Increasing my WiFi range ~ need a Mesh extender ???

[Box Brownie]

As its stands now my router has good signal throughout the house and into the front garden but the back garden is OK'ish but on the drive the signal is poor to no-existent.

So, I wonder if the sort of range extender I need is one that plugs in a socket in the back of the house, nearer the rear garden & drive, that is IIRC a Mesh based one i.e. it is WiFi connected to the Router and 'it' then sends out its own boosted signal.....in the hope that I will get a "good" strength on the drive???

Therefore, of the choices available is anyone using a Mesh extender and just how good is it

TIA

PS the house is a chalet style i.e. a goodly part of the upper floor construction is timber with brick & block gable ends. The router is situated in the office (smallest bedroom) upstairs close to the gable wall.

 

[Benihana]

I had an Asus zen wifi mesh for a while and it worked really well. Much preferred it to an extender, especially if you have a hardwire backhaul.

 

[Box Brownie]

I had an Asus zen wifi mesh for a while and it worked really well. Much preferred it to an extender, especially if you have a hardwire backhaul.

Thanks for the suggestion.

I have no wish to create a Cat6 wired link nor to use Power link type 'connectors'.

I am hoping that, as mentioned, it is possible and worthwhile getting a wireless (Mesh?) extender that simply(?) plugs into a mains socket at the back of the house, likely back bedroom for height and in the primarily timber part of the house.

 

[harpistic]

Devolo Magic 2, off Amazon, very easy to set up.

My mother’s house in Brighton is part of the original manor house, which has been chopped into three, so she’s got a vertical slice and has had endless wifi (and water, and wiring, and deliveries, and mice etc) woes.

I originally set her up with an extender but then switched her to Devolo, and I’ve measured how far away from the house it extends, so you should be fine.

 

[Benihana]

You can use a mesh without a wired backhaul, it's just that is what allows them to work at their peak. To be honest though, unless you are regularly maxing your band width, I'm sure you would never notice.

 

[Box Brownie]

Devolo Magic 2, off Amazon, very easy to set up.

My mother’s house in Brighton is part of the original manor house, which has been chopped into three, so she’s got a vertical slice and has had endless wifi (and water, and wiring, and deliveries, and mice etc) woes.

I originally set her up with an extender but then switched her to Devolo, and I’ve measured how far away from the house it extends, so you should be fine.

Thanks for the recommendation but as mentioned I have no wish to use 'Power line' devices which the Devolo range appear to be

 

[harpistic]

It’s mesh, not power line - powerline was rubbish for the house layout.

 

[Box Brownie]

It’s mesh, not power line - powerline was rubbish for the house layout.

Ah! I see......................having looked again and watched the Pocket Lint video I note that it appears to be both a powerline and Mesh system and it appears that one can use either method and it seems even a combination if required?

 

[ChrisR]

I have a TP-Link Deco M5 twin-pack system. One is beside the router towards the rear of our 2-story house, wired to it (router wifi turned off). The other is high up in the garage near the front. We get excellent, pretty rock-solid wifi throughout the 4-bedroom house, including extension. I haven't tested how far away the wifi reaches, but I'm confident it would include the front drive and rear garden. YMMV of course.

EDIT: I had previously tried a TP-Link range extender and it was rubbish!

 

[JonathanRyan]

A mesh system is usually an _alternative_ to your current WiFi, not an extender for it.

So my choice was either get an extender (which in general aren't great) or replace the white thing with mesh. One unit plugs into the router, the rest go where you need them (and mine had an app that offered advice).

May well be a great solution but it's likely to cost you a little more than you expect. A decent system for you size of house and garden might be £200. Good systems are made by the obvious choices, tplink, BT, Google and Amazon plus any decent brand you've heard of.

 

[ecoleman]

A mesh system is usually an _alternative_ to your current WiFi, not an extender for it.

So my choice was either get an extender (which in general aren't great) or replace the white thing with mesh. One unit plugs into the router, the rest go where you need them (and mine had an app that offered advice).

May well be a great solution but it's likely to cost you a little more than you expect. A decent system for you size of house and garden might be £200. Good systems are made by the obvious choices, tplink, BT, Google and Amazon plus any decent brand you've heard of.

Either / Or

Most decent mesh systems can be setup in bridge mode so you keep your existing router and just use the mesh system as your wifi although I wouldn't do that unless you absolutely can not change the router.

 

[Box Brownie]

I have a TP-Link Deco M5 twin-pack system. One is beside the router towards the rear of our 2-story house, wired to it (router wifi turned off). The other is high up in the garage near the front. We get excellent, pretty rock-solid wifi throughout the 4-bedroom house, including extension. I haven't tested how far away the wifi reaches, but I'm confident it would include the front drive and rear garden. YMMV of course.

EDIT: I had previously tried a TP-Link range extender and it was rubbish!

The more I look I see ref to poor performances of 'extenders'

I did contact TP lInk and they recommended their Deco system but looking on their website it was far from obvious about its use with a non Mesh Router. The Devolo @ recommmended by @harpistic does appear to be compatible.

So, your user insight is very important

Furthermore TP muddied my understanding because they state that Mesh cannot be used with non Mesh routers................so just what is the Deco system?

Oh, did you keep your router on its original SSID?

A mesh system is usually an _alternative_ to your current WiFi, not an extender for it.

So my choice was either get an extender (which in general aren't great) or replace the white thing with mesh. One unit plugs into the router, the rest go where you need them (and mine had an app that offered advice).

May well be a great solution but it's likely to cost you a little more than you expect. A decent system for you size of house and garden might be £200. Good systems are made by the obvious choices, tplink, BT, Google and Amazon plus any decent brand you've heard of.

Yes, happy to spend a little more for an ideal (for me) solution

Just need to resolve that what I get will be 'right'

FWIW my current router is a BT Business Hub 5 used on PlusNet ISP. A robust and configurable router.

 

[ecoleman]

I did contact TP lInk and they recommended their Deco system but looking on their website it was far from obvious about its use with a non Mesh Router. The Devolo @ recommmended by @harpistic does appear to be compatible.

I have a set of 3 Deco M5's. They will work with your existing router in bridge mode or they replace your router completely. ie the master unit is the router.

You can have a wired backhaul (Ethernet or powerline) or a wireless backhaul.

They work very well and the only reason I removed mine was because I changed my entire system to Unifi.

 

[Faldrax]

The more I look I see ref to poor performances of 'extenders'

I did contact TP lInk and they recommended their Deco system but looking on their website it was far from obvious about its use with a non Mesh Router. The Devolo @ recommmended by @harpistic does appear to be compatible.

So, your user insight is very important

Furthermore TP muddied my understanding because they state that Mesh cannot be used with non Mesh routers................so just what is the Deco system?

Oh, did you keep your router on its original SSID?

Yes, happy to spend a little more for an ideal (for me) solution

Just need to resolve that what I get will be 'right'

FWIW my current router is a BT Business Hub 5 used on PlusNet ISP. A robust and configurable router.

It can be confusing, particularly as some units can be configured to operate in a number of different ways.

I have a set of 3 Deco M9+ units (TP Link have a whole bunch of different Mesh units, as standards for WiFi have changed over time - in theory they will all work together).

When I was with BT as my ISP I use these with my Hub 5, so I can confirm they do work together, but it's a question of getting the configuration right.

The simplest (I found) was to use the ISP Modem / Router purely as a connection to the Internet - so turn off it's WiFi, and only have a single connection from the Modem / Router to the primary Mesh unit, and don't connect anything else to the Modem / Router - if you need more Ethernet ports local to the primary Mesh unit, use a switch connected to the Mesh unit (assuming it has 2 or more Ethernet ports).
In this setup, the primary Mesh unit is responsible for DNS and DHCP on your local network.
Additional Mesh units can then connect to the Primary Mesh unit either via WiFi or Ethernet (dependant on the capabilities of the mesh system you get, and how you decide to link them. You can mix methods - so I have one of my secondary units connected via an Ethernet cable, and one via WiFi.)

Since you turn off the WiFi on the original router, it's SSID becomes irrelevant - and you can create one that takes your fancy.

Some (the Deco's do) allow you to set up a second, separate 'Guest' WiFi network - this will have access to the internet, but NOT to the rest of your local network - so you can use a simpler WiFi Password on this as the need for security is lower, making things easier for any visitors who want to access your WiFi.

 

[Box Brownie]

It can be confusing, particularly as some units can be configured to operate in a number of different ways.

I have a set of 3 Deco M9+ units (TP Link have a whole bunch of different Mesh units, as standards for WiFi have changed over time - in theory they will all work together).

When I was with BT as my ISP I use these with my Hub 5, so I can confirm they do work together, but it's a question of getting the configuration right.

The simplest (I found) was to use the ISP Modem / Router purely as a connection to the Internet - so turn off it's WiFi, and only have a single connection from the Modem / Router to the primary Mesh unit, and don't connect anything else to the Modem / Router - if you need more Ethernet ports local to the primary Mesh unit, use a switch connected to the Mesh unit (assuming it has 2 or more Ethernet ports).
In this setup, the primary Mesh unit is responsible for DNS and DHCP on your local network.
Additional Mesh units can then connect to the Primary Mesh unit either via WiFi or Ethernet (dependant on the capabilities of the mesh system you get, and how you decide to link them. You can mix methods - so I have one of my secondary units connected via an Ethernet cable, and one via WiFi.)

Since you turn off the WiFi on the original router, it's SSID becomes irrelevant - and you can create one that takes your fancy.

Some (the Deco's do) allow you to set up a second, separate 'Guest' WiFi network - this will have access to the internet, but NOT to the rest of your local network - so you can use a simpler WiFi Password on this as the need for security is lower, making things easier for any visitors who want to access your WiFi.

Thanks for the insights and user experiences

I am currently setup with everything on WiFi (used to ethernet my main PC but as precaution added a TP Link Wireless dongle to isolate it from lightning strike effects!) but do use static IPs for some devices including the two printers.

I also use Mac filtering a layer of security (yes, I know that Mac addresses can be spoofed ).

So, in regard to your advice re: turn off the router WiFi did you transpose any static IPs and does the Primary Mesh use the same default IP as the router?

Oh, I made a small error re my Router it is the BT Business Smart Hub (which I think is based on the Hub 5?)

 

[Faldrax]

Thanks for the insights and user experiences

I am currently setup with everything on WiFi (used to ethernet my main PC but as precaution added a TP Link Wireless dongle to isolate it from lightning strike effects!) but do use static IPs for some devices including the two printers.

I also use Mac filtering a layer of security (yes, I know that Mac addresses can be spoofed ).

So, in regard to your advice re: turn off the router WiFi did you transpose any static IPs and does the Primary Mesh use the same default IP as the router?

Oh, I made a small error re my Router it is the BT Business Smart Hub (which I think is based on the Hub 5?)

The specifics of what can be configured will depend on which mesh units you get.

The Router will actually be on a separate network to the rest of your home LAN - the Primary Mesh acts as a gateway to it.

Static IP will be set up on the individual devices, but on the Deco you can also DHCP to have a fixed DHCP allocation to a device - which has a similar effect (the device always has the same IP). You can set the range for DHCP, so I'd assume you can set Statics outside this range and have it all work OK, but not tried it.
Personally, I find the fixed DHCP option easier, as I can mange the IP of everything via the app, and it also works with things which don't support static IP (I have a bunch of 'smart' light switches which I've set to always have the same IP's, for example).

Deco do NOT have MAC whitelist, only blacklist (I don't know which other Mesh systems do have this feature, I'd assume there are some).

 

[Box Brownie]

The specifics of what can be configured will depend on which mesh units you get.

The Router will actually be on a separate network to the rest of your home LAN - the Primary Mesh acts as a gateway to it.

Static IP will be set up on the individual devices, but on the Deco you can also DHCP to have a fixed DHCP allocation to a device - which has a similar effect (the device always has the same IP). You can set the range for DHCP, so I'd assume you can set Statics outside this range and have it all work OK, but not tried it.
Personally, I find the fixed DHCP option easier, as I can mange the IP of everything via the app, and it also works with things which don't support static IP (I have a bunch of 'smart' light switches which I've set to always have the same IP's, for example).

Deco do NOT have MAC whitelist, only blacklist (I don't know which other Mesh systems do have this feature, I'd assume there are some).

RE: statics ~ I set my hub with a restricted DHCP allowing for static/fixed IPs in the lower numbers outside the DHCP range. I cannot recall fixed DHCP being an option

To have a blacklist approach to Mac filtering seems kind of cart before horse i.e. to 'whitelist' allow thus means any unknown addresses are blocked. To blacklist IMO means that you have to identify suspect addresses and then block them

I need to drill down into the Deco range and see what looks 'right' for us?

On the face of it I would need only two units, the primary to nearby to the router (which I will have to relocate to allow for such a setup change) and the secondary at the back of the house.

 

[Harlequin565]

I had similar problems with standard wi-fi - needing coverage for 2 ring cameras and wanting wi-fi in the garage which is at the end of the garden as well as covering the house. The router is in the box room upstairs, so even in the conservatory it was a struggle to get signal.

I ended up replacing it with a TP-Link Decco M4 Mesh system about 2 years ago, which has been problem free and gives excellent wi-fi throughout the property, even to the garage and the car parked on the front road. It wasn't cheap, but it was worth it. One tip if you have Ring devices on an existing wi-fi - when you set up the Mesh system, getting it to swap to the new network was a terrible frustration for me. I think I ended up changing the mesh network name/password to the "old" network and just gave my existing wi-fi network a new name. The ring devices became happy again.

 

[Box Brownie]

The choices of the Deco range are staggeringly bewildering.....and I like technology

At this point I have no idea which 2 pack set will meet my needs without drilling into each one

 

[Faldrax]

RE: statics ~ I set my hub with a restricted DHCP allowing for static/fixed IPs in the lower numbers outside the DHCP range. I cannot recall fixed DHCP being an option

To have a blacklist approach to Mac filtering seems kind of cart before horse i.e. to 'whitelist' allow thus means any unknown addresses are blocked. To blacklist IMO means that you have to identify suspect addresses and then block them

I need to drill down into the Deco range and see what looks 'right' for us?

On the face of it I would need only two units, the primary to nearby to the router (which I will have to relocate to allow for such a setup change) and the secondary at the back of the house.

In the past before I had the mesh system, I have used statics in exactly the way you describe - the advantage of the Deco system is it's all in one place - the app allows me to give a name to everything (So I can have 'Kitchen Lightswitch', with it's mac address and fixed DHCP address) in the list of devices, rather than having to write it down somewhere.

Yes, only having a Blacklist is strange, and many Deco users complain about it.
I have a fairly complex WiFi Password, separate Guest WiFi, name everything on the network, and alerts if something new joins (that's via a separate network monitoring app) - so if something odd does join I can block it fairly quickly - but a whitelist would be better.

 

[Box Brownie]

In the past before I had the mesh system, I have used statics in exactly the way you describe - the advantage of the Deco system is it's all in one place - the app allows me to give a name to everything (So I can have 'Kitchen Lightswitch', with it's mac address and fixed DHCP address) in the list of devices, rather than having to write it down somewhere.

Yes, only having a Blacklist is strange, and many Deco users complain about it.
I have a fairly complex WiFi Password, separate Guest WiFi, name everything on the network, and alerts if something new joins (that's via a separate network monitoring app) - so if something odd does join I can block it fairly quickly - but a whitelist would be better.

A small drill down
I like the form factor of the Deco M9 though that may be overkill as we are on FTTC (40 down / 10 up i.e. about 38 / 6.9 in use) but its multi aerial tech adds to the range(?)

What I need to find on the website is the full manual....only found the one page (in english of 37 languages !!!!) 'quick installer. To read about the 'nuts & bolts' of the configurations available.

Can you access the GUI via PC web browser?

 

[ecoleman]

Can you access the GUI via PC web browser?

I can't speak to the M9's but the M5's you had to use the app. I suspect that the M9's would be the same.

 

[Faldrax]

A small drill down
I like the form factor of the Deco M9 though that may be overkill as we are on FTTC (40 down / 10 up i.e. about 38 / 6.9 in use) but its multi aerial tech adds to the range(?)

What I need to find on the website is the full manual....only found the one page (in english of 37 languages !!!!) 'quick installer. To read about the 'nuts & bolts' of the configurations available.

Can you access the GUI via PC web browser?

I opted for the M9+ over the M5 because of the second 5Ghz network it has exclusively for backhaul - this runs on a separate channel to the 'public' 5Ghz network, and should improve throughput as you are not sharing bandwidth between connected devices and backhaul.
You can access a GUI for the Deco via a PC browser - but it's mainly a status display, rather than a configuration tool - you need the Deco App for configuration.

 

[Box Brownie]

FWIW

I have been doing speed and signal strength tests around the house and in relative terms the most important ones are:-

In the same room at the router
Down/up
36/5.9
Phy speed
433/433

In the back bedroom
Down/up
36/5.7
Phy speed
325/325

Based on this I am inclined to think an extender is a logical solution that overcomes the need to reconfigure the router as I would have to with adding Mesh into the system.

On the ground floor depending on the room the speed can be half the above but streaming etc is still good without the likes of buffering.

Edit
This extender gets good reviews compared to others. One of which points out that unlike most such extenders that plug directly into the socket, that could result in obstructions, this one use a power brick & lead.

WiFi 6 Repeater 5400 - Wireless boost with Wi-Fi 6 | devolo

Simply faster: The high-performance repeater with Wi-Fi 6 and mesh Wi-Fi.

www.devolo.co.uk

 

[Box Brownie]

I can't speak to the M9's but the M5's you had to use the app. I suspect that the M9's would be the same.

Thanks for the insight

I opted for the M9+ over the M5 because of the second 5Ghz network it has exclusively for backhaul - this runs on a separate channel to the 'public' 5Ghz network, and should improve throughput as you are not sharing bandwidth between connected devices and backhaul.
You can access a GUI for the Deco via a PC browser - but it's mainly a status display, rather than a configuration tool - you need the Deco App for configuration.

Thank you, I sent an email last night toTP for their replies to some specific questions including whether the M9 Plus had a whitelist. As discussed I know that such Mac Filtering is limited (what with Mac spoofing) but I see it as an extra layer to be used as needed.

It will be interesting to learn why, if they answer, they see a Blacklist as beneficial but not a whitelist?

 

[ChrisR]

You've clearly had good advice here. Just to add, when we installed our M5s I simply disabled Wifi on the Plusnet router/modem, and plugged an ethernet cable for the central M5 into a router port. We do have a family PC also plugged into that router. I've never noticed any problems with this, although I do (very) occasionally worry for a few brief moments how well Plusnet keep their router up to date. Any queries so far have been brushed off with something the equivalent of "It's fine, trust us!".

I guess if you order your extender online and it doesn't do the job it can be returned?

 

[Box Brownie]

An update

TP lInk it seems, by their advice was a poor choice based on my criteria.

So, I bought a Devolo WiFi 6 Extender 5400 from Amazon. It came earlier today and though I had to jump through a few technical glitches because I like Mac Filtering, all sorted now and running.

In the house the signal strength on both the 2.4 & the 5Ghz bands are nice and solidly good to excellent and fair in a couple of spots that were fair. All runs fine on the various devices so far and tomorrow I will go outside on the drive and also check how strong the signal is for the car on the drive. Note ~ the (as mentioned?) was poor to non-existent , so will be interesting in regard to the improvement

PS one oddity in regard to, that I received a sealed retail box with not a sign that it had been opened & re-sealed. Once I had sorted out the setup & configuration, I was putting away the box and noticed that the serial number on the box was different to the serial number on the product
Here is a WCMUT about my chat with Amazon.

WCMUT....what cheered me up today

My Broadband Contract :) I have been with PlusNet for over 20 years and every time the contract comes up for renewal I call and negotiate the next one. The new one is costing me less than the old, actually approx the figure of the old one but when it started 2 years ago. So, bearing in mind...

www.talkphotography.co.uk