Originally published at: I simplified my Wifi set up with a Google Nest router and extenders | Boing Boing
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Hell yeah. Mesh is best! Revolutionary in my opinion.
I’m an Orbi fan myself (because of the dedicated backhaul channel) but any mesh system is far superior to spider routers and extenders.
I bought the Google Wifi router setup before realizing that I was committing myself to subjecting every single internet transaction to Google scrutiny, which maybe was unavoidable anyway. One other downside is that the router software is only accessible from the cell phone app.
The upside is it works great and there’s hardly ever any need to even think about it or look at it.
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My one issue is that there’s no easy way to temporarily force 2.4GHz for setting up annoying low-band-only smart home products.
Otherwise I’ve been pretty happy:
Unifi kit is pretty great too.
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Have they stopped using Faraday mesh as the support for wall plaster?
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I bought a mesh system for the house when WFH became a thing and I was on video all day sitting elbow to elbow with my beloved on all day too and with the children on all day probably streaming video too.
Deco was the brand I went with. Partially because Google: ewwww. It has been excellent. I occasionally have had a little hassle with my Sonos speakers but usually they need updating (work in some rooms but not others).
Mesh. Do it. You most likely need it if you have connection issues at home. You probably have the bandwidth going into your house but the channel management and contention within the house are the issues.
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I’m very happy with my Orbi setup. I get great coverage across the whole house and issues are rare.
My first try with mesh was a bargain brand (EnGenius EnMesh) and it was much less reliable and the whole system went sneakers up after a few months. In attempting to troubleshoot, I had a couple of aggressively useless interactions with the customer service department. Careful of those budget solutions for this particular need.
I think I needed to see this. Thanks! We’ve been work from home since before, but over the last year the internet hasn’t been great. Based on what you’re saying, a mesh network is gonna help a lot when combined with the switch to a different provider.
I’m going to start looking into this more now. Thanks again!
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I didn’t have the option to change provider but do a speed test and add the sums up of what bandwidth is being used and often you wil see you have enough capacity. The channel management is why you have to reboot your WiFi to get it to work. Devices hanging onto a channel when they move out of range and then in again. Mesh gets rid of that problem allowing you seamless WiFi all around the house (and out at the end of my back garden where I like to get the evening sun with a book and some bossa streaming). A house with multiple devices is the biggest issue I think. We don’t have a giant house, though there are some Faraday cage walls.
I did the older Google Wifi for our 4-story brownstone, for our place and our two rental apartments. It works well enough that the router is on the 1st floor, and the 4th floor apartment can still run HD streaming on the smart TV without issue. The upside is the extender pucks are now very cheap on eBay - I just kept adding repeaters until everything worked, and total cost is still under $350.
If anybody has upgraded from the old G Wifi router to the new Nest hub, would love to hear if recreating the network felt worth it? I’m tempted but also daunted.
I’m supposed to have somewhere in the neighbourhood of 100 mb/s (and speed tests never even come close), but almost everything I’m using is close to a decade old in terms of network infrastructure and that’s just not cutting it anymore with the two of us home. I haven’t been happy with the provider for a while now and recent merger with the greater of three evils means I’m saying good bye soon.
We have a fair number of devices (I have two work computers) and a brick wall/chimney in the middle of the house that causes a noticeable loss of signal strength. A wifi booster helped a little, but I think we need a little more power.
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all video conference data goes over copper
With the wifi base station on the same desk as my laptop, I still get 1/10 the speed and packets dropping all over the place when over the air.
I also have an Orbi and love it, have for a few years now.
My experience is exactly the same. I’ve used Google Wifi for years. It provides excellent coverage, solving problems that I wasn’t sure were even with the wifi rather than my internet service provider. But it requires an even-stronger commitment to the Google cult. My only other internet-of-things purchase was a Nest thermostat. Since then, Google has acquired Nest and rebranded their mesh network as “Nest”.
It’s the best, if you don’t mind selling your soul. Fingers crossed!
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