Quick sanity check - mesh systems

CapitalOne · 10 Mar 2018 at 09:31

Hi all

I currently have an Asus 3200RT at one end of the house and an NT66RU or the like at the other end, cat 6 between the 2 and the 3200 in full router mode connected to the BT Infinity modem and the 66 just in AP mode. If i invest in a mesh system (love my toys) would I just switch off wireless on the 3200 and cat 6 in a mesh device as the wifi and then place the other 2 mesh boxes anywhere with just power, same SSID and all done? It’s a fairly big place so would go for 3 nodes to include garden coverage. I have about 60 devices to connect to including Sonos, Hue, Nest etc as well as PC’s tablets etc. Looking for advice on if this will work (which I’m sure it will) and any potential gotchas.

Many thanks in advance!

DIABLO · 10 Mar 2018 at 09:53

I don't see why you would opt for a Mesh based system if you have cat 6 layed down.

CapitalOne · 10 Mar 2018 at 10:02

Its only between the 2 Asus routers, i.e. a single cable and most devices are wireless only. Thanks for the reply.

CapitalOne · 11 Mar 2018 at 04:59

Anyone?

Mariusz · 11 Mar 2018 at 09:26

Are you having issues with your wireless devices?

I've currently got a similar setup as you, Netgear R7800 downstairs connected to a modem, handling incoming Internet and WiFi and a second Netgear router in the loft/man-cave acting as a network switch and WiFi access point. Setup provides me full speed in both areas with no issues.

CapitalOne · 11 Mar 2018 at 09:32

Thanks for the reply. Not really having issues, speeds are full almost everywhere, I’m just after a tinker about really - it’s a disease.

andy_mk3 · 11 Mar 2018 at 09:47

Definitely sounds like a job for a couple of Ubiquiti Ap's.

CapitalOne · 11 Mar 2018 at 10:12

andy_mk3 said:
Definitely sounds like a job for a couple of Ubiquiti Ap's.

Thanks, I hadn’t got to models yet. I thought Ubiquiti was a bit of a faff (poe etc), happy to be wrong. I want to simply plug the “master” mesh box into my Asus 3200 (as I’m using the 4g failover on it), set up the SSID the same, turn off wifi on the asus and then stick the other 2 mesh “slave” boxes whereever, with just power. Am I doing it right?

Martynt74 · 16 Mar 2018 at 13:56

I've just sent you a trust, but i'd go with the Asus mesh, rather than one of the other options. That way you can have them all as part of the same mesh system.

CapitalOne · 17 Mar 2018 at 09:35

Marvt74 said:
I've just sent you a trust, but i'd go with the Asus mesh, rather than one of the other options. That way you can have them all as part of the same mesh system.

Thanks Marv, interesting and thanks for pointing out AIMesh. I checked and neither of my routers support it at the moment, so I took the plunge and bought a new one that does. Interesting turn of events though, about midnight last night I noticed my Netatmo wasn’t connecting anymore, so I fire up the ipad and go to the admin page which was now all in Thai! (my guess). Did a factory reset, and checked firmware updates of which there was one (but no flashing icon as normal) so flashed it (chnaged dns to google just in case, changed password, changed https port) and now it’s all fine again. I can only assume my rt3200 somehow got comprimised, it certainly wasn’t me. So the luck of me buying one of the new asus router ps (ac86u) with built in trend (who knows if this is any good) might just be timely, if amazon can deliver through the snow (which I also blame on any hackers)!

ETA good people, I’d recommend checking your asus router admin page just in case this is not just a one off.

peige · 19 Mar 2018 at 10:16

I've got google mesh units, three actually. I'd say the main plus point of them over my older setup is that wireless devices hop between them with no user intervention. I used to do it by having an Asus router downstairs and an AP in the loft (connected by cat6) but you'd find that phones and tablets would cling onto the weaker signal for dear life and only when prompted would move to the better one. With mesh its handled automatically and all the phone/tablet users have a seamless experience.

Downside is that users on the mesh won't get access to the existing network unless everything comes from the first mesh unit, which can be done effectively making it your new router but I have kept mesh users seperate and its turned out to be a non issue, if I need something then I swap wireless networks and do it, nobody else ever does.
Other downside is that google mesh do block sites and some ports over and above the family settings. For example I can't access my cctv at work though it and torrant trackers go offline.