Cable Forum

Cable Forum (https://www.cableforum.uk/board/index.php)
-   Networking (https://www.cableforum.uk/board/forumdisplay.php?f=87)
-   -   Mesh Wifi (https://www.cableforum.uk/board/showthread.php?t=33707549)

mrmistoffelees 01-04-2019 09:39

Mesh Wifi
 
My trusty old AC66u unfortunately does not provide great whole house wireless coverage.

I've been looking at either the Asus Lyra or the Linksys Velop

Not sure if the Lyra is compatible with my router?


Anyone own/used either of the above or can suggest alternatives?

Mr_love_monkey 01-04-2019 13:50

Re: Mesh Wifi
 
Depends how you want to do it, and how many cables you want to run

I got one of these a while ago : https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It's POE - so a single cable going to it (it comes with a poe injector if you don't have a POE switch).
Gives me better wifi than my router did, plus does other stuff (like a guest network).
At the moment it's just sitting on my desk, but I'm aiming to mount it somewhere - and possibly buy another one for another part of the house.

... but it is a commercial grade AP - so set up isn't as straight forward (there's an app you need to use) - and then you need a controller - which can either be running on your desk top (but you lose reporting facilities if your desk top isn't on) - or (as I'm doing) run the controller on a raspberry pi - which then gives you a web front end for reporting, and controlling the guest network

Ramrod 01-04-2019 14:36

Re: Mesh Wifi
 
I'm using BT's mesh offering at work and it works really well. I'm tempted to use the ASUS version at home as I have a ASUS router but the cost is a little eyewatering and my finance dept would probably veto the idea :(

Hugh 01-04-2019 16:03

Re: Mesh Wifi
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Ramrod (Post 35989459)
I'm using BT's mesh offering at work and it works really well. I'm tempted to use the ASUS version at home as I have a ASUS router but the cost is a little eyewatering and my finance dept would probably veto the idea :(

Even if you bought her something nice? ;)

ianch99 01-04-2019 16:17

Re: Mesh Wifi
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by mrmistoffelees (Post 35989402)
My trusty old AC66u unfortunately does not provide great whole house wireless coverage.

I've been looking at either the Asus Lyra or the Linksys Velop

Not sure if the Lyra is compatible with my router?


Anyone own/used either of the above or can suggest alternatives?

I have a Asus Mesh solution which is working well, fast and reliable. I sold my AC66U and bought 3 second hand AC68U on eBay. These all use a Cat6 backhaul and provide WiFi throughout the house, one on each floor. The latest ASUS firmware seem solid in the Mesh configuration. On my iPhone I can get my full broadband speed over wifi: 382/21 so the AC68U although a few years old seems more than capable enough.

A friend tried the low end Tenda MW3 3 pack solution at ~£80 from Amazon. He seems very happy with it. Only a 100MHz LAN port but if this is fine then a good cheap house-wide mesh solution. Their MW6 is the next step up but is approx £150 ..

mrmistoffelees 01-04-2019 16:58

Re: Mesh Wifi
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr_love_monkey (Post 35989452)
Depends how you want to do it, and how many cables you want to run

I got one of these a while ago : https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It's POE - so a single cable going to it (it comes with a poe injector if you don't have a POE switch).
Gives me better wifi than my router did, plus does other stuff (like a guest network).
At the moment it's just sitting on my desk, but I'm aiming to mount it somewhere - and possibly buy another one for another part of the house.

... but it is a commercial grade AP - so set up isn't as straight forward (there's an app you need to use) - and then you need a controller - which can either be running on your desk top (but you lose reporting facilities if your desk top isn't on) - or (as I'm doing) run the controller on a raspberry pi - which then gives you a web front end for reporting, and controlling the guest network

I could go commercial as i have a ton of meraki stuff and licensing :D :D

Mr_love_monkey 01-04-2019 17:38

Re: Mesh Wifi
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by mrmistoffelees (Post 35989484)
I could go commercial as i have a ton of meraki stuff and licensing :D :D

You've changed man, it used to be just about the wifi, and now you've gone all commercial....I don't even know who you are anymore.


Meraki I hear is good, but after the licensing runs out you're left with an expensive paperweight.

mrmistoffelees 01-04-2019 18:10

Re: Mesh Wifi
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr_love_monkey (Post 35989492)
You've changed man, it used to be just about the wifi, and now you've gone all commercial....I don't even know who you are anymore.


Meraki I hear is good, but after the licensing runs out you're left with an expensive paperweight.

We just changed over to new hardware despite renewing Meraki licensing for 3yrs (because interfering from the heavens...) so I have loads of time the merakis can be sideloaded as well

I wasn’t sure if the Lyra and velop acted as repeaters and without cabling but if each unit needs a cable then I’ll go commercial because SSID block/spoofing etc :D

General Maximus 05-04-2019 17:55

Re: Mesh Wifi
 
If you are happy with Asus then you just need to upgrade to a mesh wifi option

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-RT-AC6...36&sr=8-2&th=1

ianch99 05-04-2019 19:32

Re: Mesh Wifi
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by General Maximus (Post 35990174)
If you are happy with Asus then you just need to upgrade to a mesh wifi option

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-RT-AC6...36&sr=8-2&th=1

I mentioned this above but I do not think he is interested.

General Maximus 05-04-2019 19:51

Re: Mesh Wifi
 
Sorry i missed it. I was new to thread and read top and bottom skipped the middle.

mrmistoffelees 10-04-2019 09:26

Re: Mesh Wifi
 
sorry both, my apologies for missing posts...

I have an AC66u so dont really want to buy a new router.

I was hoping the lyra or velop would need only cable for the first unit...

Hugh 23-04-2019 07:37

Re: Mesh Wifi
 
Did you get a solution?

I’m thinking of buying this -

https://www.expertreviews.co.uk/netw...ue-mesh-system

ianch99 23-04-2019 11:57

Re: Mesh Wifi
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Hugh (Post 35991913)
Did you get a solution?

I’m thinking of buying this -

https://www.expertreviews.co.uk/netw...ue-mesh-system

Friend of mine has the MW3 model and he is very pleased with it. The MW6 seems to use a single 5MHz channel for backhaul and client traffic but I doubt this will be a real world issue for most people.

If you are quick, Amazon have a "used" one for £129:

https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-...condition=used

jonbxx 24-04-2019 09:08

Re: Mesh Wifi
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Hugh (Post 35991913)
Did you get a solution?

I’m thinking of buying this -

https://www.expertreviews.co.uk/netw...ue-mesh-system

I've got this system and it works well. It's very easy to set up - you plug the first unit in to the router, set this up and the other units connect almost immediately. I currently have 19 devices connected (5 wired, 14 wireless including a V6 box) and it's totally stable, giving an 100Mb wireless connection for my phone using SpeedTest.

Any downsides? I once had the two satellites lose connection and had to reboot everything but this was once in a year. There isn't a web setup utility, you have to use a slightly clunky app but it covers most things. I had a small problem connecting a 2.4g kitchen device (Sous Vide Cooker - first world problems) but that was due to the phone I used to connect being on 5g. Once I sorted that, it was all good.


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 14:34.

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.