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Recommend a wireless mesh system
Nightslyr
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I currently have an old Netgear WNDR-3700 as my main wireless router, and an Almond 2015 as a repeater. The Netgear is slowly dying, and I'd like to have better coverage in my house in general (lots of devices are connected to the WiFi... a couple iPads, two laptops, 3 game consoles, etc.). I've been looking into consumer grade wireless mesh systems - Orbi, Eero, etc. - and they all seem to be similar.
Are there any wireless mesh setups that are clearly head and shoulders above the rest?
Any brands/models I should avoid?
Any security considerations outside of the usual for WiFi setups?
Anything else I should know (experiences with consumer/technical support, etc.)?
Thanks!
Are there any wireless mesh setups that are clearly head and shoulders above the rest?
Any brands/models I should avoid?
Any security considerations outside of the usual for WiFi setups?
Anything else I should know (experiences with consumer/technical support, etc.)?
Thanks!
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The only real caveat is that google may google and decide to drop support for it when they get bored with it, I guess...but it's been rock solid for me.
There are plenty of reviews out there that will give you straight performance data across brands, I would check those out.
I bought Google Wifi a few months back after reading some articles around mesh networking. The setup was super simple, the app is easy to use and fairly feature rich. But most importantly, I've had zero issues with my gaming PC (plugged into one of the mesh points) or any of my wireless devices since the day I set it up. I highly recommend it.
The little sales video I saw didn't really explain it well. My entire house isn't wired for internet, just the office.
Yes, one plugs into your modem via wired Ethernet. The rest don't have to -- by default they will wirelessly mesh. You can do Ethernet backhaul between them (if for example you've got somewhere none of the rest of the access points can't get good signal to). If you have them wirelessly meshed, you can use both Ethernet ports on them as LAN ports for wired devices nearby.
Mine works great, I'm in a 3400sqft house with the base and one satellite and get coverage well up my road and all over the house.
Honestly though, they're all supposed to be quite good, especially if your connection is 100mbps or less, as you won't run into any speed concerns on any of them.
Google WiFi: as people mentioned, they're fine. They're cheaper than the others, and they work well enough for most people. You won't get the throughput you get from the higher end ones, but it's likely your ISP won't let you take advantage of that higher speed anyway. The caveat as shown above that Google might decide they're bored with it and they all become bricks.
Netgear Orbi: Purely OK. Some of the recent updates switched them from a hub and spoke design to straight mesh, but they can have some trouble with handoffs. Most people won't notice, but you might be in trouble if you have anything in your walls that can impede signal (plaster, lots of pipe, tin ceilings). Otherwise, there are better systems for your dollar.
Eero: My system of choice. I had the Velop for a while, got rid of it as soon as I found a deal on the Eero and haven't looked back. I have a 2000 sq ft home with plaster walls, and I'm still getting damn near my full 260Mbit from the furthest point of my house. I can get around 100Mbit with no packet loss from my back yard. I've set up 20 of the sets in clients homes and never been back to any of them. They're fantastic. They're also expensive, but worth every penny as far as I'm concerned.
Linksys Velop: If you hate yourself, please buy the Velop. The setup process is garbage, their app is shit, and they handoff for crap. The Linksys name should make this no surprise. Absolutely not worth the money.
Ubiquiti Amplifi: They look dumb, the antennas come off the wall plugs easily if you have kids or pets, and the throughput and coverage are terrible. For a Ubiquiti product, they are quite disappointing.
One thing folks don't think about is the look of the device. That's one of the reasons I prefer the Eero and Google WiFi. They're small and look relatively unassuming, so you can blend them in with other decorations on tables and shelves pretty easily.
Doc: That's right, twenty five years into the future. I've always dreamed on seeing the future, looking beyond my years, seeing the progress of mankind. I'll also be able to see who wins the next twenty-five world series.
The main thing if you have Fios is that you have to plug the google wifi into your router and disable wireless on your router (you can't use the mesh as a replacement router if you have any Fios TV service and/or if you're hooked into MoCa)
You can't just disable the wireless. You have to put the gateway into bridge mode. Fios may not let you do that, I don't remember. The local DSL company won't here.
If you can't do that, you can reserve a specific IP for the Google WiFi node and set that to DMZ. You don't need to do these, but you should to avoid double-NAT.
No. You need a physical connection to the internet source.
You're talking about what you would do with a combined modem/router. Fios doesn't use a modem, just a router. Turning off the wireless on their router is fine. I can't speak for what to do on other ISPs, I only discussed Fios since it was mentioned earlier that Google Wifi might not be compatible; it is, you just have to use it as a wireless node instead of a standalone router.
If you're using your own router, you can set it up in Bridge mode so that it's just acting like an access point. But you lose some of the router's functionality, especially the likely higher throughput and better traffic handling. And, in the case of mesh networks, you may not be able to do Bridge mode at all. I know Google WiFi won't let you set the main node in Bridge.
I believe FiOS has their "modem" incorporated into the box where the Fiber comes into the home.
That's the way it seems to be with most fiber providers. VTel and ECFiber up here both have boxes that are almost always on the side of the house with a cat-6 running inside.
I had the exact same experience. Always figured that ~10 MBS with loads of connection loss was due to my somewhat ancient ADSL line.
Not so, with 3 Google WiFi units installed I get between 25-350 MBS everywhere in both my buildings, and a rock solid 50 MBS internet link.