Which mesh routing system did u have that was flaky? I just closed on a home and have been thinking about going mesh. Ideally would like most stuff hardwired but I’m being lazy
Google WiFi (not the Nest ones with the built-in microphones). They're fine for most cases, but every so often I'd discover that one had gotten voted off the island, causing the remaining two in the mesh to deliver a weak signal to some of the house.
Another problem with mesh networks in general is that they're very sensitive to placement, because they need to be able to see each other (in an RF sense, not visually) to form the backhaul. It adds an additional constraint on your physical topology beyond the regular one of wanting to use the laptop on the couch and in the kitchen. So you end up moving the mesh nodes to corners of the room where you didn't really want them to be, aesthetically. At a certain point you ask yourself whether it would have been easier to run the damn cable through the ceiling than to play musical chairs every few weeks.
If the house already has coax ran but no ethernet then MoCA adapters really are the way to go. For some reason that's how my 2021 new construction house was built and now I have wired connections in all of the rooms that I care about.
Honestly, I've tried a few myself, and none of them were that great. The Orbi was pretty fast, but the satellite needed rebooting every couple of weeks.
I ended up going for in-ceiling AP's, having the house wired for Ethernet, and powering them with PoE. Now the network is faultless.
Don't know how big of a home you have but I've been pitched mesh wifi but I realized I didn't really need it (~3k sqft home). My ~$150 Netgear router works perfectly fine. My recommendation is to see if a regular router works for you before you invest in mesh.
Ethernet over power is another good option. After messing about with bad wifi in a townhouse for a few years, EOP has been going strong for over a decade
sowbug|3 years ago
Another problem with mesh networks in general is that they're very sensitive to placement, because they need to be able to see each other (in an RF sense, not visually) to form the backhaul. It adds an additional constraint on your physical topology beyond the regular one of wanting to use the laptop on the couch and in the kitchen. So you end up moving the mesh nodes to corners of the room where you didn't really want them to be, aesthetically. At a certain point you ask yourself whether it would have been easier to run the damn cable through the ceiling than to play musical chairs every few weeks.
rockostrich|3 years ago
philjohn|3 years ago
I ended up going for in-ceiling AP's, having the house wired for Ethernet, and powering them with PoE. Now the network is faultless.
liquidwax|3 years ago
lkois|3 years ago
trafficante|3 years ago
Speeds are much faster and (more importantly) far more stable.
panphora|3 years ago