Home WiFi - mesh or what?

[zedwunare]

Hi

Given the lock-down and the need to do more stuff from home, my iffy WiFi is becoming a real problem.

My current setup is as follows... Currently my setup is

• Huawei B315s-936 (WiFi disabled) as my router in my study
• Apple Airport Extreme is my AP connected directly to the Huawei which is kinda on one side / one half of the house so it covers study, lounge, dining room, kitchen and one bedroom.
• Apple Airport Express is the AP that provides coverage to the rest of the house - it is in a passage leading to the 2nd and 3rd (master) bedroom

Coverage in the master bedroom (and if I'm honest, even more importantly to the ensuite bathroom (and toilet) is spotty at best. You are never actually disconnected or lose connection, but throughput is often poor, especially when multiple devices (laptop, multiple phones, etc) are connected to the Airport Express.

Which brings my to my question.

What is the prevailing opinion to solve for this?

Currently the I am heading towards the miserly route of ordering a TP-Link Deco E4 or M4 kit - but I'm a little worried that while it might be an improvement, it won't be MUCH of an improvement. On Takealot these are R1800 and R2500 for the E4 and M4 respectively, each which comes with two APs. In order to maximise throughput I was thinking one could replace my Airport Extreme and the other would replace my Airport Express.

I really like the Netgear Orbi stuff, but my budget doesn't. I see some Amplifi chatter here and there but I'm not sure where that would fit in, whether they have a mesh system at a fair price or what.

The board's expert thoughts on this topic are...?

Thanks!

 

[Nimz]

Why not get a UniFi AP instead?

 

[AndyPants]

Why not get a UniFi AP instead?

Since you sell them?
Perhaps you could elaborate a bit more as to why you'd advise Unifi above the other options mentioned - Myself and (I suspect) many who are suddenly working from home can share the sentiment of the OP
I just ordered a Unify AP to see if that works for me - because it's neigh impossible to find proper unbiased information and then what works for one person's setup might not work for mine, so my best resort is test and see.

 

[Nimz]

Since you sell them?
Perhaps you could elaborate a bit more as to why you'd advise Unifi above the other options mentioned - Myself and (I suspect) many who are suddenly working from home can share the sentiment of the OP
I just ordered a Unify AP to see if that works for me - because it's neigh impossible to find proper unbiased information and then what works for one person's setup might not work for mine, so my best resort is test and see.

No not really, I've been recommending them long before I ever thought about selling them. (Carbonite and Mybb)
Secondly, selling them is not my main source of income, so i'm in no way trying to push the sale.
(Actually no one has even bought from Carb yet )

Back to the main question of why I recommend it:
- There's no need to fiddle once setup - It just works
- You won't have issues like with your normal consumer grade wireless AP (no throughput and having to restart AP's)
- Throughput does not degrade when more than 1 AP is used (like some consumer grade stuff)
- No issues of them randomly going offline etc
- With the UniFi controller there's so much customization available in terms of guest portals etc

This is just my advice, whether you buy it from me or not.
In my opinion, it is the best solution

 

[fatty]

Unifi system is great, but it depends on your needs.
if you can use a single unit to manage your wireless then that’s all you need.

Unifi is suited for wider coverage and scalability as you can plug in points and they will spread your wireless.

Unifi for a single point I dont think is worth the hassle as the admin of setting up a controller and the config can be much simpler on a standard consumer router/modem


Rather then dropping so much on equipment rather look on Carb for stuff, you’ll find stuff around for far less then new stuff and will do just as good of a job

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[zedwunare]

Thanks. I was looking at the Deco X20 from TP Link but it doesn't look like they're selling them yet locally which is a bit disappointing.

I am open to Unifi suggestions - it just isn't clear to me off the bat just what I'd need if I wanted to replace both Airports with them.

Would I need one or multiple UAP-AC-LITE ? Or UB-UAP-AC-LR ? Our could one UB-UAP-AC-PRO take the place of a couple of the former?

Then a controller is mentioned? I think I'd rather simplify than complicate my setup.

This is kinda why I was leaning towards a cheap bundled mesh solution.

 

[Altforce]

I have the airties 4920, covering roughly 400 square meters with full signal everywhere.
Most walls between nodes are 3

So, from my experience mesh is certainly the way to go.
Haven't used a unifi system.

The airties were set up within 10mins tops.
I got them at a great deal, if I would have bought new I would have probably gone for something else.

 

[AndyPants]

Thanks. I was looking at the Deco X20 from TP Link but it doesn't look like they're selling them yet locally which is a bit disappointing.

I am open to Unifi suggestions - it just isn't clear to me off the bat just what I'd need if I wanted to replace both Airports with them.

Would I need one or multiple UAP-AC-LITE ? Or UB-UAP-AC-LR ? Our could one UB-UAP-AC-PRO take the place of a couple of the former?

Then a controller is mentioned? I think I'd rather simplify than complicate my setup.

This is kinda why I was leaning towards a cheap bundled mesh solution.

I'm in much the same boat - not looking to complicate my setup

I've found that the quickest way to get some answers is by making statements and the people who know better will correct you.
@Nimz
So take what I'm about to say with a grain of salt.

Here I go:
The Unify AP LR is kinda useless - what I heard is it can surely send a signal further - but the hard part is the receiving (reply signals from your devices is very weak) so apparently great if you use them in pairs to extend to the next node - but on it's own doesn't really make sense.
The Pro won't cover more area - it has more antennas so can basically handle more devices - but we're talking BUSY office kinda vibes, not home use.

I think I can plug an AP Lite into my current router and use it just as an access point, hopefully with fewer dropouts and wider coverage than my current "free with fibre package" wifi router. I'll consider adding a USG and full Unify Key setup later but I doubt I need it. I'm not charmed by "so many options" - I want to plug something in and forget about it.

@Chris_Black - I currently have a main wifi router and an extender - even if the network SSID is the same on both (that's how the default setup wants it anyway) my devices find it hard to roam effectively - my phone has to lose the one signal completely before searching for the better one - so it'll be on one bar and struggling to load a google search but it will hang onto that one bar for dear life. Does the mesh solve this? The marketing implies it does but what is your experience?

Further - when you have a few Ubiquity APs - do they do mesh networking like described above with proper handover for seamless roaming or do they function like my crap extender that only helps once I've moved to the very edge of my house so my phone can lose the main router signal?

 

[GoukoTenrou]

Thanks. I was looking at the Deco X20 from TP Link but it doesn't look like they're selling them yet locally which is a bit disappointing.

I am open to Unifi suggestions - it just isn't clear to me off the bat just what I'd need if I wanted to replace both Airports with them.

Would I need one or multiple UAP-AC-LITE ? Or UB-UAP-AC-LR ? Our could one UB-UAP-AC-PRO take the place of a couple of the former?

Then a controller is mentioned? I think I'd rather simplify than complicate my setup.

This is kinda why I was leaning towards a cheap bundled mesh solution.

Take this from someone who does Ubiquiti for a lot of homes and business, once its in and configured you can basically forget about it.

With regards to how many, that depends on the size of the house, how many floors and if its brick or concrete.

Generally, if its brick we do one UAP Pro per floor, unless you live in a mansion lol

Ubiquiti AP's are powered by PoE injectors (that come with them), so you only have to run one cable to the access point itself and they come with ceiling mount brackets.

The controller itself can be physical (Ubiquiti cloud key) or you can run the software from a Windows or Mac based PC. Its pretty simple to install and setup the AP's, and like i said, once they are installed and configured you can basically forget about them.

 

[Altforce]

I'm in much the same boat - not looking to complicate my setup

I've found that the quickest way to get some answers is by making statements and the people who know better will correct you.
@Nimz
So take what I'm about to say with a grain of salt.

Here I go:
The Unify AP LR is kinda useless - what I heard is it can surely send a signal further - but the hard part is the receiving (reply signals from your devices is very weak) so apparently great if you use them in pairs to extend to the next node - but on it's own doesn't really make sense.
The Pro won't cover more area - it has more antennas so can basically handle more devices - but we're talking BUSY office kinda vibes, not home use.

I think I can plug an AP Lite into my current router and use it just as an access point, hopefully with fewer dropouts and wider coverage than my current "free with fibre package" wifi router. I'll consider adding a USG and full Unify Key setup later but I doubt I need it. I'm not charmed by "so many options" - I want to plug something in and forget about it.

@Chris_Black - I currently have a main wifi router and an extender - even if the network SSID is the same on both (that's how the default setup wants it anyway) my devices find it hard to roam effectively - my phone has to lose the one signal completely before searching for the better one - so it'll be on one bar and struggling to load a google search but it will hang onto that one bar for dear life. Does the mesh solve this? The marketing implies it does but what is your experience?

Further - when you have a few Ubiquity APs - do they do mesh networking like described above with proper handover for seamless roaming or do they function like my crap extender that only helps once I've moved to the very edge of my house so my phone can lose the main router signal?

From my experience, yes I connect seamlessly to any node.
Can't really attest to which is better between the 2 options, I decided on the mesh network as it seems simpler.

 

[Nimz]

I'm in much the same boat - not looking to complicate my setup

I've found that the quickest way to get some answers is by making statements and the people who know better will correct you.
@Nimz
So take what I'm about to say with a grain of salt.

Snip

Further - when you have a few Ubiquity APs - do they do mesh networking like described above with proper handover for seamless roaming or do they function like my crap extender that only helps once I've moved to the very edge of my house so my phone can lose the main router signal?

UniFi AP's support seamless handover - so no disconnection when moving between rooms / floors

 

[doombus]

My vote is for unifi too, controller is easy to work and adding app’s is a breeze

 

[zedwunare]

Thanks, lot of food for thought here. Down side on Ubiquiti as per Gouku is the cabling and ceiling mount. I have exposed rafters and knotty pine ceilings everywhere so I need to rely on wireless backhaul from the AP.

Single floor here, but "long" house.

 

[fatty]

Thanks, lot of food for thought here. Down side on Ubiquiti as per Gouku is the cabling and ceiling mount. I have exposed rafters and knotty pine ceilings everywhere so I need to rely on wireless backhaul from the AP.

Single floor here, but "long" house.

Some sort of power line adapter would probably be best suited


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Niemand.JP]

The airties are amazing use them as well, tried all other solutions and mesh was only way to cover my home. The fact that it is 1 network is amazing. Never have a dropped wifi signal. Auto route device between 2.4 and 5 depending on Device. Amazing solution. For me for home use their is nothing as good as mesh systems. My 2c.

 

[Niemand.JP]

To add, i think my place was built for alien invasion, this house sucks completely with wifi signal. Hence why i went with the 3 pack Airties.

 

[DannyBoyOPC]

U can try the Ubiquiti Amplifi hd. Mesh system with repeaters that doesnt require cabling to place them in different locations
Downside is that its expensive kit

gaming edition kit available from Scoop

 

[fatty]

Can you not move the airport express in order to spread the signal better ?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[GoukoTenrou]

Thanks, lot of food for thought here. Down side on Ubiquiti as per Gouku is the cabling and ceiling mount. I have exposed rafters and knotty pine ceilings everywhere so I need to rely on wireless backhaul from the AP.

Single floor here, but "long" house.

I've seen some people get it right to right them off those Powerline adapters that use your electrical wiring as a "network".

Can't say I've tried it myself, but you can check on reddit. Saw a post this morning where a guy got it working and his Ubiquiti is basically plugged into the powerline adapter that is plugged into a socket on the wall

Edit*

Found the post:

https://www.reddit.com/r/homelab/comments/gg9kaz

 

[Niemand.JP]

@DannyBoyOPC they are so nice but crazy expensive. The airties only 1 node requires cable rest also wireless. Can do TP Link with Mesh router as well. I just love mesh

 

[DannyBoyOPC]

Yeah its expensive no doubt.

For OP - you could also try some Mikrotik routers. They can be linked to each other via Lan cable or wifi and work well.
Only downside is that configuration takes some getting used to

 

[zedwunare]

Thanks for everyone's input. I've decided to go for the Netgear Orbi RBK13 which is a dual band setup which includes a primary WiFi router and two satellite APs for R3999 off Takealot.

Factors were:

• I considered the TP-Link Deco X20 but given that there are few devices that would really benefit from the new standard, it wasn't super compelling. Also the "entry" Netgear Orbis seem to be a little better than the "entry" TP-Link mesh devices.
• I have looked at Ethernet over Powerline before - limitations are that you can't use a multiplug setup, so if you plug one of these adapters into your 220v power point, that is it, you can't use the powerpoint for anything else. Also you don't get super great throughput.
• Takealot and a few places had some other TP-Link mesh sets but they were mostly two device bundles and as soon as you went for a 3 device bundle - the TP-Link prices weren't much cheaper than the Netgear Orbi
• I looked at the Amplifi Instant bundle but it was a similar price to the Orbi for 1 x Instant Router and 1 x Mesh Extender, so again, the Orbi beat it.
• I considered Ubiquiti / other APs in a more traditional AP and AP extender manual deployment but the price of decent dual-band APs didn't really offer a huge saving, if at all over getting 3 x Orbi devices.
• Related to the above is that the RBK13 bundle is R3999 for three devices, averaging R1333 per device which makes it fairly competitive.
• The third satellite can backhaul off the main router or the second satellite which gives me some flexibility.
• I considered tri-band setups which would've been great, but the AP prices and bundles jump considerably then.

Also I ran a speedtest from my master bedroom earlier - less than a 2Mbps download while around the lounge / study / dining room is sitting at my full fibre throughput. Ouch. It really is time to upgrade.

 

[dotnerd]

Unifi AP's + USG is all you need.

 

[Babbalas]

Hi @zedwunare , just to add. I've got 1 Unifi AP AC LR sat in the corner of our house on the tv stand (not ceiling mounted). House is about 170sqm and I've got coverage over the whole house.

The AP is plugged straight into a Huaweii B315, Initial setup is simple as you just install the controller on your PC, setup the AP and then you can forget about it. In the 2 years I've ran the setup, I think the AP unsynced once or twice, unplugging and plugging back in and all was good.

 

[zedwunare]

So just some feedback. The Orbi RBK13 bundle works quite nicely. Running a speedtest I get a full 50Mbps throughput from my master bedroom and ensuite bathroom now (super important for reddit & imgur reasons). I'll be putting my Airport Extreme (5th gen) and Airport Express up for sale soon.

I also like that the Orbi router is just sooooo much better than the Huawei - I literally have a "Attached Devices" table showing the two satellites as well as all the devices it can see with little icons. It is quite helpful - I've always ended up running pretty basic and cheap devices so this is a breath of fresh air.

For now, pretty happy with this setup.

 

[AndyPants]

So just some feedback. The Orbi RBK13 bundle works quite nicely. Running a speedtest I get a full 50Mbps throughput from my master bedroom and ensuite bathroom now (super important for reddit & imgur reasons). I'll be putting my Airport Extreme (5th gen) and Airport Express up for sale soon.

I also like that the Orbi router is just sooooo much better than the Huawei - I literally have a "Attached Devices" table showing the two satellites as well as all the devices it can see with little icons. It is quite helpful - I've always ended up running pretty basic and cheap devices so this is a breath of fresh air.

For now, pretty happy with this setup.

Thanks for the feedback
Please do a test so I can get some sanity - test how the units handle roaming/handover.

When you are next to one unit, lets call it unit A, you have full signal from Unit A.
If you now move towards the second unit (Unit B), your signal (from Unit A) should decrease as you get further from it and closer to Unit B.
At what point does it swap over to Unit B - like, do you have to move way past Unit B so it loses the signal from A completely before swapping to B or does it get swapped over to B as soon as it senses the signal from B is stronger?
TIA

 

[mikewazar]

Roaming is mostly up to the client device IMO, no?

 

[AndyPants]

Roaming is mostly up to the client device IMO, no?

PLEASE TEST - or I'll be forced to buy a mesh system myself and test -

The mesh marketing material implies they handle handover better than wifi range extenders
Deco M4 | AC1200 Whole Home Mesh Wi-Fi System | TP-Link South Africa
The animation half way down the page is what I'm referring to

 

[ArriBen]

I get this on the decos I bought yesterday using 5g.
Screenshot from my phone.

SpeedTest

 

[ArriBen]

PLEASE TEST - or I'll be forced to buy a mesh system myself and test -

The mesh marketing material implies they handle handover better than wifi range extenders
Deco M4 | AC1200 Whole Home Mesh Wi-Fi System | TP-Link South Africa
The animation half way down the page is what I'm referring to

That is what I bought yesterday from take a lot.
R1699 for the 2 set which seems reasonable considering they normally retail for around 2.5.