Wifi mesh systems

Hi All,

We're renovating the house and the floorboards needed lifting so i've got the opportunity to run ethernet all over.

I'm wondering are wifi access points dead now as a concept, does everyone just use mesh systems?

I just find the mesh units themselves quite bulky and i'd prefer a slimmer solution for all home wifi e.g. Ubiquiti UniFi indoor access points.

Just wondering am i mad to be thinking this way? Are there any mesh systems that can be mounted and are discrete?

I am similar, and I used a 24 port switch with 16 poe ports (the unifi one). I have at the moment only 3 poe devices on it, 2 AP's and the unifi cloud key, but plan on addition more stuff as time goes on, currently I am using about 16 of the ports, but as I said, only 3 of them currently sending poe.

I have a couple of RPI devices connected to the switch, and what I was planning on doing was getting a POE extractor to power them locally using the POE port of the switch

https://www.adafruit.com/product/3785

Thanks.

Further question now, if u don't mind....!??

End of 2017 I bought a Ubiquiti AC-PRO 24/5Ghz 450/1300Mbps. I don't actively manage it, it just works. Rarely login to the web app, but its on a laptop somewhere around here. I probably need to factory reset it so I can manage it from my phone, it can't apparently be managed from both my phone and the laptop.

Anyway, back to my question. Having read the positive observations on here, I plan to buy 2 or 3 Unifi ap 6 lites when I re-wire as there are some black spots around the house. Should I keep using what I have and add the lites? Or just use the lites? - wifi6 seems pretty compelling? Or can u use the lites without some sort of "master"? My router is doing DHCP, so wifi just needed for wifi/AP. Is it as simple as plugging in 3 lites to ethernet and managing them through the app?

Thanks @wexfordman2

Interesting.....the switch lite 16 PoE seems like the cheapest on on the UI store. I think that might do me for all switch requirements initially. 4 bed house, 3 living rooms. Should just about get away with it.

Care to recommend a patch panel?

Pushing it now, but do u use ethernet splitters at all. Might help me get all I need out of the 16 PoE by using a single cable at busy room points.

Thanks, ok, small local switch then, ie allow 4 hardware devices be wired locally to a single wall socket by plugging 4 port switch into wall.

Tenda mw12 seems to be a better choice .If you don't have hardwired ethernet then I would expect up to 600 mbps wifi on main unit and up to 400 mbps on 2 and 3rd.(if you lucky). If you decided to use only 2 units instead of 3 then you probably would be able to get up to 600 mbps on 2nd unit too. That's in theory as real life numbers could be much worse ( 200-300 mbps on 2nd and 3rd unit)

deco p9 wouldn't get even those speeds without ethernet backhaul

ps. I equally hate Tenda and TP Link.

If you want to extend 1Gb to 2nd or 3d unit then Ethernet is a must have. If you want to extend 1Gb wireless then you probably have to double/triple the budget.

I would try Tenda then ( 30 days return policy at Amazon) consistent 300 mbps at all corners might be too ambitious for this price, but worth a try.

Deco p9 would be waste of time without Ethernet backhaul IMO.

Unifi have the UAP-AC-M https://store.ui.com/products/unifi-ac-mesh-ap

I have one outside myself attached to the house (wired back to a switch) but it can also be used with other unifi APs as a wireless mesh system.

I’ve heard nothing bad about this model ( or good to be fair).It seems to be decent router for £100 .

I don’t like TPLINK in general, they love to cut corners, build quality often just below any standards.

Ive disassembled few tp link mesh units , they had such a tiny heatsinks, almost made of foil, no wonder they couldn’t perform well

WEB UI quite good though, normally you won’t see so many advanced features at such budget.

Why don’t you use SKY HUB ? Surely it is capable of 500mbps wireless speeds.

ps.couldn’t find linksys ea9600 , is it proper model name? ea6900 perhaps?

You won't be able set up mesh with Asus and TpLink.

You’ll be able to add another WiFi access point to your network but unlike mesh system it’ll not work in tandem with Asus.

In mesh system if you moving around the house mesh units passing clients to each other. If you approaching near the second unit with stronger signal then first unit pass you into it without any data loss. ( if you streaming Zoom , picture won’t break while you travel between the units).

If you just add your TPLINK as WiFi access point to Asus router you will create 2 independent wireless networks. It won’t automatically switch you to the Access Point with the strongest signal. You could be with half of a bar signal and no matter how close you to second unit you have to manually switch your phone between them.

Hardware firewall normally slow down performance, just wondering if you turn it down,could Linksys go up to 500 mbps as well ?

ps.Are you sure 1 router could deliver 500 mbps for two story house? You might need to relocate router in different place to get those speeds. Amazon has 30 days return policy you might swap it after for the mesh.

Does anybody else find Google Wifi to be a bit ****? I've just installed it in a 3-storey house, each floor roughly 60m2, and a lot of it open plan. I have the main on on the first floor at the front where the internet access point is, then ground floor and second floor are both at the back.

I have three main issues - the other units don't work well with streaming (even though if I do a speed test it is showing 120mbps), they cut out a lot, and they are not keeping a stable connection with other Nest or Google Home devices (either I can't install, need to try 50 times to add a new device, or when I do add them they show as offline), and they also cut out a lot if I try to do video or voice calls etc.

What would you go for instead for a house as described above? Only used for streaming / work from home and a few basic smart home devices (Philips Hue, Google Home Speakers, Tado thermostats, Nest cameras and alarms etc)

The Nova MW12 is a tri-band system. The three pack is available on Amazon for less than €200.

Any recommendations for a very large old house, circa 1,000sqm ?

Internet comes in at one extreme of the building currently, need to share it with one outbuilding <10m from the main house and also capture as much of the main building also. Walls are very thick stone.

Internet installer has recommended tp-link deco M4 ac1200 which is about 130 for a pack of three. Could I add more units if needed?

We need to place one of the mesh units in the outbuilding as this is being rented to include broadband.

I will be travelling to set this up for in-laws, need it to work out of the box.

Speed not a major concern, there isn't even phone signal in the house currently.

Hardwiring not a realistic option

Tis a listed building and all the walls are very thick, I'd have nightmares even thinking about doing cable runs!

Many thanks - appreciate your replies.

I will try to hardwire whatever I can.

Unfortunately I only had 30-day return on the Google Wifi, but it is still going in the bin.

I will order something new - looking around if I want tri-band, wifi 6 and three devices, the choice seems to be Linksys Velop MX12600, TP Link Deco XE75, or Netgear Orbi RBK753. All of these come close to 500, the Linksys is the cheapest at 439.

Any thoughts on these criteria and options?

The Google WiFi is just terrible when it comes to reliability. I can live with the speeds but devices cutting out non stop. Before I installed it I had the 10 year old router that I got from my ISP and it did a better job

Yah, you're right.. they are 2.4Ghz only.

I already have the bands separated and with different SSID's

I'll have to try changing to AP mode tonight and see.. can't risk it during the day as the wife and I are both working from home.. there'd be ructions if it went wrong.. 🙄

Thanks for the advice.