Best mesh networking setup

[bkilshaw]

I'm moving into a new 3 story house next month and am looking for the best networking solution to get full wifi coverage throughout the place. We use that "Rogers Wifi" on our cell phones at home so that the phone calls go over your home internet connection which is essentially VOIP. I've been looking at the UniFI AP AC Pro's but there seems to be posts saying that there's a very noticeable delay during handoff? There's also some information from early 2015 saying that the zero hand off doesn't work on the AC units 'yet', although those posts are almost 2 years old now. 

 

Does anyone have any suggestions? I know OpenMesh has products as well, but haven't heard much about them. There's also things like Eero which I haven't completely ruled out, but I think I'd prefer more of an enterprise solution. Looking to spend no more than $750-1000 for 2-3 AP's, a router and a 16 port switch. Thinking I can probably save a bundle by buying the switch off craigslist..

 

Thanks!

[Matt_98]

Just now, bkilshaw said:

I'm moving into a new 3 story house next month and am looking for the best networking solution to get full wifi coverage throughout the place. We use that "Rogers Wifi" on our cell phones at home so that the phone calls go over your home internet connection which is essentially VOIP. I've been looking at the UniFI AP AC Pro's but there seems to be posts saying that there's a very noticeable delay during handoff? There's also some information from early 2015 saying that the zero hand off doesn't work on the AC units 'yet', although those posts are almost 2 years old now. 

 

Does anyone have any suggestions? I know OpenMesh has products as well, but haven't heard much about them. There's also things like Eero which I haven't completely ruled out, but I think I'd prefer more of an enterprise solution. Looking to spend no more than $750-1000 for 2-3 AP's, a router and a 16 port switch. Thinking I can probably save a bundle by buying the switch off craigslist..

 

Thanks!

I'm not sure about cost but TP-link just came out with some mesh networking gear

[The_Denks]

My school has UniFI AP's, and when switching between classes, there is about a 3 second handoff delay.

Its not that bad, and you never loose coverage, it just gets slightly lower for a second or 2 before handoff

[bkilshaw]

1 hour ago, mcraftax said:

Yes ubiquiti unifi ac aps are good. The hand off is good for what you pay for as all other system at this price don't have seamless hand off. The seamless hand off only works if you have the controller server running.

 

No TP-Link, No TP-Link

 

The UniFi Cloud Key is sufficient for that, right? https://www.ubnt.com/unifi/unifi-cloud-key/

[Guest]

Let's bust some myths - there is no such thing as wireless handoff or wireless roaming.

 

At the moment, there is no industry standard that dictates how wireless roaming will work for a client - there are standards however manufacturers will only adopt some of the parts of that standard meaning it's pretty much useless. Wireless roaming relies entirely on the client to make itself roam. Roaming at the moment works in one of two methods.

 

Layer 2 roaming is simply where the client will disconnect from one radio and reconnect to another as a fresh client. This does not preserve any of the details it was associated with thus it isn't suitable for VOiP solutions or other similar situations where a disconnect in the data stream due to a change in IP is acceptable.

 

Layer 3 roaming which is what most enterprise wireless solutions do, will create tunnels between the AP's to share client information. This enables the client to be able to switch to a different AP and retain their association. This can also be done slightly differently where the client talks to the wireless controller. The diagram below shows a Xirrus operating environment with no hardware controller.

 

Spoiler

This still leaves the issue of the client actually roaming - there are two common ways that roaming is 'encouraged' - a wireless controller will disconnect a client if the clients wireless strength (dBm) or its throughput (Tx/Rx) falls below set standards. This will then drop the client off the network and force it to rejoin to the nearest AP.

 

You can also encourage your device to roam - hidden deep within the wirless settings, you'll find options for roaming agressiveness, wireless roam or wireless delta. These will reflect the level to which the client will actively search for new radios with the same SSID and PSK/authentication method.

 

If you have questions, ask away.

 

 

[bkilshaw]

12 minutes ago, Windspeed36 said:

Let's bust some myths - there is no such thing as wireless handoff or wireless roaming.

 

At the moment, there is no industry standard that dictates how wireless roaming will work for a client - there are standards however manufacturers will only adopt some of the parts of that standard meaning it's pretty much useless. Wireless roaming relies entirely on the client to make itself roam. Roaming at the moment works in one of two methods.

 

Layer 2 roaming is simply where the client will disconnect from one radio and reconnect to another as a fresh client. This does not preserve any of the details it was associated with thus it isn't suitable for VOiP solutions or other similar situations where a disconnect in the data stream due to a change in IP is acceptable.

 

Layer 3 roaming which is what most enterprise wireless solutions do, will create tunnels between the AP's to share client information. This enables the client to be able to switch to a different AP and retain their association. This can also be done slightly differently where the client talks to the wireless controller. The diagram below shows a Xirrus operating environment with no hardware controller.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

This still leaves the issue of the client actually roaming - there are two common ways that roaming is 'encouraged' - a wireless controller will disconnect a client if the clients wireless strength (dBm) or its throughput (Tx/Rx) falls below set standards. This will then drop the client off the network and force it to rejoin to the nearest AP.

 

You can also encourage your device to roam - hidden deep within the wirless settings, you'll find options for roaming agressiveness, wireless roam or wireless delta. These will reflect the level to which the client will actively search for new radios with the same SSID and PSK/authentication method.

 

If you have questions, ask away.

 

 

Lots of great information here, thanks! It's along the lines of what I was reading, but presented more concisely and clears up a few things I was unsure of.

 

Sounds like UniFi might be the way to go. I might start with 2 AP's and pick up a third if I can't get decent coverage.