The problem with mesh networks is that they can yield poor performance, because data must be replicated back and forth between access points.
It matters how far the signal travels between access points, too. If you are near the end of the range between two of the access points, then everything in the WiFi network slows down a lot. We had a setup like that in our house, which is long and skinny. Two access points were close to the end of their practical range, slowing data rates down. After a couple years of slow WiFi, I pulled Ethernet cables into all the rooms of the house, terminated at a switch in the office (bedroom) closet. We connected each access point to the Ethernet network and set them up as a bridge. The Ethernet connection made a huge difference in WiFi performance over the mesh style network which relied on WiFi between the access points.
Scanning the neighbors' WiFi networks for overlapping WiFi channels and avoiding those channels made a big performance improvement, too.
If you can't pull Ethernet cable, have you considered using powerline ethernet adapters? They won't give you Ethernet speeds, but yield better performance than a mesh network.
There's a learning curve, but Mikrotik Audience. 2 separate 5g antennas, one runs on a high frequency for the purpose of the mesh.
But if you setup capsman on a primary Mikrotik router it works seamlessly for hopping between APs.
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I just deployed a TP-Link Deco system with 3 units at my mother's house with minimal guidance. So far no complaints about speeds or signal strength for the 1/3rd acre they live on with multiple buildings and a sizable yard.
Did you consider switching over to cellular? Wi-Fi sucks if the APs aren't wired.
We only have Wi-Fi in our main house, in all other apartments we use cellular 5G, for IoT we use Zigbee mesh, for printing and connecting to the home network, a simple VPN is sufficient
Phones all have 5G
Tablets, laptops also have 5G versions
For other devices I just open up a hotspot on a burner Phone, connected to the power brick 24/7.
We pay 4€/month for each 5G SIM card, each with unlimited mobile data, significantly cheaper than WiFi via fiber, phoneline-dsl and tvline-cable.
Depends on how your house is wired. Wasn't able to get either stability nor speed with mine. Got ~25Mbit on my 300Mbit connection and required resets more often than I cared for. :-/
Wired backhaul is best, but wireless worked fine for me when I really had to use it on the TP Link routers.
It works best when your home is an inconvenient shape -- like if your apartment is U-shaped with something dense like an elevator in the middle, then it's useful to put them on the two vertices. Use case is somewhat limited.
yes they actually do work, to my surprise, cabled AP is the best, mash is always the second option.
Altho I have a love for MKT, just don't touch it, not for beginners, no ( sorry @jfreak53, but the fella is gonna hang himself doing config on Audience on the 3rd antenna )
Go for UBNT, they work out of the box. A+
Also, a cheaper option is TP-LINK Deco. wifi 6 AX ( forget the Wifi 7, at least for a few years not worth it )
Depending on the number of wall, what material they are and the amount of Glass in the house, you might need a 3-4 device setup
remember a device broadcasts signal in a circle/sphere, so do not put them in the corners of the house, unless you want to do wifi for the neighbors.
Decided to go big and got 3x wifi7 w/ 6ghz nodes with quad 2.5gbe each. This.
I'd start by having a think about this:
I don't want cables involved.
Sometimes its a rental so you just can't drill holes. But if it is just a preference I'd strongly encourage you to re-think. Especially if it is multiple floors and concrete floor. The connection is going to suck without cable, even with high end gear.
If you're intent on doing this though...I'd climb onto ebay and get second hand ASUS RT-AX92U. Those let you do the backhaul between the two over wifi6 5ghz and still have a second radio for serving the consumer devices over 5ghz too (wifi5). They're pretty cheap on 2nd hand market.
Under ideal conditions (line of sight & short distances) those can hold rock solid stable gigabit....as if it is a cable. So in more sketchy situations like yours (multi floor) you could probably still get a couple hundred mbps.
Note that 5ghz has less penetration than 2.4ghz, so if you've got a concrete floor you'd need to position them well so that they can talk to each other.
So Amazon is refunding my purchase and my $200 are back to my wallet.
That's good because I realized that I have to use an app and be connected to TP-Link cloud to configure these devices.
Also, now I can run a cable between the 2 floors. So the router from the ISP will be in the 1st floor and a new single device in the 2nd one. No mesh needed anymore.
Can you recommend a powerful router that does not need an app or cloud services to be configured?
Comments
We use TP-Link AX3000 and TP-Link AC1200. We have a 3000 sqft house with 2 levels. Works fine for us.
Madcityservers LLC
@Madcityservers do you have a link for them? I get confusing results, multiple devices named ax3000
My TP Link Deco mesh setup works fine, I get solid signal two floors up and in a room at the bottom of the garden.
I had a Linksys Velop setup before that and it was hot garbage. Constant disconnects, poor connectivity on the child nodes, support were useless.
Here you go
https://www.tp-link.com/us/home-networking/wifi-router/archer-ax3000/
Madcityservers LLC
Ubiquiti Unifi
The all seeing eye sees everything...
The problem with mesh networks is that they can yield poor performance, because data must be replicated back and forth between access points.
It matters how far the signal travels between access points, too. If you are near the end of the range between two of the access points, then everything in the WiFi network slows down a lot. We had a setup like that in our house, which is long and skinny. Two access points were close to the end of their practical range, slowing data rates down. After a couple years of slow WiFi, I pulled Ethernet cables into all the rooms of the house, terminated at a switch in the office (bedroom) closet. We connected each access point to the Ethernet network and set them up as a bridge. The Ethernet connection made a huge difference in WiFi performance over the mesh style network which relied on WiFi between the access points.
Scanning the neighbors' WiFi networks for overlapping WiFi channels and avoiding those channels made a big performance improvement, too.
If you can't pull Ethernet cable, have you considered using powerline ethernet adapters? They won't give you Ethernet speeds, but yield better performance than a mesh network.
Deco M5 FTW
Gosh, the two Ubiquiti AC Pro's we have are pretty thorough.
Yes, I really do recommend those. Been working really for me!
There's a learning curve, but Mikrotik Audience. 2 separate 5g antennas, one runs on a high frequency for the purpose of the mesh.
But if you setup capsman on a primary Mikrotik router it works seamlessly for hopping between APs.
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D-Link COVR-1102
I just deployed a TP-Link Deco system with 3 units at my mother's house with minimal guidance. So far no complaints about speeds or signal strength for the 1/3rd acre they live on with multiple buildings and a sizable yard.
Cheap dedis are my drug, and I'm too far gone to turn back.
It seems it took me more than a year to decide which one to buy (and to save money).
I got this one https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CN8WD86H/ref=pe_386300_440135490_TE_simp_item_image?th=1
A single one because they are incredibly expensive and maybe that would be enough for my small home.
How you gonna
meshone device?Haven't bought a single service in VirMach Great Ryzen 2022 - 2023 Flash Sale.
https://lowendspirit.com/uploads/editor/gi/ippw0lcmqowk.png
Not actually a mesh of course, just an AP.
And maybe next year I get the other one 😄
Just FWIW, I picked up the little-brother to that ( https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09VW5JHPH/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1 ) and it's been wonderful. I'm only running one of them in my ~900 sq. ft. house.
Did you consider switching over to cellular? Wi-Fi sucks if the APs aren't wired.
We only have Wi-Fi in our main house, in all other apartments we use cellular 5G, for IoT we use Zigbee mesh, for printing and connecting to the home network, a simple VPN is sufficient
Phones all have 5G
Tablets, laptops also have 5G versions
For other devices I just open up a hotspot on a burner Phone, connected to the power brick 24/7.
We pay 4€/month for each 5G SIM card, each with unlimited mobile data, significantly cheaper than WiFi via fiber, phoneline-dsl and tvline-cable.
5G is expensive and low performant where I am.
TP-Link Powerline
https://www.tp-link.com/us/home-networking/powerline/tl-wpa8630-kit/
Works great
Depends on how your house is wired. Wasn't able to get either stability nor speed with mine. Got ~25Mbit on my 300Mbit connection and required resets more often than I cared for. :-/
@imok short answer is nothing works
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The product cannot enter Peru. A disgrace.
No powerful router for me.
Wired backhaul is best, but wireless worked fine for me when I really had to use it on the TP Link routers.
It works best when your home is an inconvenient shape -- like if your apartment is U-shaped with something dense like an elevator in the middle, then it's useful to put them on the two vertices. Use case is somewhat limited.
@imok
yes they actually do work, to my surprise, cabled AP is the best, mash is always the second option.
Altho I have a love for MKT, just don't touch it, not for beginners, no ( sorry @jfreak53, but the fella is gonna hang himself doing config on Audience on the 3rd antenna )
Go for UBNT, they work out of the box. A+
Also, a cheaper option is TP-LINK Deco. wifi 6 AX ( forget the Wifi 7, at least for a few years not worth it )
Depending on the number of wall, what material they are and the amount of Glass in the house, you might need a 3-4 device setup
remember a device broadcasts signal in a circle/sphere, so do not put them in the corners of the house, unless you want to do wifi for the neighbors.
Host-C - VPS Services Provider - AS211462
"If there is no struggle there is no progress"
So now I have to decide to buy another model because this one is not going to be delivered.
Will this take me another year?
Can't be delivered because of legal restrictions or .... ?
Actually just switched to a mesh.
Decided to go big and got 3x wifi7 w/ 6ghz nodes with quad 2.5gbe each. This.
I'd start by having a think about this:
Sometimes its a rental so you just can't drill holes. But if it is just a preference I'd strongly encourage you to re-think. Especially if it is multiple floors and concrete floor. The connection is going to suck without cable, even with high end gear.
If you're intent on doing this though...I'd climb onto ebay and get second hand ASUS RT-AX92U. Those let you do the backhaul between the two over wifi6 5ghz and still have a second radio for serving the consumer devices over 5ghz too (wifi5). They're pretty cheap on 2nd hand market.
Under ideal conditions (line of sight & short distances) those can hold rock solid stable gigabit....as if it is a cable. So in more sketchy situations like yours (multi floor) you could probably still get a couple hundred mbps.
Note that 5ghz has less penetration than 2.4ghz, so if you've got a concrete floor you'd need to position them well so that they can talk to each other.
I can recommend pidgeons, with the needed frequent cleaning as a drawback worth mentioning.
So Amazon is refunding my purchase and my $200 are back to my wallet.
That's good because I realized that I have to use an app and be connected to TP-Link cloud to configure these devices.
Also, now I can run a cable between the 2 floors. So the router from the ISP will be in the 1st floor and a new single device in the 2nd one. No mesh needed anymore.
Can you recommend a powerful router that does not need an app or cloud services to be configured?
Da hail it is your thread!!!
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