OT: Mesh network devices for home

[Irondawg]

Need to get something that provides better signal to my bonus room upstairs. Was looking at the EERO system based on price and simplicity to get by for a couple of years.

Anybody used this and had experience?

Or do I need to be talked about of it and do something else? House is 2,700 sq ft first story and 300 sq ft bonus room

 

[qball.sixpack]

I have the Eero. Have base plus two system. 2 story house with rear kitchen area needing WiFi too.Totally worth the $$ in my opinion. Most consistent my signal has been in my house..ever. I have 40 cable service and get that or better in most of house, about 30-35 upstairs. I’m about 3400 Ft.

 

[NTDawg]

Recently got a Netgear Orbi RBK50. Works great

 

[Dawgtini]

I have the google Mesh (3 orbs at 2700 sqft) it is awesome. Got it for my folks (6 orbs about 5800 sqft) and they love it. My boss has the Orbi and it's good too per her (3 orbs at 2400 sqft). Can't go wrong with the mesh.

 

[Trojanbulldog19]

Got a Linksys Velop System. Works great. Will work even better once I get the fiber installed and connect it to that.

 

[dickiedawg]

I also have the Orbi. Have had no trouble out of it, works much better than whatever I had before.
Similar size house (3,000 ft) and I think we only have 2 access points (I say I think because I haven’t really thought about it since we installed them).

 

[Baddmann]

I have installed the Meshforce M3 3 unit kit in several houses. They are working great and are easy to setup. ($159.00 at Amazon right now when you add the coupon.) Also, when you order, they will send you a coupon for a discount on a 4th unit if you need it.

Great coverage and solved the issues that people were having with their home wifi.

 

[dudehead]

Installed eero a year or two ago and it’s one of the best tech purchases I’ve ever made. It just works. I can’t remember having to reboot or do anything. Like I said, it just works. I highly recommend.

FYI, it’s now owned by Amazon so if you’re techno paranoid, be aware of that.

 

[Augustus McCrae]

I'll add another plug for the Eero. They work great.

 

[codeDawg]

I have the google Mesh (3 orbs at 2700 sqft) it is awesome. Got it for my folks (6 orbs about 5800 sqft) and they love it. My boss has the Orbi and it's good too per her (3 orbs at 2400 sqft). Can't go wrong with the mesh.

Also have the Google. Works great at home and at my office where I share wifi with another business in the same building. I think they are both great. I just have a few other Nest products so bought Google.

 

[johnson86-1]

For any of these devices, should you do anything when building? Or can you set them up easily enough after the fact? Or if you are building should you do things that make these devices unnecessary?

 

[DawgInThe256]

Bought a TP-Link Deco M5 2 pack for $100 when it was a Gold Box deal. We have a ~3000 sq foot single story house and it works great. I was prepared to buy a 3rd unit but I haven't needed it.

 

[NTDawg]

I should add that I got my Orbi mesh router when I switched to Cspire fiber and the Cspire installer did all the work. So it was real easy for me

 

[dawgman42]

Yep, I have four (4) M5's in a 3800 sq. ft., two-story house, with Ethernet backhaul, and these units are the most stable WiFi I've ever had.

The M9's are even better (but with the backhaul I have, I'm more than fine with what I have).

 

[SheltonChoked]

I have the Eero. Have base plus two system. 2 story house with rear kitchen area needing WiFi too.Totally worth the $$ in my opinion. Most consistent my signal has been in my house..ever. I have 40 cable service and get that or better in most of house, about 30-35 upstairs. I’m about 3400 Ft.

Another vote for Eero.

Easy to set up. Easy to manage. Easy to add nodes. Seamless. if you can wire backhaul it's even better.

I added a Eero Beacon to my patio to get better wifi outside during COVID. works great.

 

[SheltonChoked]

For any of these devices, should you do anything when building? Or can you set them up easily enough after the fact? Or if you are building should you do things that make these devices unnecessary?

If you are building a house, add at least one Cat 6a or Cat 7 drop in every room a person will be in. I'd run to the front and back porch as well. Even mesh systems work better with a wired backhaul.

 

[turkish]

I’ve started researching this. Does “backhaul” refer to using Ethernet at each node?

 

[SheltonChoked]

I’ve started researching this. Does “backhaul” refer to using Ethernet at each node?

Backhaul is how the mesh nodes talk to each other and make it a seamless system.

Wired is faster as it free's up a radio to use for devices instead of the nodes talking to each other.

Most people won't notice the difference.

 

[horshack.sixpack]

I have Velop. Great coverage and speeds, but random disconnects from various devices that I cannot explain. Also, at times I have to just reset the mesh to get it to work properly after it craps out.

 

[fishwater99]

Any recs for a good WiFi router for a mesh with Fiber?

 

[SheltonChoked]

Any recs for a good WiFi router for a mesh with Fiber?

Any of the above work with Fiber.

I have a started with a Eero Pro 3 pack Wired Backhaul for my 1Gbps connection. My wifi speed limit is based on which device I use, but up to 450Mbps for everything. I have about 90 devices on at any one time and, in other times, have had 30+ extra people on my wifi while streaming on 6 TV's without an issue. I have since added a couple of beacons for better coverage outside, but that's due to the house construction materials more than anything.

I put an Linksys Velop system at my parents house. Wireless Backhaul. Works great for them. Covers their big 2 story house. Not as easy to set up or manage as the Eero, but they didn't have much choice at the local WalMart. I'd look at the Velop wifi6.

I've read good things about the D-Link COVR-2202 (the C1203 version had bad latency which makes wifi feel slow), but it's only sold in 2 packs.

Really, the hardest part if finding the spots to put them.

 

[SirBarksalot]

I have the Eero. Have base plus two system. 2 story house with rear kitchen area needing WiFi too.Totally worth the $$ in my opinion. Most consistent my signal has been in my house..ever. I have 40 cable service and get that or better in most of house, about 30-35 upstairs. I’m about 3400 Ft.

Another vote for eero. Got the Pro last year. Can literally have every TV and device streaming at the same time with no issues. The security subscription is very good too.

 

[Trojanbulldog19]

agreed that's the hardest part. just got my fiber installed and i moved the main input to the middle of the house so now i need to buy another velop node to spread it out. i had one on one side of the house and one on the other. if i get three it should get full coverage all over the house at full blast.

 

[Trojanbulldog19]

only think i have had issues with is connecting the firestick in our bedroom that is right next to one of the nodes. i think that is more on the firestick though. they are notorious for connection issues.

 

[Irondawg]

Well apparently Amazon/BB ran a weird special - the EERO 3-pack was $170 yesterday, went to BB to grab it today and it's now $250. Didn't do pickup last night because I wanted to look at a couple of other things in store. Left pissed off and empty b/c I didn't want to pay the $80 difference and will wait for the next promo cycle

 

[katfsh]

I had a eero system in my house for several months but it and my Sonos system didn’t play well together. Basically if different Sonos speakers were connected to separate eero units they didn’t recognize that they were on the same network and couldn’t connect. Pretty good with technology but after 5-6 on tech support over 2 days to attempt to get them working I pulled the eero, as it was cheaper than the Sonos system!