Advice on fast/stable broadband setup for 4 story townhouse

[logit]

Hey everyone, I'd really appreciate your thoughts on a suitable broadband setup for my townhouse. I'm not the most informed when it comes to these things so pls go gently

The property is a 4 story townhouse with the added complication of having the kitchen / family space in the basement... and the basement has concrete walls so you don't get phone reception down there and no chance of any wifi signal from the other floors penetrating down there there either (ruling out traditional wifi extenders).

I've currently got some Devolo powerline wifi adapters plugged in around the house, using the internal electrical wiring. The main problem I have it that whilst I get decent speeds when everything's working as it should, I get frequent drop outs and the speed just drops at random times.

So I'm basically looking for a setup that is just more stable and gives consistent speeds. I also want to be able to move throughout the house and seamlessly switch to the strongest signal without having to log on to another network in each zone (basically a mesh network).

The good news is that I've since realised it appears the house is already wired for high speed broadband and has ethernet cables run to most rooms in the house (including the basement kitchen). So I'm thinking it would make sense to use that.... plug in the router by the main phone socket at the top of the house, and then run ethernet cables from the router to the ethernet input sockets that will then transmit to the relevant rooms using the existing ethernet cables. Consequently, I've gone down the path of looking at wifi access points that I can plug in to the ethernet socket in each room and then broadcast wifi from that. Something like this device used in access point mode:

https://www.tp-link.com/uk/home-networking/range-e...

I'd appreciate some advice from those of you in the know in regards to whether this is the best solution to my problem? I was thinking that if I got 5 of these TP Link wifi access points dotted around the house and gave them the same SSID and password, then that would replicate the mesh network I'm after.... assuming the device automatically switches to the strongest signal...?

[CharlesElliott]

Yes, if you want to keep it simple, those sort of devices in AP mode would be fine.

Next step up would be Unifi gateway and APs which is going to give you a whole other level (or 3) of control and management but that may be overkill for your needs.

[Stupeo]

I live in a 4 story victorian house with some very thick walls, a cellar and lots of random interference.

I've managed to solve my WiFi with a minimum of 2.4GHz across the whole house using a Netgear X6 R8000 router paired with a strategically placed Nighthawk X6S Extender. Our wireless devices switch seamlessly between the two "hosts".

I use my my Virgin Media SuperHub 3 in modem mode to provide broadband to the R8000.

Total cost was about £300.

[TEKNOPUG]

Firstly, you will be better off using a dedicated switch rather than the router, especially if you have more than 4 ethernet cable runs.

Secondly, you should try and have every device with an ethernet connection hard wired; PC, Printer, TV, DVD, SKY/Virgin etc. You may find that you'll need additional switches in rooms for all the devices.

This will give you a much more stable network and reduce the bandwidth demands in the WiFi. Ideally you would only ye mobile devices via WiFi, which typically require less bandwidth and therefore you don't need such a strong signal.

Those TP Link APs have no ethernet passthru from what I can see, so you lose all ethernet cable connection in any room you fitted them to, unless you connected via a switch.

[RizzoTheRat]

Do multiple access points using the same SSID work as one network, or as multiple networks that happen to have the same name, leading to some issues with mobile devices moving between them?

Some mesh systems can be used with an ethernet backhaul, ie the units use the ethernet to talk to each other, but are still configured as a single mesh network, eg TP-Link Deco
https://www.tp-link.com/nl-be/support/faq/1794/

Edited by RizzoTheRat on Thursday 21st January 13:49

[akirk]

Go for the Deco 9 which can use ethernet as backhaul - the problem with using lots of access points is that basically your device holds onto its access point as long as it can before switching - so you start on your phone in the kitchen with strong signal, then as you walk upstairs, it hangs on until there is almost no signal at all - the signal getting weaker and weaker before switching over - think of it like lots of individual wifi networks each with the issues of reducing signal as you move out of range - the advantage is that you get good strong signal everytime you connect, wherever you are in the house, the downside is that the signal deteriorates...

With a mesh system you are effectively building one big wifi receiver across the property with strong signal everywhere...

[logit]

Many thanks for all of the thoughts and advice

I do like the sound of these mesh systems... especially as I'm guaranteed to not have any ssid network switching problems. I started looking at the TP Link Deco M9 Plus that was suggested... it's quite pricey if I want to get sufficient discs. I think the M5 will be better suited as it's a bit cheaper and I can get more discs for the price. As suggested, I think the best plan is to get an 8 port ethernet switch and then connect all the discs together using ethernet backhaul using the existing ethernet cabling in the house. And because each unit has 2 ethernet ports, there will still be one port available for hardwiring to devices (or connecting an additional switch) as TEKNOPUG usefully suggested.

Edited by logit on Thursday 21st January 17:52