Mesh Wi-Fi Advice

Hi everyone,

None footy post sorry, but there’s always someone on here who knows an answer to these things so I thought I’d be cheeky and ask

Does anyone use a mesh Wi-Fi at home, if so are they any good?

my home has an internal brick wall that causes weak WiFi on one side of the house and faster Wi-Fi on the other (the side the router is on).

Does anyone know if mesh Wi-Fi is the answer? Or would I be better cabling to another router on the other side?

thanks in advance for any advice

 

Cabling is always better but comes with the obvious downside of having to do that. You could definitely see some benefits if you put one on each side of the wall and then they’d communicate to each other and send better Wi-Fi out unless your wall is crazy thick. We have BT home hubs that work great. Buy from eBay, you can get way more for your money and generally brand new as they were given away to customers for free for a while so people who don’t need them sell them.

 

We've got the TP-Link Deco M5 Mesh WiFi. Works brilliantly.

We extended our house so our bedroom is the other side of what was originally the external house wall and above an integral garage. So similar challenge to what you describe.
We have one device in the lounge, one in the hallway (next to the original external wall) and one on the landing. We have excellent signal everywhere, even in the garage which has allowed me to use a cycling smart turbo-trainer online and outside in the garden. You can easily add more devices as required.

I think you have to put your main broadband router into "Modem" mode but that aside it's quick to set up and seems really reliable.

 

Yes I used to have tenda mesh which was good. Now have bt whole home with 4 discs which is also decent

 

I've a couple of Asus WiFi 6 routers which has an option to create a Mesh, also got a separate node included in the Mesh although I do need to change it as not as fast as others. I can get 850mb on wireless from office down to main router using a 5ghz back haul instead of Ethernet

 

Have you considered Devolo Powerline or similar system?
I use it and it's excellent. I have my router LAN port plugged into the Devolo base transmitter which in turn is plugged into an electrical power socket. The signal from the router is then transmitted throughout the house using the house electrical wiring system.
I have 2 receiver units plugged into sockets at the far end of the house upstairs which access the signal and broadcasts the wifi into that room.
Really simple and I can move either of the 2 receivers anywhere in the house/garage/shed (as long as they're connected to the house electricity system) and get an excellent wi-fi signal.
Might be worth considering

 

We’ve moved into a new place and Wi-Fi reach poor. Bought TP Link M5 for £80 and it’s superb. Miles miles better that the Wi-Fi extenders

 

Haha, can't stand slow WiFi and running 60gb movie files through Plex on the wireless was a challenge

 

Yep this what I use and works well. Depends on the quality of your electrical wiring though. https://www.tp-link.com/us/powerline/

 

I use an ORBI system as its old stone to get through. Now receives in the conservatory through 3 rooms .

 

BT Wholehome discs - sorted it out for us. 400+ yr old property with walls thicker than Gwyn Thomas's thighs. Poor before, perfect now.

 

Thanks everyone, many great suggestions and some things I’d not thought of. Gives me confidence mesh is worth investing in, and some other approaches worth looking into as well. Thanks everyone

 

Another vote for the TP Link Deco M5. Had mine about a month mainly as I have firesticks on every TV aswell as iPads and iPhones etc….

Really pleased and also allows me to now have WIFi in the garden. Put my virgin hub into modem mode and away I go.

They also have a gigabit Ethernet connection on each device (similar to a power line) which allows my cctv to connect into in the bedroom.

Great bit of kit and also the ease of not having to input your WiFi code in every single device should you change broadband provider.

 

Took the plunge after advice on here and got 3 x TP link Deco E4s. Easy to set up, great signal. Just disabled wifi on router and done.

 

Any thick walls at your place @TitusMagee?

 

Yeah it's an old house so the wifi has never been great. Probably needs rewiring so powerline was a bit hit and miss. Definitely the way to go for us anyway.

 

I’ve been using homeplugs for years. Very effective.