Mesh Wifi with Wired backhaul

[marcplante]

I have a 4000sq ft house fed by FIOS Gig Ethernet. I have strung an Ethernet backbone across the house just under the ground floor, so can string 2-3 nodes under it. From there, my testing with a netgear nighthawk AC 1750 router tells me I can cover the 2nd floor no problem.

I would like the seamless roaming that mesh networks provide, but want to leverage the wired backhaul I set up.
I would also like a couple ethernet ports on the nodes for Internet connected appliances (Garage door controller, blink controller, etc.

Mesh options don't seem to even offer wired backhaul as an option, and it seems like ethernet ports are rare. USB ports would be a plus, though I have an ethernet connected Seagate hard drive for media.

What are my options? Netgear Orbi? Ubiquiti? Linksys?

Thanks,

Marc

 

[marcplante]

Seems like Google Wifi supports wired connectivity as long as you perform initial setup wirelessly. Anyone BTDT? Sounds like a clean solution. Not a lot of spare Ethernet ports, but I can add a gig switch for that.

 

[marcplante]

Seems like Netgear Orbi has added Ethernet backhaul support. It seems to offer better performance at extreme speeds, though there seem to be some issues around firmware version management, etc. The notion of Google's self management is somewhat attractive. I'm not an apple/appliance user, but I get tired of tinkering, and my wife loses it when the wifi isn't right.

 

[XavierMace]

I've been happy with my TPLink Deco and that supports a wired backhaul. Super easy setup.

 

[razel]

Only ones I recommend: Google WiFi(onHub), Asus AiMesh, Linksys Velop & Netgear Orbi. The latter three have web GUIs, so if you tinker with network settings alot don't get GWiFi.... you'll just get mad. If you do mess around ALOT, Asus AiMESH is the best. They ran with the idea, Google did with onHub and GWiFi. You are not limited to one router model. You can use any that is on their list which contains some of the very best routers the past few years and it is growing. That also becomes it's problem. It is still in beta and lacks the software maturity GWiFi has. I'm fan of it though. I hope MESH becomes standardized across brands and have been watching sales on ASUS routers that support it.

I've been wanting Linksys Velop for awhile. Same hardware as GWiFi but it comes with a web GUI. It's just the most expensive one. Netgear Orbi I've also played with, but was disappointed that for all it's horsepower and size it's still 2 stream AC (866mb/s max) to devices. It's backhaul is 4 stream, but you are doing wired backhaul, so it becomes a waste. Also after using GWiFi and how compact, wisely designed, best software support it is, it has become my only recommendation for the average Joe.

 

[marcplante]

Only ones I recommend: Google WiFi(onHub), Asus AiMesh, Linksys Velop & Netgear Orbi. The latter three have web GUIs, so if you tinker with network settings alot don't get GWiFi.... you'll just get mad. If you do mess around ALOT, Asus AiMESH is the best. They ran with the idea, Google did with onHub and GWiFi. You are not limited to one router model. You can use any that is on their list which contains some of the very best routers the past few years and it is growing. That also becomes it's problem. It is still in beta and lacks the software maturity GWiFi has. I'm fan of it though. I hope MESH becomes standardized across brands and have been watching sales on ASUS routers that support it.

I've been wanting Linksys Velop for awhile. Same hardware as GWiFi but it comes with a web GUI. It's just the most expensive one. Netgear Orbi I've also played with, but was disappointed that for all it's horsepower and size it's still 2 stream AC (866mb/s max) to devices. It's backhaul is 4 stream, but you are doing wired backhaul, so it becomes a waste. Also after using GWiFi and how compact, wisely designed, best software support it is, it has become my only recommendation for the average Joe.

Thanks for your insights. I was thinking about the Netgear Orbis, based on the claims they had monstrous range. But it sounds like their radios aren't optimized for top speeds.

I'm not going to be a huge tinkerer, and if I can get away with GWiFi, I might just do that. Beyond Password, guest network. I thought about QOS for the TVs, but figure with a Gig pipe I'm OK. The only other attributes I might like are Parental controls. Logging,..and access control. GWifi seems to do the access control, but I don't see logs in their documentation. Strange, I bet GOOG is getting data. Would Linksys offer logging? I suppose the Linksys devices will offer slightly better functionality and privacy from the vendor, but not include the self-updating capabilities which sounds handy on the Google devices.

I build my own PCs and maintain my own car, but my wife uses the WiFi, so appliance like is a good thing.

 

[Genx87]

Ubiquiti imo but use the classic enterprise setup. Meaning each AP has an ethernet port. Mesh is imo specific use case. If you have an actual wired backbone capability use it. Let the client decide which node to connect to. Or if you have a controller it can help the client along. Ubiquiti has a controller that can run on linux or windows.

 

[razel]

With a gig pipe, the challenge will probably be ensuring that your modem is in bridged mode and that your cables are gigabit stable. Just because the gigabit links light up when you actaully push a gigabit's worth on data that's when speeds can drop with compromised cheap cable that the port may renegotiate down to 100.

GWiFi's logging is for use to tell you more info about the devices connected and also to keep track of which WiFi channels are clear. They are not interested in your Internet data. Their goal with onHub/GWiFi is to ensure the Internet suceeds at home with IOT since routers tend to be setup insecurly and there are many more IOT WiFi devices. It also helps that cloud AI is the current trend.

My watch for Velop is that Linksys is very DD-WRT friendly and they are very agressive with prices. I've already seen CRAZY clearance prices for Velop at Walmart.

 

[marcplante]

Good to hear that there are prices on the Linksys hardware. I've been going back and forth between that and the Netgear based on top speeds, but feel like the three nodes will give me better 5Ghz coverage. I also have an 8 port gig switch for my other appliances, and the FOIS router has Ethernet and USB ports that will suffice for the few peripherals I'll want for the forseeable future. Hopefully I'll get some time this weekend to get out and pick them up.

 

[NeonFlak]

WiFi is very environment dependent. In my tests, in my particular house with 50+ devices connected both via WiFi and Ethernet and talking about strictly Mesh only. The fastest three were Orbi RBK50 (though it's sat and not "really mesh"), Eero 2nd Gen and TP-Link Deco. The most "consistent" connection regardless of speed was Google WiFi, TP-Link Deco and Orbi RB50.

However, as has been mentioned, if you do have any kind of IT background. Your best bet is probably to go with a multiple AP setup with something "prosumer" from Ubiquiti or TP-Link. Yes, I've mentioned it before, but the TP-Link EAP245 needs to be tried by everyone, lol. Both Ubiquiti and TP-Link have centralized software you can run to setup and monitor the APs. Neither has to be run 24/7, TP-Links EAPs can also be setup via a direct web gui instead if you prefer over central management. I don't recall if the UAPs have that feature, though I can try when I get home as I still have a couple in the house, if need be.