Mesh WiFi Advice

J

Jase

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Greetings all.

I'm a total noob to networking / routers etc.

My WiFi at home has slowly deteriorated over the past few years (specifically the rear AP). Current setup is fibre with a TP-link router hooked up to the ONT. That provides WiFi to the front of the house (Open plan front area with no issues). The back of the house is served via CAT5 cable plugged into a Ubiquiti AP (10/100 iirc). The main issue is the rear of the house has really poor through put (The Signal strength is good).

What I suspect is that the CAT5 has degraded due to heat as the cable is in the ceiling and I have a ceiling gap to the roof of approximately 10cm (In other words no ceiling really to speak of).

Basic house specs:
Size: 200 odd sqm
Older house with lots of layers of paint (if it makes a difference to wifi signal). 3 bedrooms in the rear and a passage leading to the front.

I'd like to go mesh for the convenience of a single access point and a bit of future proofing with gigabit connection and perhaps going a bit along the lines of smart devices down the line. 2.4 and 5.0 ghz needed as I have a few devices that run only on 2.4ghz.

I have around R4k or so to get started.

Any suggestions with links to products would really be appreciated.
 
Your issue is the ubiquity AP running at 10/100 if that's in fact the case.. simply not enough throughput available to sufficiently serve all devices connected to it..

Also, mesh is not a single AP.. mesh is multiple APs spread throughout an area, to provide a single network with seamless switching when a device moves between different areas of the space the mesh devices are covering..

I am pretty sure that, buying two Ubiquity AP AC lite access points, disabling WiFi on the to link, that you would be covered and future proofed..

scoop.co.za

Ubiquiti UniFi AC Dual Band Lite AP | UAP-AC-LITE

Ubiquiti's UAP-AC-LITE is an indoor, WiFi 5, dual band, access point. It is capable of reaching up to 1167Mbps aggregate over both 2.4GHz and 5GHz 2x2 MIMO radios.
scoop.co.za scoop.co.za
 
WAslayer said:
Your issue is the ubiquity AP running at 10/100 if that's in fact the case.. simply not enough throughput available to sufficiently serve all devices connected to it..

Also, mesh is not a single AP.. mesh is multiple APs spread throughout an area, to provide a single network with seamless switching when a device moves between different areas of the space the mesh devices are covering..

I am pretty sure that, buying two Ubiquity AP AC lite access points, disabling WiFi on the to link, that you would be covered and future proofed..

scoop.co.za

Ubiquiti UniFi AC Dual Band Lite AP | UAP-AC-LITE

Ubiquiti's UAP-AC-LITE is an indoor, WiFi 5, dual band, access point. It is capable of reaching up to 1167Mbps aggregate over both 2.4GHz and 5GHz 2x2 MIMO radios.
scoop.co.za scoop.co.za
Click to expand...
Thanks for the advice and clarification. :thumbsup:

Should I replace the CAT5 or will it suffice?
 
Jase said:
Greetings all.

I'm a total noob to networking / routers etc.

My WiFi at home has slowly deteriorated over the past few years (specifically the rear AP). Current setup is fibre with a TP-link router hooked up to the ONT. That provides WiFi to the front of the house (Open plan front area with no issues). The back of the house is served via CAT5 cable plugged into a Ubiquiti AP (10/100 iirc). The main issue is the rear of the house has really poor through put (The Signal strength is good).

What I suspect is that the CAT5 has degraded due to heat as the cable is in the ceiling and I have a ceiling gap to the roof of approximately 10cm (In other words no ceiling really to speak of).

Basic house specs:
Size: 200 odd sqm
Older house with lots of layers of paint (if it makes a difference to wifi signal). 3 bedrooms in the rear and a passage leading to the front.

I'd like to go mesh for the convenience of a single access point and a bit of future proofing with gigabit connection and perhaps going a bit along the lines of smart devices down the line. 2.4 and 5.0 ghz needed as I have a few devices that run only on 2.4ghz.

I have around R4k or so to get started.

Any suggestions with links to products would really be appreciated.
Click to expand...
I have the TPLink M4 Deco 3 pack set up... it just works, easy to install and no issues at all over the two or three months I've had it running. Every room in the house has full speed WIFI...

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OnlyOneKenobi said:
I have the TPLink M4 Deco 3 pack set up... it just works, easy to install and no issues at all over the two or three months I've had it running. Every room in the house has full speed WIFI...

Takealot.com: Online Shopping | SA's leading online store

South Africa's leading online store. Fast, reliable delivery to your door. Many ways to pay. Shop anything you can imagine: TVs, laptops, cellphones, kitchen appliances, toys, books, beauty & more. Shop the mobile app anytime, anywhere.
www.takealot.com www.takealot.com
Click to expand...
Thanks for the recommendation. :thumbsup:
 
Is there any AX (Wi-Fi 6) mesh systems on the market yet?
 
Thor said:
Is there any AX (Wi-Fi 6) mesh systems on the market yet?
Click to expand...
Yup.

TP-Link

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South Africa's leading online store. Fast, reliable delivery to your door. Many ways to pay. Shop anything you can imagine: TVs, laptops, cellphones, kitchen appliances, toys, books, beauty & more. Shop the mobile app anytime, anywhere.
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and Netgear's Nighthawk

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Jase said:
I settled on a Mesh WiFi setup. It took 10 mins to setup and I am getting close to full speed throughout the house (Hard to tell as the grocery eaters are all doing their online thing).

Cheers for all the sagely wisdom peeps.
Click to expand...

Are you still using the cable?
 
WAslayer said:
Yep:

UniFi's New U6+ Claims Top Spot in its Price Class | Blog

scoop.co.za scoop.co.za
Click to expand...
Problem is I have ubiquiti and it's a las. It's not compatible with other hardware (example, I have 2 UAP AC Pros and a UDM, they support wireless uplink, but only to other Unifi devices.).

So buying that AP from scoop means I also need to run a controller or buy one and I need a USG to make use of features included in any other system.

So Unifi, it's cute, it works nice, but unless you buy the entire ecosystem, I'd avoid it.


I'm looking for something like the Tp Link Deca but Wi-Fi 6, as my MikroTik is the firewall and raspberry pi is the DNS and DHCP (SmartDNS and pi hole).

So the tp link will just be a dumb/bridge router (with mesh) on my network.
 
Thor said:
Problem is I have ubiquiti and it's a las. It's not compatible with other hardware (example, I have 2 UAP AC Pros and a UDM, they support wireless uplink, but only to other Unifi devices.).

So buying that AP from scoop means I also need to run a controller or buy one and I need a USG to make use of features included in any other system.

So Unifi, it's cute, it works nice, but unless you buy the entire ecosystem, I'd avoid it.


I'm looking for something like the Tp Link Deca but Wi-Fi 6, as my MikroTik is the firewall and raspberry pi is the DNS and DHCP (SmartDNS and pi hole).

So the tp link will just be a dumb/bridge router (with mesh) on my network.
Click to expand...

Unless you have a really old UDM, the UDM is both the USG and hosts the controller, so you don't need to buy anything extra.. you also have the gigabit ethernet ports to hook up access points, so don't even need a switch.. The UDM was specifically made to combine the USG and cloudkey and switch into a single unit..
 
WAslayer said:
Unless you have a really old UDM, the UDM is both the USG and hosts the controller, so you don't need to buy anything extra.. you also have the gigabit ethernet ports to hook up access points, so don't even need a switch.. The UDM was specifically made to combine the USG and cloudkey and switch into a single unit..
Click to expand...
Sorry, sorry, I mixed up my letters there, I meant EDU.

I have this

UAP-AC-EDU
&
UAP-AC-PRO
 
Hi
Using Asus AiMesh system.
Expensive, Flat I stay in Main RT-AX86U node RT-AC68U
House node RT-AX58U, RT-AX56U lastly RP-AX56.
This covers Flat and House. Need for Wi-Fi camera system.
All routers have 1GB network points. Orange on line 10/100 Power over Ethernet. Currently addressed, need to connect by cable. (Back Haul)

Al AX routers are WiFi 6.

Then walls are the biggest problem. Signal being reduced.
Cameras use 2.4GB signal.
 

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Yourchina2000 said:
So no ethernet backhaul between two of the M4’s?
Click to expand...
Nope, for now one is plugged into the router and the other is sitting next to my bed. Grocery eaters are putting it through it's paces (Phones, Firestick, AppleTV, tablet etc.) and so far no complaints.
 
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