Thinking about switching to Verizon home internet, plus adding a wifi 6 mesh network.
Thinking about switching to Verizon home internet, plus adding a wifi 6 mesh network.
Recently we added a new phone and brought home a Verizon modem/router. We live in the country so our internet suddenly jumped up to about 175mb. Before, it had been stuck at 50mb for years. I think my old router (wifi 5?) and some old APs might limit things to 100mb, but hopefully this new option will help. So maybe we should set up a mesh system? Probably three units for the three floors. Also, are mesh satellites supposed to be wired? One daughter has a bedroom I haven't figured out how to run cat6 yet. Thanks, Matt
Most mesh systems are private brands so you would have to buy something from Verizon that fits their router, or else you might need to completely replace the existing device and use it only as a modem. First of all, there is no such thing as Cat6e; any vendor claiming this label is either lying or trying to scam you. The cable designed for 10gbit speeds is actually called Cat6a. You do not really need that if your internet speed is just 175mbps. You can get by with Cat5e or maybe even Cat6 if it comes in a cheap box. What matters most is getting pure copper wire with wire size 22-24. Lots of fake cable being sold today does not meet the real specs. Check the small print on the boxes and if you cannot find these specific numbers, go buy some other place instead. I would look up your current equipment's part number to see if it has 100m or gigabit LAN ports. Those so-called mesh systems are mostly just marketing hype. They are basically wireless repeaters; some of the expensive ones even have extra dedicated backhaul radios to fix performance issues when using a radio for both data and connection. Although you can use most mesh systems via ethernet cable, you are paying way too much money to get them stamped MESH on the box. Maybe they could write "new and improved" instead, but that would only make it faster. When you run things with ethernet cables, you are using the industry standard for wifi setups from the start. It has always been one single network no matter if people call it mesh or not. The remote radios act as simple Access Points. If you believe there is some magic roaming function that is just too much hype, remember: the end devices don't control who can go where; the network does. The devices will or won't move between wifi sources only as long as the name matches no matter if it is mesh or a regular AP. It is way cheaper to just buy an inexpensive router and use its radio part as an Access Point instead of buying real APs. You could also go out and buy actual APs yourself if you wish. What I would recommend trying first is to use your current equipment. If they do run 100mbps but that is causing you too many problems, then maybe you should look at replacing them. In general, most apps don't even need 100mbps, especially things that run on mobile devices that can't easily plug into ethernet ports. Basically, the only thing that can easily use over 100mbps is a huge file download and it depends on how much of that you do. Things like web surfing or even watching 4k netflix do not come anywhere close to 100mbps.
There is a lot here. It's probably Cat 6a. I installed it in a few rooms back when, and still have a big wooden spool of it in the garage because I can't figure out how to get to my back bedroom from there. It came from Monoprice and they've been pretty solid for me so far. Thanks for the info on not using Verizon's box. I don't know much about that equipment yet, as my wife just brought it home unexpectedly. My satellite internet is currently a UniFi AP AC LR model. Looks like these should run faster than 100Mbps. Maybe it's from an old router then. Or maybe I have something not set up right with the APs. I've been looking at a TP-Link model I think, which does have the backhaul channel, and it's fairly cheap, even with three APs I believe. What quick reading I've done on them typically says mesh systems are much better than repeaters and range extenders because they don't require separate channels. I have a wife and two kids. It's not unusual to have too much traffic with four laptops, four phones, a PC, Echo Dots, a projector streaming 4K, my wife works from home and does online content and live streaming. Heck, the download speeds with the hardline were enough for installing games to take overnight before. And I'd never game on my PC using wifi I'm not sure about the technical part of all that traffic, but the practical side says whatever increases I can get are going to be useful. Thanks for some info to start working with.
Most mesh systems are just cheap repeaters with fake names. The real ones have their own radios for the backline. You definitely need different channels for that part of the setup. If you skip this, you get a lot more signal in the same radio band because there is two times as much signal going between your router and the remote unit AND between the end device and the mesh unit. I would never buy any mesh system if you already have ethernet cables. Just stick with what you have and use cheap routers that cost under $50. Look for ones with Wi-Fi numbers 1200 or 1450. These work well with most devices. Buying fancy routers with lots of antennas when your phone only has two is a waste, because the phone will only get to use what both devices support.
I think I'll set up a new Verizon device with some old ones and see how things work out before moving forward. Can I use my phone for speed testing? It's a OnePlus 9 Pro. I should be able to match speeds on the APs using whatever my PC can get right now? Both devices are hardwired to the router or gig switch. I think I'll probably get faster than 100Mbps on my phone, or the Chromebooks, or the MacBooks too? Thanks a lot!
Maybe my switch is just letting through 100 Mbps? I don't think that's the case, though. https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-16-P...&keywords=gs316+netgear&qid=1668373794&sr=8-1
I was about to tell you that wifi speeds are way better than ethernet, BUT you only have a 175mbps connection. It all depends on your router and the phone you use. Most stuff from the last five years shows fake numbers of at least 1200... like 300 on 2.4g and 900 on 5g. You won't get that speed, but many people actually have a 300mbps setup. Just check the specs. A switch is super cheap to swap out. I can buy an eight-port gigabit switch for about $20. Usually 100mbps is enough for most things, so even if your router only has slow ports and limits wifi speed, it might still work fine. Try it yourself since you have the gear to test on. You can decide later if you need a new one. Basically anything running on a phone probably won't handle 100mbps well. I mean technically some phones can stream 4k movies, but watching them look good on a small screen is another story.
The Ap looks pretty strong, so it might hold up well for over 100mps. Here is the link: https://store.ui.com/products/unifi-ac-lr
It seems like Mediocre is actually better than 100MPBs, even though it's low quality.