My parents have a 2000 sq ft house and while the Deco P9 I got them was good and inexpensive, a single, 5 year old Amplifi HD router blew that system away (and they still have the option to add units to mesh, but it doesn't seem necessary). That router is now 8-9 years old and still going strong without a single issue at all. The Deco nodes started getting finicky after around a year of use and one failed by 18 months.
Deco are good options for inexpensive entry level mesh systems IMO, but if I had a tight budget, I'd look into used Amplifi mesh units like Photon did than put another Deco system into my parents place. Deco was good, but Amplifi was and still is amazing.
Amplifi UI also had the most ridiculously easy set up I've ever experienced and an easy to use app. Amplifi also has more features and looks sleeker than the Deco units. The Deco app was inexplicably confusing and hard to navigate for an app/device with relatively little settings to tweak.
I picked up a used Amplifi Alien today. Thanks for the help
Last edited by wireframe; 01-17-2024 at 02:18 PM.
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At it's price point, the new Unifi Express should beat any non prosumer solution hands down. $172 and it meshes and scales as you need it to with the option to use wired connection between the two if you don't want to mesh. So far reviews for it are great. 1 of these will cover 1500 sqft. So your bungalow will be covered.
I picked up a used Amplifi Alien today. Thanks for the help
I hope it works out for you!
Quote:
Originally Posted by FlameOn
At it's price point, the new Unifi Express should beat any non prosumer solution hands down. $172 and it meshes and scales as you need it to with the option to use wired connection between the two if you don't want to mesh. So far reviews for it are great. 1 of these will cover 1500 sqft. So your bungalow will be covered.
My ASUS router rebooted one too many times today, the last reboot it reset to factory config by itself so figured it was time to setup the AmplifiHD.
Easy enough to setup, there's not a lot of options on the thing. The previous owner hadn't reset it so I had to use the reset switch to get into it. Set it up with the same SSID and password and everything seems to have reconnected automagically which is nice.
Only thing I'm having problems with is setting up port forwarding for Bittorrent.. Tried setting it up, the client reports it's not connected. Trying to connect to the port from Powershell and it works directly to my computer, but not to my Internet IP. Worked fine on my ASUS router.
Tried switching to an assigned IP address on the router and re-setup the port forward, same problem. Have Hardware NAT turned on and UPNP turned off.
Will have to play around with it.. maybe setup a web server and test port 80 or something just to try and figure out where the problem might be.
And will have to either change my network IP range or reset my NAS, the old network was on a 10.x.x.x range and I had my NAS setup with a static IP for some reason so it can't talk to the network currently. Or I wonder if I set my computer IP manually to an IP on the same 10.x.x.x subnet if I could connect to the NAS long enough to set the IP to DHCP and then I could give it an assigned IP.
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My ASUS router rebooted one too many times today, the last reboot it reset to factory config by itself so figured it was time to setup the AmplifiHD.
Easy enough to setup, there's not a lot of options on the thing. The previous owner hadn't reset it so I had to use the reset switch to get into it. Set it up with the same SSID and password and everything seems to have reconnected automagically which is nice.
Only thing I'm having problems with is setting up port forwarding for Bittorrent.. Tried setting it up, the client reports it's not connected. Trying to connect to the port from Powershell and it works directly to my computer, but not to my Internet IP. Worked fine on my ASUS router.
Tried switching to an assigned IP address on the router and re-setup the port forward, same problem. Have Hardware NAT turned on and UPNP turned off.
Will have to play around with it.. maybe setup a web server and test port 80 or something just to try and figure out where the problem might be.
And will have to either change my network IP range or reset my NAS, the old network was on a 10.x.x.x range and I had my NAS setup with a static IP for some reason so it can't talk to the network currently. Or I wonder if I set my computer IP manually to an IP on the same 10.x.x.x subnet if I could connect to the NAS long enough to set the IP to DHCP and then I could give it an assigned IP.
Are you trying to access the options from the web splash page or the AmpliFi app? I seem to recall one had more options than the other, but I haven't looked at it for a few years now that I'm on Unifi. Strange that torrents aren't working.
Could you try quickly factory resetting the whole set up from the UI and see if there was some kind of settings leftover from the reset switch method?
How's the rest of the other devices connecting to the set up? Decently stable? Decent signal strength?
I have nothing to add on what the best thing is, but the freebie Eero 6 I got from Oxio (bought a second one and hard wired them) has been by far the most solid setup I've had in my entire life.
Finally, something software/hardware related that has actually gotten less flakey recently.
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Yeah the mobile app has more options (don't really like that I have to have the mobile app but whatever) and am setting it up in there. Yeah might try a factory reset through the app rather than the device.
Everything seems stable, back to normal. I'm sure everyone else in the house will appreciate that vs. it going up and down constantly.
__________________ Uncertainty is an uncomfortable position.
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I have nothing to add on what the best thing is, but the freebie Eero 6 I got from Oxio (bought a second one and hard wired them) has been by far the most solid setup I've had in my entire life.
Finally, something software/hardware related that has actually gotten less flakey recently.
Nice, that's cool to hear.
IMO mesh systems blow traditional router systems out of the water by a huge margin. Mesh systems also have better features, stability, options and easier UI than traditional routers by far. I would always recommend any mesh system over traditional router or many modem only setups by far.
I have nothing against other mesh systems like Deco or Eero etc. if that's what others want, because they still blow the previous level away by a huge margin. It's just that with my personal experience with them, I now know I'd rather pay the premium or go with a used AmpliFi than pay same price for brand new of the other brands because I and others have noticed the difference in performance.
Kinda dumb. I have a Unifi set up which is way overkill and ultra premium, but Photon getting his used AmpliFi set up for $100 makes me jelly. That's damn good value.
My kid reported his wifi was lagging out.. I setup a ping to a work server on my laptop and sure enough every few minutes the pings would drop for a second or go into 1+ seconds.
Ran the same thing on my wired desktop and nothing, so must be the wifi.
I reset to a less congested channel and it's happening less but I did get one dropped ping after that.. I guess we'll see.
__________________ Uncertainty is an uncomfortable position.
But certainty is an absurd one.
IMO mesh systems blow traditional router systems out of the water by a huge margin. Mesh systems also have better features, stability, options and easier UI than traditional routers by far. I would always recommend any mesh system over traditional router or many modem only setups by far.
I have nothing against other mesh systems like Deco or Eero etc. if that's what others want, because they still blow the previous level away by a huge margin. It's just that with my personal experience with them, I now know I'd rather pay the premium or go with a used AmpliFi than pay same price for brand new of the other brands because I and others have noticed the difference in performance.
Kinda dumb. I have a Unifi set up which is way overkill and ultra premium, but Photon getting his used AmpliFi set up for $100 makes me jelly. That's damn good value.
Absolutely, if I was starting from scratch, it's probably not where I would have gone, so it's been a pleasant surprise to just not have to worry about it.
I have gigabit cable internet from Xfinity (Comcast). While I am figuring out the mess of network wires I have running everywhere
Spoiler!
I picked up 5 Deco X20 mesh units at an estate sale for $10each, and am trying to set up to optimize coverage/speed.
As I understand, I should either set Deco as access points and use supplied Comcast gateway as router, or I should set router in bridge mode and mesh units in router? But both as router can cause issues. Or something...
I had a power issue and my UPS rebooted (which is a bit concerning, I replaced the batteries not that long ago) and after the hard reboot the port forwarding issue went away, it works now. Weird.
Speed tests seem to cap out at 600mbps, I haven't tested for a while so not sure if that's actually it being slower from Rogers/Shaw or if it's the router being a limit. Will have to test that.
__________________ Uncertainty is an uncomfortable position.
But certainty is an absurd one.
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I have gigabit cable internet from Xfinity (Comcast). While I am figuring out the mess of network wires I have running everywhere
Spoiler!
I picked up 5 Deco X20 mesh units at an estate sale for $10each, and am trying to set up to optimize coverage/speed.
As I understand, I should either set Deco as access points and use supplied Comcast gateway as router, or I should set router in bridge mode and mesh units in router? But both as router can cause issues. Or something...
I'm like 99% sure you're bridging the modem and then the first Deco as a router with the other Deco as mesh points.
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Damn, that's some gross coax, haha. get a Coax Explorer and a label maker to figure out which one goes where, label them, and then disconnect the ones not in use and tuck them away somewhere. Yeeeeesh.
Quote:
Originally Posted by EldrickOnIce
As I understand, I should either set Deco as access points and use supplied Comcast gateway as router, or I should set router in bridge mode and mesh units in router? But both as router can cause issues. Or something...
Both Deco and gateway as routers will cause a double NAT which will cause connectivity issues with a lot of media establishment (calling, online gaming, etc.) where ephemeral ports must be opened.
If your Comcast gateway is providing connectivity for wireless Xfinity PVRs, you *cannot* put the gateway into bridge mode or it'll kill the wireless radio. You'd need to plug the Xfinity TV boxes into ethernet that connects to the gateway directly, or you just run it as the gateway and set the Deco to be configured as access points only.
__________________
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I'm happy with the Amplifi Alien router. Speed, coverage, and reliability are all much better. Screenshot of a wifi speed test on my phone before and after router change. Nothing else was changed between those two speed tests but I have since upgraded my plan from Telus and the Alien carried the higher speed too.
Damn, that's some gross coax, haha. get a Coax Explorer and a label maker to figure out which one goes where, label them, and then disconnect the ones not in use and tuck them away somewhere. Yeeeeesh.
Both Deco and gateway as routers will cause a double NAT which will cause connectivity issues with a lot of media establishment (calling, online gaming, etc.) where ephemeral ports must be opened.
If your Comcast gateway is providing connectivity for wireless Xfinity PVRs, you *cannot* put the gateway into bridge mode or it'll kill the wireless radio. You'd need to plug the Xfinity TV boxes into ethernet that connects to the gateway directly, or you just run it as the gateway and set the Deco to be configured as access points only.
Excellent. Thank You.
I understand almost nothing!
Two further questions:
1. If I set up the Decos as access points, will the xfinity box act nice and hand off to the rest of the mesh units? I assume I would factory reset all the decos and start from scratch as access points? If they don't play well together I will bridge the xfinity gateway.
2. I have a cheap network cable tester. 8 plus G, which I assume is ground. On any cabling where all 9 flash (including ground) I have no connectivity to network (deco will not connect via ethernet cable). I have approximately 2 times speed from wired connections to mesh units but most of the cabling is no good, apparently. I always assumed grounded was better than not but none of those grounded connections place nice with my mesh unit.
1. Do you have Comcast cable TV with set-top boxes?
a) If no, you can use bridged mode on the router.
b) If yes, answer #2.
2. Are any of the set-top boxes connecting wirelessly (ie: only power and HDMI cable plugged in)?
a) If no, you can use bridged mode on the router.
b) If yes, do not enable bridged mode on the router. This will disable this wireless ability for those set-top boxes.
Answering your questions:
1. If you use the Decos as access points, the Decos will hand off nicely, the Xfinity probably won't and it'll fall to the client to pick the most suitable access point and you may notice some fussiness there. In that instance, keep your Xfinity network separate, and only use the Deco access point network. I don't know how big your house is, but I've had success setting up large four-storey infills using carefully placed Eero APs and ignoring the Xfinity gateway's wireless entirely.
2. I'm not sure what the flashing indicates, that the connection is successful and consistent end-to-end? How old is the house? If the cabling is too old -- I once worked on a previously reno'd house that had Category-3 cabling and they couldn't understand why none of their interfaces would link above 10Mbit -- then it would make sense why the Decos won't work.
__________________
-James
GO FLAMES GO.
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