Mesh WiFi recommendations?

[venquessa]

I invested £300 in asking my tamed spark to install some CAT6 between several rooms. Then I spent another £50 putting CAT6 into the garage.

Best investment ever. They aren't even centrally terminated. There is no big expensive cabinet. It's star and spoke. Although as is common the most "central switch" is in the hallway, under the hallway table with the fibre router.

The beauty of this is all 8 Wifi bridges 4 APs with 2 networks each are on the same SSIDs LAN and GUEST and in the same mobility domain (where supported). So the phone roams without a drop. I can be on a WhatsApp call in the office on the blisteringly fast 5Ghz. Walk out into the hall and drop onto the hallway 2.4Ghz and then as I get to the bottom of the stairs pick up the downstairs 5Ghz. Seamless... even though a lot of my areas the 2.4Ghz is preferred. The 5Ghz works in select locations

Don't make a meal out of it scoping in a big cabinet, patch panel and central switch. Ask a tame spark how much to install some strategic "trunk" cables and leaf node switches are £10 each.

Mesh will just cause you headaches.

 

[MrOtto]

Asus XT8 or WiFi6e: Asus ET8. Blazing fast:

ASUS Mesh Roundup: Two Zens and a TriBand - SmallNetBuilder

We round-up ASUS' ZenWiFi 6E ET8, WiFi 6 ZenWiFi XT8 and WiFi 5/6 RT-AX92U into the ol' test corral for a ride.

www.smallnetbuilder.com

 

[Berwhale]

I invested £300 in asking my tamed spark to install some CAT6 between several rooms. Then I spent another £50 putting CAT6 into the garage.

Best investment ever. They aren't even centrally terminated. There is no big expensive cabinet. It's star and spoke. Although as is common the most "central switch" is in the hallway, under the hallway table with the fibre router.

The beauty of this is all 8 Wifi bridges 4 APs with 2 networks each are on the same SSIDs LAN and GUEST and in the same mobility domain (where supported). So the phone roams without a drop. I can be on a WhatsApp call in the office on the blisteringly fast 5Ghz. Walk out into the hall and drop onto the hallway 2.4Ghz and then as I get to the bottom of the stairs pick up the downstairs 5Ghz. Seamless... even though a lot of my areas the 2.4Ghz is preferred. The 5Ghz works in select locations

Don't make a meal out of it scoping in a big cabinet, patch panel and central switch. Ask a tame spark how much to install some strategic "trunk" cables and leaf node switches are £10 each.

Mesh will just cause you headaches.

You can deploy a 'mesh' wi-fi network, but with wired backhaul to your APs. This has the has the same benefits as above - all wi-fi bands available for wireless clients, but also provides a single management interface for all your APs - no need to manage each AP individually to set SSIDs, passwords, manage firmware, etc. This is how I have my Asus AiMesh network setup (I have a TUF Gamming AX3000 V2 as the primary node managing a couple of RT-AX53's, all with 1GbE backhaul)

 

[Sam Ash]

The tp-link Deco XE-75Pro is a good balance between value and performance. Although not a deal breaker, one feature that I am hoping tp-link will incorporate via a firmware upgrade is the ability to assign channels manually if and when required by advanced users. Do not undermine the importance of a wired backhaul and don't avoid it if there is some way you can incorporate it.

 

[Kegemusha]

I installed Google mesh in my Dad’s apartment. It works pretty well, but lacks the diagnostics that you have with the Amplifi app. Also, the whole network just seems to crash every now and then. My ubuquiti stuff doesn’t have to be rebooted occasionally.

I had also those issues with the old google mesh,now I have the decco x60 and works great. We have a big stone house and 3 pucks cover all and the garden very well.

 

[Berwhale]

The tp-link Deco XE-75Pro is a good balance between value and performance. Although not a deal breaker, one feature that I am hoping tp-link will incorporate via a firmware upgrade is the ability to assign channels manually if and when required by advanced users. Do not undermine the importance of a wired backhaul and don't avoid it if there is some way you can incorporate it.

I like the look of the Deco XE-75 Pro, but I paid less for all 3 of my Asus routers

One thing that I am missing from my setup is the ability to VLAN tag traffic from wireless networks to isolate IoT and guest networks (the XE-75Pro can do this). At the time I bought my Asus kit, I would have had to pay twice as much to get Wifi6 APs with the capability - I think the Zyxel NWA50AX were the cheapest APs I found that would have worked.

Note that with wired backhaul, you need a router and switches that can handle VLAN tagging to make this work. My home network is built with TP-Link Easy Smart switches with a pfSense router which can handle this.

 

[palm]

I use Eero and had literally zero problem since 2020.
Just checked and I see 32 gadgets connected. The app is simple, you get notifications if you want to, and can assign profiles and icons. You can have a FaceTime call and move without any drop (roaming?)
I used it initially without a backbone because the previous owner installed Ethernet in some rooms but the names were completely wrong in the board / fuse box so I thought some wires were defective. It’s slower like this measured with iperf but was still totally fine for us but depends on your use case of course.

 

[Deleted member 48726]

Mesh is great in theory. Not so much when you want casting access to multiple Chromecast devices over a larger area or multiple floors. Chromecast devices don't work great with mesh.

A single central placed powerful wifi router is the best solution for everything.

 

[Moonbase]

Mesh with Wi-Fi 6 routers and Wi-Fi 6 devices will switch and roam as the device or signal changes. Ideally you would bridge the mesh routers and access points together with Ethernet cable, but this is not essential. Works really well in my house and even the non Wi-Fi 6 devices roam really well with my ASUS rt-ax59u ai mesh setup. Its nice that everything is access via the phone app with a really decent level of information/functionality available for a very reasonable price.

 

[Audiomn]

I use Eero and had literally zero problem since 2020.
Just checked and I see 32 gadgets connected. The app is simple, you get notifications if you want to, and can assign profiles and icons. You can have a FaceTime call and move without any drop (roaming?)
I used it initially without a backbone because the previous owner installed Ethernet in some rooms but the names were completely wrong in the board / fuse box so I thought some wires were defective. It’s slower like this measured with iperf but was still totally fine for us but depends on your use case of course.

Eero absolutely just works and the new 6e APs with a Gigabit backbone are fantastic. I'm a network engineer by trade and I use these things instead of a more complicated option.

 

[maverickronin]

I just use Ubiquiti because that what we use at work for clients who balk at the price of Meraki.

 

[GXAlan]

I have the Netgear Orbi Pro 802.11ax as access points with a mix of wired and wireless backhaul. They are NOT the fastest since it prioritizes range/reliability over the consumer line, but they have been very reliable and great maintaining speed at distance. I cannot speak to the router performance as I do not use it for that. People complain that if you want stuff like Netgear Insight, it is a subscription.

The Amplifi HD line had security issues with their apps focused on weird SSO and connectivity verification that involves pinging servers outside of the US (even though I had bought my units from BestBuy.). The Ubiquiti line may be better than the consumer line, but it is frustrating that they don’t allow consumers to disable random remote pinging of servers outside the US.

 

[kemmler3D]

I recently set up the TP Link Deco X4300 pro (bought refurbs) in my place and so far no complaints. Using it with a few WiiM units and KEF LS60 so far (along with damn near everything else in this place from the garage door opener to the doorbell to the air filters) and it's been solid. I'm able to get 600MB from Fast.com in the same room with the thing, and no less than 200 anywhere in the house so far.

 

[Blumlein 88]

I just use Ubiquiti because that what we use at work for clients who balk at the price of Meraki.

You ever use any of the Mikrotik gear? Heard good things about them. Said to be a step up from Ubiquiti (which I use) though I've never worked with any of the Mikrotik gear.

 

[Deleted member 48726]

Mesh with Wi-Fi 6 routers and Wi-Fi 6 devices will switch and roam as the device or signal changes. Ideally you would bridge the mesh routers and access points together with Ethernet cable, but this is not essential. Works really well in my house and even the non Wi-Fi 6 devices roam really well with my ASUS rt-ax59u ai mesh setup. Its nice that everything is access via the phone app with a really decent level of information/functionality available for a very reasonable price.

We have 5 Chromecast devices in the house. When I used mesh AP's distributed to cover the whole house (same SSID for 2.4 and 5 GHz) at any point I couldn't cast to other devices than those also connected to the same AP as the device used to cast from. No matter the settings in the router. uPnP on etc. There are many threads about this specific issue on Ubiquiti site.. But also on other manufacturers pages. It is not a 2.4 vs. 5 GHz problem as everything works with just the router and no AP's.

This is a mesh / Chromecast issue.

https://community.ui.com/questions/Unifi-Mesh-Chromecast-issues/a992c1b5-ad5b-4421-b950-3f16ba645d6c?page=2

 

[palm]

I can’t speak for chromecast devices although I assume a setup composed of google devices would work (I mean it would have been designed and tested for)

I have a mix of HomePod and Sonos speakers in different rooms and it works flawlessly. I mean there are some Airplay glitches at startup but I attribute them more to a mismatch between the actual grouped state and what is displayed on iOS devices. Sonos seems to always work.

 

[Lawhaus]

Vouch for Ubiquiti. I turned off the default wifi modules on my ISP provided modem/router. And just use the Ubiquiti AP’s (access points). I used them wired (power over ethernet) to different parts of the house. So the backhaul of the network is wired. But roaming for devices works like mesh, you can walk around the house.

Result: the best wifi I ever had. Running like this for over 2 years, never had to reset/power off the access points. Something which is common with consumer grade products.

Downside is that the setup is more work compared to consumer plug and play solution. But it’s because of the huge amount of configuration and automation options, thst you are able to achieve a high performance stable network in every part of your house.

 

[Moonbase]

We have 5 Chromecast devices in the house. When I used mesh AP's distributed to cover the whole house (same SSID for 2.4 and 5 GHz) at any point I couldn't cast to other devices than those also connected to the same AP as the device used to cast from. No matter the settings in the router. uPnP on etc. There are many threads about this specific issue on Ubiquiti site.. But also on other manufacturers pages. It is not a 2.4 vs. 5 GHz problem as everything works with just the router and no AP's.

This is a mesh / Chromecast issue.

https://community.ui.com/questions/Unifi-Mesh-Chromecast-issues/a992c1b5-ad5b-4421-b950-3f16ba645d6c?page=2

I just had a look at this and you are correct. Chrome cast does indeed have issues with mesh and I guess as it uses a device’s max address rather than IP address effectively stop the roaming of devices. I have not encountered this for some reason. There is a work around thu for many routers,

The solution for a AX1800, I hope it works for you)
1. Go to your routers home page (typically 192.168.1.1)

2. Select Advanced Settings

3.Select Setup tab

4. Select LAN Setup

5. Scroll down to the "RIP Direction" section

6. Ensure "Both" is selected for "RIP Direction"

7. Select RIP_1 for "RIP Version"

 

[Deleted member 48726]

I just had a look at this and you are correct. Chrome cast does indeed have issues with mesh and I guess as it uses a device’s max address rather than IP address effectively stop the roaming of devices. I have not encountered this for some reason. There is a work around thu for many routers,

The solution for a AX1800, I hope it works for you)
1. Go to your routers home page (typically 192.168.1.1)

2. Select Advanced Settings

3.Select Setup tab

4. Select LAN Setup

5. Scroll down to the "RIP Direction" section

6. Ensure "Both" is selected for "RIP Direction"

7. Select RIP_1 for "RIP Version"

I don't have this option in the Amplifi HD router.

 

[maverickronin]

You ever use any of the Mikrotik gView them?ear? Heard good things about them. Said to be a step up from Ubiquiti (which I use) though I've never worked with any of the Mikrotik gear.

Never used them either.