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Eir Broadband - Recommend a mesh wi-fi system

Redkite200

About to move into a new house and Eir will be providing the fibre BB connection.

It's a 2 storey job so a looking to ensure the wi-fi signal is the best it can be throughout the house.

Requirements for the wi-fi would be working from home (upstairs office), gaming (PS5) and usual TV streaming and internet browsing downstairs in living room and from bedroom

I read a suggestion on here previously for this TP-Link set up: https://connectit.ie/products/tp-link-deco-m4-whole-home-mesh-wi-fi-system

as a decent kit to improve wi-fi signal throughout the house.

Would I also then need or be best off upgrading from the standard Eir router to maximise the potential of this kit?

And if so would be grateful for any suggestions. TIA

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babelfish1990

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058362396/eir-broadband-recommend-a-mesh-wi-fi-system

Eir have their own mesh wifi system, which slave off their F3000 router - €59.99. For a new 2-storey house, you will probably find one of these adequate to extend your WiFi, but you can add more if necessary. Alternatively, if you go for the TP-Link or other 3rd-party brand, you will need to overlay the coverage from the Eir router and switch off the WiFi in the eir router - so you will need an additional unit. Don't run two routers on your network, as this causes problems.

https://eir-store.ie/collections/connected-living/products/smartwifi

dam099

If you don’t have Eir for VOIP landline one of the Deco’s can be used as a router and connected direct to the ONT eliminating the Eir router altogether.

The Deco M4 is decent enough especially if you can connect them together with Ethernet cable instead of WiFi for the backhaul. If using. WIFi back haul I’d consider a triband model (not sure if Eirs own router/extender do that, if they do should be good option).

deravarra

Had a Deco M4 and thought it was rubbish.

Have a netgear orbi with wifi 6 e, gives me 900+ mb download on my s24 plus all round the 2 storey house.

It is a bit on the pricey side, but you don't have the frustration of a slow system with M4.

When it comes to WiFi, I would rather spend a bit more but enjoy trouble free connections.

The Real B-man

You really can't go wrong with these for the price pointWifi6 and you can also connect them via ethernet no app or messing around.

Calebmcd

You could get onemesh from Tplink. Its cheaper and works great if your house isnt huge.

Works on a Router and extender.

Like AXE75 and RE815XE

https://www.tp-link.com/uk/onemesh/product-list/

Blazer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122453235#Comment_122453235

which model is it? I see the wifi 6 version is down to about 460 on Amazon for a 3 pack..but I hear 50/50 opinions on the firmway. Same for the Asus XT9's.

deravarra

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122464974#Comment_122464974

RBKE963

PixelCrafter

Their own brand Sagemcom mesh system isn’t great.

I have a Fritzbox 4060 on an eir FTTH connection and it wipes the floor with their router and mesh repeaters. Speed is drastically better over WiFi.

They’re both WiFi 6 and I’ve tested side and often got 2x the speed over WiFi in same location on the Fritzbox.

If you don’t need their VoIP phone service, that’s the only thing that’s tied to their router.

I’ve basically ditched our landline number - it was being used for about 1 call a month at most.

If you do need a landline, you can spin on up on another VoIP service for little cost anyway.

Blazer

Sweet, I went with the cheaper version which is still €500 as that will cover the WiFi plus I’m also gonna run Ethernet through all the bedrooms and office.

I have the Devo x20 but it takes a huge performance hit at range which is what the orbi and ASUs mesh systems are supposed to excel at.

The Real B-man

I agree Fritzbox is great and loads of customization, but price wise it doesn't compare to the eir mesh and for your standard home user for the price of a Fritzbox modem you could have a triple pack of the eir mesh it works really well. I have x3 of them connected via ethernet to the F3000 modem.

PixelCrafter

Performance wise though there's just no comparison at all. The Fritzbox blows that Sagemcom gear out of the water entirely. It's really not great.

I mean the Eir stuff will do the job, but it won't make the most of your FTTH connection.

mossie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122453235#Comment_122453235

I have the M4 and find it very good. As long as all the units are connected by Ethernet i get a steady 500Mbps around the house. If they are connected wirelessly it drops significantly though.

eoin.d

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122473616#Comment_122473616

could you please walk me through what I need to do to connect my new eir f3000 modem to the 3 Deco m4 mesh units I previously used with satellite broadband I was using. I can connect all units with ethernet. I haven’t a clue about any of this. Thanks

mossie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122475761#Comment_122475761

It's shoud be just a case of connecting them up. Do you want to replace the eir router or use the M4 as access points? I've mine set up as access points and it was just a case of plugging them in to ethernet and setting them up with the Deco app, one by one

Blazer

Got the Orbi mesh and very pleased with it.

This is from my gaming pc upstairs which is hardwired to the satellite unit which in turn is using wireless backhaul.

The Deco X20 only gave me about 140meg on wireless (wired backhaul through powerlines) and the netgear powerlines with the 2.5gb adapter directly only gave me about 150megs..so over 5 times faster on the orbi mesh.

I have it plugged directly into the ont and a word of warning…read the damn instructions :) ie plug the ont terminal out for at least 2 mins to clear out the previous router connections. It was driving me mad this morning trying to set it up as I was rushing to do it.

A Tp-link wifi 6 adapter I also purchased only gives me 200megs from the exact same location. I'll be returning that.

NeitherJohn

Picked up a pair of ASUS XD6s connected up via Ethernet on Prime Day. So much better than the default Sky router WiFi.

PixelCrafter

Side by side comparison over WiFi 6 to MacBook Pro in exactly the same locations 1 room away from the router.

Perhaps I got a dud F3000 and repeaters but it seems a lot slower than the AVM Fritzbox stuff

dam099

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122476773#Comment_122476773

"Wired backhaul through powerlines" is not true wired backhaul, your X20 was likely limited by the powerline gear not necessarily its own performance. However it looks like a dual band unit so with wireless backhaul it likely would be a good bit off the Orbi which I presume is tri-band?

The X20 on a proper ethernet backhaul probably would give much improved performance but I assume that's not possible for you so the Orbi does seem the better choice.

Blazer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122477366#Comment_122477366

yep the powerline adapters hampered it but even with wifi backhaul its performance is way less than the orbi. Granted the orbi has 1 router and 2 satellites but even before I hooked them up the wifi performance of the orbi over distance was multiples higher.

Yes the orbi is tri-band as it has a reserved 5ghz for backhaul..it makes a massive difference but even over 2.4ghz it was still double the x20.

Its only as you moved to internet speeds higher than 300 meg do you start to notice the limitations of the lower end etc.

The Real B-man

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122477353#Comment_122477353

The F3000 itself doesn't have Wifi6 only the Mesh Wifi devices its poor in that regard, Perhaps there will be a "F4000" shortly which does have it.

sob1467

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122453235#Comment_122453235

Same kind of setup have a Netgear Orbi that I got at the start of lockdown and it has been on since. Never give one bit of trouble and whole house now has great coverage.

It is more expensive but a huge level up on my old TP-Links that really was not great.

eoin.d

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122476625#Comment_122476625

im not sure I’m really clueless about this . I guess I just want the best results is that keeping the eir f3000 or not

PixelCrafter

I don’t know why eir buys such crappy gateway equipment though. The FTTH itself is very good, but it’s badly let down by that F3000 own brand junk.

They should be putting a premium router with those services, at least as an option. Obviously, most ISP routers are a pile of junk, but they could sell a top range 2gbit/s service with a premium router supporting WiFi 7, HD VoIP over DECT and Apple TV and it would very likely sell.

They seem to have really basic home equipment compared to their sister company in France or Switzerland:

Iliad's current box on Free in France, which is WiFi 7 based and supports up to 4 repeaters.

https://www.iliad.fr/en/actualites/article/free-presents-its-new-freebox-the-freebox-ultra-there-s-nothing-quite-like-it

They also sell 8Gbps up and down.

Vs Eir's now rather pedestrian 1Gbit/s down and 100Mbit/s up.

All the FTTH providers here seem to have a rather slow upload speed.

deravarra

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122473616#Comment_122473616

Wirelessly connected and huge drop in satellite speeds forced me to go the Orbi route

Redkite200

Thanks for the replies, there's some technical jargon / abbreviations there I admit I have literally no clue about, stuff like "wi-fi back haul" and so on

It seems from the products mentioned that I looked up like the Orbi mesh for example, they are quite expensive.

I was hoping for something maybe in the 100-300 euro bracket if possible but I know that might limit decent options.

At the moment I have a Tp link AV600 powerline ethernet extender / adaptor that I use in the living room and connect to the PS5 from and its been really good at providing a stable connection from the Eir fibre router across the hall in another room (office)

So basically looking to upgrade on that and ensure there is a solid wireless signal upstairs as one of us may be working from home there.

I thought I could just buy the Deco M4 pack I mentioned in the OP and connect it up to enhance the wifi around the new house when we move but babelfish advised that...

"Alternatively, if you go for the TP-Link or other 3rd-party brand, you will need to overlay the coverage from the Eir router and switch off the WiFi in the eir router - so you will need an additional unit. Don't run two routers on your network, as this causes problems."

I don't fully understand this advice to be quite honest. What do you mean by "overlay the coverage from the eir router" ?

Can / should I invest in a better router / modem than the standard Eir gear and combine it with the M4 kit?

Thanks and excuse my lack of knowledge on all of this.

Blazer

You don't need to replace the eir router…you can bypass it completely with the wifi kits as you can configure the connection directly to the ONT.

What speed are you on again? And is it fttc or ftth.

There's a huge difference is that fttc is only fibre to the cabinet and using copper wires then over the phone line while ftth is a fibre cable right upt to the house and into a white ONT box inside.

That dell M4 is limited to best case 850megs download and realistically you'll only get about 600 of that close by and maybe 150meg upstairs, it also don't have a dedicated backhaul channel to this will also impact speeds.

The orbi mesh is more expensive but its worth every penny for me who's o 1gb broadband.

Backhaul - This is a word for how the mesh units communicate with each other. Cheaper units use the same wifi frequency (2.4/5ghz) to communicate thus sharing your normal wifi with your devices also which decreases speed.

More expensive units have a separate channel for wifi so these mesh units can talk to each other without impacting your download speeds.

Best is ethernet/wired backhaul - this is where you physically have a wired connected to each unit.. ie the main router would be plugged directly into your modem/router and the second unit plugged by a cable to the other unit.

I always laugh at this as who the hell has wired for the second unit when you could just stick in a switch instead for more connections. But I suppose it allows you to strengthen wifi coverage as needed.

shmeee

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122497507#Comment_122497507

You can login to tor Eir router by typing the IP address into address bar on Google chrome while connected to the WiFi. Google the correct IP for the router.

Login then, and go to WiFi and just disable it. WiFi light goes off on your WiFi router. Connect up your mesh system then if going to Decos and that will then generate your WiFi network in the house. The Deco app is very easy to use to set up your Deco mesh system.

You can bypass the Eir router fully and plug main Deco into the ONT on the wall. And remove the Eir router. If you want to set it up that way, all your doing otherwise is passing the fibre through the Eir router. An extra leg that isn't needed maybe depending on your circumstances.