Mesh Wifi Suggestions during this sale

[Party Monger]

I have G+3 floors. Around 1000sqft each. Need to cover it all. First priority is good range. Second is speed.

My setup -
> Main router - R7000 running Tomato.
> Mesh setup - Working as access points. (will not be using these as access points)

Backhaul - Hardwired. Wires & Power points already exist at places where these will be put. Have a whole bundle of Dlink cat6 in case if more are needed and can run & crimp more too.

Router will be connected to an unmanaged 8 port Gigabit switch which will be connected to All mesh Access points. Other ports from the router are also daisy chained further. But the r7000 can handle it easily as there isnt much traffic at one time.

Devices - > Security Cameras (will be storing live feed once my server running proxmox is up). PCs, Laptops, Phones, RPi4 NAS, smart doorbell in future. Over time it should be about 50 devices.


Considerations -
Looks - If it looks like an access point that sits flush on a wall rather than on a table then its better. But secondary. If it has any light there should be option to switch it off.
Speed- Speed is important only where I am working. At other places 100-200mbps is fine as long as its.
Switching - Switching between access points should be very fast. Cant deal with issues in core functionality.
Configuration - Would prefer a web based interface but my research shows there's very few of those.
Load- Security cameras will increase. While these are cheap cams, feeds will be low data rate, but they will be continuous. Need routers that have no issue in basic functionality introducing lags and latency.
Smart features- Don't need them. Prefer to keep it simple. I control this network completely. Good to have if needed in the future, but not right now.
Flexibiltiy - Ability to add more satellites would be great.
Noise - There must be around 10 other 2.5g wifi networks around. So again this thing needs a strong range.

 

[rdst_1]

Have you thought about hardwiring all the cameras as well. I don't know how easy or difficult would be for you, but do consider that if you want solid reliability and speeds,especially if you are looking for 24x7 recording.

 

[Party Monger]

Have you thought about hardwiring all the cameras as well. I don't know how easy or difficult would be for you, but do consider that if you want solid reliability and speeds,especially if you are looking for 24x7 recording.

Cameras are Wifi only.

 

[D C]

What softwares/os are you running(or planning to run) in your proxmox server?

I assume you are trying to host everything yourself. (Network routing, camera/nvr, smart home, automation etc)

What cameras are you using? How are you getting the feed off the camera and storing it? RTSP streams? Will the pi nas be able to handle all these streams?

Have you considered prosumer/enterprise solutions like tp link omada and ubiquiti etc?

 

[Party Monger]

What softwares/os are you running(or planning to run) in your proxmox server?

I assume you are trying to host everything yourself. (Network routing, camera/nvr, smart home, automation etc)

What cameras are you using? How are you getting the feed off the camera and storing it? RTSP streams? Will the pi nas be able to handle all these streams?

Have you considered prosumer/enterprise solutions like tp link omada and ubiquiti etc?

What softwares/os are you running(or planning to run) in your proxmox server?
Multiple VMs. One with windows 7 for my windows server sorftwares.
Ubuntu VM for development
That synology NAS software for a few good core functionalities like their surveillance software
Plus more VM's / containers

I assume you are trying to host everything yourself. (Network routing, camera/nvr, smart home, automation etc)
Yes. No automation for now, but rest all myself. Mostly backups will be uploaded to onedrive. Both VM backup and data backup

What cameras are you using? How are you getting the feed off the camera and storing it? RTSP streams? Will the pi nas be able to handle all these streams?
TPlink TAPO cameras. They have RSTP and Onvif. Will be stored on internal HDD or surveillance hdd attached via usb dock.

Have you considered prosumer/enterprise solutions like tp link omada and ubiquiti etc?
No, dont want to complicate it on network side. Need simple stuff that just works. My r7000 and tomato is the exact level of tweaking i need.

 

[D C]

That is a pretty awesome setup!

Take a look at other rtsp onvif recorders. (IIRC synology surveillance has a 2 cam trial)

motionEyeOS Alternatives and Similar Software | AlternativeTo

The best motionEyeOS alternatives are Shinobi, iSpy and MotionEye. Our crowd-sourced lists contains more than 50 apps similar to motionEyeOS for Windows, Android, iPhone, iPad and more.

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Zoneminder and motioneye os are quite good.

Have you tried other nas software like truenas or unraid? (Not sure if they will like being inside proxmox, they do have virtualisation/docker support inbuilt too)

 

[Party Monger]

That is a pretty awesome setup!

Take a look at other rtsp onvif recorders. (IIRC synology surveillance has a 2 cam trial)

motionEyeOS Alternatives and Similar Software | AlternativeTo

The best motionEyeOS alternatives are Shinobi, iSpy and MotionEye. Our crowd-sourced lists contains more than 50 apps similar to motionEyeOS for Windows, Android, iPhone, iPad and more.

alternativeto.net

Zoneminder and motioneye os are quite good.

Have you tried other nas software like truenas or unraid? (Not sure if they will like being inside proxmox, they do have virtualisation/docker support inbuilt too)

Yes I know there's a limit of 2. The main issue with these surveillance sofwares is playblack on phones. Apparently Synology one is the one that's best at "just working". Had read there were some "hacks" to make it unlimited. Else those licences cost more than the damn cameras. I have my eyes on other two too since a long time. These and Frigate. Will just test them and see which works best I guess?

I've seen Linus tech tips fiddle so much with TrueNAS and unraid etc that its caused me mental fatigue. I just use Open media vault for the last few years on my raspberry pi and the damn thing has been a rock with a solitary drive connected to it. Not that I use it much. I just need one solid storage in the middle of all the finicky windows, androids, ios & tv devices.



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Ordered TP Link Deco m5 - 3 pack for myself.
And Deco M4 for my friend.

 

[Party Monger]

Got the Deco M5. Will try to set it up today.
Might even try the m4 before giving it to my friend. Also need to get the server running now that I have acquired the NUC. Maybe a thread for experiments with that?

 

[ReVo_007]

Hey, share your experience with it. I read on multiple forums that it suffers the same problem as having multiple access points. Maybe the mesh system has the Wi-Fi roaming enabled, which aids. Anyway I am considering it since multiple access points do have a switch over time, in case of FaceTime it simply moves to 4G/LTE or drops.

 

[Party Monger]

Hey, share your experience with it. I read on multiple forums that it suffers the same problem as having multiple access points. Maybe the mesh system has the Wi-Fi roaming enabled, which aids. Anyway I am considering it since multiple access points do have a switch over time, in case of FaceTime it simply moves to 4G/LTE or drops.

I installed 2 satellites in access point mode with R7000 as my main router. I've removed my second r7000.
Its working fine. The network is not as strong as I would like, its definitely weaker than my R7000 for a single satellite. But with 3-4 across each floor it should work fine without any dead spots and since they are all hardwired, even if I get 50mbps at any spot, internet speed will be full 50mbps which means I can do most stuff except big file transfers. Unfortunately my placement isnt optimum since its in middle on long side of rectangular floor but near the wall on other side. However I am not missing wifi anywhere. Both my units have wired backhaul.

Fast roaming is not enabled by default. Once I did enable, devices were moving properly. Else you can just switch wifi on and off. New devices launched in last year or two generally have no issue.
Also I had read there was a beta firmware that is coming soon that will solve most of these problems that you have read. Its coming for M5 first. I think everyone know

What I did notice is that the second and the only free lan port when used, was getting 25% less speed on lan transfers. Generally its 100MBps to my Pi NAS. It was 75MBps with this. I this this could be due to the mesh network overhead or just other devices using, since this was connected to the main deco.

Over all, I think for price of 11500 for 3 decos this is a very good bargain, considering R7000 and its substitutes cost that much these days. Since I have 4 floors and 3 deco M5, Im considering getting a more powerful deco for the floor where Wifi is used the most. So that I can get good 5ghz speeds. Atleast full gigabit wifi speed without any issue would be great. Also I can place the deco right in middle on that floor. So do recommend a more powerful unit. My R7000 is working there right now, But im afraid it might be creating more noise. Seamless Mesh would be great. Also I could make that more expensive router the main deco since it would have more processing power.

TLDR - IF you're coming from cheap routers, this will be a life changer. IF you're coming from R7000s running custom firmwares, it wont feel as powerfull, but remove all deadspots and let you move freely. Worth the money IMO. The units are pretty small.

 

[ReVo_007]

I installed 2 satellites in access point mode with R7000 as my main router. I've removed my second r7000.
Its working fine. The network is not as strong as I would like, its definitely weaker than my R7000 for a single satellite. But with 3-4 across each floor it should work fine without any dead spots and since they are all hardwired, even if I get 50mbps at any spot, internet speed will be full 50mbps which means I can do most stuff except big file transfers. Unfortunately my placement isnt optimum since its in middle on long side of rectangular floor but near the wall on other side. However I am not missing wifi anywhere. Both my units have wired backhaul.

Fast roaming is not enabled by default. Once I did enable, devices were moving properly. Else you can just switch wifi on and off. New devices launched in last year or two generally have no issue.
Also I had read there was a beta firmware that is coming soon that will solve most of these problems that you have read. Its coming for M5 first. I think everyone know

What I did notice is that the second and the only free lan port when used, was getting 25% less speed on lan transfers. Generally its 100MBps to my Pi NAS. It was 75MBps with this. I this this could be due to the mesh network overhead or just other devices using, since this was connected to the main deco.

Over all, I think for price of 11500 for 3 decos this is a very good bargain, considering R7000 and its substitutes cost that much these days. Since I have 4 floors and 3 deco M5, Im considering getting a more powerful deco for the floor where Wifi is used the most. So that I can get good 5ghz speeds. Atleast full gigabit wifi speed without any issue would be great. Also I can place the deco right in middle on that floor. So do recommend a more powerful unit. My R7000 is working there right now, But im afraid it might be creating more noise. Seamless Mesh would be great. Also I could make that more expensive router the main deco since it would have more processing power.

TLDR - IF you're coming from cheap routers, this will be a life changer. IF you're coming from R7000s running custom firmwares, it wont feel as powerfull, but remove all deadspots and let you move freely. Worth the money IMO. The units are pretty small.

Thanks for the detailed review on it. Actually I have a R7000 on asusWRT as the base router in one room. I have wired connection in other rooms, one with TPLink WDR3600, TPLink Archer C60v2 and a Technicolor VANT9(rooted). Other than R7000, all run OpenWrt and the issue is that I am unable to set up Wi-Fi Roaming. So considering either mesh or buying 2/3 Archer C7/C6, keeping the base as WDR3600/R7000 since it's capable enough as standalone router without WiFi also.

 

[Party Monger]

Thanks for the detailed review on it. Actually I have a R7000 on asusWRT as the base router in one room. I have wired connection in other rooms, one with TPLink WDR3600, TPLink Archer C60v2 and a Technicolor VANT9(rooted). Other than R7000, all run OpenWrt and the issue is that I am unable to set up Wi-Fi Roaming. So considering either mesh or buying 2/3 Archer C7/C6, keeping the base as WDR3600/R7000 since it's capable enough as standalone router without WiFi also.

Yes, make a calculation of the number of satellites you need. Get Mesh. Its much better. Switch off the wifi on r7000 after that. Let it handle routing.