TP-Link Deco vs Ubiquiti
Author
Discussion

redrabbit29

Original Poster:

2,930 posts

163 months

Sunday 2nd May 2021
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Hi Everyone,

I get a maximum 25-30mbps through my broadband. I am looking to boost the WiFi signal around a 4 bedroom semi-detached house, with several thick walls and steel beams.

I am very IT literate, and work in Cybersecurity. However, I haven't really got the appetite to spend ages configuring things or maintaining something.

Which is a good mesh system to just boost the signal to the upstairs and other areas which is basically just plug+play or very low hassle?

I have signed up for Zen Internet with the Everyroom WiFi extender disc - however, I will cancel this as it it is £8 a month and I'd rather just pay one off for several extenders myself.

Any experiences with this?

Thanks everyone

theaxe

3,571 posts

252 months

Sunday 2nd May 2021
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Google mesh gets good reviews.

s2kjock

1,854 posts

177 months

Sunday 2nd May 2021
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The Deco's are very easy to set up IME - 3 worked very well in a large old stone house (4-5 bedrooms) I set them up in a year or two ago - have pretty worked faultlessly, albeit usage not heavy.

FunkyNige

9,837 posts

305 months

Sunday 2nd May 2021
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s2kjock said:
The Deco's are very easy to set up IME - 3 worked very well in a large old stone house (4-5 bedrooms) I set them up in a year or two ago - have pretty worked faultlessly, albeit usage not heavy.
Similar experience here, pretty much plug and play , app is simple to use to see how many devices are connected, set up a guest WiFi, etc. You can set some devices as high priority but I haven’t looked into it as we haven’t noticed it showing down at all.

rllmuk

145 posts

187 months

Sunday 2nd May 2021
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Another vote for Deco, cured all my Wi-fi issues with Sky Q mini boxes as an additional bonus. I have 6 in total, with one in detached garage 10m away from nearest internal unit. Have had to reset (off/on) master unit twice in a year though when the others lose connection.

Piersman2

6,676 posts

229 months

Sunday 2nd May 2021
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anonymous said:
[redacted]
As above.

I upgraded my broadband to 1gb VM last year. The VM Hub4 was absolutely ste so I set it up as modem only and bought Ubuiqiti ERX (?) router and Deco E4 3 AP mesh set. All very easy to set up but couldn't work out why nothing was running WIFI any faster than before. Dug into details on the E4s only to find that they are 100mbp, not Gb. Their adverts are very vague on the spec's, took some proper reading of the small print to confirm.

Upgraded to S4 (IIRC) which are 1gb and now have all my 5g WIFI devices able to run quite happily at 400+mbps anywhere in the house.

Amateurish

8,280 posts

252 months

Sunday 2nd May 2021
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Decos are very easy to set up and use. 100mbps ethernet will be fine for sometime getting 30mpbs WiFi

Amateurish

8,280 posts

252 months

Sunday 2nd May 2021
quotequote all
anonymous said:
[redacted]
Very true although this only applies to the Deco connected to the router.

CubanPete

3,815 posts

218 months

Sunday 2nd May 2021
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Hopping on the coattails of this thread for some advice...

I am after a powerline mesh as we have a long thin house with thick stone walls, I also want a node in the garage as I think this is the best way to get the signal to doorbells etc. By my reckoning this takes me up to 4 nodes.

Any recommendations appreciated.

Amateurish

8,280 posts

252 months

Sunday 2nd May 2021
quotequote all
anonymous said:
[redacted]
Yes, but what I mean is that if a Deco with a gigabit connection is connected to the router, then you will get the higher speeds throughout the whole mesh even using the cheaper 100mbps units.

Turn7

25,751 posts

251 months

Sunday 2nd May 2021
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Using Deco M5 here,and as said above, very easy to setup and I have WiFi in the garden as well the
Whole house now.

redrabbit29

Original Poster:

2,930 posts

163 months

Sunday 2nd May 2021
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Thank you everyone, that's a huge help! I'll get the Deco then

Chozza

808 posts

182 months

Monday 3rd May 2021
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CubanPete said:
Hopping on the coattails of this thread for some advice...

I am after a powerline mesh as we have a long thin house with thick stone walls, I also want a node in the garage as I think this is the best way to get the signal to doorbells etc. By my reckoning this takes me up to 4 nodes.

Any recommendations appreciated.
For this i'd recommend Deco P9 they can use a mixture of PowerLine and Mesh for the backhaul ,so work well with the thick walls ( which is why we use them ) They come in a 3 pack and you can add wifi ones to the Mesh.

As i'm sure i've suggested on PH previously - just Amazon them - try them out and if they dont work for you then return

Semmelweiss

1,839 posts

226 months

Tuesday 4th May 2021
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Chozza said:
For this i'd recommend Deco P9 they can use a mixture of PowerLine and Mesh for the backhaul ,so work well with the thick walls ( which is why we use them ) They come in a 3 pack and you can add wifi ones to the Mesh.

As i'm sure i've suggested on PH previously - just Amazon them - try them out and if they dont work for you then return
Second that on the P9's.

I have them as both powerline and WiFi mesh combo. Has sorted my crappy Vodafone WiFi. I have them as WiFi extenders, since you can't turn the Vodafone supplied router into "modem only" mode (to prevent double NAT issues).

hantsxlg

929 posts

262 months

Tuesday 4th May 2021
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Another vote for the p9 version. Good price to.. and works better than the netgear orbi I tried first at over twice the price....

troc

4,088 posts

205 months

Thursday 6th May 2021
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My dad had a similar problem and went with the M9 set up and is extremely pleased.

If you like fiddling about and pretending to be a hotel, the. Unifi is awesome but those deco m9s seem to do the job perfectly well.

RizzoTheRat

29,022 posts

222 months

Thursday 6th May 2021
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I get a rock steady 120Mbps everywhere with my P9 setup.

The only real downside is they're not as configurable as some other brands, which might be annoying for someone who really knows thier way around IT, but for those that don't want to fiddle they're really easy to set up and just work.

akirk

5,778 posts

144 months

Thursday 6th May 2021
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we have 6 Deco M5 units across house and outbuildings - giving coverage also across most of the garden...

one thing to note is that they do have a slight flaw in that they daisychain, but not always to the nearest which means that some of the further units might see several other M5 units and choose to pick one further away (and therefore with a weaker connection) to connect to - this can slow down the network at times... there is talk of an upgrade to firmware allowing you to choose which they connect to, but not seen that yet...

devnull

3,869 posts

187 months

Thursday 6th May 2021
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I installed Deco P9s for my Father In Law as he wanted better coverage on a budget. He has a pretty large (and L Shaped) home, and I was suprised at how well they perform, and continue to perform. No IT requests as of yet!

I am installing Ubquiti equipment in my home to replace a google wifi mesh - got the Dream Machine Pro and I'm setting up the site survey for the access points.

Chuffedmonkey

1,007 posts

136 months

Sunday 9th May 2021
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OP may have already purchased by now but I have the Deco M4 on a 500Mb Virgin connection. 380Mb plus in every room of the house and 110Mb in the far end of the garden.

They may be a bit big but I have hidden them, for the price though they are brilliant. I have also recommended them to 3 other friends who also agree they are brilliant.