Internet extenders, Repeaters vs. Powerlines vs. Mesh networks

mtw1

Hi, We have blackout spots with my wireless internet coverage in our house.

Our provider says we should get 72mbps, beside the router which is in a room that used to be a garage and has thick walls we can get about 55mbps. In the room beside that it goes down to about 50, but in some areas of the house it goes to 20 and in one of the upstairs rooms down to 3 mbps!

The router they provided is apparently pretty ok, it's an The Huawei HHG2500 and is of the abgn ac variety. It would be difficult to move the router without some major rewiring so I was thinking of getting some extenders for the house, but am curious to know which type to get. Powerline or mesh or repeater?

My budget is about up to £120, and we'll mostly be using the internet while stationary so moving about isn't an issue. I know mesh setups can be expensive and but have the advantage of being able to set up multiple bases to cover all the deadzones. On the otherhand if I had a decent powerline extender I could put it inbetween the two main problem areas as they aren't too far apart from each other, also the powerline would negate the problem of the thick walls where the router is situated, but would it do it any better than a mesh set up?

Any help/recommendation for extenders would be greatly appreciated

Thanks for reading

Mark

mushii

I would ask @Bl4ckGryph0n he is pretty knowledgeable on mesh networks.

Bl4ckGryph0n

I’ve got a similar setup. Main point comes into our garage with thick load bearing walls. Having a router with WiFi in there by itself doesn’t provide sufficiently strong coverage across our property.

I started off many moons ago with 200Mbps powerline connectors. But our electrics didn’t cause interference at times. It got better when we had a new consumer board installed but still intermittent issues.

I then moved to the Devolo 1200Mbps homeplugs with WiFi access points build in. This was a lot better, a lot. But still could not handle sustained transfer speeds.

Cabling up our property would be a very last resort, but I was getting close to that when making the jump to 4K TV and streaming.

When mesh WiFi became affordable at a consumer level I thought I would give that a try. I bought the Tenda MW3 as that is sufficient for our broadband. Five nodes dotted around the house. Had that for over a year and it’s the best it’s ever been. We now stream from multiple rooms, I’ve been working mainly from home since June. Very stable and very good.

This is how our layout looks. Total cost was £126.

                                                                       

mtw1

Great, that sounds like a plan then, thank you for your in depth answer, it is very much appreciated

Mark

mickevh

You can have multiple powerline nodes too - it's not restricted to just two. Though there is competition for "air time" on the mains circuit in the same way as Wi-Fi.

With all Wi-Fi deployments consisting of multiple hotspot (a "cellular" coverage pattern) the "game" is about how one achieves the "backhaul" links between the AP themselves and between the rest of the (wired) network. "Proper" cabled ethernet is the fastest and most reliable. If that's not possible, the it used to be that HomePlug was probably "next best" then least good was using Wi-Fi for backhaul as well as client access (whether that is using repeaters, or "mesh" links.)

The argument for not using Wi-Fi for backhaul is that in Wi-Fi systems, "only on thing at a time can transmit" in each cell, so the backhaul and client access transmissions are competing with each other for air time which eats into the available throughput (speed.) By offloading the backhaul onto the mains, it's one less thing competing for Wi-Fi air time. But it's not without it's own problems if your mains is noisey and cannot sustain high speeds and/or you deploy more an more and more HomePlug nodes. If "speed" is not your thing, or you can get good HomePlug throughput, then it could be fine.

However, now that Wi-Fi link rates have gotten really fast, (AC) it's less of a "problem" that there's competition for Wi-Fi air time (though the issue hasn't gone away) so one can argue that these new Wi-Fi mesh systems make it nice and easy for the SOHO user to implement.

The new "mesh" systems don't possess any magic woo woo when it comes to the Wi-Fi radio transmissions, they are just AP's like any other, but they are using Wi-Fi to establish the "backhaul" links between themselves and it looks like most have plenty of automation built in, some client steering to the "best" node (with compatible clients) and a management app to make the set up and maintenance really easy for domestic consumers.  One thing to watch out for is that the "mesh" nodes (probably) will not integrate ("mesh" with) your incumbent routers in built AP, so it may be the case that you need to cable the first mesh node to your router (and probably disable the routers Wi-Fi for ease of use, though it's not strictly necessary.)

The new mesh system certainly seem to be competitively priced and offer simple set up and use for the non-IT nerd consumer.

mtw1

Ok, lots to consider there, thank you for taking the time to give such a in depth answer. It's great that people on these forums are willing to use their time and knowledge help out others

Bl4ckGryph0n

@mickevh fair point. Yes the first node of the mesh system should ideally be connected for your isp or otherwise router. Whilst I’ve set mine to be bridged with that network, I also keep the ISP WiFi SSID on a different identifier and channel.

mickevh

Thanks, I was just musing over whether that would be possible - ie have all the mesh nodes on one SSID for client access, have your routers Wi-Fi on a different SSID then get one of the mesh nodes to "bridge" (act as a client to) to the routers SSID thereby availing none of the mesh nodes having to be physically connected to the router.  It would be a useful facility if they offered it for those that cannot get a cable between router and at least one of the mesh nodes.

low-def.

I am definitly in need of some wifi boosting to cover the area's towards the back of the house. Not sure whether to get a decent booster or go the route of 3 nodes.
Has anyone spotted any good deals in the BF sales yet?

mickevh

More AP's is almost always the best solution for Wi-Fi coverage and/or performance.

I am not sure what you mean by a "decent" booster, but fundamentally nothing can "boost" radio signals as it's physically not possible to somehow grab something out the air and make it louder - just like sound. All you can do is sample anything passing by, make a copy and rebroadcast that copy some time later - in Wi-Fi devices that do this are called "repeaters" (though vendors dress them up in other names too.)

A repeater is essentially doing pretty much the same as the nodes in so-called "mesh" systems (AP with a Wi-Fi backhaul link) except you tend to buy repeaters one at a time (and not many of them) and they don't offer all the integration, management platform (though it probably has it's own UI) and features such as client steering that some "mesh" systems seem to offer.

I have a repeater in my flat just now, not so much because range from my router is a issue, (it's barely 5 meters) but because - being flats - everyone has Wi-Fi now and the co-channel interference is a nightmare in one of my rooms. A second AP (cell) closer to my "bandit" room helps - I loose connection much less often (though it hasn't entirely eliminated my problem.)