Are you using or considering a mesh WiFi system?

i have been using the tplink deco x20 mesh for over 2 years now and the same is in use with a friend of mine too. Yes in order to kill all the dead zones, the mesh system is the best option but there are a few key things that you should know before you buy.
-Always go with the wired backhaul if possible and by that i mean dont use wireless connectivity between different mesh routers. Wired backhaul will give you the best performance.
-There are very expensive mesh systems out there, chose wisely according to your need, overspending is very common when buying mesh router.
-You will need to use a gigabit switch in order to setup wired backhaul and i would highly recommend wired backhaul over the wireless backhaul.
i agree with you but a part of my brain is like - well if you are connecting with wire why do you need a mesh, keep cheap wifi routers in every room with same SSID and live with the couple of seconds drop when you move. :)
not disagreeing with you but yea wired backhaul kind of defeats the aesthic purpose of Mesh doesnt it
 
i agree with you but a part of my brain is like - well if you are connecting with wire why do you need a mesh, keep cheap wifi routers in every room with same SSID and live with the couple of seconds drop when you move. :)
not disagreeing with you but yea wired backhaul kind of defeats the aesthic purpose of Mesh doesnt it
Every single office uses a distributed wired mesh as against standalone APs with shared SSID.
Its not just a couple of seconds drop as you move. The real problem is what is often termed as Sticky AP..

What ends up happening is that when you move from one room to another, most devices will continue to latch on to the far AP and drop packets instead of switching to the nearby/ strong signal AP till you manually turn off wifi and re-enable it
 
Every single office uses a distributed wired mesh as against standalone APs with shared SSID.
Its not just a couple of seconds drop as you move. The real problem is what is often termed as Sticky AP..

What ends up happening is that when you move from one room to another, most devices will continue to latch on to the far AP and drop packets instead of switching to the nearby/ strong signal AP till you manually turn off wifi and re-enable it
Makes sense Thanks
 
i agree with you but a part of my brain is like - well if you are connecting with wire why do you need a mesh, keep cheap wifi routers in every room with same SSID and live with the couple of seconds drop when you move. :)
not disagreeing with you but yea wired backhaul kind of defeats the aesthic purpose of Mesh doesnt it
if aesthetics are your priority and all the cables are not already laid underground, then installing open cables dont make much sense. But for the best performance the wired backhaul is the way to go, good luck!
Every single office uses a distributed wired mesh as against standalone APs with shared SSID.
Its not just a couple of seconds drop as you move. The real problem is what is often termed as Sticky AP..

What ends up happening is that when you move from one room to another, most devices will continue to latch on to the far AP and drop packets instead of switching to the nearby/ strong signal AP till you manually turn off wifi and re-enable it
mesh setup switches routers pretty well, at least it has been the case with my deco x20.
 
what i did
bought 4 x Linksys EA6900
then went on to do this
All Linksys are now ASUS RTAC68U
these can now use official asus merlin firmware
connected one in router and all others in mesh mo9de using the merlin firmware
Why i did this each linksys router came for 12$ used from usa ebay
performace wise all are similar to the asus 68u asin using QOS and everythig
running stable from last 3 years without any problem ,also supports Adguard home,Immich,Plex from dell wyse 5060
This is my cheap method to get asus mesh @ home

linksys-li-EA6900-2-a.jpg
 
what i did
bought 4 x Linksys EA6900
then went on to do this
All Linksys are now ASUS RTAC68U
these can now use official asus merlin firmware
connected one in router and all others in mesh mo9de using the merlin firmware
Why i did this each linksys router came for 12$ used from usa ebay
performace wise all are similar to the asus 68u asin using QOS and everythig
running stable from last 3 years without any problem ,also supports Adguard home,Immich,Plex from dell wyse 5060
This is my cheap method to get asus mesh @ home

View attachment 217518
sounds just about right but personally i don't have any router firmware flashing experience, can you mention how difficult or easy it is?
 
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i agree with you but a part of my brain is like - well if you are connecting with wire why do you need a mesh, keep cheap wifi routers in every room with same SSID and live with the couple of seconds drop when you move. :)
not disagreeing with you but yea wired backhaul kind of defeats the aesthic purpose of Mesh doesnt it
devices will not connect to the nearest router, they will try to stick with the one already connected no matter the range is low. In mesh the device will connect with the nearest highest range
Mesh 3 set comes under 4-5000 regularly in sale periods
 
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trust me its not so bad all you need is patient and like one hour after you have a IDENTICAL asus rt ac 68u with official firmware or merlin firmware ,using it from last 2 years or so stable and perfect as amesh system
 
Mesh WiFi,
would suggest people if choosing tp link to go with their omada series the decos are too locked for anything infact as @lged821 said you cant even change channels plus no openwrt support.

I was a deco user too but shifted to Ubiquiti this year due to these reasons plus the frequent disconnections I used to get [ decos were connected wirelessly , had 8 decos in total]
Setup
UDM PRO as main router with dual wan failover
and 6 APs
Never faced a single issue till date
And yes WIFI 7 works + 6ghz works if location is set to USA in ubiquiti, my mac connects to 6ghz but not any other device. Only S24U and Oneplus 12 connect to wifi 7 rest even iphone 16pm connects to Wifi 6 due to geo restrictions.

These 6 AP s cover 3 floors in total 2 on each floor
Some APs are bought from Dubai and rest everything is USA bought.

WhatsApp Image 2024-12-20 at 8.59.13 PM.jpeg

and trust me nothing beats Ubiquiti.
WhatsApp Image 2024-12-20 at 8.54.02 PM.jpeg
WhatsApp Image 2024-12-20 at 8.54.29 PM.jpeg
 
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