WiFi repeater

mikeecho

Hope this is the right forum.

I currently have a 300mb FTTH connection, with the house wired with cat5e. (Soon to upgrade to a 500mb line)

The house has block internal walls and a ducon slab floor upstairs so I have Aldi repeaters (ap mode)

I'm looking to upgrade to devices that will provide a faster speed ( currently ~50mb on 2.4 and a bit faster on 5g)

Any suggestions.. I need something that plugs into the power socket and have a short ethernet cable connecting to it, just like my current set up.

Suggestions..

punisher5112

Tp link or Netgear... I've used and find them great.

mikeecho

punisher5112 wrote: »

Tp link or Netgear... I've used and find them great.

What speeds are you getting?

Also, any particular model

punisher5112

mikeecho wrote: »

What speeds are you getting?

Also, any particular model

I've never checked to be honest but noticed a huge improvement even compared to been connected to the actual router in parts of the house....

punisher5112

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00NIUHAG6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_GjljFbVMMQYBA


There is other ones on there too, to link as I said have 2 pack ones and so on. You can run as WiFi or plug and play too.

the_syco

mikeecho wrote: »

I'm looking to upgrade to devices that will provide a faster speed ( currently ~50mb on 2.4 and a bit faster on 5g)

Are all of the connections coming from the router, or do you have any switches along the way?

babelfish1990

mikeecho wrote: »

Hope this is the right forum.

I currently have a 300mb FTTH connection, with the house wired with cat5e. (Soon to upgrade to a 500mb line)

The house has block internal walls and a ducon slab floor upstairs so I have Aldi repeaters (ap mode)

I'm looking to upgrade to devices that will provide a faster speed ( currently ~50mb on 2.4 and a bit faster on 5g)

Any suggestions.. I need something that plugs into the power socket and have a short ethernet cable connecting to it, just like my current set up.

Suggestions..

Go for a Mesh WiFi system to ensure seamless coverage across all zones. You can add as many zones as you require, but 2 will do an average house, and 3 will typically cover a large house. You should consider putting nodes in any rooms that you might have a 4K TV box running over WiFi. Most mesh systems allow for wireless backhaul between nodes in addition to wired, but since you are already wired, you should use Ethernet backhaul. (Wireless backhaul will use up some of the bandwidth). You should consider using a POE system (Power over Ethernet), which will send the power over your Cat5 cabling, and avoid the need for mains power at each of the nodes. Ubiquiti UAP-AC-Lite is a good mesh system with POE.

alec76

Mesh all the way.

mikeecho

the_syco wrote: »

Are all of the connections coming from the router, or do you have any switches along the way?

There are a few gigabit switches.
One at the modem.

mikeecho

babelfish1990 wrote: »

Go for a Mesh WiFi system to ensure seamless coverage across all zones. You can add as many zones as you require, but 2 will do an average house, and 3 will typically cover a large house. You should consider putting nodes in any rooms that you might have a 4K TV box running over WiFi. Most mesh systems allow for wireless backhaul between nodes in addition to wired, but since you are already wired, you should use Ethernet backhaul. (Wireless backhaul will use up some of the bandwidth). You should consider using a POE system (Power over Ethernet), which will send the power over your Cat5 cabling, and avoid the need for mains power at each of the nodes. Ubiquiti UAP-AC-Lite is a good mesh system with POE.

My current setup.
Modem in hotpress (it won't be moving)

There are cat5e running from there to wall plates in almost every room in the house, so smart TVs etc are running on ethernet (there's a giga switch behind the TV's so the Blu-ray etc can go online)

I have Lidl WiFi repeaters dotted around the house, that extend WiFi coverage, again these are APs with the same ssid as the modern. But they are only B/G/N and only give 50mb on 2.4ghz and about but 90 on 5ghz.

I'm looking for something similarly sized to what I have that will plug into the wall and just have a short ethernet cable running to them.

Something that looks like



But will give faster speeds.

mikeecho

So in thinking something like this.. https://www.tp-link.com/uk/home-networking/range-extender/re305/

Or is there a faster one available that can be set up as an AP

babelfish1990

mikeecho wrote: »

So in thinking something like this.. https://www.tp-link.com/uk/home-networking/range-extender/re305/

Or is there a faster one available that can be set up as an AP

You have a good wired setup. Your TVs should be fine. Pity to spoil it by using substandard WiFi extenders. With WiFi, it's not just about speed - you also want to ensure seamless handover as you move from one zone to the other. Portable devices such as phones tend to cling onto the weaker signal, even when they come close to a stronger access point. You need a mesh system to steer them onto the nearest access point, and to select 5GHz where possible. The TP link device you linked is a standalone device - not mesh. If you don't need POE, and you want to stick with TP-Link, go with their Deco range of mesh devices. M5 should do the job nicely. Switch off the WiFi in your ISP router, and let the mesh system do all the zones on the one SSID.

mikeecho

babelfish1990 wrote: »

You have a good wired setup. Your TVs should be fine. Pity to spoil it by using substandard WiFi extenders. With WiFi, it's not just about speed - you also want to ensure seamless handover as you move from one zone to the other. Portable devices such as phones tend to cling onto the weaker signal, even when they come close to a stronger access point. You need a mesh system to steer them onto the nearest access point, and to select 5GHz where possible. The TP link device you linked is a standalone device - not mesh. If you don't need POE, and you want to stick with TP-Link, go with their Deco range of mesh devices. M5 should do the job nicely. Switch off the WiFi in your ISP router, and let the mesh system do all the zones on the one SSID.

I might just bite the bullet and get some m5s.

And if I get these. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/362626776415

It'll do what I need it to do.

But a few Qs.

Can I leave my modem as it is, and just setup each m5 as an Access Point, at 3 different points around the house, or will I have to set up the first connected to the modem. ?

Can I set up 2 ssid 's , one for 2.4 and one for 5ghz

I currently have certain devices set to 2.4 only, ie baby monitors , CCTV, etc.

babelfish1990

mikeecho wrote: »

I might just bite the bullet and get some m5s.

And if I get these. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/362626776415

It'll do what I need it to do.

But a few Qs.

Can I leave my modem as it is, and just setup each m5 as an Access Point, at 3 different points around the house, or will I have to set up the first connected to the modem. ?

Can I set up 2 ssid 's , one for 2.4 and one for 5ghz

I currently have certain devices set to 2.4 only, ie baby monitors , CCTV, etc.

In order to experience the full benefits of mesh you should switch off WiFi in the config menu on your existing modem, and use a mesh node for WiFi at this location. While you could leave WiFi working on the modem - you won't get the benefit of seamless roaming between the modem and the other mesh zones. There should be no problem setting up two SSIDs if you want to.

mikeecho

babelfish1990 wrote: »

In order to experience the full benefits of mesh you should switch off WiFi in the config menu on your existing modem, and use a mesh node for WiFi at this location. While you could leave WiFi working on the modem - you won't get the benefit of seamless roaming between the modem and the other mesh zones. There should be no problem setting up two SSIDs if you want to.

Ok.. this sounds like a plan

One other Q

M5 or M9

I'll be upgrading to 500mb in a few months.

I like to think ahead . ... I might need 1gb in a few years.


(I was told that I didn't need 5e when I was building back in 2007/8 .... We'd never have that sort of speed I was told)

Now I'm being told I would have put in cat6 , I could have, but it was rediculasly expensive at the time.
I'm just glad I went for 5e over 5.

babelfish1990

mikeecho wrote: »

Ok.. this sounds like a plan

One other Q

M5 or M9

I'll be upgrading to 500mb in a few months.

I like to think ahead . ... I might need 1gb in a few years.


(I was told that I didn't need 5e when I was building back in 2007/8 .... We'd never have that sort of speed I was told)

Now I'm being told I would have put in cat6 , I could have, but it was rediculasly expensive at the time.
I'm just glad I went for 5e over 5.

The main advantage of the M9 is the additional 5GHz channel. This is useful if you are using Wireless backhaul between the access points. However, since you have wired wall plates, you don't need to use Wireless backhaul. Since you also have wired TVs, I don't see why you would need anything more than the M5?

The mains power modules are a bit ugly! Are you sure you wouldn't prefer to go for a POE mesh system, and avoid the need for local power?

alec76

mikeecho wrote: »

Ok.. this sounds like a plan

One other Q

M5 or M9

I'll be upgrading to 500mb in a few months.

I like to think ahead . ... I might need 1gb in a few years.


.

M5 for now, get something better after.
No point for M9 , if you really want to think ahead , buy WIFI 6 system, ie Deco X20/X60 or similar.