Background: I am migrating from a Gen 1 Google WiFi mesh router and pulled the trigger and bought this router on prime day. TP-Link Tri-Band BE19000 WiFi 7 Router (Archer BE800) - https://a.co/d/en9OlMz
Huge upgrade, outside a few spots in my house where it’s pretty spotty. I cannot easily move the router due to not having a basement, nor approval from the wife to break through a bunch of walls to wire it up how I want it.
So the question is… Do I get the BE11000 range extender that is currently $300
Or
TP-Link Tri-Band BE9300 WiFi 7 Router Archer BE550 - https://a.co/d/bUat5G4 which is currently $250. The speed difference isn’t a deal breaker for me on the other devices. My computers are hard-line and happy next to the router.
Or do I just say screw it and return it and go back to a mesh system.
I am currently unable to connect the second node to a wired connection, but I have a plan on getting that done this coming year once I get wife buy-in…
Any help is appreciated, thanks in advance!
If it’s just one or two rooms ya need wired up, but don’t wanna run the copper? There are options. If you have any old coax drops in them there’s adapters you can attach and just reuse the old coax. OR you could look into a power line adapter. Basically it uses the house electrical lines (in the wall) to create a connection.
I appreciate that, I could try out the coax bit, power line adapters were more miss for me when I tried that out previously. Thanks for the idea
You could break the network into parts. Start with a upstream router and then get a switch and some access points.
You will have a much better time
Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I’ve seen in this thread:
| Fewer Letters | More Letters |
|---|---|
| AP | WiFi Access Point |
| PoE | Power over Ethernet |
| Unifi | Ubiquiti WiFi hardware brand |
3 acronyms in this thread; the most compressed thread commented on today has 7 acronyms.
[Thread #896 for this sub, first seen 29th Jul 2024, 23:55] [FAQ] [Full list] [Contact] [Source code]
https://www.wi-fi.org/discover-wi-fi/wi-fi-easymesh
Those PP link routers are both eashmesh compatible so they should provide a good experience. Yes running an ethernet cable across your house will get you better performance, but do you know just how expensive/hard that is? My friend was quoted 2.5k to run like 4 ethernet drops in his house through his attic. Trying to do it ourselves also seems like a nightmare so I’m not really sure if I’m going to have to suffer through that.
My house is such a pain in that regard that I’m tempted to bury a line from my office in the front and around the house to get better coverage on the other side of the house. Not having a basement and how my attic is set up is a nightmare. A middle ground is probably doable but would require me to rip up some flooring, which is not ideal either. Thank you for the input, weighing my options of an AP, or getting one of the above and hopefully have an easier go at it for now, but lose performance.
I think others have already said this, but to sum it up…
To extend wifi, avoid repeaters (unless speed isn’t a big deal). Get a hard-wired Access Point. TP-Link makes some of you want to stick to consumer brands. Ubiquity and Grandstream are a bit more “prosumer”. I don’t have actual experience with Grandstreem, but the advantage is you don’t need to run software to set them up. You can do it through a web browser.
These options need to be wire with Ethernet. You’ll power them with a PoE injector.
“Mesh” typically refers to a main router/wifi AP combo, and an add-on WiFi AP, with a wireless link to the main router. This works well for a lot of people, and if worked well for you before, you might want to go back to that if you can’t run wires to a “real” access point.
Using another router in Access Point mode is an option, but it would sort of be a waste of money (although, maybe not? Depends on price obviously). This will probably require a wire between the two routers, but you can probably also set it up as a wifi extender.
Fun fact: A lot of Ubiquity access points have “mesh”, but to my knowledge it only works with other Ubiquity/Unifi equipment. You still have to power it using ethernet and a PoE injector, but if there’s no network on that ethernet cable, it can link up wirelessly. I’m sure other brands have this as an option, too.
