Question best/strongest WiFi APs?

[Homerboy]

We have a small, two story house, but it's lathe and plaster and some brick walls. Other houses are close by and there's a school across the street so there's a lot of WiFi overlap etc.
I've been using a Unifi Ap-AC Long Range for the past few years, but there's still areas of the house that have dead spots. I've messed with channels and radio settings for 2.4 and 5Ghz but nothing seems to really be a silver bullet.

Is there anything "better" that anyone would recommend? Maybe some sort of mesh network? (one for each floor?) or is there an AP with more "punch"?

Anything you can recommend/suggest would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I am not much of a network guy. That said, for residential, the Nest wifi works really good for McMansions IME, so it should be great for you. A set of 2 should be enough, but adding another is easy peasy if you need it. They have a smart speaker in them if that matters to you.

 

[Tech Junky]

I use a nwa210ax and it covers 1300sq ft reliably. Skip the mesh idea unless you want more headaches.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I use a nwa210ax and it covers 1300sq ft reliably. Skip the mesh idea unless you want more headaches.

That is not a lot, and it has to deal with multi- level.

BTW I know people using them in 5000+ with zero issues, so what are you even talking about?

 

[mxnerd]

I would say TP-Link mesh systems. Probably any model would work.

3 units should work better since you have brick walls and 2 stories, however.

e.g.

https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Deco-Whole-System-Renewed/dp/B089QW9957?th=1

 

[Homerboy]

thanks for the suggestions so far.
I should point out that I am on AT&T Internet and (last I heard/understood) their gateways do not have/allow a passthrough option so any Wireless addition needs to be an AP and not a router. So hopefully any of these mesh suggestions can be switched to AP mode?

 

[Homerboy]

I use a nwa210ax and it covers 1300sq ft reliably. Skip the mesh idea unless you want more headaches.

Our house is roughly 1,300 ft.
250 of it is behind a brick wall
2 stories
and I think the killer is the whole house is 90 year old lathe and plaster.

The Unfi unit I have now is similar to the nwa210ax and just doesn't cut it. It is designed to be mounted on the ceiling, which I admit I have never done. But even still I can be 2 rooms away and it's virtually dead.

 

[mxnerd]

All (or most) mesh systems should have AP mode.

Go to youtube for reviews and setup.

 

[Homerboy]

I am not much of a network guy. That said, for residential, the Nest wifi works really good for McMansions IME, so it should be great for you. A set of 2 should be enough, but adding another is easy peasy if you need it. They have a smart speaker in them if that matters to you.

So you suggestion one Nest Router and one Nest Point?
Seems like the routers have a wired backhaul which seems highly advantageous... I assume 2 routers can function as "mesh" too?

 

[DAPUNISHER]

So you suggestion one Nest Router and one Nest Point?
Seems like the routers have a wired backhaul which seems highly advantageous... I assume 2 routers can function as "mesh" too?

Tom's has an article on them - https://www.tomsguide.com/face-off/google-wifi-vs-nest-wifi-which-mesh-router-should-you-buy

 

[Tech Junky]

5000+

Like any other system you add more for coverage.

 

[Tech Junky]

Our house is roughly 1,300 ft.
250 of it is behind a brick wall
2 stories
and I think the killer is the whole house is 90 year old lathe and plaster.

The Unfi unit I have now is similar to the nwa210ax and just doesn't cut it. It is designed to be mounted on the ceiling, which I admit I have never done. But even still I can be 2 rooms away and it's virtually dead.

You just need cabling to the problem area and add an AP for that area. Nothing is bulletproof when you're dealing with areas like that.

 

[JackMDS]

One of the important parts of most current sciences is Multivariate Analysis.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multivariate_statistics

In decisions about basic computers’ hardware the amount of variables are small and mostly under the control of the manufacturers.

In Networking (especially Wireless Networking) there is beside the basic hardware additional considerations. Physical location, environmental, number of users, bandwidth needed for what they do etc. (heck even the furniture around can play a role). The additional variables are beyond manufacturers the basic paper description of the hardware and are only known to the users.

You see it above in the posts. Everyone holds to his solution without really taken into consideration that verbal manipulation is not Technology.

It nice that people give the footage size of the entire place. But the numbers of walls doors etc. are actually more important

So unless people really give a very good description of their environment, some of the answer are just "Sneak oil".

In lack of such description, the only solid solution is advising to lay few wires to connect between chosen spots in the environment, and install there Wireless Router configured as an Access Point.

Problem is that laying wires might expensive if the user does not know how to.

You are Not going to Win the Le Mans if you can only afford a Fiat 500, but Fiat 500 can a good solution for a car used locally in NYC.

 

[mxnerd]

WiFi is hard to get it right sometimes, been mentioned above.

I found there is a philosopher in Anand's Networking forum always trying to make you think deeply about your life and where you are from, however.

Make me wanting to watch Matrix & Aliens movies again.😁

 

[In2Photos]

I have the AmplifiHD system from Ubiquiti and I love it. I have 2 of the routers and have a wired backhaul between them. Our house is ~2600 sq ft, two levels. I have one router on one end of the upstairs and the other is at the other end of the downstairs. I get excellent coverage over the entire house now and speeds are near our 300Mbps limit no matter where we are. Handoffs between routers are seamless as well. Plus the router looks like a small clock radio, not some absurd alien spaceship, so the wife doesn't mind them either!

 

[Muadib]

My house is 2400sf, and I use a Unifi UAP-AC-HD, and a U6-LR. They work well for me, but I plan to replace the UAP-AC-HD next year. For a setup like yours, you need at least 2 APs. Even if you get another company's mesh setup, I think you will have similar issues.

 

[aigomorla]

Im gonna raise my hand and say unifi-6... .but i'll probably then get jumped by all the anti ubiquiti people on this forum.
But my entire network is intigrated on unifiOS along with my router being a UDM Pro SE, and USW Pro PoE 24.
So im not the typical home UBNT user.

But i am running 4 unifi-6 LR's on about 7000sq ft coverage with full bars everywhere except inside my bathroom because of the tile, but still get full bars in some areas inside.

I hear Zyxel and eNgenius also makes great AP's as well.
I used to like TP link.... but i think lately, they feel the quality has dropped a lot, id rather go eNGenius or Zyxel.
Cisco Meraki is also very good, very easy to setup, and it has the name Cisco.

I've been using a Unifi Ap-AC Long Range for the past few years, but there's still areas of the house that have dead spots. I've messed with channels and radio settings for 2.4 and 5Ghz but nothing seems to really be a silver bullet.

Are you using a controller software?
I would use one, you can make them out of Rpi's and do not need to get a dedicated UB one.
You can also have your freenas jail it as well, if your running TrueNAS.

I would just put another UB AP at the edge of your range and run them though a controller since you already have the starting of a UB backbone setup.

 

[Tech Junky]

Zyxel

I use the NWA210AX. I've been using it now for a few years and the uptime is great and the coverage handles 1300sq ft just fine.

Ubiquity is a great option as well if you need something more user friendly and a higher price tag.

Engenius is fine too but somewhat hard to find for sale and is priced a bit higher as well.

Netgear has a 6E AP though too at double the cost of Zyxel. Zyxel was supposed to launch the NWA220AXE but pulled back on the sale of them for some reason.

 

[bigi]

Unifi + wifi man + upload your floor plans and check signals. In addition, you can adjust pretty much everything for your APs and network as well.

 

[aigomorla]

The Zyxel is in a class with Ubiquiti Unifi-6 in enterprise class.
Unless you already have the unifi backbone, i usually do not recommend unifi, as it requires a dedicated controller if you want things headache free.

I have heard a lot of complaints about Unifi, and it seems to all boil down if you have a good working dedicated controller, and if you know how to config it properly.