Want to upgrade current 3 router system to mesh (advice)

[Huckleberry]

Hi all.
As the title states, I’m looking at changing my current setup from range extenders to a mesh network.

I’m currently running a Netgear AC 4000 R8000P as a base with 2 Asus RT-AC66R’s as range extenders.

My understanding is all these are mesh capable, but not necessarily together.


My uses:

· gaming

· Heavy streaming (cord cut years ago, all streaming entertainment)

· My wife works from home and uptime is very important

My big concerns are dropping of signal (especially on my static equipment ie xbox) and seamless transfer between nodes.

So…. Do I change the base unit to Asus (and which one), or do I change the satellites/nodes to netgear. Or, would I just be better of with a completely different setup all together (which I’m not necessarily opposed to)?

As an aside, I have liked Asus’s firmware over netgear, but I suppose that is more of a preference thing; I also like more configuration options in the firmware if possible.

Is there something up and coming as far as new product offerings that I should wait for?


Also, resale on any of this stuff any good?

 

[Trip]

Hi Huckleberry, welcome.

First thing: wired infrastructure. Can you create any amount of wired backbone to the remote wireless nodes? If not via ethernet, how about MoCa adapters over TV coaxial? The more you can hard-wire, the more robust and reliable your network will be.

If you can hard-wire all remote wifi nodes, then you might as well use a wire-first, controller-based access point (AP) product (like TP-Link Omada or Ubiquiti UniFi), instead of consumer "mesh". The former will be more reliable in general, plus proper APs allow for unique fronthaul channels per node (consumer mesh does not), which means less co-interference, more simultaneous endpoint bandwidth, better seamless roaming -- overall just a way more robust network.

If you can hard-wire only one drop but not the other, you should still consider a wire-first AP product for all three broadcast points, and then just wirelessly uplink that third AP, understanding that bandwidth will be a fair amount lower and latency increased for endpoints connecting to that AP.

If you can't hard-wire anything at all, I'd suggest a full swap to a 3-node Eero Pro setup. IMHO, it's the only consumer "mesh" product worth monkeying with, due to it having QoS that actually works, and, presuming you have at least 3 or more nodes equidistant from one another, it will form an actual true mesh. All of that equates to stability and consistency, less so speed or all-in-one-like features. If you're really hungry for more speed or features (or both), you'll have to look at a faster static product like Orbi (tri-band) or Amplifi Alien, but both of those can have their issues as well.

 

[Huckleberry]

Hi Huckleberry, welcome.

First thing: wired infrastructure. Can you create any amount of wired backbone to the remote wireless nodes? If not via ethernet, how about MoCa adapters over TV coaxial? The more you can hard-wire, the more robust and reliable your network will be.

If you can hard-wire all remote wifi nodes, then you might as well use a wire-first, controller-based access point (AP) product (like TP-Link Omada or Ubiquiti UniFi), instead of consumer "mesh". The former will be more reliable in general, plus proper APs allow for unique fronthaul channels per node (consumer mesh does not), which means less co-interference, more simultaneous endpoint bandwidth, better seamless roaming -- overall just a way more robust network.

If you can hard-wire only one drop but not the other, you should still consider a wire-first AP product for all three broadcast points, and then just wirelessly uplink that third AP, understanding that bandwidth will be a fair amount lower and latency increased for endpoints connecting to that AP.

If you can't hard-wire anything at all, I'd suggest a full swap to a 3-node Eero Pro setup. IMHO, it's the only consumer "mesh" product worth monkeying with, due to it having QoS that actually works, and, presuming you have at least 3 or more nodes equidistant from one another, it will form an actual true mesh. All of that equates to stability and consistency, less so speed or all-in-one-like features. If you're really hungry for more speed or features (or both), you'll have to look at a faster static product like Orbi (tri-band) or Amplifi Alien, but both of those can have their issues as well.

I could potentially use that MoCa system, except for the fact that my internet piped in via my coax to my cable modem.....soooooo, I'm guessing that would be alot of cross chatter, unless I had the cable company come down and do some wireing for me to make it work. I could probably wire some eithernet to connect the nodes, but may be more work that I want. I do like the MoCa idea. If I were to go the MoCa route I assume I would still need to match up my equipment?

 

[Trip]

Regardless of the wired backbone medium, ideally you'd still want your wireless APs to be from a single ecosystem, for the single control plane, which means one place to manage everything and the most efficient use of airspace, including the most optimal wireless roaming (as all APs can share intelligence with one another through the controller).

MoCa would really only make sense, though, if you already have several RG6 coaxial runs and cable jacks scattered through the house, hopefully close to where you'd locate your APs. If that's not the case, and your only cable drop is just the ISP's demarc, then you might as well run ethernet (Cat6) if you're going to have anything run at all (as it's obviously preferable over coaxial).

 

[Huckleberry]

Does the coax option allow for more than one node? Or is it kinda "Plug and play"

 

[Trip]

MoCa allows for as many nodes as you want to have on the same splitter group; you also need to make sure your splitter(s) are MoCa frequency compatible (so, 2300Mhz or greater on the top end). Here are examples.

It's also fairly plug-and-plug, at least by way of automatically passing data and linking up (presuming you have MoCa-compatible splitters/amplifiers, your coaxial cabling is at least in decent shape and these isn't any excessive EMF interference).

 

[Huckleberry]

MoCa allows for as many nodes as you want to have on the same splitter group; you also need to make sure your splitter(s) are MoCa frequency compatible (so, 2300Mhz or greater on the top end). Here are examples.

It's also fairly plug-and-plug, at least by way of automatically passing data and linking up (presuming you have MoCa-compatible splitters/amplifiers, your coaxial cabling is at least in decent shape and these isn't any excessive EMF interference).

Fair enough. Is that website the only place to get the adapters? Looks like they make you go through service providers to get it?

 

[Trip]

No, not at all. I just use that Actiontec article as a general primer. MoCa has several versions, each offering progressively higher throughput for all adapters on the same splitter (here's a comparison of versions). Actiontec's ECB6200 adapters (bonded MoCa 2.0) are their highest version for retail sale, and are very reliable, but if starting off fresh, MoCa 2.5 for similar (or less) cost offers a better value. I'd go with GoCoax MoCa 2.5 adapters ($60 each), provided they're in stock (they've had some supply chain issues in the recent part, even before COVID).

 

[Mark070]

I did the MoCA thing, cause I have Cable to every room in the house. My internet comes in over that line as well. For the adapters, I used the Actiontec ECB6200 from Amazon (two pack for now, but will add more as needed). I made a quick video just showing my MoCA network setup (

) if you want a very quick high level overview.

Sorry, for the shameless self-plug, but MoCA (for me) works really well, and works with existing Cable.