Faster reliable mesh

[Drumroll]

At the moment using, without any issue, the Tenda Nova MW3.
The fact that I can have a consistent good coverage around the whole house (was a issue with the standalone provided hub after some aluminium-layered underlay was used when the flooring was replaced), and be allowed to use a wired connection from it's "satellites/modules" to my PC and one not so smart TV in one of the bedrooms was a big plus.
As I finally managed to get a good deal, going from my 100mbps connection to a 350mbps, I suppose the actual equipment won't let me use the full potential from this upgrade.

Without any more delays, sorry, what people using those mesh could suggest?
Not really willing to spend more than £100-150.
I was looking at the MW5 or MW6, but as much has changed since 2018 when I bought my MW3, is there any better option at similar price?

Just to add, the app to control it, and all the features, which many reviewers seems to hate, doesn't bother me. Works fine and does what I need.

 

[WJA96]

Before you go and spend £150 to get another 100Mbps transfer rate, do you really need another 100Mbps or are you just doing it because it's there?

I would strongly suggest that you'll need to spend a chunk more than £150 to get over 250Mbps because you either need dedicated 4x4 backhaul (like the appallingly expensive Orbi) or you need to use 2x2 of a 4x4 access point set to get you 250-300Mbps. For ease of installation I'd suggest a pair of Unifi UAP-FlexHD (4x4 AP that uses 2x2 channels for mesh and 2x2 channels for client data). But that's £320 the pair.

The cheapo option is to buy 2 or 3 Honor Router 3 and use those for WiFi6 mesh. I've not tried it myself but several users on here have reported excellent results. They're £50 each, so your budget would buy 3. IF you really need that speed uplift.

 

[sandys]

Good reveiw here, but only 300Mb your existing setup would cope wouldn't they?

The Best Budget WiFi Mesh in 2021 (Under £100) - YouTube

I went for the AX3/Honor route and it works great, lacks wifi back haul so there is speed drop off in heavily used scenarios but is cracking.

Hardwiring is the way forward for backhaul if you need the performance, or pay more and get something the zen wifi AX/Orbi which has additional 5Ghz setup for backhaul, even then they still drop off, so wired is still better.

That said I could do ~500-600Mbps between two AX3s through wireless through one brick wall 4-5m separation, that was with machines on LAN ports of each AP connected wirelessly, it drops off if it has to push it to Wifi device after the AP, don't recall how much now. I use a mix of wired and wifi mesh.

No machines could get wifi on the other side of the wall unless in doorway which gave me an idea.

EXample of what I am dealing with basically, blue lines are walls, Im, in a extension other side of double exterior brick wall, no wifi could get to my computer or to the play room upstairs due to wall, I position the APs such that I could utilize the door opening and only have to deal with single brick wall

Below is an example of performance in this scenario, wifi AP to Wifi AP with machines wired into APs. Iperf is from S10 connected by usb ethernet on my Dex setup, not wifi.

Most wifi stuff doesn't need the speed, just my desktop, so I focused on getting best signal there, works well.

The problem with this setup is that hoping through APs the speed drops off a lot, so upstairs didn't get as much as me, an it wasn't as solid, wavered between 200-400Mbps but it is ~9m away router to router through ceiling, crude topology of my network botchup.

I will ultimately wire it all when I pull up carpets etc and this will only improve performance.

 

[Drumroll]

Tested here, before upgrading. Straight from the modem, 100-104mbps.
Upstairs, 1st floor (modem is on ground floor), barely 40mbps. 2nd floor, amazing 2-5mbps.
Using the Tenda MW3, ground floor, max 90-95mbps. First floor, max 80-85mbps. Second floor, max 45mbps. ATM, 1 module ground floor, 2 modules first floor.

 

[Drumroll]

Finally able to install the Honor AX3 Quad Core. WOW.
Really, really happy. Thanks for the recommendation.
Went with just 2 for a feel, 3rd one arriving Thursday.
The limitation of the Nova was because the PC would be limited by 10/100 port.
Speed test today, straight from Virgin Media, 350-380mbps.
The AX3 connected to the modem gave me exactly the same performance.
The AX3 on the first floor, first spot was giving max of 240-250mbps. Now I found a nice spot, which still allow me to connect to my PC (avoiding wireless), getting 340-360mbps.
Simply fantastic piece of equipment.

 

[sandys]

Good stuff, I set mine up to 160MHz on the 5GHz radio which might be a bit limiting with lot of 5ghz devices but ax3 to ax3 I am maxing out the 1Gb LAN port which really surprised me for wifi, ~112MB/s to my NAS from my laptop on wifi, who needs wires performance is not so hot hopping to a third due to lack of back haul but still very respectable.

160Mhz Wifi 6 transfers

below laptop wifi 5 wave 2 160Mhz transfer to PC on same ax3 which is connected on a LAN port

and then upstairs to downstairs, front to back of house, ax3 to ax3 PC transfer via LAN connected machines on each AX3, you can see its not as stable but still damn fast. I'm impressed.

 

[whitecrook]

I get similar speeds (110+MB/s) to my NAS on my internal network using unifi AP points and my mac book. I messed about with extenders, different access points for long enough but in the end bit the bullit and just got the unifi system. Literaly have had no family complaints about wifi for the last year (it's slow! its not working! the internet is down!). If anything the price of unifi was worth it for my sanity. something to be said for a system that just works.

 

[sandys]

Yup the Unifi stuff is good, one of my friends has kitted out his house with that stuff, all wired backhaul etc, he couldn't believe the speeds I was getting with these for the price when they are not even wired together nor do they have enough ant/radios for wifi backhaul, he had to come around and check

two units are £100 and three units are a bargain at £140

They are quite limited and lack a lot of features compared to the higher priced gear and having played with them for a bit as a test for whether Wifi could work for me I have thought about going in hard with something else for even faster network with 2.5G ports etc. but really I only need faster points at my desktop to NAS and these are going to be 10Gb when I pull my finger out, the rest being 1Gb is fine, its the fastest I have had at home, I'm just getting all power crazed