Google WiFi - any point to just 1 unit?

[Travis Munroe]

I am trying to improve the wifi in a certain part of our home and decided to pay for a single google WiFi unit vs an extender / router.

Now that it is set up, I am confused as to what the point of just 1 is? I am assuming that 1 must remain connected to the modem/router at all times and if I only bought 1, what good is it sitting beside my current router and doing the same job? I must be missing something?

Thanks in advance!!

[ricosuave]

Yeah, the single unit is really doing the same thing as your existing router, but it may have better range, so it doesn’t hurt to try.

You need multiple units to really benefit from the mesh coverage that the system offers.

We have 3 at our place, one on each floor, and love it.

[psyang]

Google wifi also has features like being able to pause the internet for specific devices from your phone - good feature for families.

[Travis Munroe]

Thank you for the replies.... I have great strength throughout the house except for the master bedroom so it sounds as if the google wifi is pointless for me (on a cost basis).

What would you suggest to solve such a simple yet problematic inconvenience?

[ricosuave]

https://www.lifewire.com/best-wifi-extenders-4043312

[Jbo]

Originally Posted by Realtor 1

I am trying to improve the wifi in a certain part of our home and decided to pay for a single google WiFi unit vs an extender / router.

Now that it is set up, I am confused as to what the point of just 1 is? I am assuming that 1 must remain connected to the modem/router at all times and if I only bought 1, what good is it sitting beside my current router and doing the same job? I must be missing something?

Thanks in advance!!

I have 3. Honestly, the benefit goes up exponentially with each unit on the mesh.

[Diemenz]

What router are you currently using?

I had the google mesh system but after testing speeds it was not better then my previous 5 year old router. Google mesh works best when each hub is connected to a wired connection so the backhaul can go over wired otherwise you are sacrificing a lot of speed over a traditional single unit.

I moved to a high power single router on the main floor and now get signal through the entire house and about half way down the block.

[psicodude]

Originally Posted by Diemenz

Google mesh works best when each hub is connected to a wired connection so the backhaul can go over wired otherwise you are sacrificing a lot of speed over a traditional single unit.

Woah. I had no idea the mesh units could be connected via ethernet. Thanks!

[Diemenz]

Originally Posted by psicodude

Woah. I had no idea the mesh units could be connected via ethernet. Thanks!

No Problem!

Using wired for the backhaul increases throughput drastically. In simple terms the Access Point cannot both communicate with the main router, internet and do the backhaul at the same time so this allows both streams to run concurrent (like a more traditional router).

Just make sure you are not using a managed/smart switch as that will cause you major headaches.

I noticed just about double the performance when using the wired backhaul from the AP's but it was still not at the level my AC5300 put out so I went back to a single unit and if needed I will just use ASUS's Mesh AI but I don't see that being necessary as I have 5ghz throughout my entire house and my detached garage as well as about 4 houses down in my neighbourhood.

Google mesh was one of the only mesh systems I tried that did not play havoc with my smart plugs, switches, lights and automation. It was an absolute nightmare when i used Orbi and half my automation devices could not understand that the 2ghz network and 5ghz network were named the same. I had to turn off that feature on all my routers to get reasonable results which is a bummer as smart AP's is why I buy triple-band routers