wireless mesh router?

[calmloki]

Help me spend my money (in the best possible way)!

We have fiber internet delivering 200Mbps - and they claim they just upped us to 500Mbps for no extra cost! So we got on Ookla Speedtest and found we are only getting 94MBps upload and down. This with a Netgear AC1750 (R6350) modem/router that is probably four years old. We talked with our provider, who had us check for firmware updates (current) and rebooted from the Netgear app. Our provider sent out a tech who demonstrated that our router/modem is receiving ~500Mbps. He said it's probably a poor network cable issue. No surprise - I wired the house 24 years or more ago.

We are pretty much abandoning our wired connections - both computers, the printer, the tv, the phones, speaker pickups, garage door, and all the Alexa smart home lights and plugs run on wireless. We're ok with spending some money to maybe help the tv and hopefully improve the WiFi garage door connection at the separate garage. Be nice if all our smart lights had perkier response time when we say "Alexa, night." Some definite dead or very weak WiFi areas in the two story ~1650' house.

So Amazon offers Eero mesh, then there is Orbi and who knows what else. No experience with a mesh system and reading reviews gets a lot of negative comments about newer systems having less functionality then older versions and subscription protection... I hate subscription anything.

Looking for improved function, no subscription, secure, and a good value price. Don't think we're power users - 3-4 Alexa Dots, an Echo Show, a dozen or so smart lights and plugs, usually an iPhone and a computer in constant use and the tv running with Roku.

Can any of you share your experience with a mesh type wireless router? Recommendations for us? Thanks.

 

[tulak]

I’m a big fan of Asus networking hardware.

I ordered an Asus ZenWifi router with two units and they’ve worked great. What’s nice about these is the units are hard wired, which was a requirement for me. I don’t want a wireless backhaul network.

I’m using it with a 500Mbps bi-directional
fiber internet and no issues. I’m sure it’d work for a gigabit connection too.

ASUS ZenWiFi AX6600 Tri-Band Mesh WiFi 6 System (XT8 2PK) - Whole Home Coverage up to 5500 sq.ft & 6+ rooms, AiMesh, Included Lifetime Internet Security, Easy Setup, 3 SSID, Parental Control, Black

https://a.co/d/aHLiHTd

Could be overkill for your setup and if so, I’d look at some of their other options.

 

[Qs Laptop]

I'm partial to Asus networking gear as well.

I have a friend that's deep into home networking and he says to get either Asus or Netgear.

 

[Affinity4Investing]

If I were in your shoes, my money would go here:

https://www.netgear.com/home/wifi/mesh/rbke962/

Covers up to 6k sqft (but they cover up to 9K if needed, you just buy more satellite devices). Finding a quality mesh system w/o some type of subscription is becoming difficult. They are wising up to the 'steady trickle of income each month/year' model of other providers. Wifi 6E is a minimum I would recommend. Netgear offers Wifi7 options, but 6E should last you for many years before speed is an issue. Actually, what you said about your AC1750 is puzzling - as it should be capable of much more than what you're seeing. But, there are many reasons why you're only seeing that 94Mbps that have nothing to do with the router/AP itself. Plenty of 5 star reviews on the Netgear site, if that brings you comfort.

 

[OldShooter]

For that kind of thing I stick with the brands that have been around forever. Currently running Linksys WiFi hardware with D-Link switches and am very happy. MR8300 at the city house and MR9000 at the lake. I also used a "Velop" booster WHW01P for a while. It did great things for the WiFi range, plugged and played without a whimper.

When I bought, Linksys was selling these WAPs at "refurbished" prices. https://www.linksys.com/shop/shop-outlet/outlet-store/ Had Asus been the supplier with a good price I would not have hesitated to go with them instead.

That said, hard wiring is the way to maximize speed. DW and I both have home offices at both homes and I have hard-wired those. If we had TVs (We don't.) I would hard wire those as well. I did hard-wire our AV receivers which we use for internet radio but from a technical standpoint I don't think that was necessary Our Ooma VOIP boxes are both hard wired because they don't have wifi but from a performance POV I don't think that was necessary either.

 

[erkevin]

Actually, what you said about your AC1750 is puzzling - as it should be capable of much more than what you're seeing. But, there are many reasons why you're only seeing that 94Mbps that have nothing to do with the router/AP itself. OP stated that the house was wired decades ago. Probably Cat 5 ethernet cable and that is definitely the weak link in anyone's home network (max 100Mb/s)

 

[LateToFIRE]

I'm no expert for sure. Been using TP-Link Deco W7200 Mesh router (sold at Walmart) for past 2 years for a +3000 sq ft, two-story home. Very satisfied, no need to subscribe to anything, says two nodes covers 5,500 sq feet and I could believe that. I've got all kinds of stuff running across my wi-fi network: Nest cams, couple wi-fi TV's, desktops, lots of mobile devices, video conferencing, etc., the full Monty. Set-up was easy.

I bought an extra two-pack thinking I'd need more than two nodes to make sure I got a strong signal everywhere, figured would put them to use eventually, but so far the extras are still in the shrink-wrapped box. I don't recall costing more than $150 for the two-pack.

One thing that sold me was that they use a separate proprietary backbone wi-fi channel to communicate between nodes, rather than piggybacking off of the usual wi-fi signal. That made a lot of sense to me.

 

[Qs Laptop]

I found this site to be very helpful.

https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/

 

[Affinity4Investing]

Actually, what you said about your AC1750 is puzzling - as it should be capable of much more than what you're seeing. But, there are many reasons why you're only seeing that 94Mbps that have nothing to do with the router/AP itself. OP stated that the house was wired decades ago. Probably Cat 5 ethernet cable and that is definitely the weak link in anyone's home network (max 100Mb/s)

If his Cat5 has 4 pairs, there is little reason why it won't handle gig speeds. 100BT was the max for 2 pair STP cable. Most Cat5 met Cat5e specs, despite not being certified as such. I installed dozens of miles of both and beyond, in hospitals - for more than a decade. You can drive a truck thru the variances in quality of cabling, though. Some knock-off Cat5 cable I used to replace was little more than multiple pairs of copper cladded Cat3 jacketed together. Total junk.

 

[gauss]

Going all in on wireless to solve a problem with a wired setup just seems wrong to my gut.

Where you can control and test your wired setup to maintain its performance, wireless is at the mercy of everything else that is going on in the RF spectrum.

Now mind you, I do make use of wireless in my house, but I have 2 Wireless Access points at opposite ends of the house connected to each other and the central router with --- wait for it -- a wire. Just make sure that you don't have a "topological-loop" in your wired connections or you will have all sorts of problems.

-gauss

 

[Dash man]

I have an Netgear Orbi mesh WiFi router that works great. We have the main router and two satellites that reach throughout the house, detached garage and our deck, including six security cameras scattered around the outside of the house. Works great.

 

[calmloki]

Actually, what you said about your AC1750 is puzzling - as it should be capable of much more than what you're seeing. But, there are many reasons why you're only seeing that 94Mbps that have nothing to do with the router/AP itself. OP stated that the house was wired decades ago. Probably Cat 5 ethernet cable and that is definitely the weak link in anyone's home network (max 100Mb/s)

I agree, the AC1750 should do better. The tech said usually 94/94Mbps was often an indication of bad network cable pair. I did use Cat5 cable and have maybe 8 network connection boxes all on one (maybe two) runs. I remember having to use some sort of weird dongle at the "T" connector in each box that stepped something up or down in groups of 4? Been a while. If the cable is problematic I'm trying to take it out of the equation by going pure wireless.

Just now, after changing my computer from wired to WiFi connection it tested at 185 down and 145 up - plenty acceptable, but stronger WiFi would still be better for connection out at the garage and back porch and wrangling the smart light herd.

 

[Jerry1]

I’m with gauss. I’d work on fixing the wired network if it would meet your needs if working properly.

Otherwise, I have the Orbi mesh system and it works great. I had an older one satellite system that I recently upgraded to a two satellite system to increase my outside coverage. I’ve been very happy with both systems.

 

[calmloki]

Going all in on wireless to solve a problem with a wired setup just seems wrong to my gut.

Where you can control and test your wired setup to maintain its performance, wireless is at the mercy of everything else that is going on in the RF spectrum.

Now mind you, I do make use of wireless in my house, but I have 2 Wireless Access points at opposite ends of the house connected to each other and the central router with --- wait for it -- a wire. Just make sure that you don't have a "topological-loop" in your wired connections or you will have all sorts of problems.

-gauss

I like wires too, but remember punching down all those pairs way back when. Think I remember having to flip one pair for some reason. Now, my 74 year old knees and eyesight aren't real enthused about trying to find a bad connection - to say nothing of the large furniture moving to get at the boxes and remembering where all i put said boxes! Also not jazzed about crawling on my belly like a reptile in the crawl space to pull a new wire(s) from our router area to needed locations.

Wireless sounds good to me...

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

I have Frontier Fios and they gave me 1 Eero wifi router and it handles all my needs in my 2400 sq ft house.
When I had Spectrum I was having a lot of problems with the internet dropping and never called them until they actually saw problems on their end and sent a tech out. He gave me a new modem, replaced some cable ends and also removed a splitter that he said could be causing problems. My wireless router was a TP Link AC1750 and I never had another problem after his visit.
When I moved to Frontier I replaced the AC1750 with a TP Link unmanned gigabit switch ($20) for my wired connections, namely my Ring Alarm, Obi 200 and Office PC. Everything else is wireless and I have a lot of devices and do a lot of streaming.
The only complaint I have about the Eero is it gets very very hot to the touch but it's never failed me.

 

[Slater]

I have an orbi mesh router & an arris surfboard modem from like 2015-2016? Its been flawless...
We're cord cutters & strictly stream content w/o issue...

 

[NoiseBoy]

How big is your house? You may find that you can use a single, good WiFi Access Point (WAP) if you can connect it up to your modem/router with Cat5e or Cat6 cable. I recommend Ubiquiti products. They make affordable commercial WiFi solutions and there is lots of helpful info on the inter webs for installing and configuring their products.

https://store.ui.com/us/en?category=all-wifi

 

[Affinity4Investing]

How big is your house? You may find that you can use a single, good WiFi Access Point (WAP) if you can connect it up to your modem/router with Cat5e or Cat6 cable. I recommend Ubiquiti products. They make affordable commercial WiFi solutions and there is lots of helpful info on the inter webs for installing and configuring their products.

https://store.ui.com/us/en?category=all-wifi

OP stated "Some definite dead or very weak WiFi areas in the two story ~1650' house."

 

[Route246]

They are all mostly competent and functional. I chose TP-Link AX3000 Deco X55 for a few reasons. Available at Costco and Amazon, 3 copper ports on each node, ability to backhaul over copper for true gigabit (wireless 6 limited to 700G or thereabouts). I setup the mesh as a primary router node (turning my ISP ATT unit into a simple modem) so I control DHCP, DNS, DMZ and guest network myself. I recommend everyone to consider using "modem" mode from their ISP in order to avoid them being able to collect your access history and selling that information.

 

[tulak]

I like wires too, but remember punching down all those pairs way back when. Think I remember having to flip one pair for some reason. Now, my 74 year old knees and eyesight aren't real enthused about trying to find a bad connection - to say nothing of the large furniture moving to get at the boxes and remembering where all i put said boxes! Also not jazzed about crawling on my belly like a reptile in the crawl space to pull a new wire(s) from our router area to needed locations.



Wireless sounds good to me...

I ran *alot* of wire in the walls in my old house. The new place had less wire and unfortunately, not in the right place. I’d choose wired if it was easy. I am happy that I can have a wired connection for the backhaul connection between the two Asus hotspots.

I use wireless for almost everything and it works fine. Ran speedtest from my phone and got 500Mbps download and 340 Mbps upload with 4 ms latency.

With wired I’d get around 2-3ms latency and better data rates, but at those numbers it doesn’t matter. For a brief time I had xfinity and their latency was around 12ms. So no complaints here with wireless.

 

[target2019]

Two stories + full basement. I have a wired/wireless solution since 1996. It's evolved over time. Just replaced the Cat 5 run to my office, upgraded office switch to gigabit. 2-3 years ago I upgraded basement primary router, and improved coverage on the second floor.

At some time in the future the next owner will have 2-3 mesh units.

 

[Flyfish1]

I have essentially zero tech knowledge so my daughters fiancé recommended a Google Mesh router and two nodes?? Whatever they are called, - works great, streaming all over the house - security cameras work beautifully. Very happy.

 

[jollystomper]

This is a good thread for me to follow. It is something I need to get moving on. Our 3200+ sq house has 3 finished levels, and the router (Netgear AC3600) is in the finished basement because that is where 2 cable runs were done (for TV and router) and the majority of my wired devices are there. While I do get a signal throughout the house and outside, a quck speedtest gives results that are telling and intriguing:

- wired: 480Mbps download
- wireless, basement: 186 Mbps (phone) 90 Mbps (laptop)
- wireless, 1st floor: 125 Mbps (phone), 171Mbps (laptop)
- wireless, 2nd floor: 43Mbps (phone), 31Mbps (laptop)

I'm too lazy/unskilled" to fish wiring between floors; if we need wired speed on the 1st or 2nd floor, I run a long cable up the staircase and along the wall as needed... not aesthetically pleasing, but temporary, out of the way and it does the job .

My main requirement for a mesh network is that I do not want to be "forced" to use a phone app for configuration... call me 'old school', but I find it easier to configure via the web interface, particularly as I use a lot of configuration options.

Time to look again at what is out there. Maybe this will be my Christmas present for myself .

 

[donheff]

I have lost track of what I have done to optimize my home network. I used to understand this stuff abut have forgotten more that I learned (is that even possible?) My problem has long been the addition at the back of our townhouse. It was built in the 80s and used metal studs. When Wi-Fi came along, they presented a problem. Unfortunately for me, I keep my main workstation on a desk in that area. When, networking became a thing for me in the mid 90s, I ran an ethernet cable up to that area (cat5 I think). It still functions but is very limited in speed. Running a new cable is a non-starter. A couple of years ago I added a Mesh network on to my old FIOS router. It worked OK but I was missing features I wanted so I got the newest router last year. With that router the wifi signal was OK, albeit a bit weak in the far reaches of the house. I added two FIOS extenders (described as mesh like - they don't form an ext subnet) and the wifi signal is pretty good throughout the house now.

But now, I ran into a strange issue. I had my desktop connected to the mesh/extender by ethernet cable. After a year of good operations, my desktop suddenly started acting like it couldn't get DNS resolution except for Google and MS or something. I thought it might be a nasty virus but couldn't resolve any anti-malware sites - oh no, must be a virus. I was planning to get a new desktop anyway, so I did. The new desktop had the same problem when hooked directly to the extender node by ethernet cable. Clearly some sort of network problem. I disconnected the PC from the extender and reconnected by wifi and everything works fine.

Looking at the mesh/extender I then realized it is not connecting to the router by wifi. I have it connected to the house coax cable (not my old ethernet cable). I vaguely remember that when I set the new FIOS gear up I noticed that the extender has a coax input, and I knew that FIOS uses some sort of IP connection to the set top boxes over coax - that is how the boxes get instruction from the master box. So I tried hooking the extender up to the house coax and, voila, great signal. So the FIOS router must be broadcasting the same network over wifi, coax, and ethernet.

So now, I can connect my desktop to the extender by wifi and get a good connection.
If I connect to either of the extender's ethernet ports, the DNS problem starts up. New ethernet cables don't make a difference. Probably a faulty circuit or loose connection in the extender?

While looking at this stuff today, I logged into the router to check the settings and noticed WIFI 6 is not enabled. Does anyone know whether it should be on? And while we are at it, the settings connection to the router opens a limited service that only allows you to change the SSID, the wifi password, and toggle wifi 6 on. It is not a true administrator connection. Does anyone know the URL or IP address for the true admin account for new FIOS routers?

 

[albireo13]

Ive been using Eero for 3 years and it has been bullet proof. No downtime due to Eero. Very easy to setup as well.