WiFi6 Mesh Routers

[jujitsu1]

Hey. I am looking to buy a WiFi6 Mesh Router system. I was hoping that the Orbi WiFi6 Mesh would just be a runaway with the choice like the WiFi5 one was but it is getting SLAMMED in review. 

I was hoping to see LTT do a review of it and others since they seem way into wifi, but not yet. Anyone own a WiFi6 Mesh yet? Before everyone jumps on me I have 2 computers and 2 phone that have WiFi6 and I am looking to "future-proof" a bit especially with the price of some of these setups. I don't want to buy another one in a couple of years.

[Lorant]

Not jumping on you but there's no need to go WIfi6 at all yet, even if you have things that can connect with it.  

 

What benefit do you see Wifi6 giving you?

 

Future proofing isn't a thing.

[Chen G]

Don't be fooled by fancy stuff like "wifi6"

I got a $400 "wifi6" router and it was absolute shit

returned it and got a Unifi enterprise level AP instead, it's just leagues ahead and rock solid even though it's not "wifi6"

 

best way I can describe is that consumer wifi is like honda civic ultra moded to 700hp

enterprise wifi is like a Ferrari, sure the civic might have equal or more horsepower on paper, but the Ferrari will smoke it in a real race.

 

You want a high performance wifi router, get a Unifi Dream Machine.

[Donut417]

4 hours ago, jujitsu1 said:

Hey. I am looking to buy a WiFi6 Mesh Router system. I was hoping that the Orbi WiFi6 Mesh would just be a runaway with the choice like the WiFi5 one was but it is getting SLAMMED in review. 

I was hoping to see LTT do a review of it and others since they seem way into wifi, but not yet. Anyone own a WiFi6 Mesh yet? Before everyone jumps on me I have 2 computers and 2 phone that have WiFi6 and I am looking to "future-proof" a bit especially with the price of some of these setups. I don't want to buy another one in a couple of years.

WiFi 6 spec is not fully ratified yet from what I have read. So many of the products are draft WiFi6 meaning its what they THINK the standard will be. Also unless all your WiFi devices are WiFi 6 from what I have read, many of the improvements wont mean a damn thing to you. Personally Id just stick with AC wireless as the standard has been out for a while and is tested. 

[Lurick]

4 minutes ago, Donut417 said:

WiFi 6 spec is not fully ratified yet from what I have read. So many of the products are draft WiFi6 meaning its what they THINK the standard will be. Also unless all your WiFi devices are WiFi 6 from what I have read, many of the improvements wont mean a damn thing to you. Personally Id just stick with AC wireless as the standard has been out for a while and is tested. 

While the final amendment wont be ratified until mid 2020 (this year), everything else is fully laid out and there are several companies with full WiFi 6 compliant gear already rolling out that's certified compliant with all standards and anything left will be added via software (if offered by the company). There will be additional features coming out over the next couple of years though such as WiFi 6E which will add 6GHz and other enhancements but roughly anything after ~October of 2019 is pretty much ready to go with the 6E revision needing new hardware (as far as I understand) but everything else should be just software.

[Donut417]

1 minute ago, Lurick said:

While the final amendment wont be ratified until mid 2020 (this year), everything else is fully laid out and there are several companies with full WiFi 6 compliant gear already rolling out that's certified compliant with all standards and anything left will be added via software (if offered by the company). There will be additional features coming out over the next couple of years though such as WiFi 6E which will add 6GHz and other enhancements but roughly anything after ~October of 2019 is pretty much ready to go with the 6E revision needing new hardware (as far as I understand) but everything else should be just software.

I still think its better to wait for 2 gen products. First gen products tend to suck ass. By the time second gen comes out they figured out where they screwed up. 

[Lurick]

2 minutes ago, Donut417 said:

I still think its better to wait for 2 gen products. First gen products tend to suck ass. By the time second gen comes out they figured out where they screwed up. 

Yah, I still agree with your point that right now there isn't much point going with a WiFi 6 anything due to limited availability and the possibility of additional changes that mean newer hardware is needed and not just software updates.

 

On a different note I'm having a hard time finding anything about WiFi 6 and WiFi 5 mixed environments though. I did some skimming of a couple whitepapers and as I understand it the AP will look for a message in the preamble header and if it sees that message it knows the device is WiFi 6 capable and honor that but if not it treats it like a non-capable device but it should still allow at least some benefits to mixed environments.