Wi-Fi Mesh Vs Network Repeater

Unclebully on 13/01/2022 - 15:15
Last edited 13/01/2022 - 15:23 by 1 other user

Hi guys,

Property we've recently purchased looks to only have 1 telephone jack at the far room which leaves the rest of the house with pretty crappy wifi signal.

As we only have FTTN I've read that a repeater will effectively half the speed whereas a mesh setup will give 80% of the total speed.

I currently have a pass-through powerline adapter setup with the other end in the middle room (2 RJ45 slots available).

Will a mesh enabled router be able to just be plugged into one of the RJ45's and create a good signal to the rest of the house? If so any suggestions as to what model i should go for?

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  Muzeeb on 13/01/2022 - 15:18

  +2

  Do you have a spare wifi router?

  Running a cat5 cable through the walls and roof space and adding the spare wifi router to the other end of the house can do wonders.

  It's cheap. It works. Just take more effort to physically setup.

  • 

    Unclebully on 13/01/2022 - 15:25

    No spare router available im just using the stock standard ISP supplied one. Have thought of getting someone in to run cabling but am just seeing if there is a less invasive way to get signal to the other side of the house at the moment.

  • 

    trustnoone on 13/01/2022 - 15:31

    +1

    Running a cat5 cable through the walls

    Also just an FYI, I heard if its deemed as a "permanent" fixture then you may legally require an electrician to put it through the wall. It always surprised me, but may impact any legal/insurance you may have.

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  JimmyF on 13/01/2022 - 15:21

  +4

  Yes use a mesh wifi system. It creates a single SSID/wireless name throughout the house.

  They generally just need the first device to be hardwired to the router, and the rest can be connected by the wireless mesh. But if you have ethernet connections around, you can hardwire them too.

  TP Link deco range is pretty good and can be priced well. Used the M5 before without too many issues. The E4 are very budget friendly and will be fine for most peoples use case.

  Have a read over

  https://www.tp-link.com/au/home-networking/deco/deco-m5/

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  jv on 13/01/2022 - 15:33

  +10

  Wi-Fi Mesh Vs Network Repeater

  Mesh…

  Thread closed.

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  avoidfullprice on 13/01/2022 - 15:39

  +1

  Will mesh help? Yes. But no a single mesh router will not work.

  Mesh requires more than one node to make it work. Your mobile/laptop connects to the node and the mesh deals with the traffic.

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  geek001 on 13/01/2022 - 15:48

  +2

  Depending on your max internet speed you are getting. If you are after no-frills and budget, the Tenda branded ones will do. The next step up from there are the TP-link Deco series. Personally, I have the Deco M5 and I am pretty happy with it. If you are worried about the wifi speeds being halved, you can get the ones with a dedicated backhaul channel, like the Deco M9 plus. Or, you can get the newer wifi 6 ones for futureproofing.

  • 

    JimmyF on 13/01/2022 - 19:00

    +1

    They're on FTTN, there is going to be no 'max' speed issues on those types of connections :)

    I would say go the TP Link E4 over the Tenda, a 3 pack is about $140 on amazon delivered, 2 pack is $90.

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  Crosscade on 13/01/2022 - 16:17

  +1

  "As we only have FTTN I've read that a repeater will effectively half the speed whereas a mesh setup will give 80% of the total speed."

  You'll only really be looking at halving the WiFi speed obtainable, not the FTTN speed itself. Provided that the WiFi signal is strong enough to give a wireless speed in excess of the FTTN speed, you'll likely not notice if all you are concerned with is internet speeds. A tri-band set up I think removes this issue with a dedicated wireless connection between nodes.

  You also need to ensure that you get good enough signal between each node wirelessly though, it is not good enough to place the mesh node wirelessly in a blackspot, as it still needs to communicate wirelessly back (if you place in a place with poor signal it isn't going to improve it beyond what it can receive).

  There are a lot of benefits though from a dedicated cabled backhaul between any wireless nodes though, such as higher device to device speeds and less latency (not sure how noticeable in reality). You also don't need to worry able the wireless communication between any nodes, and more just concentrate on where you need signal.

  If going wireless only, you'll probably want at least a 3-node mesh system so you can place one near your router, one somewhat centrally in the house, and maybe another near the end of the house (though not at the furthest point). That should provided pretty good coverage of most houses.

  The powerline ethernet setup might be a good middle ground, probably will provide a more stable connection between wireless nodes, and is obviously fairly flexible in placement. Just test your speeds and make sure you are syncing at fast enough speeds. You'd probably get away with a two node system in that case with one at the router and one whereever you get your worst speeds.

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  reunig on 13/01/2022 - 16:18

  +1

  We have an Orbi RBK50 that works really good in our place similar to your situation. Mesh just works, with no mucking around.

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  spackbace on 13/01/2022 - 16:51

  Have 3x TP-Link Deco M5 and love it, it just works! No issues streaming 4K around the house on 100/40

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  viewfinder on 13/01/2022 - 17:06

  Mesh - it is quite nice and easy. What's your budget and requirements?

  Considering that you already have a Powerline adapter, you maybe able to still use that as the ethernet backhaul on one of the mesh nodes.

  i.e.
  FTTN modem> primary powerline adapter & mesh#1 via ethernet> secondary powerline adapter wired connection with mesh#2 for ethernet backhaul> mesh#3 in another room would just be connected to the other 2 nodes wirelessly.