Google Wi-Fi for Mesh

nardz on 14/08/2019 - 11:58
Last edited 14/08/2019 - 12:20 by 1 other user

With wifi issues around the house i've been looking at mesh networking lately. I think i'm settled on the Google wifi - if not the Netgear Orbi.

I'm going to need at least 2-3 access points. can anybody sell me for or against either of these, or any other devices?

is there anything that I need to know that isn't obvious from the surface?

also, buying the google wifi triple pack on kogan is around $100 cheaper than buying it locally at JB/Officeworks/Google store. any discernable reason not to get it through kogan? warranty, etc? is it just the one model or are there local variants that i need to be aware of?

also is it easy enough to set up on NBN FTTC?

Computing Broadband Google Mesh Network nbn Wireless Router

Comments

  • 87percent on 14/08/2019 - 12:08
    +6

    i've been using google wifi at my house for about a year and had 0 issues. Set up is simple (download the app, connect pucks and it walks you through the rest), and the pucks don't look too bad so the wife doesn't mind them. I got mine on sale at JB for $249

    • nardz on 14/08/2019 - 12:27

      $249 for the 3 pack? damn where was I when they had this sale.

  • Typical16-bitEnjoyer on 14/08/2019 - 12:09
    +1

    How big is your house? What is your existing router?

    • nardz on 14/08/2019 - 12:23

      TP Link Archer D9. Double story house, 4 bedroom.

      i've positioned the router in the middle of the downstairs area - coverage downstairs is fine. Open area living room/kitchen with a 2nd living room.

      Upstairs is basically just the 4 largish bedrooms and ensuite + bathroom and hallways.

      upstairs coverage is sketcy - the way the house is positioned, one bedroom is pretty much directly above the router, and coverage there is fine. then the bedrooms spread out from there in one direction (and then the last bedroom is around a corner). the masterbedroom very much struggles to get a signal as does the 3rd bedroom.

      • Typical16-bitEnjoyer on 14/08/2019 - 12:46

        That router should easily cover that distance. My AC68U covers 2 stories and even my backyard.

        Make sure you're connecting via 2.4ghz (5ghz doesn't have the penetration required)

        • nardz on 14/08/2019 - 12:50

          well it doesn't - i try both bands - the 2.4ghz does work a little bit better in my bedroom but still cuts in and out and slow speeds.

          • Typical16-bitEnjoyer on 14/08/2019 - 12:54

            @nardz: Fair enough. Just keep in mind if you go Mesh you'll ideally need to place an AP at the top of your stairs and another AP at the bottom of the stairs to get full effectiveness.

            • nardz on 14/08/2019 - 12:57

              @Typical16-bitEnjoyer: I'd probably have one where the router currently is, and one in the bedroom directly above it. Then I can look at positioning the 3rd somewhere between my bedroom and the 2nd device depending on requirements and whether downstairs gets sufficient coverage from just the one device.

            • nardz on 14/08/2019 - 14:01

              @Typical16-bitEnjoyer: I am thinking of first trying to move my current router - it just occured to me that the fridge could very well be obstructing the signal as it's right next to the router on the side that the signal would need to pass through to get to my bedroom.

          • zerocritical on 15/08/2019 - 08:16

            @nardz: Have you checked the channel interference? Download an app that checks is, something like wieye and see how many other wifi's are on the same channel, according change the channel on your router to the one with no / least interference.

            • nardz on 15/08/2019 - 10:26

              @zerocritical: i ended up moving the router last night and i think the signal is better distributed throughout the house.

              • Xizor on 19/08/2019 - 22:12

                @nardz: Check the actual channel mate. I have the D9, it can make a big difference.

  • [Deactivated] on 14/08/2019 - 12:24
    +2

    I have only just recently moved house and needed an extra router as an interim thing while I had both places.

    I was considering a change up to some Ubiquiti gear, but ultimately I decided to give the GoogleWifi a spin.

    I have only got about 3 weeks of experience with it so far, and i haven't done any real "in depth" testing/use of it as yet.

    However, loading the google wifi app on my phone just now (while i'm at work i might add) i can handily check my net connection, 3 access points and 16 devices are all connected and working. There is some limited speed testing/network health stuff you can do within the app, but for the most part, i can confirm it "just works".

    I'm getting more and more tin-foil-hat(y) every day, so i do have some concerns with regards to data collection etc. and those concerns my ultimately lead me to finding a better solution, but otherwise, i think it does what it says it's going to do on the box.

    Some interesting points;

    • You use an app for modification to settings etc and so far i haven't suffered any limitations with this (i can still port forward, set dns servers and assign static ip's)
    • Might be worthwhile investigating if you maintain the "LAN" when your WAN connection goes down. I've heard conflicting reports, haven't tested myself.

    Also, I actually got a pretty goood price on mine (I should have posted it as a deal, but i didn't) by using the officeworks price guarantee and price matching david jones; https://www.davidjones.com/Product/21395427/Google-WiFi-3pac…

    Ended up $329.65

    • nardz on 14/08/2019 - 12:29
      +1

      officeworks pretty much seems out of price everywhere.

      That is a good price at DJ though. looks like they also have 10% off today. Pretty much no stock in VIC though :(

      • [Deactivated] on 14/08/2019 - 13:56

        That's dissapointing if you haven't got any stock at any nearby officeworks.

    • kapone on 15/08/2019 - 09:24
      +1

      Might be worthwhile investigating if you maintain the "LAN" when your WAN connection goes down. I've heard conflicting reports, haven't tested myself.

      I can confirm the network stays up, however the Google Wifi app itself doesn't like to be without internet connectivity. So if you fire up the app to see what's going on with your network after losing Internet, be prepared to wait a good few minutes before the app gives up on trying to connect to the Internet. Pretty shitty design there.

      Other than the price though, that's my only gripe with these routers. I'd tried a bunch of different routers over the years due to wifi issues (suspected to be someone near my house with an old, but powerful 2.4Ghz cordless phone, as the wifi would get knocked out at random times for varying lengths of time, despite a strong signal and no other wifi networks operating on the same or similar channels). The Google Wifi has been the most resilient of the bunch. I've gone from losing wifi several times a day, to only three or four times a week at most, so I suspect the mesh network handles the 2.4Ghz interference much better than the previous routers did.

  • nafe on 14/08/2019 - 12:25
    +1

    I setup Google Wifi last month. Got an OK deal ($320 during the Bing Lee Ebay sale), but basically bought them because my ISP supplied router is rubbish for range and I CBF waiting for a better deal whilst dealing with rubbish wifi at home :). Works great, easy to setup, has funky app to use and monitor and adjust settings. Can't really complain.

  • Shon on 14/08/2019 - 13:22
    +1

    Love mine, but be aware that Google Wifi doesn't support WPS and some older 2.4GHz devices refuse to find the SSID as it doesn't have an explicit way of changing between 2.4GHz and 5GHz.

    • [Deactivated] on 14/08/2019 - 13:58

      I was about to start investigating this myself after noticing that only 1 SSID seemed to be broadcast. I noticed that a few of my 2.4GHz only devices seemed to have no problem connecting, but i do have a few strange IoT devices that only do 2.4 that I haven't even attempted to setup yet. I didn't even put much though into the fact that a seperate SSID wasn't broadcast for each frequency. Hopefully I don't have any issues with that.

    • nardz on 14/08/2019 - 14:00
      +3

      that's very good to know.

      i suspect they're coming out with a google wifi 2 as most stores seem to be out of stock and there's online rumours about an announcement with the pixel 4 event.

  • MagicMushroom on 14/08/2019 - 14:14

    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/brand/tenda
    A cheaper alternative and the reviews seems pretty good

  • cowboybrews on 14/08/2019 - 14:37
    -1

    I have a 2 story home and had bad WiFi in the furthest rooms from the router and purchased the Deco M5.
    https://www.mwave.com.au/product/tplink-deco-m5-wholehome-me…
    With OW price beat by 5% it turned out considerably cheaper than Google WiFi. Works very well. The only issue i find is the 5GHz doesn't work correctly… Also has the option for Ethernet ports.
    I do not have any experience with Google WiFi.

  • vince088 on 14/08/2019 - 21:06

    Tenda Nova mw3 got me into wifi mesh system for $89 pack of 3

    Loved it so much recently bought Tenda Nova mw6 $103 pack 2

    waiting for the mw6 arrive then i will have a 5 point mesh system.

    my garage and backyard will have good connection :)

  • Hirolol on 14/08/2019 - 23:21

    I got google mesh from Kogan and set it up over the weekend.
    It’s so good I’m loving it

  • rookie317 on 15/08/2019 - 00:34
    +2

    I'd recommend the Google Wifi in a heartbeat, it's imo the best mesh Wifi router overall.
    If you want one of the best (if not the best) performance, MU-MIMO, more ports though, you can look at the Netgear Orbi.
    I have both at my old place and my parent's (both 1Gbps, not in Australia, don't ask), there's no difference as far as I can tell. The Orbi's do win out in some random tests I've done but not by much.

  • smashman42 on 15/08/2019 - 14:26

    If you can, hard wire the Google WiFi pucks together for back-haul - using wireless back-haul I found they had to be absurdly close to each other to detect.

    I got them from Kogan in Jan 2018 for around the price of two individual units direct from Google or bricks & mortar retailers at the time.

    As far as I know there's only one model of the pucks themselves world wide, just the power plugs differ by region, but my Kogan 3 pack had Google factory AU plugs. The Kogan listing should specify if it is local or grey import, it looks like they have an AU/NZ one atm & a grey import out of stock.

    I haven't had any need to try a warranty claim on them so no idea if there would be problems with that for the grey import ones, but if you get the AU/NZ ones it'd be the same as getting them at any other store.

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