Mesh Wi-Fi Advice

Discussion in 'Bulletin Board' started by Oakweller, Sep 24, 2022.

  1. Tob

    Tobys Knackers Well-Known Member

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    I know you already have answers but if Walls are the issue your best bet is the Decolink P9.

    It's still mesh but it uses the Powerlines as a backhaul meaning that where signal from each mesh satellite is weak it can use the Powerlines instead.

    Only downside is that it doesn't support WiFi 6.

    Mesh Networks are great. I swapped provider a few months back and just unplugged the Sky Router, plugged the replacement in and bang everything worked. No going round the whole house updating the WiFi connection details for every device
     
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  2. Andy Mac

    Andy Mac Well-Known Member

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    What's main difference between E4 and M5 (apart from shape)? Just ethernet ports?
     
  3. TitusMagee

    TitusMagee Well-Known Member

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    Looks like the M5 covers slightly more area, both appear to have ethernet ports. Not sure other than that to be honest.
     
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  4. Andy Mac

    Andy Mac Well-Known Member

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    Cheers, just ordered a 3 pack of M5 .................. will let you know how I get on when I try them tonight :)
     
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  5. roy

    royston tyke Well-Known Member

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    Main difference Andy is the 1000Mb Ethernet port on the M5. The E4 will only allow speeds of upto 100mb to pass through it. If your speeds at home are above 100mb and you are wanting to use the primary mesh also as a router, you are better of with the M5.
     
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  6. lk3

    lk311 Well-Known Member

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    We have always had issues with Wi-Fi at our house and tried all sorts of boosters etc with limited results.
    On Saturday had a lad come and set a mesh system up and it’s now brilliant.
    Looked really easy to set up but we were just so frustrated with previous efforts we opted to pay an expert.
     
  7. kektyke

    kektyke Well-Known Member

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    Bought a tp link ax3000 WiFi router as the signal from the virgin router is shocking.

    300mb on WiFi on most devices, eldest son was always going through his data watching Netflix on his phone on a night not had a complaint since.

    0n 600mb with virgin and on ethernet plugged into my nvidia shield getting close to 700mb. Wish I'd done it sooner
     
  8. TitusMagee

    TitusMagee Well-Known Member

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    Mine say 1167 Megabits Per Second so I'm not sure that's correct?
     
  9. roy

    royston tyke Well-Known Member

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    If you are primarily using the mesh as a Wi-Fi extender whilst still keeping your current broadband router from your isp then you will receive those high speeds.

    Try putting your Virgin Router into “modem” mode and you will only receive upto 100mb over WiFi.

    Reason I know this is because I ended up swapping the E4 for the M5 because of this.
     
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  10. Gally

    Gally Administrator Staff Member Admin

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    After I had an extension done, I was surprised to find that cabling isn't always better. The mesh network I have can transfer up to 1.2gbps on it's 5ghz network range with a 4.8gbps backhaul between the three network points I have. A cat 5 cable theoretical max is 1gbps.
     
  11. Gally

    Gally Administrator Staff Member Admin

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    Yes I use Asus Zenwifi. 3 of them around the house. Ive got TalkTalk 1gb fibre coming in and can get a download speed of 850mbs at my laptop at the other side of the house from the main router (with a few walls in between)

    https://www.cclonline.com/90ig06f0-...WHCo5xhws11IvgsqD_iEiMGU9R1uaP5RoC_dIQAvD_BwE

    They work great.

    Another option (probably cheaper) is to use a Power line ethernet with a wifi extender. Plugs into a socket near your router and then put it in another part of the house and it creates a new wifi hotspot.
     
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  12. Gally

    Gally Administrator Staff Member Admin

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    That reminds me, i have an Orbi 3 point mesh system to sell.
     
  13. Andy Mac

    Andy Mac Well-Known Member

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    You wouldn't think I worked in technology :) but ........
    I got the TP-Link the other day. Seems Ok I guess, but not really doing much by the way of downloading (that will change when sprogs #1 and #2 come home for Xmas).
    Looks like it reports real-time data transfer speeds, so everything today is really showing in Kbps. Connectivity and coverage seem OK.

    I have BT Fibre 100 - which when I got it a couple of years back gave me about 70Mb down. Funnily enough it is now consistently 35Mb (ish) ...... just above their minimum guarantee - so I am nowhere near some of you guys in this thread.

    So I have just done a test from my phone, watching a Youtube Vid whilst downloading a Spotify album. Result below - is that what you would expect @Gally and @royston tyke ? Not sure what else I can do regarding tests to see what it is capable of. Will be in touch with BT for an upgrade.

    upload_2022-10-13_14-54-30.png
     
  14. Andy Mac

    Andy Mac Well-Known Member

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    EDIT:
    The app shows the amount of data being transmitted, doh.

    So looking at connection Speed shown on properties of my various wireless devices ......

    433Mbps on my android phone (Wireless 5)
    433 on tablet
    866 on my work laptop (Wireless 5)
    300 on my own laptop (Wireless 4)

    Like Gally alludes to above ....... as good if not better speeds than wire.

    I could see me working in IT ......... lol
     
    Last edited: Oct 13, 2022
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  15. wak

    wakeyred Well-Known Member

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    Hello, looking for advice on whether I can use a similar mesh configuration with my 5G router- it’s not clear if you are supposed to replace your router with theses extenders - but because mines a 5G router I doubt that would work- what I need is something that can plug into an RG45 cable from the 5G router to extend the WI-FI. Is that how they can be setup?

    the reason I use a 5G router is that the “broadband” speed I can get is scandalous, that’s despite having new box into the house and trying all the usual providers - slow and unreliable, all of them. One day they might put cable in the street but I’ve been waiting 20 years and only live a mile from the centre of Wakefield!
     
  16. Bruce

    Bruce Active Member

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    We have a 4g router (TP link archer MR600) as we can’t get broadband either, that has 4 outputs which we use to wire devices and then we have a couple of WiFi mesh extenders (TP Link RE300).

    so you can use mesh with 5G ina similar way, just see if your router manufacturer does any mesh extenders for beat compatibility
     
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  17. Tob

    Tobys Knackers Well-Known Member

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    I have just upgraded to a 5G router and use it as the main unit on a mesh, exactly as you suggested.

    Set up: [​IMG]

    We're 7 miles from exchange and have Fibre to Cabinet only so the best I can get on a line is 50Mbps

    Rigged up an external antenna yesterday and been able to get much more speed too.

    Speed: [​IMG]

    Speed has dropped by the time you get to the living room, but at 90Mbps it's still far more than I used to get.
     

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