Mesh routers are a game changer that everyone's sleeping on

[super-famicom]

Do the Synology ones come in packs? I can only find individuals on sale.

Click to shrink...

They're sold individually, but I ordered this from Amazon. It's just both units sold together. I use the RT2600ac as my main router, and the MR2200ac as my mesh satellite.

Also, for anyone interested in mesh networking but aren't too knowledgeable or tech savvy, I'd recommend taking a look here:

Mesh Wi-Fi Systems 101: The Best Tips | Dong Knows Tech

It's time to make your Wi-Fi better! Learn all about mesh Wi-Fi systems and find out how to best set up one for your home.

dongknows.com

https://dongknows.com/tag/home-networking-explained/

The author formerly worked for CNET and reviewed routers. I found his articles to be pretty informative. He explains things well, but I think he may use the wrong terms sometimes (which may irk network professionals), but would be easy for non professionals to understand.

 

[No Depth]

Ubiquiti Unifi, not point in even discussing anything else.

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Was between this and Google router for me last summer. I went Google as it's tiny and simple and cheaper. Now I kind of wish I went Unifi.

Google actually works quite well, but it tends to auto swap to 2.4ghz on occasion and it pisses me off when it does. Can't seem to find a way to retain the 5ghz band, at least on PC.

 

[Aztechnology]

My Orbi has been driving me nuts. I have an RBR50 and satellite as well as an additional wall satellite upstairs, and we switched to gigabit internet recently and it's worse coverage and consistency than a single router I've had in the past. I don't know what to do. There's deadzone issues upstairs, slow and inconsistent load speeds. I feel like I've tried everything at this point in various options on the router to get a consistent experience. To no avail.

Edit: Yes this a cry for help

 

[Shadow]

I thought long and hard about getting Mesh, but then I read more about it and that extra stuff makes things worse in the long run for stuff like game streaming (which I'm big on locally)etc, unless the other parts of the mesh system are hardwired, which is a no go for this house.

I just went with a near-highest end nighthawk since it was on sale and for future proofing (AX etc). It covers the 3500sq house without deadzones compared to the TP-Link archer c9 beforehand. Handles a gigabit line with 30+ devices without problems as well. If I ever get a 2 gigabit line it'll handle that too.

 

[super-famicom]

Does anyone have a recommendation for WiFi heatmap apps, either for PC or Android?

 

[Darknight]

My Orbi has been driving me nuts. I have an RBR50 and satellite as well as an additional wall satellite upstairs, and we switched to gigabit internet recently and it's worse coverage and consistency than a single router I've had in the past. I don't know what to do. There's deadzone issues upstairs, slow and inconsistent load speeds. I feel like I've tried everything at this point in various options on the router to get a consistent experience. To no avail.

Edit: Yes this a cry for help

Click to shrink...

Two things that you've probably already tried but I'll ask anyway.

1) Have you tried repositioning the satellites relative to the main router? I'm wondering if you've pushed them too far apart. You mention gigabit Internet and depending on what you're doing, relaying from the router, to a satellite to another satellite can certainly take a hit in the speed in the upper range. I know I had to utilize an ethernet backhaul in order to get better speeds when connecting to the satellites which seemed to imply relaying to the satellite can take a hit.
2) Have you tried factory resetting the router and the satellites? I know that's a last ditch effort, but I know in the past, it was recommend to clean it out as some stale stuff during upgrades could cause problems.

 

[Aztechnology]

Two things that you've probably already tried but I'll ask anyway.

1) Have you tried repositioning the satellites relative to the main router? I'm wondering if you've pushed them too far apart. You mention gigabit Internet and depending on what you're doing, relaying from the router, to a satellite to another satellite can certainly take a hit in the speed in the upper range. I know I had to utilize an ethernet backhaul in order to get better speeds when connecting to the satellites which seemed to imply relaying to the satellite can take a hit.
2) Have you tried factory resetting the router and the satellites? I know that's a last ditch effort, but I know in the past, it was recommend to clean it out as some stale stuff during upgrades could cause problems.

Click to shrink...

Hey yea I've tried the first many different ways as we have 4 coaxial setups throughout the house. It hasn't resolved the situation. I hadn't reset back to factory because I needed the most recent firmware to connect the RBW30 to the RBR50 and that was a pain to negotiate. But I'm going to try going back to base firmware and just the router and single satellite setup. I'll get back to you. Thanks.

 

[Lashes.541]

What do you use now and how does it compare?

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Right now I'm just using a super old netgear from like 2009 that cost 150$ lol. But to be honest I have zero issues with it, my place is only 500sq feet but it range makes it all the way to my car that's at least 30 meters from my house, and it handles my internet speed that's about 150 up and 20 down. So no issues with 4K on multiple TVs streaming or online games.

 

[Lashes.541]

It's lemon of a joke.

it's a version a of the R7800 which I own and others who use open firmware and wan't something semi beefy with lots of customization. You can easily score those down from that price range at half or 175-200$ depending on sales.

Why bother it's og version is better, cheaper and more frequently used by enthusiast.

Despite people own experiences most of my clan uses customized versions that I've done the firmware on. Routers can be hit or miss but if you got a solid architecture and some luck you can do some sweet shit with them.

Click to shrink...

That makes sense, I'm not tech savvy enough to run Costom firmware. I was just pissed to have a 300$ paperweight after a couple months.

 

[Geoff]

You can get a mesh network with an ethernet backhaul though. So with a mesh network setup that supports an ethernet backhaul, you get a setup that manages hand off between access points much better than a bunch of access points. I researched this quite a bit before jumping on but it was supposed to be one of the advantages of getting one over just setting up access points. It's not like I was using poor quality hardware for the access points either at the time.

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Yeah. My house is very long since there are some converted stables round the back that now serve as extra living space. My office is at the far end. My internet comes in through the extreme opposite end of the house. Fortunately the previous owner had a CAT5e cable run all way round the house from the main modem at the front to the far end. So I have wired Google Mesh pucks at either end plus three more in the middle giving decent speeds in all areas and excellent speeds where I need them most. I've only had one issue with my Sonos system insisting on picking up a signal from a puck in the kitchen instead of the one right beneath it but I was able to correct this by switching off the puck in the kitchen and forcing it to reconnect more appropriately. Since then no issues. One network for the entire place. Part of the reason I bought them was to get away from having multiple access points and always having to flip from one to the other.

 

[Interested Observer]

Any thoughts on these? They're on sale today only.

NETGEAR Orbi Whole Home Mesh Wi-Fi Network System - Eliminate WiFi Dead Zones and Enhance Speeds With Up To 4500 sq ft coverage, Replaces Router and Wifi Booster (RBK13) https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07YQGS2W8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_TBNoEbWSZHEKY

 

[SpaceCrystal]

I don't know; I wound up going with the AC1750 Wi-Fi Range Extender from TP-Link. It also has a Gigabit Ethernet port.

Reason being that I keep freezing & buffering whenever I'm streaming something from my Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K. And I live in a home with 1,195 Square Feet & use Cox Panoramic Wi-Fi.

 

[Poody]

I got 2 eero pros setup at my 1500 Sf loft. The area of this loft is L shaped. One is wired to the verizon 5g antenna, and the other is meshed. The in-app speedtest ave around 950/100 Mbps (wired) and wireless speedtest on fast.com is about 450/85 Mbps on my devices. Not complaining but you do lose a lot of speed on wireless. Hoping Eero releasing wifi 6 soon

Also eero supports homekit now.

 

[Deleted member 29249]

Had nothing but problems with my google mesh setup(6 pods), shit wouldnt stay connected even with in eye sight of each other. Now using just the new xfinity router and have faster more reliable Wi-Fi in my entire house.

 

[Darknight]

Had nothing but problems with my google mesh setup(6 pods), shit wouldnt stay connected even with in eye sight of each other. Now using just the new xfinity router and have faster more reliable Wi-Fi in my entire house.

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Wow, this is the first time I've ever heard of someone having a problem with a Google setup. I wonder what was causing the problem.

 

[Deleted member 29249]

Wow, this is the first time I've ever heard of someone having a problem with a Google setup. I wonder what was causing the problem.

Click to shrink...

no clue at 1st thought it was the walls in the new house. no matter how close I got them to each other there connection to each other was always weak.

my old 2 story house was fine with just 3 so we got 3 more and it didn't help (even though this is just a much bigger 1 story home).


it could have been an update that boinked them, did read a lot of post saying they randomly switched off and reset after and update and they had no fix yet.

the free xfinity one works great though so I'm happy.

 

[Seaners182]

Does anyone have any experience with the Netgear Orbi AX6000 or Asus Zen WiFi AX mesh systems? Both are tri-band and the price of the Asus is much more reasonable then the Orbi. I have a Netgear Nighthawk 1900 currently and over the past few weeks it seems I lose WiFi over the 5ghz channel and need to reboot the router and modem. Looking to upgrade to a WiFi 6 mesh system and was looking at these two.

 

[Parisi]

Does anyone have any experience with the Netgear Orbi AX6000 or Asus Zen WiFi AX mesh systems? Both are tri-band and the price of the Asus is much more reasonable then the Orbi. I have a Netgear Nighthawk 1900 currently and over the past few weeks it seems I lose WiFi over the 5ghz channel and need to reboot the router and modem. Looking to upgrade to a WiFi 6 mesh system and was looking at these two.

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not many thing support Wifi6 yet. Are you looking to just future proof your purchase? If so I read good thing about the Netgear AX6000 model, but at $700, I feel it's still a niche product and not yet something for most homes. If you could make do for a bit longer with your current setup, I think we'll see the price start to come down on the Wifi 6 routers when more products start to really take advantage of it.

 

[Seaners182]

Thanks for the response. Yes I'm looking more to future proof. I read good reviews of the Orbi but the price is makes it difficult to justify. CNET just reviewed the Asus and it was on par with the Orbi but much cheaper.

 

[pestul]

I was loving my Asus aimesh setup but it seems to be getting flakey lately (device drop outs). I wonder if there's some channel interference.. back to diagnosis.

 

[Dreams-Visions]

Back to again say my Eero system has been fucking flawless.

It's rare to be able to say anything "just works", but Eero just works. It updates itself. It's easy to work with, easy to set up custom settings, has a fantastic app, and I've had zero issues streaming internally or remotely (via Plex). Never flaky. Never a bad signal. Never issues of any kind.

It is a 10/10 purchase, and I'm someone who in the past has been a DD-WRT/Advanced Tomato guy on the best Netgear and Linksys have had to offer. I will stan Eero because it changed the game in my home. If you're looking for a truly reliable system that you'll never have to give a second thought to in terms of stability or functionality, go Eero and thank me later.

 

[Rondre Tibet]

Back to again say my Eero system has been fucking flawless.

It's rare to be able to say anything "just works", but Eero just works. It updates itself. It's easy to work with, easy to set up custom settings, has a fantastic app, and I've had zero issues streaming internally or remotely (via Plex). Never flaky. Never a bad signal. Never issues of any kind.

It is a 10/10 purchase, and I'm someone who in the past has been a DD-WRT/Advanced Tomato guy on the best Netgear and Linksys have had to offer. I will stan Eero because it changed the game in my home. If you're looking for a truly reliable system that you'll never have to give a second thought to in terms of stability or functionality, go Eero and thank me later.

Click to shrink...

What exactly do you use if you dont mind me asking? Lookiing for something that covers 1700 sq ft. I have Att uverse internet. With at keast 20 devices. And do you have a link to Amazon.

 

[Gif]

Hey guys would love sone help on which MESH network to buy.

Live in a pretty big house (7 beds) and 3 stories and our router struggles hard to cope - it just doesn't reach parts of the house, so have to use mobile data instead.

Because it's been recently built there's ethernet ports throughout the house, so I'd love for the MESH network to be able to use those rather than rely on WIFI from the router and the MESH points.

Any specific recommendations with the ethernet situation in mind?

 

[Dreams-Visions]

What exactly do you use if you dont mind me asking? Lookiing for something that covers 1700 sq ft. I have Att uverse internet. With at keast 20 devices. And do you have a link to Amazon.

Click to shrink...

I use a setup with 3 Eero base stations and 2x extenders.

So these guys:

this package - https://www.bestbuy.com/site/eero-p...-2nd-generation-white/5873518.p?skuId=5873518

2x - https://www.bestbuy.com/site/eero-beacon-ac-white/5873520.p?skuId=5873520

Square footage is about 4,500.

In the past I've tried various configurations of multiple routers. Nighthawks and so on. Sometimes daisy chained, sometimes not. Never worked perfectly for a variety of reasons, usually needing multiple networks to deal with handoff issues (sometimes devices would connect to the farthest router and have a very poor signal; sometimes devices wouldn't switch routers when moving from one side of the home to the other, poor 5Ghz badwidth range, and so on). Even when it was working as best it could, signals were questionable in the further reaches. I picked up some Netgear extenders along the way and they were extremely hit/miss, requiring their own special configurations to communicate with the base router, would sometimes lose their configurations after power outtages, and so on. It was hella inconvenient and had frequent issues.

All solved with Eero. No bullshit, I have 5 bars everywhere including on the tennis court, no issues with any devices wireless regardless of age. I use a couple of Switches in certain areas for ethernet cabling as desired. Extenders ("beacons") work perfectly, no special setup required. For the first time in 20 years, I have zero complaints about my wireless hardware.

 

[nekkid]

Any UK owners with Sky Q here? If you have Sky Fibre it allows all your Sky Q devices to create a mesh network, but is it possible to get it to create that with a different broadband provider?

 

[TheMadTitan]

Back to again say my Eero system has been fucking flawless.

It's rare to be able to say anything "just works", but Eero just works. It updates itself. It's easy to work with, easy to set up custom settings, has a fantastic app, and I've had zero issues streaming internally or remotely (via Plex). Never flaky. Never a bad signal. Never issues of any kind.

It is a 10/10 purchase, and I'm someone who in the past has been a DD-WRT/Advanced Tomato guy on the best Netgear and Linksys have had to offer. I will stan Eero because it changed the game in my home. If you're looking for a truly reliable system that you'll never have to give a second thought to in terms of stability or functionality, go Eero and thank me later.

Click to shrink...

It really does. I returned my Eero because I wanted triband and something with VPN support and bought the TPLink that didn't actually have proper VPN support and I'm currently using the Velop from Linksys, but I don't like the app.

I'm just going to get the Eero pro. There's some good deals on eBay. I'll just repurpose my Raspberry Pi I never figured out to get Pi-Hole to work on without killing my streaming devices and slap OpenVPN on it instead of looking for a router with it.

 

[Dreams-Visions]

It really does. I returned my Eero because I wanted triband and something with VPN support and bought the TPLink that didn't actually have proper VPN support and I'm currently using the Velop from Linksys, but I don't like the app.

I'm just going to get the Eero pro. There's some good deals on eBay. I'll just repurpose my Raspberry Pi I never figured out to get Pi-Hole to work on without killing my streaming devices and slap OpenVPN on it instead of looking for a router with it.

Click to shrink...

Good call. Best of luck on it.

 

[captive]

Hey guys would love sone help on which MESH network to buy.

Live in a pretty big house (7 beds) and 3 stories and our router struggles hard to cope - it just doesn't reach parts of the house, so have to use mobile data instead.

Because it's been recently built there's ethernet ports throughout the house, so I'd love for the MESH network to be able to use those rather than really on WIFI from the router and the MESH points.

Any specific recommendations with the ethernet situation in mind?

Click to shrink...

Ubiquiti, no contest. Use the ethernet as your back haul for the wifi. 2 APs cover my large area.

 

[low-G]

I live in a 121,000 sq foot complex and needed mesh to get a signal through the 2 feet thick 24 karat solid gold walls. Damn things are like a Faraday cage.

 

[linkboy]

I'm going to be in the market for a new router soon. Gave my old Asus OnHub to my mother in law since she was using an old piece of shit router that came from her internet provider.

I'd love to get my hands on an Ubiquiti setup at some point, but that's a long ways down the road.

 

[LordDraven]

Does this replace my comcast infinity modem/router combo?

 

[Darknight]

Does this replace my comcast infinity modem/router combo?

Click to shrink...

Modem, no, but router, yes. You could still use your modem/router as the modem and then add this on top of it though.

 

[LordDraven]

Modem, no, but router, yes. You could still use your modem/router as the modem and then add this on top of it though.

Click to shrink...

Thanks! Does it auto "stop using" the router in the combo?

 

[Darknight]

Thanks! Does it auto "stop using" the router in the combo?

Click to shrink...

I'm not familiar with Xfinity's cable modem/router hardware but my guess would be no. You'd have to go into the settings to disable the router portion.

 

[ParityBit]

I cant decide as to what to get. I am getting Gigabit FIOS soon and I have Google Wifi. I read they throttle and are not all that good for the higher speed.

Any suggestions? I was looking at Eero Pro, or the Orbi RBK852 I am not sure though. I have about 3000 sq to cover.

 

[Shadownet]

Does anyone have a modem recommendation? Something $100 or less. I just need something reliable since sometimes while playing Overwatch or Fortnite on PC, I would get lag spikes. (Connecting PC via WiFi and has Spectrum)

 

[spad3]

Yeah, I got Google WiFi set up in my house and it's amazing. My gaming PC is not close to the modem, so my options were to either get a USB WiFi card, or run a long ass cable to the office to get internet. Tried the WiFi card, and download speeds were like 15 mbps.

Looked into Google WiFi, set up one of the access points in the office. Plugged an Ethernet cord into the access point, and now I get 275 mbps download on my gaming PC. It's amazing.

Click to shrink...

This is exactly what I did. I even get fantastic service OUTSIDE my house in my backyard and front yard. The range on the Google WiFi points is phenomenal and it's super easy to manage via the Google WiFi app.

 

[The Albatross]

Does anyone have a modem recommendation? Something $100 or less. I just need something reliable since sometimes while playing Overwatch or Fortnite on PC, I would get lag spikes. (Connecting PC via WiFi and has Spectrum)

Click to shrink...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XH46MWW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Bought this in 2018 when upgraded to 400mbps service, it's been great. Might want to go to one of the higher downstreams now, though honestly mine was rated for 400mbps and I average a good deal more than that.

I also have spectrum. Setup was easy, plugged it in and had to call Spectrum but the automated line activated it in a couple minutes.

 

[ChrisR]

Really wish these would ship with more LAN ports :(

 

[AndyD]

How does a mesh enabled router differ from having multiple routers (all in wall wired) all set to the same SSID/password? I am thinking from a user experience at home not some complex business setup.

 

[Mesoian]

I live in a 121,000 sq foot complex and needed mesh to get a signal through the 2 feet thick 24 karat solid gold walls. Damn things are like a Faraday cage.

Click to shrink...

I think I'm gonna get the unifi mesh router after I get my next pay check.

::Sigh:: Time to spend some money...

 

[Darknight]

How does a mesh enabled router differ from having multiple routers (all in wall wired) all set to the same SSID/password? I am thinking from a user experience at home not some complex business setup.

Click to shrink...

A mesh setup will handle handing off to a different access point when moving around the network. Multiple routers with the same SSID will try to hold on to the connection as long as possible even though the signal is weak and there is a better connection available. I moved away from that to go to a mesh for that reason.

 

[AndyD]

A mesh setup will handle handing off to a different access point when moving around the network. Multiple routers with the same SSID will try to hold on to the connection as long as possible even though the signal is weak and there is a better connection available. I moved away from that to go to a mesh for that reason.

Click to shrink...

Gotcha. So for stationary devices running off the routers (non moving, say a smart speaker) there would be little if any difference? I guess I am trying to decide whether this would be worth it for me at all from my current setup which is 3 wired routers spread across as best as possible.

 

[Darknight]

Gotcha. So for stationary devices running off the routers (non moving, say a smart speaker) there would be little if any difference? I guess I am trying to decide whether this would be worth it for me at all from my current setup which is 3 wired routers spread across as best as possible.

Click to shrink...

It's still possible for there to be fighting between them and a device could connect to a further away access point, but if you're not noticing any issues, then I wouldn't bother. It was most noticeable for me with my phone and laptop, especially the phone.

 

[ParityBit]

Does anyone have any experience with the routers I listed above?

 

[Dreams-Visions]

Does anyone have any experience with the routers I listed above?

Click to shrink...

read my previous posts above your post.

 

[ParityBit]

read my previous posts above your post.

Click to shrink...

Interesting. That is good to know. I know that the other system (Orbi Wifi 6) got amazing reviews. It also just dropped $100 in price on Amazon.

It is tough when you read these reviews to know what to!

Edit: Screw it, I picked up the Orbi. Now I need to figure out how to merge it into my house. Wait untilafter Verizon installs everything or give it to them to install with the new ONI?

 

[Shadownet]

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XH46MWW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Bought this in 2018 when upgraded to 400mbps service, it's been great. Might want to go to one of the higher downstreams now, though honestly mine was rated for 400mbps and I average a good deal more than that.

I also have spectrum. Setup was easy, plugged it in and had to call Spectrum but the automated line activated it in a couple minutes.

Click to shrink...

I just got done installing this modem and calling Spectrum to activate it. Literally went from having around 110mpbs to 200 mpbs on a 100mbps plan! I literally doubled my download speed by getting rid of the old modem. Amazing!

 

[The Albatross]

I just got done installing this modem and calling Spectrum to activate it. Literally went from having around 110mpbs to 200 mpbs on a 100mbps plan! I literally doubled my download speed by getting rid of the old modem. Amazing!

Click to shrink...

Awesome!
I had a similar.experience back when I was on their 60mb plan.

I'm on their 300 now available around Boston central mass and routinely get 450mb disn.

 

[Shadownet]

Awesome!
I had a similar.experience back when I was on their 60mb plan.

I'm on their 300 now available around Boston central mass and routinely get 450mb disn.

Click to shrink...

Did you notice an increase in ping or latency in games afterward?