Let’s Talk About Wi-Fi Mesh Systems

[accord1999]

Originally Posted by photon

Will have to look at this this year, I'm tired of having the Shaw modem in my office as its fan is too noisy.

Have you tried asking for one of the newer Shaw gateways (XB7 and XB8), they're fanless.

[photon]

Oh excellent! I hadn't thought of that I guess I just assumed they had a fan.

That would be easy for now and hold me over until I do something more with the house wifi.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by woob

What kind of WiFi6 issues have you had? I'm putting in Ubiquity U6 Pros at one of my field offices (about 8 APs) and your post has me a bit concerned. I haven't done any WiFi6 deployments yet.

The biggest and main issues I had were devices that had "company security settings" on them. The devices would think they're connected, but basically wouldn't get any transmission of data. I could do certain things to get them on and get data transmission (mainly restarting my whole system), then 24-36 hours later (or if they left wifi range and returned), the devices would do this #### all over again. This was happening to devices that weren't aware wifi 6 existed. I'd have to reset the system 2-3 times in a row to get all the free in-law laptops and phones (5-6 devices that they got through their work) to connect simultaneously and be able to receive and transmit data.

"Lol, DoubleF, your expensive set up doesn't work well."
"NO! Your ####ty company device settings don't work well! I have zero issues until your piece of #### devices show up!" (in my head)

Once I got another AP that did not have Wifi 6, I could get the devices on and then they'd be able to migrate over to the Wifi 6 AP and work as normal. But now I'm getting interference that I don't have time to diagnose and address. Same thing happened to one of my wife's computer that she got from work, but because it is not a device that leaves wifi range and it's a single device, it's not as big of a deal to reset the system once every few months to get it on. My inlaws have freaking like 5-6 of them and they taken them out of range all the time, so we'd be literally resetting the system like 4-6 times a day.

I'll take the 20-30% hit in speeds (still around 120-320 instead of 200+ everywhere) rather than having to debug or reset my entire system every time some "company security settings" device enters my household though.

TBH, now that I think of it, maybe I should just turn off or disable that non-wifi 6 AP and activate that AP only when those devices enter my home. That might be the easy "fix" without more hours of research. Based on what I understood, it was straight up some bug. But IMO, it's probably more some ####ing setting that those managed devices had that was causing the issue (and I cannot access those settings to fix it).

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by indes

After spending ~1000$ on various crap (mesh wifi, boosters, switches) my wife and I dropped 1800$ on a UDM SE, U6 LR AP and 2xU6-In-walls and its been an absolute game changer. We both work from home so the dropping wifi just wasn't an option anymore. Setting everything up was pretty easy with youtube and now I just don't have to worry about it. I'm at 4 months now without a single issue and get ~800mbs on my phone everywhere in my house.

I went with the SE to get the 8 PoE ports - I only use 3 right now but wanted to future proof in case we move.

What the ####. Are you getting signal 2 km away from home or something? Do your bodies glow at night?

####ing jealous.

How are the in wall units vs the U6 LR AP? I'm thinking about getting an in wall for the office to tidy it up as well as to feed stronger reception to the garage.

I also read that a properly mounted AP or in wall "amplifies" its signal via the wall. I should wall mount my AP rather than put my AP on a picture hook.

[csnarpy]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

AmpliFi or UniFi (UDM) are the paths I'm going going forward. Both are the most stable systems I've ever had.

Wifi6 is a bit of a pain at this point. I've dealt with more Wifi6 related bugs total than I have total for other networking bugs or issues or optimizing in the last 5 years or so. I had to get non-wifi 6 hardware to address the issues I was having.

Knowing what I know now, I'd rather spend money pulling ethernet lines and hardwiring stuff for stable and high speeds rather than spend money specifically on wifi 6 hardware.

The AmpliFi system was also more impressive than I realized and dead easy to set up and with relatively low monitoring. My parents (not computer savy) noticed a more stable and fast connection with a single AmpliFi router on their main floor vs an entire powerline Deco mesh system system on 3 floors. I still have the ability to mesh that AmpliFi system too, but since my parents didn't need it, I ended up selling the extra hardware for what I paid, but less than what the new prices for hardware is right now due to shortages. It's so easy to set and forget and the interface is easy to deal with and has a great amount of features available to tweak.

I have to monitor my UDM (UniFi) set up slightly more, but I do appreciate and kinda need the extra features it offers due to some unique facets and layout "issues" in my home.

I have the Amplifi Mesh (base + 2 wall extenders) and it’s simply amazing. Plus putting limits on my kids wifi was the cherry on top.

[keratosis]

Wow. You guys spend a lot of money. I run 3 Deco 9+ and have nothing wired beside the decos. About 20 things usually running. Stream movies from my server, play games and what not for a quarter of what I think you paid. Also have parental controls. I just don't get it?

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by keratosis

Wow. You guys spend a lot of money. I run 3 Deco 9+ and have nothing wired beside the decos. About 20 things usually running. Stream movies from my server, play games and what not for a quarter of what I think you paid. Also have parental controls. I just don't get it?

Short term maybe. But I think it catches up long term. I cannot speak for all, but I love the fact that after many years, Amplifi and Unifi (which is basically commercial grade equipment vs consumer grade) is still very useful equipment. I had paid a premium ($500) on higher end hardware to attempt to get off the 2-3 year networking gear cycle and Amplifi blew my expectations away. Maybe I was always unlucky with the other stuff.

I paid $525 for two Amplifi HD routers in 2015 and meshed them. I gave one to my parents and sold the other for $260 a year ago when I upgraded to the UDM (4 years use).

I bought my parents a Deco system for about $350 for 3 nodes with power line 3.5 years ago. It died 2.5 years later (all 3 nodes fully failed) which kinda gave my UDM upgrade momentum.

My parents are not computer savvy at all but report a single non meshed 5 year old amplifi HD was outperforming the Deco P9 nodes with speed and reliability from drops. (Ie: my zoom calls dropped less often and the quality is better before it drops). I got more performance for less price (Deco P3 vs single Amplifi HD) and got to keep the unit more than twice as long so far. It's also do much easier to help "fix" my parents wifi now than the Deco.

Unifi was merely the next step when my brother reporting being very impressed with his Unifi setup 4 years later (not sure what it is, but I know it's not UDM.

My new home would have required 3-4 Amplifi HD (Total about $800 -$1100 in Amplifi gear. But with my parents needing new gear and me needing more than what my existing HD mesh set up could offer, I took the money and decided to toy with UDM system for nearly a similar cost as more HD mesh units and my parents replacement hardware would have cost, and addressed a curiosity. So I think that's a win, personally.

But I understand what you mean. It's kinda like cars or photography perhaps. If you don't enjoy them as much and only view them as a means of transport or picture, you don't really care to put extra money into it. Just what is necessary. That's fair. But for us who understand and like it, we spend extra for features that others don't even know exist or consider necessary in their life. Some of the features we regularly use on UDM systems are not available in deco, velop and other systems. Some of us have intranet monitoring systems, bridge/repeat across dead zones, broadcast long distances, lock certain clients to certain access points etc. Beyond the other features that might be ubiquitous among mesh systems.

I'd highly advise anyone who doesn't have any advanced networking gear to at least get mesh systems, even if they're Deco, velop, Google, Amplifi, Unifi or whatever. I personally just like paying the extra to upgrade my system when I want to and not need to after a specific duration. I deal with IT and it's something I've learned to value over the years. I like doing things on my time and not when I'm fighting fires.

Quite a few of us started off with free gear after a company upgraded and basically just wanted to get rid of the gear. Higher end networking gear lasts longer and is less likely to become obsolete.

[Street Pharmacist]

I've got a 2 floor 3500 sq ft house with the top floor as the main floor and the awful mesh system Telus gave us sucks downstairs. How does one set up a udm system? It seems the main "dream machine" is sold by itself and then the access points separately?

Then would I mount an access point on the ceiling in the basement and one somewhere in the main living area upstairs?

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

[White Out 403]

I have the Orbi rbk50, in a 3 pack of units (base and 2 satellites) is it really necessary to upgrade to wifi 6, specifically the eero 6+? I got it on sale for under 300 dollars.

[Diemenz]

Not worth it unless you have a bunch of devices that are wifi 6 capable.

[White Out 403]

Wow, I'm not sure what's up with this new Wi-Fi but testing it side by side against Orbi, and Orbi absolutely obliterates it which is really disappointing but I guess it'll save me the money

Yes I actually bought the goddamn thing

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by White Out 403

Wow, I'm not sure what's up with this new Wi-Fi but testing it side by side against Orbi absolutely obliterates it which is really disappointing but I guess it'll save me the money

Yes I actually bought the goddamn thing

There's wifi 6 bugs. Devices that know how to use it and hop on/off Wifi6 effectively get a performance boost. Other devices get confused and do worse knowing it's around. I dealt with that headache with my inlaw's devices (they use work provided devices with ####ty locked settings that have no idea how to deal with wifi6)

[Diemenz]

Well in my opinion the eero is a better device and system so I’m not surprised. Newer hardware and software will bring performance upgrades but normally the 5 to 6 jump on 5 devices is minimal.

What you are seeing is probably better hardware and software shining through.

[White Out 403]

I wrote that kind of ambiguously, the orbi far outperformed the eero

edit: if this thing ####s out, i think ill spend extra and get the new fancier Orbis.

[woob]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

There's wifi 6 bugs. Devices that know how to use it and hop on/off Wifi6 effectively get a performance boost. Other devices get confused and do worse knowing it's around. I dealt with that headache with my inlaw's devices (they use work provided devices with ####ty locked settings that have no idea how to deal with wifi6)

Do these WiFi6 APs not have backwards compatability for older devices?

[DoubleK]

Originally Posted by Street Pharmacist

I've got a 2 floor 3500 sq ft house with the top floor as the main floor and the awful mesh system Telus gave us sucks downstairs. How does one set up a udm system? It seems the main "dream machine" is sold by itself and then the access points separately?

Then would I mount an access point on the ceiling in the basement and one somewhere in the main living area upstairs?

Did you ever get an answer on this? I am having trouble with the WiFi in our rental. It's provided by the upstairs landlord and my wife is suffering from terrible dropouts when doing her work video calls. We have one of the google mesh doo flickys in the office she's working out of, it's basically beside the docking station and is still dropping the signal.

Should I just get an ethernet cable ran downstairs and set up an ethernet switch for us?

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by woob

Do these WiFi6 APs not have backwards compatability for older devices?

They do. Tech I self manage, I had no issues even with older stuff. But the devices my in-laws have were settings locked by their employers who provided the device. Those had issues and I have no idea why and I couldn't check.

Basically, they would "connect" but then "disconnect" at some random point and then "connect" again to the SSID, but unable to do data transfer unless I reset my entire network so that it can connect properly again.

I got a non-wifi6 AP and it reconnects those devices without issue via the non-wifi6 AP, but if I had the Wifi6 one only, I had issues with their devices. The annoying thing with having both types of AP is that the handover isn't as smooth and overall speeds drop. But at least it keeps me from having to deal with the inlaws.

Originally Posted by DoubleK

Did you ever get an answer on this? I am having trouble with the WiFi in our rental. It's provided by the upstairs landlord and my wife is suffering from terrible dropouts when doing her work video calls. We have one of the google mesh doo flickys in the office she's working out of, it's basically beside the docking station and is still dropping the signal.

Should I just get an ethernet cable ran downstairs and set up an ethernet switch for us?

The answer is... it depends...

The hardwiring of the AP/mesh point could help if that's the issue, but if that's not the issue then it won't do anything. For instance, if the internet speed is 20-30 Mbps, then that's a culprit. But the networking hardware and the computer she uses (ie: overheating or issues with wifi card) could be other culprits as well.

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by DoubleK

Did you ever get an answer on this? I am having trouble with the WiFi in our rental. It's provided by the upstairs landlord and my wife is suffering from terrible dropouts when doing her work video calls. We have one of the google mesh doo flickys in the office she's working out of, it's basically beside the docking station and is still dropping the signal.



Should I just get an ethernet cable ran downstairs and set up an ethernet switch for us?

The answer was I'm an idiot and the power cable was unplugged on the one downstairs......

[taxbuster]

Originally Posted by DoubleK

Did you ever get an answer on this? I am having trouble with the WiFi in our rental. It's provided by the upstairs landlord and my wife is suffering from terrible dropouts when doing her work video calls. We have one of the google mesh doo flickys in the office she's working out of, it's basically beside the docking station and is still dropping the signal.

Should I just get an ethernet cable ran downstairs and set up an ethernet switch for us?

If you can...yes. Wired is ALWAYS better.

Having said that, I run a relatively complex Unifi system and have continuous signal for video calls from the lake to the road...and that's close to 600' on our acreage. My S-I-L used to work on our dock quite happily on his conf calls. WiFi can be tricky to get "right"...channel, power and location selection all affect signal...and the uncontrollable part is interference from your neighbours. So: wired is better if you can arrange it.

[afc wimbledon]

I have set up a Deco mesh system in my house which works well and gives me the advantage of having 2 Ethernet wired outputs on each wifi rebroadcaster so I have created small wired network around each one for my NAS and music server etc