Another mesh thread
Discussion
Good afternoon !
I have been meaning to post this for a while and with the mrs now looking to set up her WFH desk, now is the best time for me to get this sorted.
We currently have Virgin internet and pay for M600 fibre.
The location of the Virgin router is in the lounge.. Marked X
we are currently getting drop outs of coverage in the kitchen/conservative/toilet area, upstairs toilet and bedroom 4.
Front bedrooms seem ok as does the back.
I was thinking do I need 2 or 3 satellites (are they called that? ) and put them where you can see the red spots. These are power point in the hallway, kitchen and upstairs landing. I'm thinking downstairs just put on in the kitchen and upstairs the landing should be ok or can put one in bedroom 4 ?
I just don't know what solution to go for
https://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-Deco-S4-3-pack-Be...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-Deco-E4-Seamless-...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tenda-Nova-Whole-Home-Sys...
Any help would be appreciated and if you need any more information to help please let me know
Cheers,
I have been meaning to post this for a while and with the mrs now looking to set up her WFH desk, now is the best time for me to get this sorted.
We currently have Virgin internet and pay for M600 fibre.
The location of the Virgin router is in the lounge.. Marked X
we are currently getting drop outs of coverage in the kitchen/conservative/toilet area, upstairs toilet and bedroom 4.
Front bedrooms seem ok as does the back.
I was thinking do I need 2 or 3 satellites (are they called that? ) and put them where you can see the red spots. These are power point in the hallway, kitchen and upstairs landing. I'm thinking downstairs just put on in the kitchen and upstairs the landing should be ok or can put one in bedroom 4 ?
I just don't know what solution to go for
https://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-Deco-S4-3-pack-Be...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-Deco-E4-Seamless-...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tenda-Nova-Whole-Home-Sys...
Any help would be appreciated and if you need any more information to help please let me know
Cheers,
There's a big thread running on "Weapons-grade home WiFi suggestions" which would be worth a ready of the last few pages.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
But that said, if your home Internet is over 100Mb then it's worth going for the S4 over the E4 as the E4 is only 100Mb ethernet, but S4 is 1Gb.
You will need one of the units where your virgin router is. The signal from that will then relay to the other 'satellite' units.
Based on your floor plans, I'd put one unit at the 'X' where the router is, and one each at the other two red dots you have on the ground floor. I think there's a good chance that would cove the whole house (as the signal will go up through the floor to the upstairs room.
If you don't have good upstairs coverage, then buy a 4th unit to put at the upstairs red dot.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
But that said, if your home Internet is over 100Mb then it's worth going for the S4 over the E4 as the E4 is only 100Mb ethernet, but S4 is 1Gb.
You will need one of the units where your virgin router is. The signal from that will then relay to the other 'satellite' units.
Based on your floor plans, I'd put one unit at the 'X' where the router is, and one each at the other two red dots you have on the ground floor. I think there's a good chance that would cove the whole house (as the signal will go up through the floor to the upstairs room.
If you don't have good upstairs coverage, then buy a 4th unit to put at the upstairs red dot.
We've got a similar situation to you - router next to the phone socket in the South-West ground floor corner of the house, offices are currently on the first floor in the NE and SE corners and we were getting flaky reception in the offices in certain weather.
We went with TP-Link S4 3 pack (I can't tell what the difference is between the E and the S) with one plugged into the Sky router with an ethernet cable, one in the kitchen (ground floor, SE corner) and one above it (first floor, SE corner). We get "Excellent" Wi-Fi throughout the house and it took 10 minutes to set up on the app, wouldn't hesitate to recommend them and we get no drop outs at all.
Did have a bit of a scare when I first turned it on and my phone told me the Wi-Fi was using an old protocol that wasn't secure, but updating the 3 units (via the app) solved that.
We went with TP-Link S4 3 pack (I can't tell what the difference is between the E and the S) with one plugged into the Sky router with an ethernet cable, one in the kitchen (ground floor, SE corner) and one above it (first floor, SE corner). We get "Excellent" Wi-Fi throughout the house and it took 10 minutes to set up on the app, wouldn't hesitate to recommend them and we get no drop outs at all.
Did have a bit of a scare when I first turned it on and my phone told me the Wi-Fi was using an old protocol that wasn't secure, but updating the 3 units (via the app) solved that.
I've got the Tenda MW6 setup with Virgin Super Hub 3. Works very well. My 5 bed house has decent brick walls which is a killer for Wi-Fi. I've put 1 mesh point downstairs at one end of house and 1 upstairs (in my son's room and he connect Xbox via ethernet to it, he's very happy with it)
It's been a massive improvement over just a Superhub and is pretty stable and great internet speeds. Without it, I couldn't get Wi-Fi in our back bedroom (was my temporary office whilst we had semi-permanent guests).
It's been a massive improvement over just a Superhub and is pretty stable and great internet speeds. Without it, I couldn't get Wi-Fi in our back bedroom (was my temporary office whilst we had semi-permanent guests).
FunkyNige said:
We've got a similar situation to you - router next to the phone socket in the South-West ground floor corner of the house, offices are currently on the first floor in the NE and SE corners and we were getting flaky reception in the offices in certain weather.
We went with TP-Link S4 3 pack (I can't tell what the difference is between the E and the S) with one plugged into the Sky router with an ethernet cable, one in the kitchen (ground floor, SE corner) and one above it (first floor, SE corner). We get "Excellent" Wi-Fi throughout the house and it took 10 minutes to set up on the app, wouldn't hesitate to recommend them and we get no drop outs at all.
Did have a bit of a scare when I first turned it on and my phone told me the Wi-Fi was using an old protocol that wasn't secure, but updating the 3 units (via the app) solved that.
Thanks Nige, may tap you up when they come and I can't set them up We went with TP-Link S4 3 pack (I can't tell what the difference is between the E and the S) with one plugged into the Sky router with an ethernet cable, one in the kitchen (ground floor, SE corner) and one above it (first floor, SE corner). We get "Excellent" Wi-Fi throughout the house and it took 10 minutes to set up on the app, wouldn't hesitate to recommend them and we get no drop outs at all.
Did have a bit of a scare when I first turned it on and my phone told me the Wi-Fi was using an old protocol that wasn't secure, but updating the 3 units (via the app) solved that.
IIRC I need to put my router in ''Modem Mode'' is this correct ?
Depending on the house construction, the ceilings probably block the signal less than the walls, so you might not need upstairs as well as downstairs if you place the downstairs ones in the right places.
If you run any non wireless stuff definitely go for systems with 1GB ports, eg my PC and NAS are both on a wired connection, which makes backing up a lot quicker.
In terms of number of units, don't forget you'll need one by the modem, which you set up to act as the router.
If you have really thick walls also consider the P9, which has built in Powerline connection between the units.
If you run any non wireless stuff definitely go for systems with 1GB ports, eg my PC and NAS are both on a wired connection, which makes backing up a lot quicker.
In terms of number of units, don't forget you'll need one by the modem, which you set up to act as the router.
If you have really thick walls also consider the P9, which has built in Powerline connection between the units.
Have you considered the Deco P9s
They not only do WiFi mesh but use power-line networking if it's a better connection.
https://www.box.co.uk/DECO-P9(4-PACK)-TP-Link-Deco...
They not only do WiFi mesh but use power-line networking if it's a better connection.
https://www.box.co.uk/DECO-P9(4-PACK)-TP-Link-Deco...
Personally I’d recommend a tri-band system, wifi operates on two frequencies 2.4ghz & 5ghz the systems you’d linked to are only dual band so the cover both frequencies (channels) but they also use the 5ghz band for the connection between nodes (the backhaul).
Tri-band systems have three channels 2.4ghz & 2 x 5ghz and the dedicate a 5ghz channel to the backhaul this means greater throughput/speed when connecting via a node.
Personally this is a better buy imho
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Linksys-WHW0303B-Tri-Band...
Also bare in mind that one of the mesh nodes needs to physically wire to your existing modem/router
You will also need to look at how you put the existing modem/router into modem mode
Your placements look reasonable what I would say is wifi generally has a easier time travelling though floors vs walls so it might be worth putting all the node on the gf first and see what the 1st f coverage is like.
Tri-band systems have three channels 2.4ghz & 2 x 5ghz and the dedicate a 5ghz channel to the backhaul this means greater throughput/speed when connecting via a node.
Personally this is a better buy imho
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Linksys-WHW0303B-Tri-Band...
Also bare in mind that one of the mesh nodes needs to physically wire to your existing modem/router
You will also need to look at how you put the existing modem/router into modem mode
Your placements look reasonable what I would say is wifi generally has a easier time travelling though floors vs walls so it might be worth putting all the node on the gf first and see what the 1st f coverage is like.
nealeh1875 said:
Is it just Qualcomm I need, Not Powerline?
Not quite sure what you mean, Qualcomm is a chip manufacturer, is that a typo?Pure mesh works by the units talking to each other over wifi to get a signal back to the main unit by the modem. Most of these systems can also be connected by ethernet cable, in which case they work as wireless access points. The P9 uses powerline as well as wifi to communicated between the nodes, so good for extending the network if you have thick walls that the wifi struggles to penetrate.
RizzoTheRat said:
Not quite sure what you mean, Qualcomm is a chip manufacturer, is that a typo?
Pure mesh works by the units talking to each other over wifi to get a signal back to the main unit by the modem. Most of these systems can also be connected by ethernet cable, in which case they work as wireless access points. The P9 uses powerline as well as wifi to communicated between the nodes, so good for extending the network if you have thick walls that the wifi struggles to penetrate.
Powerline uses your mains wiring for the backhaul connection between nodes, as said this can help if you want to put nodes outside of solid wireless connectivity to each other. This is obviously dependent on the state of your home wiring for the speed/stability of the backhaul.Pure mesh works by the units talking to each other over wifi to get a signal back to the main unit by the modem. Most of these systems can also be connected by ethernet cable, in which case they work as wireless access points. The P9 uses powerline as well as wifi to communicated between the nodes, so good for extending the network if you have thick walls that the wifi struggles to penetrate.
Whichever solution you choose obviously buy from a retailer with a good return policy
nealeh1875 said:
Thanks Nige, may tap you up when they come and I can't set them up
IIRC I need to put my router in ''Modem Mode'' is this correct ?
I didn't bother with Modem Mode, means we have two wi-fi networks in the house but that hasn't appeared to have any negative consequencesIIRC I need to put my router in ''Modem Mode'' is this correct ?
All the gear come Saturday which was good !
I managed to get it all set up so it's now running on it's own wifi and Nige did above.
One thing i have noticed, although coverage is OK the speed isn't great. Not sure if this is down to my virgin router only having 2.4 set up at the mo? Is there a way i can split this back to 2.4 and 5ghz and have this all though the mesh system? will this make speeds on on that ?
Speed is still ok when I'm connected straight to virgin but when I'm connected to the mesh it is considerably slower?
I managed to get it all set up so it's now running on it's own wifi and Nige did above.
One thing i have noticed, although coverage is OK the speed isn't great. Not sure if this is down to my virgin router only having 2.4 set up at the mo? Is there a way i can split this back to 2.4 and 5ghz and have this all though the mesh system? will this make speeds on on that ?
Speed is still ok when I'm connected straight to virgin but when I'm connected to the mesh it is considerably slower?
The 2.4 and 5Ghz are the wifi bands, you want to turn off the WiFi on the virgin box so it's WiFi band settings won't matter.
If you've only turned the WiFi off on the virgin box, set the Decos to Access Point mode in the app. Alternatively set the virgin box to Passthrough or Modem only mode and set the Decos to Wireless Router mode. Otherwise the virgin box and the decos are both operating as routers which can cause some problems
If you've only turned the WiFi off on the virgin box, set the Decos to Access Point mode in the app. Alternatively set the virgin box to Passthrough or Modem only mode and set the Decos to Wireless Router mode. Otherwise the virgin box and the decos are both operating as routers which can cause some problems
As above put the virgin hub in modem mode and use the Deco for everything. Try setting the 2.4ghz and 5Ghz on separate SSIDs. I would use the same SSID and pass as the Virgin for 2.4ghz so your existing devices connect automatically.
Connect your other devices to 5Ghz SSID for better speed.
Connect your other devices to 5Ghz SSID for better speed.
You'll need to log in the router to turn off the WiFi or set it passthrough. You'll need to do this from a computer connected via an ethernet cable of course as you'll lose the WiFi connection
https://www.virginmedia.com/help/virgin-media-hub-...
The WiFi will then be on the decos so you set up the ssid via thier phone app.
https://www.virginmedia.com/help/virgin-media-hub-...
The WiFi will then be on the decos so you set up the ssid via thier phone app.
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