Help in upgrading router

yon1000 · 12 Oct 2020 at 19:44

Hello, I want to upgrade my ISP's supplied router. I have 500Mbps Internet connection with 3 stories home.
I came across the mesh option such as the Deco M5 or using stronger Router.
Currently my router is able to reach most of my home but some corners are out of range for it.
All I care about is getting high speeds at long range ( I expect 100mbps at farthest point). the rest of the stuff such as parental control, USB,Design are irrelevant.
I came across the Archer C80 and the AX20 from TP LINK. In terms of long range speeds I want to know which one do you think will do the better job for my needs.
Regarding the Mesh option of using 3 Deco M5 units. I read on the Web that the units themselves are not that strong and because the farthest unit will receive horrible speeds(50Mbps of 600Mbps) and its all a trick to add more and more expensive units to the Mesh.
I would very appreciate your honest and professional opinion.
thank you for the help.

Avalon · 12 Oct 2020 at 20:55

If you want the best option, hard wired AP’s installed as appropriate. I like the Unifi AC-Lite as a budget option, simple to manage multiple AP’s, easily hits the sort of speeds you want, and they don’t look awful/you can turn the LED off. If you want decent mesh, wired backhaul means you are going to run cable anyway.

WJA96 · 12 Oct 2020 at 21:45

There’s really no such thing as a better Wi-Fi router. Legally they can only put out a certain transmit power and even if you bumped up the power, the clients talking back don’t have the power to transmit that far. So a single device replacement isn’t really going to do any better than what you have. Something like a UniFi Dream Machine at least makes it easy to add the UniFi AP-AC-Lite suggested by @Avalon.

It’s not cheap, but it’s pretty good value for money considering what you get.

mickyflinn · 12 Oct 2020 at 21:54

WJA96 said:
There’s really no such thing as a better Wi-Fi router.

But you can get wifi extenders where you have 2 routers and one acts as the extender.

Powrline adapters are another option.

Avalon · 13 Oct 2020 at 00:57

mickyflinn said:
But you can get wifi extenders where you have 2 routers and one acts as the extender.

Powrline adapters are another option.

Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.

A wireless backhaul is still going to suffer the same inherent issues as a wireless client, it’s not a substitute for a wired link when you genuinely need to move a lot of data, especially if that happens to be small files.

Powerline is a highly variable technology that is marketed dubiously - full duplex speeds quoted, literally anything 600Mbit and under only has 100Mbit LAN ports, has issues with spur sockets, extensions, surge suppression/UPS, interference from other devices, problems jumping breakers, quality of wiring etc. It has its uses, I used to use it for emergency links, chucking mining rigs in odd places, runs where a physical cable couldn’t be secured/protected/was a trip hazard, but not for high bandwidth applications.

WJA96 · 13 Oct 2020 at 08:18

mickyflinn said:
But you can get wifi extenders where you have 2 routers and one acts as the extender.

Powrline adapters are another option.

I’m not really sure why you quoted my post - physics is physics and you can only get so much wireless LAN coverage with a single device. Certainly you can turn a router/access point into just an access point and that will work up to a point. You still only have one router in that system.

I hear this a lot - people interchangeably use the word router Or modem to mean any box that’s plugged into the phone socket. Typically they are at least three, or possibly 4 devices in one box. A router, a wireless access point, a switch and often, a modem. You can tell the ones with modems because they are sold for VDSL or ADSL connections. The other ones are typically sold for fibre or cable connections.

The device I suggested (UniFi Dream Machine) is a faster version of the UniFi Security Gateway (USG) Router, a UniFi UAP-FlexHD access point, a UniFi Cloud Key controller and a 4-port managed switch in one box. That’s about £400 worth of parts in a £270 box. And the fact that it houses a controller means it’s the easiest thing in the world to attach another UniFi wireless access point to it, preferably wired as that’s fastest or wireless if you really can’t run a cable.

The marketing departments at Netgear, ASUS and TP-Link will tell you that they’ve somehow overcome physics with a mass or antennae and by painting the device matt black and it’s simply not true. Please also don’t confuse range with coverage. A sniper rifle has incredible range but it only shoots one thing at a time. You want to shoot lots of things in 360-degree up and down most of the time so ignore any claims made for range. Wireless LAN devices are not about range, they’re about coverage.

In the right property, powerline adapters can be great. They can also be shockingly awful and decent powerline adapters are more expensive than adding wireless access points. I do use Mikrotik Powerlines sometimes but running a cable is usually a lot cheaper and simpler (assuming you have the tools and the bottle/skills to use them).

I do a local charity WLAN thing for pensioners in my local area and they’re always expecting to have to spend hundreds of pounds to get WLAN around their massive Victorian houses. I just drill two 6mm holes in window sills, tack the cable to the wall outside and put an access point in upstairs. OK, it’s not the prettiest thing in the world with some surface mount conduit. If you use Mikrotik access points it’s never more than £30 in parts. And the great thing about little old ladies is they generally don’t want complicated VLAN Or VPN setups so they can watch Netflix or pr0n. Little old men on the other hand...

mickyflinn · 13 Oct 2020 at 08:30

@WJA96 I quoted you because not everyone has the detailed knowledge which you've shown and thus the op and myself get to understand further.

Thanks for the detailed explanation.

yon1000 · 14 Oct 2020 at 08:29

Unfortunately, My house is very old so I'm not capable of connecting nodes of mesh via Ethernet cables. I would very much appreciate your opinions regarding the Routers and the Mesh Solution I asked about in the Thread

WJA96 · 14 Oct 2020 at 10:43

yon1000 said:
Unfortunately, My house is very old so I'm not capable of connecting nodes of mesh via Ethernet cables. I would very much appreciate your opinions regarding the Routers and the Mesh Solution I asked about in the Thread

Bottom line, they probably won't do what you want. Luckily for you, if you buy them from Amazon and keep the boxes you can buy them, try them and then if they don't work, send them back.

If they were suitable, I like to think we'd have said that. I don't think anyone on here is pushing any kind of agenda, just real-world experience says they'll likely not make the 100Mbps you said you wanted.

Finally, the Unifi solution I suggested will mesh over wireless LAN (no cable), and that might well get you 100Mbps with a 4x4 access point like the Unifi UAP-FlexHD. Even wirelessly.