Wi-Fi 6 Router or 3x Mesh Routers on FTTN?

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  Morien on 10/04/2022 - 22:55

  What size house?
  How many levels?
  Mainly streaming, or gaming as well?

  When your house is upgraded you won't need a modem router. Just a router will do. Can you stretch your budget out any? Just an extra hundred may give far better options.

  • 

    bobwokeup on 10/04/2022 - 22:58

    Oops thanks it’s a 4x2 single level with the modem on one side of the house (close to family/kitchen and our room but not the kids) and mainly streaming.

    I’ll add that to the post.

    *edit - yeah I could spend more if it meant not having to replace it later on. I didn’t know that about FTTP ;)

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  Gunther on 10/04/2022 - 23:36

  Sounds like you need a decent mesh for your use case

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  Hybroid on 11/04/2022 - 00:02

  we live in a 4x2 single level with the modem on one side of the house

  So mesh it is. Really not a difficult decision.

  • 

    bobwokeup on 11/04/2022 - 00:24

    I should add that getting coverage to the kids rooms is a nice to have, we mainly want to improve the dropouts in the family/kitchen and our room. If we get the mesh could that improve the streaming reliability?

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  scrimshaw on 11/04/2022 - 00:54

  +2

  I deployed mesh routers in my 2-storey home (4 bedrooms) and have been pretty happy with the performance so far. It's a setup consisting of a high end ASUS RT-AX88U
  (downstairs) and a much older ASUS DSL-68U (half-way point between up stairs and downstairs, in the stairwell).

  Network connection is pretty solid however because I'm mixing 2 routers that belong in different eras (one supports Wifi 6, while the other only supports Wifi 5) I'm basically crippling my entire network to Wifi 5 speeds. But I can still fully saturate my 100mbps fiber connection on any device. I am contemplating on upgrading my node to a Wifi6 router later this year to get rid of the bottleneck.

  Whole setup cost me around $480 dollars however there are many off-the-shelf mesh routers that support Wifi 6 that won't cost that much.

  Extra note: If you're a power user (with many devices and high bandwidth usage) please do not go cheap on your networking hardware. Routers generally have limited compute performance (they're using piddly weak ARM processors that are found on smartphones from a decade ago) so if you buy super-cheap sub $100 routers (like a Tenda MW3) you're going to be bottlenecked by the hardware limitations of the networking hardware.

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  anthman on 11/04/2022 - 09:13

  Agree with the above - go mesh. Even a good wifi 5 mesh setup will serve most of, if not all, your needs. Going wifi 6 mesh is obviously an upgrade, though if you are needing those faster speeds, then you might need to consider a triband setup (which has the third band dedicated to a wireless backhaul between the nodes, only applicable if you are not hardwiring between nodes) - this gets expensive though for a 2-3 node setup but is one of the best long term high performing setups available. I'm personally on an eero 5 setup (wifi 5 mesh) 3 nodes across a 2 storey house and have rock solid speeds in every part of the house and shed as well. I also have a wifi 6 router but find I don't use it that often as all internal and web streaming needs are met by wifi 5 speeds.

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  Currynuts on 11/04/2022 - 09:30

  The Xiaomi AX6000 is probably the best value Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) router out there (sub $200 delivered). Have one in my 4x3 (2 level) household, runs really well, might get a mesh node in the future. Devices consistently get >600Mbps on the opposite side of the house to the router, and within reasonable distance always maxes out my connection speed of 1Gbps - rest assured it will cover your future fttp upgrade as well, if you choose to fork out for the higher speeds. Only downside for general purpose use is the language, the router comes only with Chinese firmware, and the router gateway page is all in Mandarin - easy to translate dynamically with chrome.

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  ak147ak on 11/04/2022 - 16:26

  I would have got these deco mesh 3pk for mine but im on 5g 400mbps and went with the x20. If i was still on fttn i would have got the TP-Link AC1200 Deco E4. Easy setup and great coverage and speed.

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  bobwokeup on 11/04/2022 - 21:16

  Thanks everyone mesh does sound like the way to go. I’m thinking of going this one as it’s WiFi 6 and a decent price - thoughts?

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  bobwokeup on 12/04/2022 - 11:04

  So I only just noticed the D-Link COVR-X1863 is from UK so I would need a plug. I don't usually buy overseas products but checked with Australia support and they can still support it but obviously replacements would have to go through Amazon.

  So is that still a good deal?

  • 

    Currynuts on 12/04/2022 - 13:54

    Any particular reason to not get the Xiaomi AX6000?

    • 

      bobwokeup on 12/04/2022 - 14:25

      +1

      Only because I thought the 3 x mesh routers would provide better coverage and less dropouts. It also takes up to a month and Ali Express can take longer than stated. The language issue also got me as I haven’t set up many routers so could be a struggle. I also like having an app to monitor kids usage.

  • 

    nugstar on 14/04/2022 - 01:11

    UK has more strict rules on wifi transmit power so range may be worse than an Australian model. i.e. the max range of a UK model would be shorter than an Aus model - unless there's some kind of region setting.

    I've been researching Asus routers and this seems to be an issue for newer models - unsure of that specific D-Link model though.

    Puts a bit of a dampener on the cheaper pricing, along with warranty issues.

    • 

      bobwokeup on 14/04/2022 - 17:33

      Thanks for that I was 50/50 so it’s not worth the risk I reckon.

      I do like Asus and TP-Link. Will keep looking and hope I find one at a decent price. Do you have one that you’re leaning towards?