SteveIndeed
Well Known Member
My house is a single-storey long rectangle - about 10m x 35m. At the eastern end is the main bedroom, at the western end is the garage and storeroom.
In my study/office (about 7m from the eastern end) is a Netgear R6400v2 which serves as my main router. It runs two wireless networks - 2.4gHz ("Wifi 1") and 5gHz ("Wifi 2") - and I use both for devices throughout the house. The fibre termination point is next to the R6400.
There is a Cat 5 cable running through the ceiling from the R6400 to a Netgear DGN2200 in the bar, which sits about 10m from the western end. The DGN2200 runs only a 2.4gHz frequency on its own network ("Wifi Bar"). It is configured to act purely as an additional network in case devices on the western end of the house can't see the signal from the R6400. However, devices on "Wifi Bar" get far slower throughput than those on "Wifi 1" and "Wifi 2". The signal strength on "Wifi Bar" has gradually become poorer, too.
In the lounge is my home entertainment setup. About six devices (TV, consoles, AVR, etc) all connecting to either "Wifi 1" or "Wifi 2" because the throughput on "Wifi Bar" is too slow.
I'm putting in an Wifi-enabled inverter (it does not have a hardwired capability) in the storeroom (about 25m from the R6400) but neither my phone nor my missus's phone can pick up "Wifi 1", "Wifi 2" or "Wifi Bar" in the storeroom. I don't have much hope for the inverter being able to pick up "Wifi Bar" despite the short-ish distance. Even then, the throughput won't be quick enough for me to effectively control the inverter.
I'm now thinking about putting in a true mesh network so that the inverter gets proper signal and speed and possibly a switch near the home entertainment centre in the lounge so I can hardwire most of the devices there. I would repurpose the Cat 5 cable in the ceiling to go to the switch.
Any suggestions about which mesh network to buy? Having had good experience with Netgear, I looked at Orbi. My eyes watered when I saw the $$$. I'm really not keen on the cheap Chinese backdoor-enabled shit; even TPLink raises my eyebrow.
In my study/office (about 7m from the eastern end) is a Netgear R6400v2 which serves as my main router. It runs two wireless networks - 2.4gHz ("Wifi 1") and 5gHz ("Wifi 2") - and I use both for devices throughout the house. The fibre termination point is next to the R6400.
There is a Cat 5 cable running through the ceiling from the R6400 to a Netgear DGN2200 in the bar, which sits about 10m from the western end. The DGN2200 runs only a 2.4gHz frequency on its own network ("Wifi Bar"). It is configured to act purely as an additional network in case devices on the western end of the house can't see the signal from the R6400. However, devices on "Wifi Bar" get far slower throughput than those on "Wifi 1" and "Wifi 2". The signal strength on "Wifi Bar" has gradually become poorer, too.
In the lounge is my home entertainment setup. About six devices (TV, consoles, AVR, etc) all connecting to either "Wifi 1" or "Wifi 2" because the throughput on "Wifi Bar" is too slow.
I'm putting in an Wifi-enabled inverter (it does not have a hardwired capability) in the storeroom (about 25m from the R6400) but neither my phone nor my missus's phone can pick up "Wifi 1", "Wifi 2" or "Wifi Bar" in the storeroom. I don't have much hope for the inverter being able to pick up "Wifi Bar" despite the short-ish distance. Even then, the throughput won't be quick enough for me to effectively control the inverter.
I'm now thinking about putting in a true mesh network so that the inverter gets proper signal and speed and possibly a switch near the home entertainment centre in the lounge so I can hardwire most of the devices there. I would repurpose the Cat 5 cable in the ceiling to go to the switch.
Any suggestions about which mesh network to buy? Having had good experience with Netgear, I looked at Orbi. My eyes watered when I saw the $$$. I'm really not keen on the cheap Chinese backdoor-enabled shit; even TPLink raises my eyebrow.
