Mesh router

[Robotron2k84]

Docsis 4.0 can do 10Gbit down, 6 up, IIRC. Comcast already has a 3Gb/s symmetric fiber offering. HFC/Docsis 4.0 will begin rolling out sometime this year or next. 3.1, is currently at 1.2 Gb/s.

Times move on, WiFi needs huge swaths of bandwidth to even remotely keep up. 160/320 MHz channels in 6+ GHz 4-band devices still can’t deliver reliable gigabit performance to multi stream clients, and most clients are only a single stream, anyway.

You’re right that most current bandwidth needs fit into 100Base-TX, but the next big thing is always around the corner, whether it’s 8K, some type of crypto, file sharing or what have you, people still need increasing bandwidth, and WiFi is struggling.

[suicidesam]

Why not just wire the house with Ethernet. Then you can add wireless access points wherever you need them. It's better to use wired Ethernet for the back haul than wifi over WiFi.

For access points look at ubiquiti unifi. The access point u6 lite is $99.

The ubiquiti stuff works really well. It will do a analysis of available channels and automatically select the best channels. You can add as many access points as you like and they will properly work together. That allows you to put the modern and router where ever you like.

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Can I use this with my existing wifi router? I will also be hardwiring these access points.

Thanks in advance

[Uncivil Engineer]

Can I use this with my existing wifi router? I will also be hardwiring these access points.



Thanks in advance

While it might be technically possible to use the wifi on the router as well I really wouldn't recommend it. You keep the same router just disable the wifi on it. So it performs the router functions only.

Yes these Access points are basically antennas for wifi but hang off an Ethernet cable. They use power-over-Ethernet so they just have the one Ethernet cable. They come with an adapter for the power basically it's a box you plug your Ethernet cable that goes to your router and a power plug. Then the other side is an Ethernet jack you plug the single wire going to the AP.


My recommendation is if you can afford it get a "media installer" to wire up the house for Ethernet. They are low voltage electricians that specialize in wiring for audio, video and networking. We had old phone jacks in each room we replaced with Ethernet. I also added a few where the cable tv had been. That gave me great access for most tv streaming, game consoles, etc. It also let me put two APs on opposite sides of the house.



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[OlderThanDirt]

I run mostly Ubiquiti Unifi hardwired mesh systems, but have an AmpliFi mesh system at one location and am pretty impressed by the performance and simplicity. I have had the AmpliFi mesh system running for several years with zero problems. I did have to add an unmanaged POE switch for some extra devices, but it has worked extremely well.

[gorn5150]

I use the TP-Link Deco M9 mesh. I bought it at Costco several years ago. It covers my 2 story house without a problem.

[Mute]

On top of all the other info, if the devices you're connecting to the wifi are not Wifi-6 or 802.11ax standard, they're not going to take advantage of your router's capabilities.

[Robotron2k84]

Correct. Each subsequent iteration of WiFi doubles the previous version’s QAM efficiency with higher-frequency, higher-resolution timing. Without same gen hardware on both ends, older hardware can not exceed their timing thresholds, and they can’t be overclocked to the same effect, so will be slower.

Because the higher frequencies attenuate more throughout the house, the increased channel width and frequency is traded off on distance. 1/2 to 1/4 of the rated speed is the norm for any distance over 10 feet direct line-of-sight for AC. AX is slightly better because it mandates more streams and antennas, but 2x2 and 3x3 are still the norm, not 4x or 6x, like the marketing material would have you believe.

I had a link for a guy that tested out all Ubiquity devices available on the market, and only one could reliably push anything north of 750 Mbps, but couldn’t pass 1Gbps. Most were still around 250-450 Mbps in general practice.

My two story house was built before Ethernet was a thing, and the layout makes structured cabling difficult, although I probably won’t be living in Ca. all that much longer to deal with installing cat6a. I needed an AP on each level, and my air conditioning compressor knocked power line down when it cycles.

So, my setup uses two Broadcom Northstar devices, an Asus and a Netgear, with the low 5G as backhaul. I’ve stuck with AC because that’s the end of the line for open source, so yet another reason to move on to cat6a. I also use named GRE tunnels to move six VLANs across the wireless link, which slows it down a bit. The connection speed is a single 3x3 5Ghz 80Mhz-width link @1300 Mbps.

Of that speed, running iperf3 across the backhaul nets a consistent throughput of 320 Mbps, which is actually pretty good for all that’s going on. I spent a fair amount of time tuning the radios to effect proper cell sizes and handoff for devices that roam between the floors.

Could I get better speed with a 6E/AX setup? Yes, but what I’d lose in functionality to get that speed is problematic. Decoupling the APs from their associated network routing functions and transit is the next step.

I hear Rukus APs are what to get, now.

[lone shooter]

Second day on my Frontier/Orbi mesh combo.

Getting 500MB downloads consistently.

[Uncivil Engineer]

My house was built in 76 so well before Ethernet. At some point they put pots lines in most rooms. It was rather easy to have them yank out the pots and put cat6 in each outlet. Then string them back to a closet and a switch. Really it's been nice. In many of the rooms I have a switch in the room because of all the devices. Mostly tvs , game consoles, streaming boxes and APs as needed. Given that most California homes are sheetrock and simple pine framing you would be surprised at how fast they can run a line down or up inside a wall. If you have a crawlspace above or below your walls it takes a few minutes to run the cable down the wall. The work is made easy with long drill bits several feet long. Given the amount of crawl space time I didn't have any problem paying for the work to get done. It took a few hours to do just about every room in the house.

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[Robotron2k84]

Nope, no pots lines…one, maybe two outlets per room. Definitely no sheetrock. Built wayyyyyyy before Ethernet. We found out the hard way, when trying to wire up 20A circuits to my server room, that there are horizontal blocks in the framing all throughout. Can’t drop a line anywhere, have to go horizontally.

It’s one of my main criteria for a house when I leave CA…modern wiring, that and a panel wired for a generator, with a big heated garage / shop.