged it in and bang after a few mins it had picked it up.

Messed around with app. Told me to reposition etc. Some nice features. Like a large wheel with each device, spin it to a device and it will show everything connected to it. All my 2.4 and 5Ghz devices connected no problem.

THe devices are chunky but not as tall as the linksys. So far everything working ok, wife going mad so need to do some jobs

Grumpypants

When you are doing the satellite units do you pair them near the main unit then walk them to the location or bring them to the location and see if they can pick up the signal.

Gerry T

Shefwedfan wrote: »

OK 5 out of 6. I don't need the 6th one but because of the price it was cheaper to buy the set with all 6.

Setup: this was so easy. So plugged main unit into router, connected to its wifi. Open up app and set my wifi network name and password. It auto started to pick up all my devices. Other two units in that box just plugged in, walked away and a few mins later they turned blue.

Second box, now I started messing and I should have done nothing, on the 4th one it wouldn't pick up so I had to pull out the manual. It was flashing red. It has a H button button at front so pressed this, it flickered blue and then 30 secs later it was solid blue which means it connected. Now in the app I had kicked off adding a device so not sure which one worked :-)

5th device, just plugged it in and bang after a few mins it had picked it up.

Messed around with app. Told me to reposition etc. Some nice features. Like a large wheel with each device, spin it to a device and it will show everything connected to it. All my 2.4 and 5Ghz devices connected no problem.

THe devices are chunky but not as tall as the linksys. So far everything working ok, wife going mad so need to do some jobs

Whats the coverage like, are speeds ok ? ... can you get the eurovision all around the house !

Alkers

SchrodingersCat wrote: »

Yep,
One fritz 4020
https://en.avm.de/products/fritzbox/fritzbox-4020/
One fritz 7430
https://en.avm.de/products/fritzbox/fritzbox-7430/

And for the master in the mesh, a fritz 4040

https://en.avm.de/products/fritzbox/fritzbox-4040/

Can you explain a bit how to set this up?
I have a fritzbox which came with our digiweb broadband, no issues whatsoever but the WiFi speeds drop significantly upstairs and in the garden, would buying some of the boxes you linked to help? They only need power and nothing else? If I got another one, would placing it where current speeds are poor improve them, or would it have to be somewhere in between the router and the slow spot?
EDIT: it's a 7430 I have

ratracer

Shefwedfan wrote: »

OK 5 out of 6. I don't need the 6th one but because of the price it was cheaper to buy the set with all 6.

Well..... if you want to make some cash back, I’m sure the 6th would sell quite easily...

Sheep Shagger

Bought another nest wifi (to go with the 2 Google wifi's I have) in the Google store. Was supposed to be delivered on Wednesday.

Credit card hasn't been charged with and no package yet.

Google store are normally very good?

Shefwedfan

Gerry T wrote: »

Whats the coverage like, are speeds ok ? ... can you get the eurovision all around the house !

Just using the macbook and checking around the house coverage is similar to what I was getting with the Linksys Velop when I just have 3 units working


Of course when I have all 5 connected I have superior coverage.


The big test was in the sun room and IP TV. Before I was moving one of the units around and still wasn't great because of layout. Now everything is running via the Powerlines so getting perfect picture. Even tested Disney+ and excellent so very happy.



I dont have super fast broadband as on mobile so max speed I get is 30mb today but it was a solid 30 all around the house. So far very impressed.

towger

Sheep Shagger wrote: »

Bought another nest wifi (to go with the 2 Google wifi's I have) in the Google store. Was supposed to be delivered on Wednesday.

Credit card hasn't been charged with and no package yet.

Google store are normally very good?

Seems to be a big backorder on Points. I ordered an extra one on May 5th, nothing yet, I've been onto chat to them twice, each time all they say they are trying to get it out soon.

Gerry T

Shefwedfan wrote:

I dont have super fast broadband as on mobile so max speed I get is 30mb today but it was a solid 30 all around the house. So far very impressed.

Hopefully my pack comes soon & I'll update when it does. I've loads of dead spots, plus very old wiring in the house so that will test the system !

kala85

What's the linksys velop like compared to the hauwei

Shefwedfan

kala85 wrote: »

What's the linksys velop like compared to the hauwei

Coverage wise 3 v 3 the Linksys was better. Based on my opinion. PLus it had more functionality than the Q2. App is mroe refined and Linksys Aware is a great technology if they could link into smart home


The HUawei app by the looks of it is very new, so hopefully they add some new features. Like speed test and priority. You can restrict performance on devices int he app but I would prefer to just give priority


The layout of my hosue was the issue with Linksys. If I was in a 2 storey I would keep Linksys

Price is big thing, for 3 units on Linksys I got for 206 pounds. They are really 280 or so. Just about to ship back.

For 6 units of Q2 I got for 280 with shipping. Thats a huge difference in price and with the Q2 using powerline to connect it helps. I do think the Linksys is more refined and the tri band is far better to the dual band I tested but to buy 6 units I would be looking at over 500 poiunds

beauf

Shefwedfan wrote: »

....


The layout of my hosue was the issue with Linksys. If I was in a 2 storey I would keep Linksys

....
...

How so, maybe I missed that earlier.

Shefwedfan

beauf wrote: »

How so, maybe I missed that earlier.

I have an old bungalow which is over 3,500 sq ft. Big thick block walls. Plus the house is a funny design so the sun room is going out so the garden nearly wraps around it. Good for looks but not for wifi.



Due to the layout after testing numerous system the Linksys was the best by far, but I would need 5 units so made more sense to go with Powerline supported devices. The price point of Q2 made it a no brainer compared to TP-Link where you can buy the expensive units and then mesh in cheaper. With the Q2 I could buy all central units for similar money to a mixed TP-Link mesh P9

Shefwedfan

beauf wrote: »

How so, maybe I missed that earlier.

I have an old bungalow which is over 3,500 sq ft. Big thick block walls. Plus the house is a funny design so the sun room is going out so the garden nearly wraps around it. Good for looks but not for wifi.



Due to the layout after testing numerous system the Linksys tri-band was the best by far, but I would need 5 units so made more sense to go with Powerline supported devices. The price point of Q2 made it a no brainer compared to TP-Link where you can buy the expensive units and then mesh in cheaper. With the Q2 I could buy all central units for similar money to a mixed TP-Link mesh P9




Now dont get me wrong on the Q2, I have just installed and not really tested yet. But the app on the Linksys was better and I do like Linksys aware.

maxamillius

Shefwedfan wrote: »

Do you have power running to the shed from the house?

Coverage on a standard mesh will depend on distance etc

Yep there is power in the shed, couple of sockets and lights

beauf

Problem I have is big girder in the kitchen killing WiFi and lots of competition with neighbours, so mostly use powerline but it's very susceptible to electrical interference. I wonder would a mesh be more robust.

bk

Shefwedfan wrote: »

I dont have super fast broadband as on mobile so max speed I get is 30mb today but it was a solid 30 all around the house. So far very impressed.

Does the Huawei app not have a speed test or the ability to show the speed between the devices?

If you have two pc's or mac's, there is software that you can run on them that allows you to do speed tests between the two devices on the network.

Would allow us to get a real feel for the performance of the system.

SlowBlowin

I run 8 IP cameras, all 720p or better, over my wireless network (together with extensive IOT and home automation). I have Ubiquiti, TPLink and Linksys wifi APs. The CCTV system instantly reports any dropouts, and after much experimentation, monitoring network traffic, I found that Open WRT (running without the web GUI) outperforms all of the manufacturers firmwares, especially in terms of dropouts/reliability.

I know Open WRT supports Mesh, has anyone here tried it ? It would be a lot of work for me to upgrade everything to new versions, so I wondered if anyone had any good/bad experiences of Open WRT Mesh ?

Shefwedfan

bk wrote: »

Does the Huawei app not have a speed test or the ability to show the speed between the devices?

If you have two pc's or mac's, there is software that you can run on them that allows you to do speed tests between the two devices on the network.

Would allow us to get a real feel for the performance of the system.

It just shows the speed the device is working at, so on netflix now the TV is pulling 3-4Mbps


No other option.....have a Mac, PC packed in so need a new one

SlowBlowin

bk wrote: »

Does the Huawei app not have a speed test or the ability to show the speed between the devices?

If you have two pc's or mac's, there is software that you can run on them that allows you to do speed tests between the two devices on the network.

Would allow us to get a real feel for the performance of the system.

Strangely it seems Huawei have chosen not to expose backhaul speeds (ethernet or powerline) which is odd considering this is what ultimately determines throughput.

"Like all systems in the test, the Huawei WiFi Q2 supports Ethernet backhaul, which means you can connect routers to each other with a network cable to get better performance in the network. Huawei also supports backhaul via power-line (in other words, via the mains grid). However, Huawei have chosen to hide this function outside the app, which means we didn’t test it."

Grumpypants

My MW6 cubes have not dispatched yet, I'm going slowly insane with the WiFi power extension set up here at the moment.