wi-fi mesh

PAULRYAN52

PAULRYAN52

PAULRYAN52

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Joined
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Liverpool
hi what's the best mesh network fork range and speed, I'm on 350mb virgin media fibre and would like to improve range and speed of wireless, virgin superhub 3 is located upstairs in my bedroom at the rear of the house, it can't be relocated, signal in the living room can be patchy at times, I'm thinking a mesh system would improve the situation, I'm based in the uk, whats best For around £150-200
 
The best and simplest option is always a cable. I’ve yet to see a UK home where you can’t run a single cable along skirting boards, up and over doorframes and possibly under the odd bit of carpet. Even if you end up drilling a wall or window frame and going external, it’s very straightforward and it gives a completely solid connection.

Ethernet over mains (Powerline) is probably the next cheapest stable option. A pair of powerline bricks are about £20 these days and again will provide a stable connection in a modern home.

Mesh units are absolutely the last resort for me. I have installed the Unifi Mesh devices which are basically the same chipset as the AP-AC-Lite and they work fine. Netgear Orbi is also a decent system in my experience, but it’s not cheap. For the price of a Orbi you could pay an electrician to run a cable and install a couple of CAT6 faceplates and boxes. And you’ll be a lot happier in the long-run.
 
There is a tendency in this forum to tell people to wire up their home and install Ubiquti WiFi, regardless of the question being asked. While I agree that cabling access points is the best option, there are reasons why it’s not an option for everyone and I think discussion on the alternatives is valid.

Someone wanting WiFi coverage throughout a house for mobile devices can achieve this with a £200 investment in a mesh system - installing network cabling and rolling out UniFi isn’t in the same price bracket.
 
Yes, and no. By far the best option is always a cable. What that cable ends up in is open for discussion but a cable always gets you a full-speed connection, no possibility of anything going wrong with walls or interference from DECT phones or next door’s wireless doorbell.

Mesh systems are a very poor compromise. You’re taking WiFi and boosting it. And every time you link across a node you slow it down because it has to go in, get processed and be rebroadcast.

But if someone wants to blow a load of money on a mesh system I won’t stop them, I just wouldn’t get the Amplifi one.
 
New routers don’t generally help. The output power is limited by law and the receiving antennae can only get so big before they start to look daft.

I will very happily send you some powerlines if you want to try them as I ripped them out of my own home years ago and they’re almost worthless secondhand. Send me a trust message with your address and I’ll get some sent out to you.

A mesh system would work for you I’m sure, it’s just such a hideous compromise I don’t like to recommend them.
 
It depends how fast your internet actually is. They run at 200Mpbs so if you’re channeling the full 350Mbps of your Virgin connection then yes, they’ll slow it down. On the other hand, how fast is your ropey WiFi signal really? And do you need anything faster than 200Mbps? Bear in mind anything 802.11b or g is only 50Mbps and even full speed n is only 300Mbps so depending on what you’re connecting it probably won’t matter.

And yes, I’m sure I can find one that has a WiFi Access Point built in. But even if I can’t, you could still plug in a £80 AP-AC-Lite to get you decent WiFi at that side of the house.
 
the last power lines I used slowed down even wired connection, I will be connecting smart tvs, laptops, mobile phones, wireless printer, tablets, google homes and smart uhd blu-ray players
 
WJA96 said:
It depends how fast your internet actually is. They run at 200Mpbs so if you’re channeling the full 350Mbps of your Virgin connection then yes, they’ll slow it down. On the other hand, how fast is your ropey WiFi signal really? And do you need anything faster than 200Mbps? Bear in mind anything 802.11b or g is only 50Mbps and even full speed n is only 300Mbps so depending on what you’re connecting it probably won’t matter.

And yes, I’m sure I can find one that has a WiFi Access Point built in. But even if I can’t, you could still plug in a £80 AP-AC-Lite to get you decent WiFi at that side of the house.
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trust sent
 
I just purchased the orbi 23, everything is working great, 1 problem is my pc is connected directly to my vm super 3 and the orbi network can't see or vice versa, I disabled wifi on the sh3 but didn't turn on modem only mode as I'm using 2 wired devices to it, is there any way of getting the pc discoverable by the orbi without buying a ethernet switch
 
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