re: Home Mesh Wifi

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Ah, yeah, those aren't a mesh system thing.

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just when I thought I knew which ones to get.

I am still undecided now

Orbi/Linksys/ Ubiquiti????

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they look just like the APs but he's got them strung up outdoors. so its a ubiquiti 'branded' product but not part of the core MESH tech

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It's not what people are referring to as mesh systems. It's AP tech, but not one of the package bundle type systems that people are referring to as mesh to make it easier on the consumers to purchase them.

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is there a generic 'wifi mesh' type of thing or is this just a made up term to sell a particular ecosystem?

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There is a generic term for mesh that is just the interconnection of devices. It's a very broad term to cover a lot of shite.

Companies are selling mesh wifi as packages of base station/satellites to blanket somewhere with wifi.

So you are doing mesh connections even if you don't buy mesh systems.

You can create your own "mesh" systems out of wireless routers, but it wont be nearly as seamless and it's more work to get them setup.

Orbi, Google wifi, etc give you a near plug and play mesh system to expand your wifi

Yeah, what I really don't like about Google is it's very cloud based. It barely has any storage for it's firmware. Which is a great thing because the semi AI stuff they are doing with it is very neat, but it's also dependent on them. If they just on a whim stop supporting it like they tend to do on some stuff, you basically no longer have a working product.

yeah that concerns me as well. so we have

google weakest entrant technology feature-wise and worrisome they aren't even promoting on their storefront main page
ubiquiti amplifi? dont even know what to buy here; i thought i needed white disks with blue lights but it looks like some funky tuning-fork access points in the kit that dont have PoE capability
netgear orbi legendary shitty netgear customer service but supposedly a decent system
linksys velop wtf $500?
asus aimesh not even trying. they're just sticking 2 AC68Us in a box together for $280 and telling you to turn on aimesh in the software. if i wanted to use a 4 year old router, i'd keep using the one i already have.

any other competitors at this point? i see some $600+ systems with few reviews..

ETA i'm also going to have to spring for a switch since my current router is filled up (ethernet to basement plex server, hue hub, tmobile LTE hub, ethernet to switch in living room where tv, amazon fire, sonosnet and chromecast 4K live...). probably need to spring for something between 8-24 that includes PoE.

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ubiquiti amplifi? dont even know what to buy here; i thought i needed white disks with blue lights but it looks like some funky tuning-fork access points in the kit that dont have PoE capability

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How large of a house are you trying to cover and do you have any separate buildings you are trying to cover and how far away are they?

You could do what I am seriously considering for $250 if it fits your needs. Still trying to figure out if the tri band is fully function if you do wired backhauling.

I am looking at buying two Amplifi HD routers, not the full system. The night light/tuning fork won’t be part of my setup. The two routers will function just like one router and one tuning fork except you will get some hardwire options to do wired backhauling and wired connections at the satellite since the router has 4 lan ports/1 wan.

I have had good luck with Plume wifi. Each node can do wired backhaul, you can connect it to your existing router or directly to a modem. They look nice and only block one plug on a outlet so the wife doesn't complain.

They do have a cloud based component which will optimize how each node routes traffic based on your usage.

They only sell directly from their website so many people haven't heard of them but Comcast has integrated their tech into their latest routers so they seem to be doing well.

i have google mesh covering about 4500 square feet with no problem. using cox internet 100/10

from my research you can't go wrong with any of the top units.

the more i read about asus 'aimesh' the more i like it.

i'm now leaning towards buying 2 older (AC1900) routers and hooking this system up. Newegg has them for $95/ea

i like the idea of 2 full powered routers handling the mesh instead of AP 'dongles'.

its too bad they blacklisted the tmo branded AC1900; that would have been a very inexpensive way to set this up.

yeah i may be drinking the koolaid here...