WiFi Frustrations

[jcwillia1]

I've posted here many times before so if this is old news, I apologize. For those who are not familiar with my situation...

I have a three story house (basement, first floor, second floor) with ethernet and power available near the center of all three floors.
My internet is served by AT&T through an Arris router/modem which is more than a bit difficult to mess with. Even the techs who came to install it didn't want to do anything other than plug it in and run away...point is I can't make it a modem, it's a modem and a router - this point will become relevant, promise...

I have tried

1) cheap routers repurposed as access points - fair to good performance, bad on second floor

2) 3 Omada EAP225 AP's - great but unless I was going to pay $100 for the controller (I wasn't) the controller on my PC kept losing the access points and it was eventually just too painful to keep pulling the damn AP's off the ceiling to reset them and re-connect them to the controller - great performance, controller situation untenable.

3) Google WiFi - I think I hate this one the most. Because it's trying to be a router, its effective performance is ruined by its constant fighting with my router. There doesn't appear to be a way to fix that. And then I can't connect my Sonos speakers to it which is ... ridiculous. Really bad performance, ridiculous incompatibilities

I'm about ready to send the Google WiFi back to Amazon but I really don't know what to replace it with. I was really hoping that Google WiFi was going to be access points with a controller built in - it appears to be that and more that is actually harmful not helpful.

 

[L&LD]

How big is your home in SqFt? How many levels? Are the construction materials used problematic for Wi-Fi? What kind of ISP speeds do you pay for (up and down)?

For anything up to around 6,000 SqFt on at least two levels, a pair of RT-AX86U's will be sufficient when in AiMesh mode, particularly with a wired backhaul (with either 1GbE or 2.5GbE connections possible). This is available currently with RMerlin firmware 386.1 Beta 2 and can only get better.

The way this is possible is by leaving your ISP's router in router mode (since you have no choice) and creating an AiMesh router in AP mode set up on one and the other RT-AX86U as it's AiMesh node.

Something for you to think about.

 

[degrub]

Return the Google and order the Omada controller with the funds. Solves two issues you stated.

 

[OzarkEdge]

I've posted here many times before so if this is old news, I apologize. For those who are not familiar with my situation...

I have a three story house (basement, first floor, second floor) with ethernet and power available near the center of all three floors.
My internet is served by AT&T through an Arris router/modem which is more than a bit difficult to mess with. Even the techs who came to install it didn't want to do anything other than plug it in and run away...point is I can't make it a modem, it's a modem and a router - this point will become relevant, promise...

I have tried

1) cheap routers repurposed as access points - fair to good performance, bad on second floor

2) 3 Omada EAP225 AP's - great but unless I was going to pay $100 for the controller (I wasn't) the controller on my PC kept losing the access points and it was eventually just too painful to keep pulling the damn AP's off the ceiling to reset them and re-connect them to the controller - great performance, controller situation untenable.

3) Google WiFi - I think I hate this one the most. Because it's trying to be a router, its effective performance is ruined by its constant fighting with my router. There doesn't appear to be a way to fix that. And then I can't connect my Sonos speakers to it which is ... ridiculous. Really bad performance, ridiculous incompatibilities

I'm about ready to send the Google WiFi back to Amazon but I really don't know what to replace it with. I was really hoping that Google WiFi was going to be access points with a controller built in - it appears to be that and more that is actually harmful not helpful.

What is the basement AT&T Arris gateway model? Can you wire your basement media devices to it? Does its WiFi sufficiently serve your basement media devices? Can you disable its WiFi?

A node high in the basement and a 2nd floor node of a 2xRT-AX86U wired AiMesh in AP Mode wired to the AT&T gateway (Wifi OFF) in the basement should serve your 3x1300 sq. ft. levels and outside. Someday, bridge/abandon the AT&T gateway.

And send back the Google WiFi.

OE

 

[Trip]

Per @degrub's advice, simply buy the Omada controller. If you're already entertaining a replacement solution, clearly you must have the funds. Just buy the darn thing and be done with it.