Think about a reliable router and a strong Wi-Fi connection for your needs.
Think about a reliable router and a strong Wi-Fi connection for your needs.
Hello, I’m looking for advice on the best approach for expanding your Wi-Fi coverage. Your home is about 6m wide, 12m deep, with three floors plus an attic—walls are solid brick (10cm thick) and the spaces between floors are reinforced concrete (around 20cm). You need strong signals in key areas: the north side of the first floor office, the living room and kitchen on the first floor, and later the north side of the second floor for the two kid rooms. You have a budget of 600€ and are considering either a router with access points or a full mesh system. You can only place nodes on the far north or south sides. What’s the most practical solution?
Nest Wi-Fi is the top choice for all users. It functions reliably and delivers strong performance.
You're using a TP-Link Deco P9 for powerline backhaul, and it's performing well with solid coverage and fast speeds across your setup.
Thank you! Are you certain you have complete authority over the configurations? I notice some routers may restrict disabling temporary firewall protections.
You have full authority over all essential aspects (forwarding, UPnP, DNS, static LAN IPs). The setup is straightforward. It needs a mobile app for configuration and management, which I’ve never found problematic. I oversee a few homes or small businesses using it for my family; having it on my phone is definitely a benefit. It works seamlessly with the Google Home app. It’s easy to use, reliable, and functions as expected. This is the next step in Google Wi-Fi (just the updated version—evolution might be overstating it). It offers all typical router settings, though it lacks VPN or VLAN support, which most consumer devices don’t provide. Hosting a VPN on a generic router isn’t advisable since vulnerabilities would go unpatched. For stronger security, consider installing R-PI and setting up WireGuard internally if you really need a VPN—much safer and simpler. I’ve personally used Google/Nest Wi-Fi for years and it performed excellently. After that, I switched to a full PFSense/Ubiquity setup because I needed greater control: multiple subnets, VLANs, and site-to-site tunnels. These features aren’t usually required for everyday home networks.