Best mesh Wi-Fi system

[barsnbolts]

Doing a full upgrade on my Wi-Fi and I'm looking for the best mesh system to get rid of all of the dead zones In my house, do you have any suggestions?

[AdmnPower]

https://amplifi.com

 

This is a pretty cool system, easy to setup and manage. Works pretty well in my experience too.

[scottyseng]

4 hours ago, barsnbolts said:

Doing a full upgrade on my Wi-Fi and I'm looking for the best mesh system to get rid of all of the dead zones In my house, do you have any suggestions?

I'd also recommend the amplify system.

 

I went the fun route myself and ran CAT6 in the attic for new Ubiquiti access points in the ceiling.

[Blake]

6 hours ago, barsnbolts said:

Doing a full upgrade on my Wi-Fi and I'm looking for the best mesh system to get rid of all of the dead zones In my house, do you have any suggestions?

Don't use mesh. Mesh network implies "wireless repeaters". Get a ubnt cloudkey and a bunch of ubnt wireless access points. wire an Ethernet cable to each location you want an AP. (optionally also get a POE switch). Plug it all in, and let the unifi software take care of it all for you.

 

Mesh systems typically have poor performance because people place the repeaters on the edge of the primary ap and then wonder why it doesn't work... no it is working, it is just repeating a poor signal.

[barsnbolts]

11 minutes ago, Blake said:

Don't use mesh. Mesh network implies "wireless repeaters". Get a ubnt cloudkey and a bunch of ubnt wireless access points. wire an Ethernet cable to each location you want an AP. (optionally also get a POE switch). Plug it all in, and let the unifi software take care of it all for you.

 

Mesh systems typically have poor performance because people place the repeaters on the edge of the primary ap and then wonder why it doesn't work... no it is working, it is just repeating a poor signal.

That's currently the route I was going to go, I have three spots That would be perfect hardline Locations. I always wondered if Orientation plays a large role in signal strength/Range for an AP, that Would be something interesting to test. Any recommendations for which unit though? I was looking at possibly just the lite ones

[jnic]

ubiquiti

[scottyseng]

49 minutes ago, barsnbolts said:

That's currently the route I was going to go, I have three spots That would be perfect hardline Locations. I always wondered if Orientation plays a large role in signal strength/Range for an AP, that Would be something interesting to test. Any recommendations for which unit though? I was looking at possibly just the lite ones

If on budget, the Lites. If you can stretch the budget, I would really go for the UAP AC-Pro ones. They have gigabit Ethernet / 3 x 3 radios.

 

Yeah, I would recommend the run Ethernet cable route to new APs if possible. It's worth it in the end over the mesh systems.

 

Ideally, you'd want your access points somewhere high up (why they usually live on the ceiling). Wifi is sort of an imaginary sphere with the AP being the center (Some models have slightly different radio patterns though). Don't be like my friend and put the AP on the ground under a metal desk and ask me how I magically increased the wifi signal by putting the AP up higher. Also, concrete / brick / dense walls are really hard to punch though.

 

I would also recommend running the Ethernet cable (at least if you're doing ceiling) next to a wood stud so you can just screw the bracket straight into the stud instead of having to rely on drywall anchors.