Weapons-grade home WiFi suggestions

[HairyMaclary]

I have just switched to sky fibre max from bt and have got 4 sky q boxes. The boxes act as mesh repeaters. Signal is gone from being crap (Smart Hub 6 and 3 Tp link AV600s) to max strength everywhere.

[anonymous-user]

Is fttp available?

[megaphone]

OldGermanHeaps said:

lr are terrible in the home environment they are for large warehouse areas. lite are not what you want either they are cost reduced cut down versions. if you still have a few 2.4ghz devices or your rf propogation environment means many devices might favour 2.4 go for the uap ac pros, if nearly everything is 5ghz look at the nano hd.
tbh for most homes the pro is the best fit.

Interesting. I have had excellent results using the AP Lite, I have just fitted 6 in a house and they are working seamlessly.

[dmsims]

I really don't know why people still bang on about Ubiquiti

Performance wise Orbi will thrash it (for distance and throughput) at 2.4 Ghz

Tenda MW6 is a good budget option

[WindyCommon]

My “hammer to crack a nut” solution is an Orbi router/base-station and four of the larger Orbi satellites all set up with ethernet backhaul. In my powerfully built house, this has solved all problems. We now have seamless high-speed wifi everywhere. Job jobbed.

[matt666]

What is the advantage of a mesh WiFi system such as Orbi over just having a few wireless routers about the place with the same SSID? Seems a lot cheaper to do it that way

[Order66]

matt666 said:

What is the advantage of a mesh WiFi system such as Orbi over just having a few wireless routers about the place with the same SSID? Seems a lot cheaper to do it that way

Don't need wires for the satellites - they basically have a high powered repeater/transmitter creating a "backhaul" between them, so in theory only the "base" station needs connected to your network and the "satellites" use the backhaul to the base station. So you can effectively "chain-link" them together to create endless coverage easily (i.e. the mesh part) with only a single point connecting to the lan.

[OldGermanHeaps]

megaphone said:

Interesting. I have had excellent results using the AP Lite, I have just fitted 6 in a house and they are working seamlessly.

the lites are ok, better than most routers built in ap, but this thread is asking about high end.
the lites are 2x2 mimo, pros are 3x3 with improved anfenna performance, nano hd are 4x4 mimo, but the pros have better 2.4ghz capacity than the nano hd which is really geared to high density of 5ghz devices.
as you go higher up the range you can have more devices connected and using bandwidth to each ap before any reduction in speed occurs.
on the lites if you have say 35 wifi devices connected spread among 6 aps evenly it wouldnt slow down much but if all the portable devices move close to one ap it will become congested and slow down. the extra mimo antennas and circuitry means you sort of have 4 aps worth of capacity in 1ap. not quite as that is very simplified but that is the jist of it.
mesh is getting better, and if you cant be arsed running cat6 it can be ideal, but the wireless backhaul always incurs a capacity and latency penalty over a wired backhaul.
the lr devices in a home environment trick your phone into thinking it is getting a stronger signal but throughput is poor as you move away as your phone doesn't emit the same erp as the ap so the phone can hear the ap but struggles to talk back.
people in it go on about ubiquiti because it is high performance pro gear at almost consumer money. Correctly designed and installed it outperforms every diy toy on the market. The problem is it isn't idiot proof, and plenty of idiots buy it without knowing what they are doing then blame. the kit when they dont get the results they were hoping for. the mesh systems are designed to be far more tolerant of inexperienced diyers to give passable results, but wireless backhaul always lags behind wired with current technology.

Edited by OldGermanHeaps on Sunday 30th December 00:45

[ninepoint2]

Zonergem said:

Soon to complete on a new house. It's a five storey terrace with a posh shed at the end of the garden that is going to be used as a home office/gym room.

Having suffered with poor broadband speeds and poor wifi signal strength in our rented properties (including rural broadband that is about as useful as a length of wet string) I'm determined to get the fastest fibre available and distribute it effectively around the house. I've had a plug-in range extender before and it didn't prove reliable.

What are my best options please? Hard-wire several routers together?

Perhaps the very obvious question is, who is providing the connection to the house? Not much use buying Mesh technology if it's Talk Talk's 5MB offering really is it?

[OldGermanHeaps]

matt666 said:

What is the advantage of a mesh WiFi system such as Orbi over just having a few wireless routers about the place with the same SSID? Seems a lot cheaper to do it that way

there would be no coordination between tbe aps on channel, timing, erp, handover etc. you would have good wif when you were sat in one place but as you move around from ap to ap the handover on your device can be very erratic and it ends up doggedly holding on to a weak signal from the further away ap you were connected to earlier rather than joining the one you are closest to, the managed systems both mesh and wired every ap does a wireless survey around itself and fine tunes all it parameters to play nicely with its neighbours so you get a seamless experience at your device.

[vladcjelli]

OldGermanHeaps said:

matt666 said:

What is the advantage of a mesh WiFi system such as Orbi over just having a few wireless routers about the place with the same SSID? Seems a lot cheaper to do it that way

there would be no coordination between tbe aps on channel, timing, erp, handover etc. you would have good wif when you were sat in one place but as you move around from ap to ap the handover on your device can be very erratic and it ends up doggedly holding on to a weak signal from the further away ap you were connected to earlier rather than joining the one you are closest to, the managed systems both mesh and wired every ap does a wireless survey around itself and fine tunes all it parameters to play nicely with its neighbours so you get a seamless experience at your device.

Exactly as we find, having pieced our current setup together over a period of time using an apple airport express, tp link ap and the tp link modem/router. One seat on the sofa picks up signal from one of two sources, so can go on the fritz if the winds blowing in the wrong direction. Also moving between rooms causes grief.

Our other problem has developed since eldest Cjelli cjild got himself an Xbox for his bedroom. Up to now, I've powerlined between fixed items round the house, but for some reason, this Xbox is suffering terrible lag, so much so he won't play it. I tested it with a quick round of Fortnite, and didn't see a problem, but latency doesn't matter much when hiding in an attic (I got 6th with no kills).

Is a mesh system up to the rigours of modern multiplayer teenage demands? If I can solve his problems (and the handover ones) without running metres of cat5 as I was planning, it would keep Mrs C and my sanity on an even keel.

[dmsims]

vladcjelli said:

but for some reason, this Xbox is suffering terrible lag, so much so he won't play it

What is your upload bandwidth ?

[eightseventhree]

Hi I have BT whole Home over 5 floors - 1903 town house (3 discs) covers the lot I get just about 100mb internet all over (that is the speed virgin provide) simple setup and has not yet let me down

[Carrot]

Another unifi fan boy here. I installed it in my concrete house which is generally allergic to wireless.

However I installed a bt mesh system in another old house which we were not allowed to run cables, worked very well also.

Pros and cons to both. If I can run wires it's always going to be unifi or similar run back to router, or mesh if I can't.

Nothing beats wired backhaul imo

[DoubleSix]

Some have suggested hardwiring APs. This seems an odd choice in 2018.

Now hardwiring MESH APs is where it’s at. This way hand off is handled seamlessly as you move about and you gain the benefits of backhaul.

I’ve hardwired 3 Google Wifi points to cover our relatively large, solid walled home and it’s totally faultless where other set ups failed.

Powerline solutions are generally garbage.

I would also add that the Google software (App) is second to none making for a very pleasant setup procedure and excellent user controls. Being able to monitor and even boost or isolate individual devices on your phone is a boon, as are the other features.

Edited by DoubleSix on Sunday 30th December 08:07

[vladcjelli]

dmsims said:

vladcjelli said:

but for some reason, this Xbox is suffering terrible lag, so much so he won't play it

What is your upload bandwidth ?

Xbox (wired through powerline) shows:
Down - 2.41
Up - 0.99
Latency - 48ms
Pkt loss - 1%

Xbox (unplugged through wifi):
Down - 17.44
Up - 4.82
Latency - 33ms
0% pkt loss

First time I've thought to compare the two, will I see much of an improvement with a mesh?

[richatnort]

vladcjelli said:

Xbox (wired through powerline) shows:
Down - 2.41
Up - 0.99
Latency - 48ms
Pkt loss - 1%

Xbox (unplugged through wifi):
Down - 17.44
Up - 4.82
Latency - 33ms
0% pkt loss

First time I've thought to compare the two, will I see much of an improvement with a mesh?

I'd say so yes. I have the Velop mesh network and not only do you only join one network which is bliss I get 100mbps (110 Virgin line) at the furthest point away from where my router is.

Just get the 3 stations, follow the app instructions when setting up and you won't look back. You could also put one next to the xbox and hardwire the xbox into it as I've done this and still get 100mbps down the hardwire even though the signal is coming over wifi initially.

Reading this a lot of people are going very technical and I assume you are more my basic user which is why I chose the Velop..

[a7x88]

For best performance you will want to run cat 5e/6a to various points around the house and use access points like Unifi or similar. Mesh systems work but you are sacrificing bandwidth to allow the mesh devices to communicate with each other.

I ran drops to ceiling when we put cat6 into the house and have mounted Cisco 3802i APs up there - managed by a vWLC. WiFi has never been better. I can max my 350mbps connection from anywhere in the house and get a solid 930mbps from 802.3ac devices on an iperf back to my server (this is around the limit of gigE ports)

[vladcjelli]

richatnort said:

I'd say so yes. I have the Velop mesh network and not only do you only join one network which is bliss I get 100mbps (110 Virgin line) at the furthest point away from where my router is.

Just get the 3 stations, follow the app instructions when setting up and you won't look back. You could also put one next to the xbox and hardwire the xbox into it as I've done this and still get 100mbps down the hardwire even though the signal is coming over wifi initially.

Reading this a lot of people are going very technical and I assume you are more my basic user which is why I chose the Velop..

Since posting earlier, I've been looking into the options, and like the look of the velop gear.

Do you have the tri band or dual band ones?

The dual bands look like a really good price, but I'm wondering if that's for a reason...

[DoubleSix]

a7x88 said:

For best performance you will want to run cat 5e/6a to various points around the house and use access points like Unifi or similar. Mesh systems work but you are sacrificing bandwidth to allow the mesh devices to communicate with each other.

I ran drops to ceiling when we put cat6 into the house and have mounted Cisco 3802i APs up there - managed by a vWLC. WiFi has never been better. I can max my 350mbps connection from anywhere in the house and get a solid 930mbps from 802.3ac devices on an iperf back to my server (this is around the limit of gigE ports)

Not if the mesh units are hard wired.