Mesh n(e)twork routers. :)

So I needed to get a new router recently, and while looking for a good one, I found out a lot of things that had changed. First, my lovely internet provider had been so kind as to "grandfather" our now hopelessly out of date internet service which otherwise was no longer offered, so they could still provide us the excellent out of date 300mps bandwidth that was once the fastest they offered at the same rate that they now charge for nearly 4 times as fast speeds.


That's another story though, but the cool thing was discovering Mesh wireless network routers.

So as of this afternoon I have TP Link Deco X60 with three hubs, throughout the house. I already had ethernet cabling, so each is providing "backplane" via wired connection to the modem. For the first time I have clean beautiful wireless signal on every floor and room throughout the house.
I'm even getting good coverage out in my yard and garage. It's a nice change.

I only became aware the existence of mesh within the past 6 months or so. What user advantages does a mesh have vs. old fshioned router+repeater (when hardwired internet cabling thoughout the house is not present)?

Wilt wrote in post #19185311
I only became aware the existence of mesh within the past 6 months or so. What user advantages does a mesh have vs. old fshioned router+repeater (when hardwired internet cabling thoughout the house is not present)?

A number of vendors are now operating their mesh backhaul (i.e. link between units) on a third radio, this means user throughput is much better. Its always dependant on having a good Internet connection speed on the router/modem but one less bottleneck to worry about...

These new mesh Wi-Fi systems are a huge improvement over using a single router or using extenders.

I replaced my old router with a Linksys Max-Stream AC2200 (MR8300) and a Linksys Velop Tri-Band AC4400 2 pack (2 nodes). I have the router in my basement, one node in an upstairs bedroom (2 story house) and the other in my detached garage. I get full bars now throughout my house, in my small backyard and in my garage. I also like how these systems seamlessly auto switch from 2.4 to 5 GHz and between nodes depending on signal strength.

It's also brilliant that you can add more nodes if you have a coverage problem. I was going to buy a three node pack but decided to take a chance with only having two. Turns out my house/yard is small enough that it's all I needed.

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #19185300
So I needed to get a new router recently, and while looking for a good one, I found out a lot of things that had changed. First, my lovely internet provider had been so kind as to "grandfather" our now hopelessly out of date internet service which otherwise was no longer offered, so they could still provide us the excellent out of date 300mps bandwidth that was once the fastest they offered at the same rate that they now charge for nearly 4 times as fast speeds.


That's another story though, but the cool thing was discovering Mesh wireless network routers.

So as of this afternoon I have TP Link Deco V60 with three hubs, throughout the house. I already had ethernet cabling, so each is providing "backplane" via wired connection to the modem. For the first time I have clean beautiful wireless signal on every floor and room throughout the house.
I'm even getting good coverage out in my yard and garage. It's a nice change.

If you mean 300 Megabits per second, that is a speed we in Australia can only dream of. On a good day I can get 20 Mbps down and 0.9 up (on ADSL 2+). I don't think anyone in Australia gets more than 100 Mbps, even on the optical network, which was choked by a government that panders to Rupert Murdoch, who thought his media empire would suffer if we could get fast internet.

300 Mbps is very good speed here as well. I'm not sure most of the country other than those in urban areas can get it.

I've been following router technology as well and mesh routers are definitely a good step forward. I live in a small 1000 sq ft single level condo, so haven't had the need for a distributed wireless system.

Scrumhalf wrote in post #19185433
I've been following router technology as well and mesh routers are definitely a good step forward. I live in a small 1000 sq ft single level condo, so haven't had the need for a distributed wireless system.

I have such a need but I'm still using ancient powerline extenders and old routers to distribute the internet.

Wilt wrote in post #19185311
I only became aware the existence of mesh within the past 6 months or so. What user advantages does a mesh have vs. old fshioned router+repeater (when hardwired internet cabling thoughout the house is not present)?

With repeaters, you had to disconnect and the reconnect to each repeater,. with mesh, it's all the same so moving from one place to another is seamless.

Pippan wrote in post #19185422
If you mean 300 Megabits per second, that is a speed we in Australia can only dream of. On a good day I can get 20 Mbps down and 0.9 up (on ADSL 2+). I don't think anyone in Australia gets more than 100 Mbps, even on the optical network, which was choked by a government that panders to Rupert Murdoch, who thought his media empire would suffer if we could get fast internet.

Scrumhalf wrote in post #19185430
300 Mbps is very good speed here as well. I'm not sure most of the country other than those in urban areas can get it.

It's not the speed that is thr issue, it's the fact that they have 1gb service at the same price now. Or the 300 service for far less. So I am paying the same price as the latest top tier, and getting the top teer they had 6 years ago.

Anyway, tomorrow is new modem day, and I[ll switch to the new faster service at the same price. My current modem was also old, and would not be able to work with the top tier service.

Scrumhalf wrote in post #19185430
300 Mbps is very good speed here as well. I'm not sure most of the country other than those in urban areas can get it.

I live in a rural area and get 1Gbps fiber, actual speeds whenever I have checked are always over 900Mbps up and down. Most of the lots near me are empty and have no power or water hookups.

So having to work from home due to COVID, streaming more 4K content for my home theater, etc.....I would get more instances of lagging. The first thing I did was try to upgrade to "mesh" tri-band AC network. I'm in a townhouse, and originally had my wifi router in my bottom basement garage where my ethernet hub is. While upgrading to that setup, I got switches to have 1Gb wired ethernet coming from the base in my garage and also the outlet in my bedroom. Then I moved my cable modem to my living room and a new D-Link tri-band router, as well as a mesh extender for the top room of my 3 floor townhouse. I was still getting drop outs. The next thing I tried was upgrading my cable modem to a Netgear 2Gb cable modem (my tier with Comcast is 250Mb, but with this modem, I get 650Mb average). So then I also have an iPhone and kept upgrading my OS....now also upgraded to iPhone 12. With the D-Link, I would get errors from the phone about my network not being secure (because it would stay stuck on wpa2 personal, and there was no way to change. Recently I upgraded to a TP Link AX6000. It's both wifi 6 and also has options for changing security settings. When I got it, I was able to set it to WPA3/WPA2 AES. What's really neat is that I find my iPhone 12 (currently my only wifi 6 device) actually keeps an internet speed about the same as my cable modem....650Mb. I did get a TP Link wifi extender compatible with the wifi 6 for my upstairs. I have some smart light bulbs and e-reader that is just 2G, and I like that they also connect just fine with this config. I'm just looking forward to the time I upgrade my MacBook to also have wifi 6 and get 650Mb (if not at least 1Gb if I get through ISP).

Pippan wrote in post #19185422
If you mean 300 Megabits per second, that is a speed we in Australia can only dream of. On a good day I can get 20 Mbps down and 0.9 up (on ADSL 2+). I don't think anyone in Australia gets more than 100 Mbps, even on the optical network, which was choked by a government that panders to Rupert Murdoch, who thought his media empire would suffer if we could get fast internet.

The thread title is very appropriate for us: here, it notwork!

The set up we just installed today is also "Wifi6", yet another thing I knew nothing about, but when upgrading wanted to future proof.

It's only been half a day, but the coverage is just seamless throughout the property and much faster and even. Full bars everywhere is what it looks like.

Set up was a cinch, no issues. All three little units did there firmware update. the Android app seems to work just fine.

When i was reading the reviews, "TP Link" was yet another new to me aspect. and I just kept seeing these routers being highly rated. I'm really glad I did my research as the first two comparison sights were NOT comparing mesh routers,. if I'd stopped there I'd have another regular router and be looking at repeaters.

Personally, I don't rely on Wifi much, as my workstation is wired. But the rest of the family, and yes, my god damn vacuum cleaner, rely on wireless!

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #19185458
Personally, I don't rely on Wifi much, as my workstation is wired. But the rest of the family, and yes, my god damn vacuum cleaner, rely on wireless!

It seems Mesh networks or just a single wifi 6 router both advertising that their advantage is that they can handle more wifi devices (granted, I really don't think our smart appliances take up as much data!).