I need to make sure at my new home that wifey can get access to the internet at all four corners of the house. It’s a large house and the options I think are either installing cat 6 or 8 wiring to Wi-Fi hubs (think that’s the terminology) or using something like the BT discs to create a mesh network. Anyone know which is the better solution and why?
WiFi extenders
- Thread starter deema
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Stuart Moffat
Established Member
Whilst I don’t know the answer for you, I put cat6 everywhere after we moved here 16 years ago. Not much of it gets used anymore. The “smart” TV is plugged in rather than Wi-Fi, and so is one Sonos device, all the other Sonos stuff is in a Sonos network which is a mesh network of its own and it works everywhere. I currently have an ASUS router and intended to buy a second one to mesh it, but found that it was somehow better than any previous one and didn’t need to. We have a large extended Victorian house.
Cabling and access points will give the best solution - something like unifi will give you an easy management interface and the ability to configure a number of things.
Mesh will give you the easiest solution at the sacrifice of some bandwidth and configurability.
Modern mesh systems are much better than they used to be so the gap is narrowed.
Mesh will give you the easiest solution at the sacrifice of some bandwidth and configurability.
Modern mesh systems are much better than they used to be so the gap is narrowed.
Stuart Moffat
Established Member
…. And given that you’ve got floorboards up everywhere for underfloor heating, may be good to take advantage whether or not you find you need them.
CaptainBarnacles
Established Member
I have 30 years experience of network installation and management and couldn't have put that any better, I completely agree with everything @--Tom-- said
. All I would add is that Unifi kit is great but the configuration may be overwhelming (I don't mean that to sound patronising but I don't know your level of tech knowledge), and BT hardware is generally overpriced and mediocre, you can probably do better for the money.
Nothing wrong with cables, the reason wireless is so popular is probably not because it is better but just because it is simple and anyone can use it. The only other advantage I can see is that mice can chew cables but not a WiFi signal.
The Amazon Eero is supposed to be good and is what comes with the full fibre broadband from Vibreoptix that we are supposed to be getting soon.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/pag...vYwaaGgAMVcIVoCR0TtwcnEAAYASAAEgLgCfD_BwE&cb=
The issue I see is this router only has two WAN/LAN ports of which one is used to connect to the modem and so I will need to use a larger network switch to give me the extra ports.
The Amazon Eero is supposed to be good and is what comes with the full fibre broadband from Vibreoptix that we are supposed to be getting soon.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/pag...vYwaaGgAMVcIVoCR0TtwcnEAAYASAAEgLgCfD_BwE&cb=
The issue I see is this router only has two WAN/LAN ports of which one is used to connect to the modem and so I will need to use a larger network switch to give me the extra ports.
Mesh all day long.
Systems such as Unifi are better on paper but can be a nightmare to configure (I have 35+ years in IT and still they give me headaches!)
Mesh systems are very good - yes they lose bandwidth - it halve with each hop - but most people now are on such high incoming bandwidth that it doesn't really matter.
We have Deco M5 and they are good - you can choose which disk each one connects to, so can build the map the way you want - plug in and configure the master one (into the router) and then the others are pretty much plug and play... Ours give constant wifi over the vast majority of a 1/4 acre plot - house and garden.
The BT system is meant to be good, though I haven't used it. There is also an option to buy systems like the Deco M9 which has a wired backhaul - so mesh but also wired and it give better bandwidth if that is critical...
The biggest advantage of mesh is the way it passes users from one box to the next - when it used to be wifi and gateways your phone or laptop etc. would hook onto the first place when you start up and if you then move it held onto the same gateway, even as the signal became very weak, so you could end up sitting next to another gateway with strong signal but be connected several rooms away and struggling with wifi... with mesh it just hands you across, much as the 4g signal passes you from tower to tower - seamless...
Systems such as Unifi are better on paper but can be a nightmare to configure (I have 35+ years in IT and still they give me headaches!)
Mesh systems are very good - yes they lose bandwidth - it halve with each hop - but most people now are on such high incoming bandwidth that it doesn't really matter.
We have Deco M5 and they are good - you can choose which disk each one connects to, so can build the map the way you want - plug in and configure the master one (into the router) and then the others are pretty much plug and play... Ours give constant wifi over the vast majority of a 1/4 acre plot - house and garden.
The BT system is meant to be good, though I haven't used it. There is also an option to buy systems like the Deco M9 which has a wired backhaul - so mesh but also wired and it give better bandwidth if that is critical...
The biggest advantage of mesh is the way it passes users from one box to the next - when it used to be wifi and gateways your phone or laptop etc. would hook onto the first place when you start up and if you then move it held onto the same gateway, even as the signal became very weak, so you could end up sitting next to another gateway with strong signal but be connected several rooms away and struggling with wifi... with mesh it just hands you across, much as the 4g signal passes you from tower to tower - seamless...
At the moment, I enjoy 900meg of speed through a fibre to home network. I have a BT mesh that supports the house as it was free (I’m a true Tyke!). We don’t game, or do anything really that’s band hungry. The worst is probably a few iPads and a TV or two watching net flicks. However, where we are moving to the speed of connection is much slower, it’s rated at 18 to 27Meg download and 3 to 4Meg upload. Do you think mesh will adversely affect the feeble speed we can get too much?
I think I'd be tempted to just run a cable to each end of the house so you have the option.
But
Modern wifi has far greater bandwidth than your 30 meg basic broadband will need so my guess is that if you do go for mesh it won't limit you.
But
Modern wifi has far greater bandwidth than your 30 meg basic broadband will need so my guess is that if you do go for mesh it won't limit you.
sploo
Somewhat extinguished member
The Asus XT8 mesh system is good. I'm forced to use the wireless backhaul as I can't run Ethernet cables between nodes (without tearing the house apart); but if you do have the option to get wiring put in to run the connection between each node then do take the opportunity.
After a couple of years of messing about with wifi extenders of various types, we bit the bullet and installed a Netgear 'Orbi' mesh system and haven't since regretted it once - we get decent speeds, plus wide and reliable coverage throughout the whole bungalow.
G.
G.
eribaMotters
Established Member
I installed one of these in our new bungalow. It has been excellent and I wonder why I never did it in my previous one.
https://www.johnlewis.com/tp-link-deco-m4-whole-home-mesh-wi-fi-system-ac1200-pack-of-3/p5381792
Colin
https://www.johnlewis.com/tp-link-deco-m4-whole-home-mesh-wi-fi-system-ac1200-pack-of-3/p5381792
Colin
very similar to ours though we chose the M5 version as while it costs a little bit more it is much smaller and therefore more discrete.
How would I determine how many and where to plonk down wifi extenders? The BT stuff I have at the mo. isn’t wired in, and it was simple to just using their ap. to find locations for it. Now, the new house is circa 100 feet long and up to 40 feet wide on two floors with some solid walls and suspended floors. I haven’t connected up the internet yet, but with the floors up and about to be out down again! I need to quickly work out what needs to be done.
I have to admit that this is far too late, Id not thought about it until now! I totally failed the 6P test.…..proper planning prevents…***…..poor performance
I have to admit that this is far too late, Id not thought about it until now! I totally failed the 6P test.…..proper planning prevents…***…..poor performance
eribaMotters
Established Member
I found a set of three works in our bungalow, but it is only half the length of your mansion.
I was directed to the product by a fellow forum member who bought more than one pack. You can add to what you have, move them around as you wish and generally experiment until you get the performance you need.
Colin
I was directed to the product by a fellow forum member who bought more than one pack. You can add to what you have, move them around as you wish and generally experiment until you get the performance you need.
Colin
sploo
Somewhat extinguished member
With the XT8 (and I assume various other mesh models) you usually buy a pack that contains two nodes; one of which obviously being the "master" that gets connected to your home router. You can then buy more individual units and add them to the mesh as you need. In the case of the XT8 I think any node can be a master or slave, so you could even buy another of the "two pack" options if it were cheaper than buying two extra singles (if you need that many).
You can look at the quality of the WiFi signal on a mobile phone and move around the house to get a "map" of the signal strength. Though if you can connect your mesh units with Ethernet cable then they don't need to be able to "see" one another via WiFi; so get them as far apart as possible, where you still get a decent WiFi signal in the middle. You may well find that just two will cover the whole house.
@sploo, looking at the XT8 specification, it appears to be brilliant. What Im reading though is it appears you can only have two in a mesh, which might just be me reading it incorrectly. Looking at the range this won’t give me enough coverage unfortunately. Ideally I’d like to have outside coverage for those few days we can actually sit outside!
Richard_C
Established Member
The are some free apps for android and I guess apple with names like WiFi analyser. You could install one then delete it after you do your trials. I have a Fritzbox router from zen so bought a Fritzbox 3000 mesh repeater, it's excellent as I'm sure many others are. Plug in, press a button, job done. Whatever device you are using just follows the best signal as you move round the house, and all firmware updates happen at the same time as the router with no human intervention. We have a 5 bed L shaped house, the router at the back downstairs does most rooms and the garden, the mesh repeater in a front room upstairs does the rest plus the garage workshop and the cars in the drive, mobile signal is rubbish here so its handy that the phones are still on WiFi when you it destinations into maps. Why not start with 2, a router and a mesh extender. You can always add later. I'm not too bothered about theoretical maximums. I can stream 4k tv and use phones ipad laptops etc anywhere and that's good enough for me.
Looks a good system with a dedicated 5K backhaul if certain units are selected. Very interesting as I wouldn’t need a Ethernet connection for the backhaul. I really appreciate your insights.
