School me on WIFI Mesh systems...

What do you have now? Do you have trouble getting a signal where you need it?

I would think that a quality wifi router should be able to cover that by itself, depending on the layout etc. But if not then any of the mesh systems with the router device plus one mesh point should be more than sufficient. I don't think I've actually seen any deal-breaking negative reviews for any of the mesh systems, everyone seems pretty happy with whatever they go with. Probably because even the worst system with multiple access points is going to give better coverage than all but the best single point systems.

Personally, I would look into Ubiquiti's line of mesh systems just because I like most of their other networking products, but I'm a bit of a fanboy here so take that as you will.

As I said others seem happy with google/nest wifi, orbi, etc. I really don't think you can go wrong.

I have two friends using TP Link Deco m5 without complaints.

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I have two friends using TP Link Deco m5 without complaints.

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Can confirm that the TP Link Deco is solid. Zero issues.

I have also set up the google wifi for my fiancees family and it was pretty seamless as well. Google Wifi is working for a 2 story house with ease.

both were extremely easy to hook up.

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Looking at the orbi and ubuqiti are 2-3 times as expensive. Are they 2-3 times better?

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No.



If you are not aware of a feature offered by one brand that another is missing, there is almost no chance that one brand is significantly better than another in your situation, assuming that you are comparing similar WiFi protocols (WiFi 6/802.11ax vs 802.11ac vs 802.11n...)


That said, there is also almost no chance that WiFi 6 is better than 802.11ac for most people as well. I would save the money on that if that amount of money is significant to you.

Everyone sells lemons. Everyone has a warranty of some sort. I don’t know of a company that I would blanket avoid (at least that has been mentioned in this thread). You’re probably best off by choosing the one you like the app best.

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Can confirm that the TP Link Deco is solid. Zero issues.

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I will third that. I got it bc it was cheap, I run 3 of them.

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Also, the "prosumer" Ubiquiti gear is pretty cheap. I have the USG ($139) and 2 APs ($89 each), so less than $350 worth of gear. CAT6 cost about $20 and of course I spent a couple hours installing, but it didn't come close to $1k all in. Both APs are inside and I get coverage well over 100 feet outside the house. I could add an outdoor AP for another $100 and cover the whole block.

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yea but the system i want is a USG pro4, cloud key(for the ATT security transfer), a bigger switch and a couple APs. last time i prices everything it was approaching 1k.

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dont mke it harder than it is. a mesh system is just a fancy term to say wireless APs. Those APs can usually pickgyback on one other. but in a nut shell, they are just APs that talk to the main router wirelessly instead of hardwired.

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Well the "talking" technology on the mesh systems is different but essentially to the layman you are correct...it is basically the home version of the cloud managed wireless AP systems that most companies use in some way, shape, or form today.....hot business class brand is Cisco's Meraki I believe.

Everyone can benefit from a better setup, like Ubiquity. Wifi routers off the shelf are crap

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Orbi mesh as the router, my gig speeds were cut in half

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dumb question, but did you set both the gateway and the orbi to negotiate gigabit, full duplex in their settings?
Since you called yourself a beginner, but I know you’re fairly adept:
And did your hardwired speed get cut in half or your WiFi ones? WiFi speeds will probably only reach that for a single device on the network during a benchmarking test only. And you’ll need MIMO 3 or 4 on a 5GHz network on both the router and the client.

I have gigabit speeds. I can do as well as 950mbps over the wire. Real devices on my network outside of test scenarios (single ssid, line of sight, bonded channels with minimal interference as determined by Unifi’s test...I did get it to read 800mbps once) are 300-350mbps. Sometimes I get 380mbps. But the real world performance between these is negligible for essentially anything short of downloading multi-gig files. Someone worried about that needs their machine that does that wired, or they’re going to be disappointed.