Idiot question about extending wifi
Discussion
techguyone said:
I did quite a bit of research when I decided to go Mesh. I personally wanted something with twin Ethernet ports which limited my choices, plus I didn't want to spend lots of money.
There's quite a few systems out there. BT do one that's well respected plus they use it for their home broadband customers. Google do one too, but I felt that to be overpriced.
In the end (for my usage) I went with this.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B071241G3R
TP-Link Deco M5 Whole Home Mesh Wi-Fi System, Up to 5500 sq ft Coverage, Compatible with Amazon Echo/Alexa, Antivirus Security Protection and Parental Controls, Pack of 3
I personally, have had no problems with tp-link equipment, I know other posters have expressed issues.
If I had more funds at the time I may have gone to the M9 system which is better but more expensive.
I felt the system I got offered some degree of future proofness and would cope with all my equipment I have now plus future additions, so fat it's been faultless.
I'm running 2 Pc's, one EE signal box, 1 security camera, 2 smart Tv's , 1 android box on Ethernet. & some 8 or so mobile devices on the Wi-Fi side, I think there's a practical limit of 64 devices in total you can have per hub so it's unlikely anyone will fall foul of that limit anytime soon.
Issues I found:
I turned off the VM hub wi-fi entirely (not modem mode) as it got confusing for devices switching between networks and I connected EVERYTHING through the M5 as when I had some things on the VM ethernet, and others on the M5 it caused issues with things like Chromecast devices as they were not necessarily on the same network as where the files were stored and unavailable.
Switching everything to the one network resolved everything. Setup itself was a doddle taking about 5 mins per hub.
Hope this helps.
Thank you, yes it does. If I go mesh, I'll look at that product.There's quite a few systems out there. BT do one that's well respected plus they use it for their home broadband customers. Google do one too, but I felt that to be overpriced.
In the end (for my usage) I went with this.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B071241G3R
TP-Link Deco M5 Whole Home Mesh Wi-Fi System, Up to 5500 sq ft Coverage, Compatible with Amazon Echo/Alexa, Antivirus Security Protection and Parental Controls, Pack of 3
I personally, have had no problems with tp-link equipment, I know other posters have expressed issues.
If I had more funds at the time I may have gone to the M9 system which is better but more expensive.
I felt the system I got offered some degree of future proofness and would cope with all my equipment I have now plus future additions, so fat it's been faultless.
I'm running 2 Pc's, one EE signal box, 1 security camera, 2 smart Tv's , 1 android box on Ethernet. & some 8 or so mobile devices on the Wi-Fi side, I think there's a practical limit of 64 devices in total you can have per hub so it's unlikely anyone will fall foul of that limit anytime soon.
Issues I found:
I turned off the VM hub wi-fi entirely (not modem mode) as it got confusing for devices switching between networks and I connected EVERYTHING through the M5 as when I had some things on the VM ethernet, and others on the M5 it caused issues with things like Chromecast devices as they were not necessarily on the same network as where the files were stored and unavailable.
Switching everything to the one network resolved everything. Setup itself was a doddle taking about 5 mins per hub.
Hope this helps.
Happily though I seem to have got the old TP-Link kit working. For now.
Trustmeimadoctor said:
sounds like you had two dhcp servers running
Well my issues were mainly to do with Chromecasts being on the deco mesh wifi & the media files being on a PC using VM ethernet, which meant when it came time to send the files over the network for the chromecast, it wouldn't see them as they were on seperate ones. I got round that by buying a small 4 port switch(tp-link, no I'm not a shill) and having all my equipment going through the decos be it ethernet or wireless, all problems then resolved themselves.
I did have some issues when I switched the VM Hub to modem mode and connected the deco mesh to it, but by switching back to regular mode and just using the one ethernet port (connected to the switch) stopped all that. (I forget what the issue was, might have been some devices not seeing each other)
The last thing I did was to just turn off the VM wi-fi, as it seemed a bit pointless running two and the VM signal was crap outside of the room the hub was in and sometimes the phones would switch from the good deco signal to the crap VM one
Even more idiot Q from me.
L Shaped bungalow.
I have a BT router plugged into a phone socket in just about the corner of the L
wi fi signal strength at the ends of the L is poor, even a BT extender(?) doesn't help.
The BT master socket is in the loft at one end of the L so whilst that is the recommended socket I can't see it transmitting to the other end of the L
Download strength struggles to reach 5MB generally less.
I have an EE router lying around from a previous installation in another house. Can I use that to boost the BT signal anywhere? Also have a Sky router doing nothing.
Or should I just go for the BT Mesh set up?
L Shaped bungalow.
I have a BT router plugged into a phone socket in just about the corner of the L
wi fi signal strength at the ends of the L is poor, even a BT extender(?) doesn't help.
The BT master socket is in the loft at one end of the L so whilst that is the recommended socket I can't see it transmitting to the other end of the L
Download strength struggles to reach 5MB generally less.
I have an EE router lying around from a previous installation in another house. Can I use that to boost the BT signal anywhere? Also have a Sky router doing nothing.
Or should I just go for the BT Mesh set up?
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