Mesh wifi 6 backhaul better than wifi 5?

vishalrao

vishalrao

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I wanted to ask whether a wifi mesh system which uses wifi 6 ax 5ghz as backhaul would have any better speed and coverage compared to one that has wifi 5 ac 5ghz backhaul?

I'm looking to understand whether the difference is purely based on the 5ghz band, meaning not much difference, or does wifi 6 ax technology help in improving things?

Reason why I am asking is that I currently have a netgear orbi rbk50 wifi 5 ac mesh where I get my max internet speed of 500 mbps near the main unit on the first floor of my house but the speed drops to under 200 mbps on the ground floor because the dedicated backhaul link speed is around 400 mbps only even though its capable of 1700 mbps in ideal conditions.

I am considering getting the tplink deco x60 mesh which doesn't have dedicated backhaul but has 2400 mbps 5ghz wifi 6 link speed. If this system also drops link speed to 400 mbps resulting in 200 mbps speeds then I'll be in a pickle.

Any comments or suggestions anyone? @superczar ?
 
Ok let me try and rephrase the question a bit..

Lets say there are two mesh wifi systems, one with dedicated wifi 5 ac 5ghz 1700 mbps rated backhaul and another also with dedicated backhaul of same link speed but using wifi 6 ax 5ghz.

The first one's real world backhaul link speed maxes out at 400 mbps with certain placement of distance and walls in between.

Will the second one backhaul link speed also max out at around 400 mbps with the same layout or will there be any significant difference thanks to it being wifi 6?

I will think about wired backhaul for sure but want to see if I can get up to 1 gbps speed from the satellite assuming I get 1 gbps internet speeds some day.
 
vishalrao said:
Ok let me try and rephrase the question a bit..

Lets say there are two mesh wifi systems, one with dedicated wifi 5 ac 5ghz 1700 mbps rated backhaul and another also with dedicated backhaul of same link speed but using wifi 6 ax 5ghz.

The first one's real world backhaul link speed maxes out at 400 mbps with certain placement of distance and walls in between.

Will the second one backhaul link speed also max out at around 400 mbps with the same layout or will there be any significant difference thanks to it being wifi 6?

I will think about wired backhaul for sure but want to see if I can get up to 1 gbps speed from the satellite assuming I get 1 gbps internet speeds some day.
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We absolutely can't generalize this as range etc will depend on a multitude of things - the radio design, the radiation pattern, the amount of spectrum pollution, the strength of the rf power amps etc.

Only thing we can conclusively say is that a mesh system with a dedicated radio for backhaul will definitely be better than one without as the backhaul won't cause interference and run on a different channel.
 
I wasn't asking about difference between dedicated backhaul versus non dedicated... my initial post probably misleading.

I was asking would there be any significant difference between wifi 6 dedicated backhaul versus wifi 5 also dedicated backhaul with the same layout in the same home.

I was thinking like how there is a speed improvement over the same physical copper wire going from adsl g.dmt modulation to vdsl tech?

Am I making any sense?

I get your point about there being other difference like rf radio capabilities etc but hypothetical all things being equal?
 
vishalrao said:
I wasn't asking about difference between dedicated backhaul versus non dedicated... my initial post probably misleading.

I was asking would there be any significant difference between wifi 6 dedicated backhaul versus wifi 5 also dedicated backhaul with the same layout in the same home.

I was thinking like how there is a speed improvement over the same physical copper wire going from adsl g.dmt modulation to vdsl tech?

Am I making any sense?

I get your point about there being other difference like rf radio capabilities etc but hypothetical all things being equal?
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All else remaining same, very minimal difference or no difference at all
 
And try and get cables from a verified source. Lost of duplicate stuff is available in the market even for home electric cables, as I recently found out. My trusted guy refused to sell me the Dlink cables he had because he was pretty confident it was duplicate material and not original.
 
Wifi 6 aka ax will make difference only if your phone, laptop also support wifi6 otherwise no difference......very few devices have wifi 6 as of now.....so refrain from it.
 
rockyo27 said:
Wifi 6 aka ax will make difference only if your phone, laptop also support wifi6 otherwise no difference......very few devices have wifi 6 as of now.....so refrain from it.
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Pretty sure op has considered that. Plus, once cat6(a) cabling and ax upgrades are done, they'll be pretty much set for the next decade or so of upgrades for their home as well as devices, without needing any technical upgrades to the network, apart from maybe range. Basically future proofing, and this concept is actually applicable for networking compared to, say, building a PC since new standards aren't created every year :)
Plus most midrange and above devices released in the last couple of years have wifi 6 support, and the number will only go up. Better to be prepared and have the best experience possible if op can afford it
 
TheCoolerPlayer said:
Pretty sure op has considered that. Plus, once cat6(a) cabling and ax upgrades are done, they'll be pretty much set for the next decade or so of upgrades for their home as well as devices, without needing any technical upgrades to the network, apart from maybe range. Basically future proofing, and this concept is actually applicable for networking compared to, say, building a PC since new standards aren't created every year :)
Plus most midrange and above devices released in the last couple of years have wifi 6 support, and the number will only go up. Better to be prepared and have the best experience possible if op can afford it
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If OP hs considered it then there is no discussion. Also Midrange devices still come mostly with wifi 5...only since 2019 post launch of iPhone 11 wifi6 started coming in other phones also and most common will be the new laptops.

What i like in wifi 6 is that it almost doubles your speed in 2.4ghz
But cat6 will serve you well if wiring is no issue.
 
rockyo27 said:
If OP hs considered it then there is no discussion. Also Midrange devices still come mostly with wifi 5...only since 2019 post launch of iPhone 11 wifi6 started coming in other phones also and most common will be the new laptops.

What i like in wifi 6 is that it almost doubles your speed in 2.4ghz
But cat6 will serve you well if wiring is no issue.
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Having cables around gives stability. Wireless gets worse as more people get wifi around you and the noise increases. 4-5 yrs back I had to do a complete over haul. Previously 1 router covered whole place. Now it requires 3 routers configured after checking for noise, channels on which neighbours have their wifi and stuff. Not to mention the nuisance of wifi hotspots and other random wifi APs popping up from time to time. Thankfully 5ghz and hard cabled network take care of most issues.

I might still upgrade to mesh wifi with 5-6 satellites with wired backhaul if I get a good deal on a router that supports some sort of custom firmware. I guess OpenWRT is the only option for Mesh. Maybe repurpose an old NUC with gigabit port and a lan dongle (for separate wan and lan port) and add access points using multiple gigabit switch?
 
vishalrao said:
@rockyo27 I think you missed the point of my question... it was about backhaul not client devices :D
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Backhaul will depend on whether there are dedicated wireless channels for backhaul or not.
Secondly wifi 6 devices are more costly and generally have better hardware like dedicated channels. So while the protocol might not make much difference, the price range of these devices makes them premium devices with better hardware to push performance. Hence wifi6 routers will seem better to you. But that will be due to more hardware added not the protocol per se.
 
Party Monger said:
Backhaul will depend on whether there are dedicated wireless channels for backhaul or not.
Secondly wifi 6 devices are more costly and generally have better hardware like dedicated channels. So while the protocol might not make much difference, the price range of these devices makes them premium devices with better hardware to push performance. Hence wifi6 routers will seem better to you. But that will be due to more hardware added not the protocol per se.
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Read his posts again. He asked that if everything else is the same, will there be a significant difference if dedicated backhaul is 6ax vs 5ac.
 
6gh shorter range faster speed.
5gh bit better coverage not as fast.
I'm able to saturate a ac connection with my router at 300mbps. So after trying 1gbps I went back to 300mpbs as not all devices could use anything above 300mpbs let alone 1gbps and each floor needed a seperate router/repeater. So 300mbps at less than 1/3rd the price of a 1gbps connection is not bad at all.
 
vishalrao said:
@rockyo27 I think you missed the point of my question... it was about backhaul not client devices :D
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Missed it completely ...if backhaul is concern then both wifi will give problem as they will share the same frequency for both clients and backhaul.
Otherwise the best option is to get a 3 channel device which uses 1 channel as dedicated backhaul but that will cost a bomb.
If aesthetics doesn't bother much then wired backhaul will be best.
 
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