Wifi mesh systems

babelfish1990 · 21-03-2021 7:55am

FastFullBack wrote: »

Perfect thanks. 70 meters should cover the house so I doubt I'll have any devices beyond that. I'll give it a go I think anyway and see what it's like once I'm in. Thanks. You've saved me €150+

Your WiFi coverage has very little to do with distance, and much more to do with obstructions. Many houses have an extension that is outside the original outside walls - eg a garage conversion or kitchen extension. If some of the outside walls remain, they can block the WiFi in certain directions. Under-floor heating also kills it dead (between floors). I certainly wouldn't ditch your ISP router. Try it out first, and if you need more coverage add a mesh system with 2 or 3 Access Points. Then switch off the WiFi in your ISP router, and let the mesh provide seamless coverage throughout your home. Mesh is transformational in providing coverage everywhere - it's not just about speed, seamless handover between Access Point zones is critical as well. You can't achieve this with power-line WiFi extenders. Power-line is also very temperamental, and may not work in your new home.

RangeR · 21-03-2021 11:14am

Yup, suggestion is to get your internet in and test for WIFI deadspots. Only then will you know what you need or not.

I too have google wifi mesh. Works fantastically, with a few limitations [no web interface, only app config]. DECO M5 is well regarded in this thread too.

A two or three point mesh will easily cover your area, depending on environmental issues like obstacles, concrete walls etc.

mmrs · 24-03-2021 6:36am

I needed a wifi mesh and this thread has been very helpful for me, great read through, thanks. I've decided on the Nest Wifi for myself. Just thought i'd mention it's on sale now.

https://store.google.com/product/nest_wifi?hl=en-GB

40 quid off the router and point.

The Deco M5 was my second choice, also currently with a few quid off on amazon.

RangeR · 24-03-2021 10:35am

mmrs wrote: »

I needed a wifi mesh and this thread has been very helpful for me, great read through, thanks. I've decided on the Nest Wifi for myself. Just thought i'd mention it's on sale now.

https://store.google.com/product/nest_wifi?hl=en-GB

40 quid off the router and point.

The Deco M5 was my second choice, also currently with a few quid off on amazon.

Just on a personal security point, the Nest Wifi includes the OK Google speaker. Just in case it's an issue with you. It would be to me.

Clareman · 24-03-2021 10:41am

RangeR wrote: »

Just on a personal security point, the Nest Wifi includes the OK Google speaker. Just in case it's an issue with you. It would be to me.

You can turn that off very easily if you want to (https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/9596773?co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid&hl=en-GB)

Personally because of all the data Google will have anyway it doesn't really bother me, people will be more likely to challenge Google for mis-use of data or discover that they are doing stuff the shouldn't be which will cost them billions.

If you are worried about personal security and Google then I would say that you should avoid all Google products and platforms, that includes Nest, Chrome, Android, 8.8.8.8, YouTube, Gmail.......

zom · 24-03-2021 11:03am

Clareman wrote: »

If you are worried about personal security and Google then I would say that you should avoid all Google products and platforms, that includes Nest, Chrome, Android, 8.8.8.8, YouTube, Gmail.......

In fairness it is not that difficult - use Firefox instead of Chrome, iPhone instead of Android, duckduckgo.com instead of google.com, number of DNSs different than 8.8.8.8, number of services similar to YouTube, email from Microsoft or some other companies like gmx.com for example etc..

RangeR · 24-03-2021 11:33am

zom wrote: »

In fairness it is not that difficult - use Firefox instead of Chrome, iPhone instead of Android, duckduckgo.com instead of google.com, number of DNSs different than 8.8.8.8, number of services similar to YouTube, email from Microsoft or some other companies like gmx.com for example etc..

Agreed. I moved away from Google a long time ago, including all above excepting Android. Email from ProtonMail.

However, I was just making a point that the Nest Wifi has a speaker.

zom · 24-03-2021 11:49am

And I was making a point that it is not impossible to "avoid all Google products and platforms" (@Clareman)

funkey_monkey · 25-03-2021 12:42pm

degsie · 25-03-2021 7:56pm

Pity this forum keeps drifting away from mesh discussion.

keano25 · 25-03-2021 8:52pm

Ya with some of the comments it's getting fairly meshy in here..

Mc Love · 26-03-2021 12:47pm

I'm getting fibre with Pure Telecom installed, theyve sent a Fritzbox 7530 and it has mesh capability. Will this work with my existing Google Wifi mesh system?

RangeR · 26-03-2021 2:06pm

Mc Love wrote: »

I'm getting fibre with Pure Telecom installed, theyve sent a Fritzbox 7530 and it has mesh capability. Will this work with my existing Google Wifi mesh system?

Nope, apparently. Just add other FRITZ devices; powerline, repeater etc

https://en.avm.de/service/fritzbox/fritzbox-7530/knowledge-base/publication/show/3329_Mesh-with-FRITZ/

Clareman · 26-03-2021 2:19pm

I have a 7560 and Nest WiFi, no problem, I've disabled WiFi on the Fritz and use the Nest to supply the wifi, no problem at all

tscul32 · 26-03-2021 7:25pm

JJJackal wrote: »

Do you get EU plugs then

Did you ever manage to get the eero into Ireland? Just tried .de and it says only delivers to Germany.

Tabby McTat · 26-03-2021 8:08pm

babelfish1990 wrote: »

Under-floor heating also kills it dead (between floors).

Is the solution here to have your mesh satellite unit hard-wired with a cat6 cable?

irelandspurs · 26-03-2021 8:11pm

I installed the Deco m4s for my neighbour last week and he saying its giving trouble by dropping signal lots of times a day and stopping. I think it's the sky q mini boxes that's the problem. He has 2 mini boxes and I have the wifi turned off on both.
The setup I have for him is, main deco plugged into sky hub with wifi turned off on hub which is in the office. Into main deco I have powerline adaptor which connects to main sky box in sitting room.
2nd deco is in the extension with ethernet plugged into sky q mini box.
3rd deco is in bedroom with ethernet into second mini box.
Decos are in access mode.
I thought I had it set up right but obviously wrong somewhere

Clareman · 26-03-2021 11:23pm

irelandspurs wrote: »

I installed the Deco m4s for my neighbour last week and he saying its giving trouble by dropping signal lots of times a day and stopping. I think it's the sky q mini boxes that's the problem. He has 2 mini boxes and I have the wifi turned off on both.
The setup I have for him is, main deco plugged into sky hub with wifi turned off on hub which is in the office. Into main deco I have powerline adaptor which connects to main sky box in sitting room.
2nd deco is in the extension with ethernet plugged into sky q mini box.
3rd deco is in bedroom with ethernet into second mini box.
Decos are in access mode.
I thought I had it set up right but obviously wrong somewhere

Dropping signals are a pain in the hole, first thing I'd do is disconnect 1 of the remotes at a time, sometimes you might have a faulty 1 that interferes with the other ones.
After that I'd be turning things off in sequence, Sky Q's are notorious for not liking mesh so try to see if 1 of those removed might help things.
What jumps out at me is Sky hub and 3 external boxes with a mix of mesh and wired, I wouldn't be surprised if there's a conflict somewhere that'd be a pain in the hole to figure out.

BoardsMember · 26-03-2021 11:37pm

Tabby McTat wrote: »

Is the solution here to have your mesh satellite unit hard-wired with a cat6 cable?

I'm no expert but I believe if wired is an option, then adding access points to the wired network is the optimal for having good wireless with same SSID throughout. So if you have ethernet then mesh is not needed.

Clareman · 27-03-2021 12:32am

BoardsMember wrote: »

I'm no expert but I believe if wired is an option, then adding access points to the wired network is the optimal for having good wireless with same SSID throughout. So if you have ethernet then mesh is not needed.

Absolutely, I'd agree with this 100000000%, if you can have any chance of having wired use it

dodzy · 27-03-2021 5:47pm

Folks, on virgin media 240 (via the standalone hub) for as long as I can remember and has performed flawlessly throughout the house. Only issue was daughters room in the garden that I built last summer. Wifi to here was non existent behind closed doors so I put in a Deco mesh; basically plug and play; I made zero change to the VM wifi network. I've experienced no issues whatsoever - only thing is the 2 network SSIDs are still active on the VM hub (but not used). Any advantage to disabling them via the web interface for the hub (or disadvantages by not)?

WLad · 27-03-2021 6:01pm

dodzy wrote: »

Folks, on virgin media 240 (via the standalone hub) for as long as I can remember and has performed flawlessly throughout the house. Only issue was daughters room in the garden that I built last summer. Wifi to here was non existent behind closed doors so I put in a Deco mesh; basically plug and play; I made zero change to the VM wifi network. I've experienced no issues whatsoever - only thing is the 2 network SSIDs are still active on the VM hub (but not used). Any advantage to disabling them via the web interface for the hub (or disadvantages by not)?

If they're not used there's no disadvantage to disabling them. Only advantage really is reducing WiFi noise in your house. Competing networks might overlap and slow each other down but shouldn't much.

degsie · 27-03-2021 10:28pm

dodzy wrote: »

Folks, on virgin media 240 (via the standalone hub) for as long as I can remember and has performed flawlessly throughout the house. Only issue was daughters room in the garden that I built last summer. Wifi to here was non existent behind closed doors so I put in a Deco mesh; basically plug and play; I made zero change to the VM wifi network. I've experienced no issues whatsoever - only thing is the 2 network SSIDs are still active on the VM hub (but not used). Any advantage to disabling them via the web interface for the hub (or disadvantages by not)?

Did you configure the Decos in access point mode?

dodzy · 28-03-2021 12:23am

degsie wrote: »

Did you configure the Decos in access point mode?

Had to check. It’s in ‘router mode’ actually. That was the default.

[Deleted User] · 28-03-2021 12:33am

dodzy wrote: »

Had to check. It’s in ‘router mode’ actually. That was the default.

You have double NAT and you also may have wireless interference issues. Turn off WiFi on your main wireless router and set your mesh to access point mode

dodzy · 28-03-2021 8:06am

Deleted User wrote: »

You have double NAT and you also may have wireless interference issues. Turn off WiFi on your main wireless router and set your mesh to access point mode

Thanks for the reply bf. out of interest, I’m experiencing zero issues with any devices (that I’m aware of) with the current setup but I will of course take your advice. So, bearing in mind that I’ve all LAN ports occupied on the VM hub, I’m just turning off WiFi on the hub, nothing else (not enabling bridge mode) thus leaving the existing ports to function as normal and eliminating this “double NAT” you speak of?

[Deleted User] · 28-03-2021 8:57am

dodzy wrote: »

Thanks for the reply bf. out of interest, I’m experiencing zero issues with any devices (that I’m aware of) with the current setup but I will of course take your advice. So, bearing in mind that I’ve all LAN ports occupied on the VM hub, I’m just turning off WiFi on the hub, nothing else (not enabling bridge mode) thus leaving the existing ports to function as normal and eliminating this “double NAT” you speak of?

Exactly, the VM hub becomes your one and only router.

Double NAT means you have two routers, 2 private networks with 2 firewalls and this breaks many things. Any ports that get open using universal plug and play (UPNP) remains blocked on the second router. This causes problems with thinks like console game hosting, Skype, VPN and can break strict SSL, it's a far from ideal setup. Also devices on one router may not be able to communicate with devices on the other

RangeR · 28-03-2021 9:37am

Deleted User wrote: »

Any ports that get open using universal plug and play (UPNP) remains blocked on the second router.

Personally, I disable uPNP on all of my routers. The trade off between security and convenience is too big.

[Deleted User] · 28-03-2021 9:50am

RangeR wrote: »

Personally, I disable uPNP on all of my routers. The trade off between security and convenience is too big.

Yeah I can understand that, if you don't use any applications or console game servers that need port forwarding. You can still port forward, you just have to do the work.

riddles · 29-03-2021 12:30pm

Hi

I got about 10 pages into the thread and am finding the options slightly hard to patch with my level of knowledge.

The house is two story detached with a converted side garage. I would like to get coverage in a outside shed which is close to the house.

I have Eir broadband router at the front door - no ethernet cabling in the house.

There are four wifi users in the house. The options I narrowed down to are the P9 Deco system and tenda nova one.
I am looking for a solution to plug in and its ready to go and possibly could offering some content screening capability if possible.

Any suggestions appreciated - thx

https://www.currys.ie/ieen/computing-accessories/networking/whole-home-wi-fi-systems/tp-link-deco-p9-whole-home-wifi-system-triple-pack-10206082-pdt.html?istCompanyId=fbc6ef6d-ab18-45e3-927a-0cb677794424&istFeedId=0959f117-9faa-4499-80bd-c0265bb2950e&istItemId=iltpwmipa&istBid=t&gclid=Cj0KCQjw9YWDBhDyARIsADt6sGaA9cW0htQEVJeB1HyzNT7QghdioiZ1KkUve--87G_wvXVr9eVvN-8aAiglEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

https://www.currys.ie/ieen/computing-accessories/networking/whole-home-wi-fi-systems/tenda-nova-mw6-whole-home-wifi-system-triple-pack-10184401-pdt.html?istCompanyId=fbc6ef6d-ab18-45e3-927a-0cb677794424&istFeedId=0959f117-9faa-4499-80bd-c0265bb2950e&istItemId=wrqpllair&istBid=t&gclid=Cj0KCQjw9YWDBhDyARIsADt6sGZq5CHTOsrjwrN1sioqWjm_dCpwtwuKjhXv2mJm-Ftme3hFOm_mqQIaAnr6EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

others mentioned in the thread.

Linksys velop Triband

Eero 3-pack

Orbi

TP Link Deco M5 system

Wifi mesh systems

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