Mesh system suggestions

[Donut417]

My sister might be upgrading her networking setup. They currently have the first gen Google mesh units (3 node total). They live in about a 2600 Sq foot home, two floors. The current system doesnt even provide full internet speeds. Currently they have 3 nodes and I think she would like to stick with that. Also easy setup would be nice. The biggest internet use would likely be gaming and streaming, as long as they work thats all that matters. 

 

 

[johnt]

Do you guys have access to run wires between floors or conceal them? Using a wired backhaul and relying on "roaming" instead of a mesh system is a better way to proceed. The number of nodes or access points is really dependent on the layout of the house. My brother has a 2,800 sq ft house and he only needs two in the proper places for the interior. A dedicated third one for the garage is important if they spend a lot of time there.

 

Anything about a budget?

[Donut417]

18 minutes ago, johnt said:

Do you guys have access to run wires between floors or conceal them?

 No. Also they plan to move in about two years, they are not going to want to invest to much effort. 

 

18 minutes ago, johnt said:

Anything about a budget?

She found a 3 pack of D Link ones for around $200 and seemed fine with the price. Id say maybe a max of $300. But she really didnt mention a price. Just asks me whats good. To be frank Im able to supply decent WiFi to the home I live in with a single router. 

 

18 minutes ago, johnt said:

A dedicated third one for the garage is important if they spend a lot of time there.

They dont spend time there but they do need coverage for a ring camera light. Currently they have one at the very corner of the house near where the garage is. 

[dogwitch]

tp link decos

[Donut417]

57 minutes ago, dogwitch said:

tp link decos

My only concern is if the idiots in Washington ban them. Cause if that happens what happens to the warranty and software updates? 

[EffeectFTW]

I’ve had quite good experiences with the tp link deco and netgear orbi lines of products. If ease of setup is a priority just go with them.

 

There is an alternative which might be better or worse, a good chunk of ASUS Routers do support wi fi meshing and even older ones from 2015 got firmware to do this (I think netgear did a similar thing). It can work and does save a lot of money if you already have them or got used ones but it is a ball ache to do all the firmware patching and setup is extremely time consuming. 

[jaslion]

If you are concerned with tp links deco line I recommend looking at the orbi lineup from netgear then. They work great just a bit more setup involved

[DraconisMaximus]

I'll just say to avoid Eero like the plague.

[Donut417]

3 hours ago, jaslion said:

They work great just a bit more setup involved

Whats a bit more involved about them? Its likely that Ill be setting them up and I have a bit of networking knowledge. I just know their current setup is done thru an App on their phone, has very little configuration option. 

 

7 hours ago, EffeectFTW said:

There is an alternative which might be better or worse, a good chunk of ASUS Routers do support wi fi meshing and even older ones from 2015 got firmware to do this (I think netgear did a similar thing). It can work and does save a lot of money if you already have them or got used ones but it is a ball ache to do all the firmware patching and setup is extremely time consuming. 

I know about ASUS, the issue is I dont want to have to fiddle with it all the time. My sister lives close enough to visit but far enough that its a bitch to drop what Im doing to go fix her WiFi. What ever the solution it needs to be as set it and forget it as possible. Im fine with a little work to get it going, I just need something they dont really have to touch often. 

[DraconisMaximus]

1 hour ago, Donut417 said:

Whats a bit more involved about them? Its likely that Ill be setting them up and I have a bit of networking knowledge. I just know their current setup is done thru an App on their phone, has very little configuration option. 

Netgear gets hate from two sides, one for the app requirement and two, because they do tend to need a bit of fine tuning that can cause problems for non network savvy people. The overlap between "network savvy" and "thinks app requirements are acceptable" tends to be fairly small.

 

9 hours ago, Donut417 said:

My only concern is if the idiots in Washington ban them. Cause if that happens what happens to the warranty and software updates? 

The warranty would likely become unserviceable. TP Links tend to be fairly hassle free though. The bigger concern would be the likely cessation of software/firmware updates. TP-Links are already highly targeted for exploits due to their large footprint, if there are suddenly several million unpatchable devices in the USA, then that incentive for bad actors becomes even greater.

 

 

Unfortunately there are not a lot of other options for mesh systems. Ubiquiti does have their AmpliFi Mesh WiFi System but they have been neglecting their consumer grade line of late. The "current" model AFi-HD only has WiFi 5, but if you don't need the newest features, at $139.00, it would a solid but slower (866 Mbps) option.

 

 

If you are able to set it up in a central location, a single more powerful device might be more effective. The Netgear Nighthawk AX5400 as one example. https://www.netgear.com/ca-en/home/wifi/routers/rax50/

[Donut417]

23 minutes ago, DraconisMaximus said:

you are able to set it up in a central location, a single more powerful device might be more effective. The Netgear Nighthawk AX5400 as one

Unfortunately due to the layout and where the modem is that’s not really possible. They don’t have the main node in a good location either, I’m going to try to change that. 

[Donut417]

I provided everyone's suggestions to her. Ill let her be the deciding factor on what direction she wants to go, so thank you. 

 

Was told they spoke to Comcast about the account changes. Comcast pretty much said fuck off. So...... She was asking me about T Mobile home internet, the only issue is my brother and law and nephew are gamer, plus they need a mesh system for the house. T Mobile doesnt support bridge mode and on top of the fact they use CGNAT. So how well will gaming work being 3 layers of NAT? Assuming they connect a mesh system to the T Mobile gateway. 

[LIGISTX]

What is the issue with the Google wifi pucks? I have had that deployed at multiple family member houses and a small business for years without issue. One of the houses was 3 story ~3500 sqft and 3 pucks covered it and the back yard and external garage no problem (one of the pucks was mounted outside). 
 

The original ones are a little long in the tooth, but they have made many revisions since then and if I am not mistaken you can mesh different generations together. 
 

I have 2 for sale (I have since migrated all of these deployments to UniFi)… I have had them for sale for months and no one seems to want em. So I guess fuck it, if you pay shipping, they are both yours for free.99. I honestly have had great experiences with Google wifi I just wanted to get all of the family systems I manage back under the same control surface that I use myself which is UniFi. Not due to poor performance or issues, simply because it’s easier for my use case. 

[Donut417]

51 minutes ago, LIGISTX said:

What is the issue with the Google wifi pucks? I have had that deployed at multiple family member houses and a small business for years without issue. One of the houses was 3 story ~3500 sqft and 3 pucks covered it and the back yard and external garage no problem (one of the pucks was mounted outside). 

The issue with the Google units is the price. I mean a 3 pack is $400. She can get a 3 pack of others for cheaper. Plus just wanted to see what options existed out in the market. When they bought the original Google system it was like one of the first mesh systems, now there are several. They kinda needed to replace these a bit a ago, they started dropping out, they would need to power cycle to get them going. 

 

Now the current issue is with the ISP. If they switch to T Mobile, they either will have to pay extra to get their mesh system OR they will have to be triple NATed. Because the use CGNAT and their gateway doesnt support bridge mode. If they stick with Comcast then its going to be easier, but Comcast are a bunch of bastard. It also comes down to if they stick with the 2 Gig plan, if they do they will need a 2 Gig router. Im going to have to have a discussion with her to see what they are going to do.