Deco x 20

Indian pc builder · February 25, 2022

ok so here's the deal, i own the whole second floor of the residential building where i live, which consists of 2 adjoining apartments which are about 2500 square feet each, my current wifi setup isn't bad per say (i have 2 isps, so 2 main routers, and then 2 access points one on each side of the floor(north and south) and then i have 2 wireless repeaters covering the distance between the access points and the main routers where there is a dead zone) the issue is that this has caused me to have like 16 different wifi networks in my house. Now i have been looking at the x20 as a possible solution as it would allow 1 network to be meshed around my whole house, however, it is currently pretty much out of stock everywhere in India. Here is a very good not to scale drawing of the layout

The big circle in the center is the main isp routers, and the blobs at each end are the access points that have cat 6 running to them, The smaller blongs in between are the extenders, currently, the isp routers have a wall to get through to cover the terrace( the weird outgrowth on top) now assuming i can get my hands on some x20s, and that ill have atleast one node in biggest blob in the center where ill plug them in to the source, and 1 node at each end to replace the access points, where else should i place other nodes to cover the dead spots like the area between the acess point and the main routers (btw those are really off center like that) (the tv us currently covered by the is routers and the repeater in between them is just for my room, which i just get rid of though, as i have cat 6 running to my room as well where i could just plonk down one of the access points, which are daisy chainable and as a result i can have cable to my pc as well as wifi in my room) pls note the blobs only indicate where the routers and other 9infrastructure is and not the coverage, feel free to modify this i any way to help make your point, also i want to achieve full mesh coverage of this place including the outside terrace, this is not to scale, pls help me figure out the mesh, also pls help me figure out where i can save a bit by minimising the amount of nodes ill need, also please include the price of your plan, based on the costs you are seeing ( note i am in india so you will need to convert it) till then ill workon finding a place which has x20's in stock. Pls help

BiotechBen · February 25, 2022

Unless you are running into concrete walls like every 10 feet, I've had lots of success with my Netgear router (nothing special)(r6120) being used as an access point, and it was a game changer for the second floor.

Best part is that they are only about USD$75 (about 8000 inr if the exchange rate hasn't changed drastically recently) have the ISP in the middle and one of those on either side and it should be great coverage. In my experience it was able to cover 1000sqft no problem.

Falcon1986 · February 25, 2022

1 hour ago, Indian pc builder said:

pls help me figure out the mesh, also pls help me figure out where i can save a bit by minimising the amount of nodes ill need, also please include the price of your plan, based on the costs you are seeing ( note i am in india so you will need to convert it) till then ill workon finding a place which has x20's in stock. Pls help

First of all, we don't all live where you do, so if you're fixed on the Deco X20, then you'll just have to find a way to source them. The markets available to me on this side of the globe are not necessarily going to be the same as yours. Hopefully, there are other members here who are from your region that can suggest possible retailers.

Secondly, recommending device placement, number of devices, etc. is difficult because layout and construction are different from one home to the next. You never mentioned the square footage or the number of walls/objects in between your existing wireless routers/repeaters. The materials and thickness of the walls also matter. You'll only know for sure what you need when you start installing the mesh points, then you can add more as you find dead spots.

Thirdly, since you have ethernet to run to the various locations, I'd advise you to run the mesh points in AP mode (i.e. using ethernet for backhaul instead of WiFi). This should significantly improve your coverage and performance of the entire mesh network given the amount of physical obstructions that seem to exist in your home.

Finally, you mentioned that you live in a "residential building". If this is an apartment/condo-style building, take some time to run a wireless survey to assess how busy the 2.4GHz and 5GHz spectra are in your area. Then you can decide on if wireless setting tuning needs to be done.

Indian pc builder · February 26, 2022

11 hours ago, Falcon1986 said:

First of all, we don't all live where you do, so if you're fixed on the Deco X20, then you'll just have to find a way to source them. The markets available to me on this side of the globe are not necessarily going to be the same as yours. Hopefully, there are other members here who are from your region that can suggest possible retailers.

Secondly, recommending device placement, number of devices, etc. is difficult because layout and construction are different from one home to the next. You never mentioned the square footage or the number of walls/objects in between your existing wireless routers/repeaters. The materials and thickness of the walls also matter. You'll only know for sure what you need when you start installing the mesh points, then you can add more as you find dead spots.

Thirdly, since you have ethernet to run to the various locations, I'd advise you to run the mesh points in AP mode (i.e. using ethernet for backhaul instead of WiFi). This should significantly improve your coverage and performance of the entire mesh network given the amount of physical obstructions that seem to exist in your home.

Finally, you mentioned that you live in a "residential building". If this is an apartment/condo-style building, take some time to run a wireless survey to assess how busy the 2.4GHz and 5GHz spectra are in your area. Then you can decide on if wireless setting tuning needs to be done.

I said 5000 square feet total