Wireless upgrade advice for better throughput and range

[jaydee77ca]

Hi,

I have a 1,450 sf one storey house and am looking to upgrade my wifi coverage and strength in the house and ideally reach out to the back patio. I currently have a Netgear R7000P as the main router. It is in the basement roughly central in the floor plan. I also have two access points connected via CAT6. A Netgear R6400 in the basement at the back of the house and a TP-Link Archer C7 on the main floor at the front of the house. I have 750 Mbps internet service from my ISP. I don't have many wifi 6 devices, just two Galaxy S20 phones.

A lot of times our phones, tablets, or laptops will stay connected to the R7000P, even if we are at the front or back of the house. Using a wifi analyzer app it seems this is because the R7000P signal is still reasonable in those areas (pretty close to the strength of the 6400 or C7) such that even turning Wi-Fi off and then on again it still connects back to the 7000P. However, the transfer rate is always down around 200-300 Mbps (wifi analyzer shows the connection as 500-650 Mbps). The kids are doing remote video calls for school and we’re doing video calls for work and some 4K streaming so I’m looking to upgrade to increase the throughput.

Given this behaviour I’m thinking it might be better to get a better single router and get rid of the access points? I was looking at a few Asus models that are on sale for similar price: RT-AC86U ($200), RT-AX82U ($250), RT-AX92U ($250). Which of these would be better in my situation?

Also, if I used AIMesh with wired back haul would it transfer the clients better so they can obtain higher throughput?

Thanks very much for your help and advice. It’s greatly appreciated!

 

[Tech9]

However, the transfer rate is always down around 200-300 Mbps (wifi analyzer shows the connection as 500-650 Mbps). The kids are doing remote video calls for school and we’re doing video calls for work and some 4K streaming so I’m looking to upgrade to increase the throughput.

I don't see the need to upgrade. What you already have is a very good connection. If a single R7000P is giving you that speed, more modern RT-AX86U will cover your entire house. Don't buy RT-AC86U now, it's 3-4 years old already and has some reliability issues. Omada and UniFi products are good, but more expensive. I don't think you need that. I would try with a single RT-AX86U for inside and eventually one of your existing routers as AP for outside.

 

[jaydee77ca]

Thank you @Tech9! Is AIMesh more intelligent about transferring clients between access points? The RT-AX92U is the same price as the RT-AX82U and the 92U has a third channel for dedicated wireless back haul which would allow placement closer to the patio as that’s the one spot there’s no wired back haul option.

 

[Tech9]

Is AIMesh more intelligent about transferring clients between access points?

No. Roaming mostly depends on clients. In my tests with AC86U routers Roaming Assistant in AiMesh was not working. It may improve over time, but better roaming is achieved with multiple evenly spaced low power APs. Omada/UniFi with 4x APs will do it better than Asus with 2x high power home routers. AiMesh is a marketing name, no much Ai there. In my opinion, current inability to control nodes transmit power is a huge drawback.

the 92U has a third channel for dedicated wireless back haul

RT-AX92U has one AX radio only. Is you dedicate this radio to the wireless backhaul, the router can only serve AC clients. I would still go with one centrally placed RT-AX86U router. It has very good coverage and offers up to AX clients connections. Full bars Wi-Fi coverage to every corner of your house is not needed. 100-200Mbps throughput to phones/tablets is excellent because they have nothing to do with faster connections anyway.

 

[jaydee77ca]

Ok great! Thank you very much @Tech9! Much appreciated!

 

[Tech9]

You have to experiment and decide what is best for you, @jaydee77ca. We all have different Wi-Fi environments.