Weapons-grade home WiFi suggestions

[dhutch]

Just checking back in to say after mixed advice on various threads here we bought two Unifi AC Lite for £150 with included poe injectors, threw a cable from the video hub into them, one in each corner of a largeish edwardian, just clicked next next next on setup, perfect coverage and no handover issues. Sold.


Daniel

[NorthDave]

AJB88 said:

I'm having a slight issue with my Google WIFI.

If I connect wireless to my old EE router or if I use 4G I can open my swann CCTV app and it works, if I connect to Google WIFI it just comes up and says cant connect to server.

The CCTV is ethernet connected to my EE router/modem. The app uses an DNS address to connect to the CCTV.

Any advice?

This is down to DNS being resolved internally. I can't immediately think of the solution but I have seen it and resolved it before. If it comes to me i'll post again or a quick google might sort it...

[AJB88]

I changed a setting regarding DNS and it reolved it, but its started doing it again.

IIRC changed it from 8.8.8.8 to use ISP one.

[thebraketester]

I’d be interested to see what others get

[thebraketester]

AJB88 said:

I changed a setting regarding DNS and it reolved it, but its started doing it again.

IIRC changed it from 8.8.8.8 to use ISP one.

Try 1.1.1.1 or 8.8.8.8 or 8.8.4.4

[NorthDave]

AJB88 said:

I changed a setting regarding DNS and it reolved it, but its started doing it again.

IIRC changed it from 8.8.8.8 to use ISP one.

I think I would probably point DHCP clients to the router IP address with 8.8.8.8 as a secondary backup. In the ISP options you could then leave to their default or use 8.8.8.8 as the preferred.

It's something to do with the internal DNS not a problem with the external DNS servers.

[budgie smuggler]

budgie smuggler said:

Edit: ffs i haven't changed anything and it's fast this morning on every device:


Think I'll give it a couple of weeks, if there are any problems at all I'll send it back

Just quoting myself here in case anyone has the same issue. It was down to interference from the TV/set top box/speaker. With that on - 20mbit/s, with it all off, 200mbit/s. I've move it about 6 feet away, no problem now.

I don't understand it at all, but it's solved the issue.

[Rick101]

Does anybody know much about how the Google Wifi would interact with a Sonos that already has a boost with a Sonos Bridge?

I belive the Bridge sets up a piggyback network for the Sonos only.
Would the Google Wifi amplify this again or would it just amplify the original network?
If i already have good Wifi, am I wasting my money?

Thanks

[vladcjelli]

Well, after stuttering over the Tenda MW3 (and seeing it go up in price by a fiver) I've got the three box set on order, should be here by midweek.

I'll let you know how I get on with it.

[devnull]

Rick101 said:

Does anybody know much about how the Google Wifi would interact with a Sonos that already has a boost with a Sonos Bridge?

I belive the Bridge sets up a piggyback network for the Sonos only.
Would the Google Wifi amplify this again or would it just amplify the original network?
If i already have good Wifi, am I wasting my money?

Thanks

Not to be nerdy, but mesh networks such as Google Wifi don't amplify your home networks as such. They mesh together using a proprietary protocol, at a frequency which is better at penetrating walls compared to the WiFi standard. Think of it as a sort of wireless network cable. Then, the wifi points broadcast standard Wifi for your devices, along with some management for controlling when you roam about the house, etc etc.

So to answer your question, the bridge kinda becomes defunct in my opinion when you have a mesh network as your wifi is distributed more effectively throughout the home.

[PugwasHDJ80]

FWIW i'm another home user of Unifi kit

3x AC Pros and one external antenna to cover the garden.

We get strong signal everywhere in the house now - beforehand routers and range extenders just didn't cope with thick brick walls and concrete floors.

[idiotgap]

I put a set of Tenda MW3 units in a couple of weeks ago to replace the wifi provided by our plusnet hub and it's a great improvement in coverage. I'd previously tried using old sky routers as APs dotted round the house but run into problems using them with the same or different SSIDs and devices would cling to the wrong one.

One of my devices (amazon fire hd 8) doesn't seem to like the cubes much though and keeps trying to reconnect, but I guess with one device having problems it's more than likely it's that with the problem. I'm trying out the capacity mode, but it's seemed to make a difference to this device.

[budgie smuggler]

Follow up on my MW6, no problems at all. Works totally perfectly. Solid 180 mbit all the time now.

I'm still not 100% sold on using an app to configure them though, in case Tenda switch off the servers or stop updating it for new OS releases and it breaks.

[ecsrobin]

budgie smuggler said:

Follow up on my MW6, no problems at all. Works totally perfectly. Solid 180 mbit all the time now.

I'm still not 100% sold on using an app to configure them though, in case Tenda switch off the servers or stop updating it for new OS releases and it breaks.

Also an update on Tenda. A colleague with virgin media was having issues so recommended the MW6, I went and installed it for him yesterday and the whole house has trebled in speed from 1 box.

[vladcjelli]

So we've had the MW3 three node setup for about a month. Full signal everywhere in the house with decent speed. Really impressed for the money.
Only problems seem to relate to the Amazon Echo we've got. It will not stream radio consistently, stuttering and stopping. Anyone else had mesh network/Amazon related problems?

[ecsrobin]

vladcjelli said:

So we've had the MW3 three node setup for about a month. Full signal everywhere in the house with decent speed. Really impressed for the money.
Only problems seem to relate to the Amazon Echo we've got. It will not stream radio consistently, stuttering and stopping. Anyone else had mesh network/Amazon related problems?

I’ve had the same issue of streaming amazon music. Any other stream is fine.

[S6PNJ]

Anyone bought anything from NewFrog? They have the MW3 3 set at just over £60 currently - ignore the promo deal running out, its been like that for about the last 3 or 4 days at least!

[And then she]

S6PNJ said:

Anyone bought anything from NewFrog? They have the MW3 3 set at just over £60 currently - ignore the promo deal running out, its been like that for about the last 3 or 4 days at least!

They appear to have US plugs - that may be a problem for some.

[S6PNJ]

And then she said:

S6PNJ said:

Anyone bought anything from NewFrog? They have the MW3 3 set at just over £60 currently - ignore the promo deal running out, its been like that for about the last 3 or 4 days at least!

They appear to have US plugs - that may be a problem for some.

Good spot! I hadn't noticed that one!

[Burwood]

Some feedback please chaps. My wifi oscillates like a wave. It really sucks. And because our mobile coverage is so st we use wifi calling which means dropped calls constantly. It doesn't seem to matter where we are in the house.

What is a good solution. I've read a few pages and can't make out what i need. I have Sky Q so want compatibility. TIA

Edited by Burwood on Friday 5th April 09:12