Spec me a Mesh system please...

NeilF

NeilF

NeilF

Soldato
Joined
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Marlow
3-4 bedroom detached house...

The existing Sky router router is based on the ground floor in an extension outside the original house and is having trouble reaching some points up stairs.

Considering Netgear RKB50 with one unit at the current router, and a second on the opposite side of the house under the stairs?

But other suggestions/candidates appreciated.
 
So run a cable into the first floor roof space and mount an AP in a central location, it also gives you the perfect opportunity to drop cables into each room. Mesh is not the go-to solution for this, you just have a toy ISP supplies router and have located it in a poor location.
 
Avalon said:
So run a cable into the first floor roof space and mount an AP in a central location, it also gives you the perfect opportunity to drop cables into each room. Mesh is not the go-to solution for this, you just have a toy ISP supplies router and have located it in a poor location.
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Well, there's more to the above plan than just the upstairs dead spots. Placing a mesh point on the other side of the house, under the stairs would also mean it only being about 8ft from the front door where I'd want to put a Ring doorbell too...

As for setting on another AP, my fear is with that it just gets clunky with competing networks in the house, and your devices having to flick between them...

As for, "...it gives you the perfect opportunity to drop cables into each room," the decorating nightmare alone would put me off!
 
NeilFawcett said:
As for setting on another AP, my fear is with that it just gets clunky with competing networks in the house, and your devices having to flick between them...
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Unless your house is massive, I think the point is that one centrally located AP would probably serve the whole house well. You'd turn off wifi on your router and so there's no competing networks etc. If one wasn't enough then you'd add a second AP and they talk to each other so that they hand off elegantly with no problem and all on the same SSID.

However if it's mesh you want then while I can't claim to have personal knowledge, I do know people in real life who have used both a Tenda MW6 system and BT whole home system with no issue. Both fairly basic systems but for casual internet/network usage are perfectly adequate. If you're throwing multi-gig files around your network then probably not so much and one of the more comprehensive (read expensive) systems is a better bet I would think. Do you need any features beyond just extending wifi reach, like guest networks, ethernet ports in situ where you place the mesh units, parental controls etc.? That would influence your choice but if it is just serving a couple of UHD Netflix streams around the home I think any mesh system would do. I'd probably pick the next budget one that appears on an Amazon daily deal.
 
BigT said:
Unless your house is massive, I think the point is that one centrally located AP would probably serve the whole house well. You'd turn off wifi on your router and so there's no competing networks etc. If one wasn't enough then you'd add a second AP and they talk to each other so that they hand off elegantly with no problem and all on the same SSID.

However if it's mesh you want then while I can't claim to have personal knowledge, I do know people in real life who have used both a Tenda MW6 system and BT whole home system with no issue. Both fairly basic systems but for casual internet/network usage are perfectly adequate. If you're throwing multi-gig files around your network then probably not so much and one of the more comprehensive (read expensive) systems is a better bet I would think. Do you need any features beyond just extending wifi reach, like guest networks, ethernet ports in situ where you place the mesh units, parental controls etc.? That would influence your choice but if it is just serving a couple of UHD Netflix streams around the home I think any mesh system would do. I'd probably pick the next budget one that appears on an Amazon daily deal.
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Yeh, the central AP is tricky for me... I've even played around a bit putting an AP on the other side of the wall to where the current router is (which is in an extension ourside the house) and the dead spots didn't improve that much.

So I think some form of additional/combined meshy thing might be the way forwards.

I don't need additional ethernet ports. Being able to see connected devices and their usage would be nice, not not a deal breaker.

BTW one concern is that if I should ever want to use a Sky Q Hub (to watch Sky elsewhere in the house) I believe you have to use SKy's own wireless (mesh) networking for this. So I'd have to enable the Sky Q Routers's wifi with a wifi network just for Sky'ts use, and leave any otehr Mesh network to serve all the rest of the devices in the house.
 
OK, I appreciate with an extension the external wall becoming an internal isn’t ideal and the phone point position probably wasn’t a consideration, I can quite easily drop a cable from a roof space without needing to fully decorate a room, but I appreciate that doesn’t apply to everyone due to the individual wall construction etc. but irrespective of whatever you buy/do and whoever’s advice you follow, please don’t put an AP ‘under the stairs’. It’s not Harry friggin’ Potter and owls won’t want to visit it and drop letters off. That has horrible idea written all over it in big neon letters and if your existing situation has taught you anything, it has to be that placement is key. Ignore that at your peril.
 
Avalon said:
please don’t put an AP ‘under the stairs’.
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How would that be any different to putting the device 2ft away so it's next to the stairs?

The current Sky Router is on the opposite side of the house, in an extension, through in effect a double brick wall, but otherwise then in line of site of that under stairs position. The wifi signal next to the stairs in adequate, so I'd hope a mesh unit placed there would supply a wifi signal upstairs to where it currently struggles...

That location would then also hopefully provide a good wifi signal to the front door 8ft away for a Ring doorbell potentially.

Given the supposed huge range of each Netgear RBK50 unit, I can't see it being a problem surely?
 
I have 2 Amplifi HD routers in my house, one downstairs as the main router and one on the top floor (3 story house) in the master bedroom as a mesh node. Does me fine, never have buffering with my Sky Q mini (yes I am using my Amplifi network and not the Sky mesh) or FireTV/Kodi or any device I use around the house. Safe to say I am a fan.
 
ubern00b said:
I have 2 Amplifi HD routers in my house, one downstairs as the main router and one on the top floor (3 story house) in the master bedroom as a mesh node. Does me fine, never have buffering with my Sky Q mini (yes I am using my Amplifi network and not the Sky mesh) or FireTV/Kodi or any device I use around the house. Safe to say I am a fan.
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Interesting... Why not the Amplifi Router and then the two plug mesh units that come with it as a kit?

And is that amplifi network basically in bridge/access point mode?

And as regards your Sky wifi, is that turned off? And your Sky Q remote mini hubs are using the Amplifi network?

Thanks!
 
I had really bad wifi reception upstairs. Since plugging in the Amplifi HD routers, not a single issue. It just works.

I have the same setup as ubern00b, with 2 routers.
I wanted the second AmplifiHD router upstairs instead of the plug in aerial things as the router gives me extra ethernet ports upstairs too which is handy for computers with no wifi cards.
 
I've got a three pod Google mesh system in a 4 bed detached house. Totally sorted my wifi issues in the house with strong signals over the whole place, onto the drive and in the back garden. Phones and laptops jump from AP to AP with no interaction and nobody moans at me now due to the internet not working apart from when Virgin goes down.
Only pain is that the printer is on the old Asus network so I have to jump onto that to print over air. Best money I've spent tbh, I've got family profile for the youngest and everything wireless connects to them.

I did used to have everyone connected to an Asus main router and an AP in the loft but it was not good, phones had a habit of clinging onto the weakest signal for as long as possible and just don't jump to the AP when they should, google Mesh just works.
 
NeilFawcett said:
Interesting... Why not the Amplifi Router and then the two plug mesh units that come with it as a kit?

And is that amplifi network basically in bridge/access point mode?

And as regards your Sky wifi, is that turned off? And your Sky Q remote mini hubs are using the Amplifi network?

Thanks!
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The mesh units don't have ethernet ports on them which I needed to run the Sky Q mini. My understanding anyway was that you can't join the Sky Q mini to another wifi network, it automatically connects to the mesh broadcast by the main Sky Q unit. So I am using the router as a mesh unit as an ethernet bridge.

The Amplifi network is not in bridge/access point mode. I have a Draytek 130 as a modem connected to the WAN port of the main Amplifi unit which is in router mode.

Wifi is turned off on the Sky Q main unit and the mini.
 
ubern00b said:
The mesh units don't have ethernet ports on them which I needed to run the Sky Q mini. My understanding anyway was that you can't join the Sky Q mini to another wifi network, it automatically connects to the mesh broadcast by the main Sky Q unit. So I am using the router as a mesh unit as an ethernet bridge.

The Amplifi network is not in bridge/access point mode. I have a Draytek 130 as a modem connected to the WAN port of the main Amplifi unit which is in router mode.

Wifi is turned off on the Sky Q main unit and the mini.
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And if you need to set up port forwarding rules and the like? Done on the Draytek then surely?
 
ubern00b said:
^^ as above, the Draytek is simply a modem that hands an IP address over to the AmplifiHD. The AmplifiHD is a router and is responsible for flow of traffic.
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Ahhh... so it's different to a Sky Q Router? Which I think you'd need to set up a DMZ to retain the amplifis full ability.

I'm confused as I thought you needed to retain the sky q router to use the sky q hubs?
 
NeilFawcett said:
Ahhh... so it's different to a Sky Q Router? Which I think you'd need to set up a DMZ to retain the amplifis full ability.

I'm confused as I thought you needed to retain the sky q router to use the sky q hubs?
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I am not with Sky for my broadband but if you are then the whole ecosystem "works together" automatically and the minis become mesh points themselves. The Sky Q main box and the minis need to be on the same network and this is why I am using ethernet to achieve that, and disabling it's own wifi.

As far as I know the Sky router does not have a modem mode but you could replace it with a modem, Draytek, ECI or HG612 and then run your mesh system as a router. OR use it in bridge mode but I think if you do that, any devices on the Sky routers ethernet will become inaccessible to the wifi segment of your network. Some have the ability to route between but some don't. Lots of options, just need to decide what works best for you.
 
ubern00b said:
I am not with Sky for my broadband but if you are then the whole ecosystem "works together" automatically and the minis become mesh points themselves. The Sky Q main box and the minis need to be on the same network and this is why I am using ethernet to achieve that, and disabling it's own wifi.

As far as I know the Sky router does not have a modem mode but you could replace it with a modem, Draytek, ECI or HG612 and then run your mesh system as a router. OR use it in bridge mode but I think if you do that, any devices on the Sky routers ethernet will become inaccessible to the wifi segment of your network. Some have the ability to route between but some don't. Lots of options, just need to decide what works best for you.
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This is why the Develo Magic 2 homeplug option is so appealling...

You just connect it to the Sky Router and voila! Mesh and homeplug ports around your house, with no bridge modes to worry about etc.
 
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