Mesh wifi for beginners.

[SJamieson]

What exactly do I need?

I currently have a tplink MR6400 supplying 4g internet to one side of the house. The other side doesn't get any.

Can I use my existing router? Do I need another router? Do I need a second box in the zero internet side of the house?

Can someone show my an example shopping list as to what I need?

I prefer tplink stuff.

Not necessarily needing top top of the range.

 

[rollestonpark]

ideally use an access point in the dead area, with an ethernet cable back to the router.
That will bridge the wifi devices in that bad area back to the 4G internet you have on the other side.

If you can't use a cable, then you can try using an access point to bounce the wifi over to the other side.
However, results can be a bit sketchy, because all the comms has to be received and then relayed back out. This normally results in halving the speed and doubling the latency.
So I generally avoid this, because connectivity ends up being generally much poorer/intermittent.

I normally run ethernet onto the outside of the house from the router, then back in again into the bad area with a wall mounted ethernet socket, then plug in the new access point.
if you use a PoE access point you can send the power down the same ethernet cable at the same time as the data. So no power socket is required at the new access point's location.

 

[Boysground]

I can only agree with @rollestonpark. I have a lincsys system which i would not recommend. I made it better by putting cables from the router in my office to the centre of the house and then connecting other boxes via the mesh wi fi. It still regularly drops out.

Bg

 

[steveR]

Interesting thread, as I have been wondering how to resolve an issue I have here with pushing wifi around the house, and wondered if MESH is the answer?? Thick internal walls and metal 1st floor (under floor heating) block signal.

In the past, I used ethernet from the router, and then used 2 wireless access points, including one on the roof for yard coverage. All worked really well. All on different Names, as it allowed me better control.

Then as our copper cable became ever less reliable and BT Openreach would not replace it, I jumped ship and put in a Starlink dish which is wonderful, BUT has no router built in. So, I bought the recommended WiFi Router and hooked it up to the Starlink, which then provided waaay better coverage than the Starlink wifi, but still not wonderful.

So I tried hooking up 2 of the old ethernet connections and using remote wifi points, one on POE, and one plugged into the power point and an ethernet patch cable plugged in. Nada, nothing zero.... I have tried various options, but they will not work at all. The ethernet connection is fine, as as soon as my daughter plugs in her PC, brilliant speeds are there.

WTH is happening, is a bloody mystery to me. Connecting to the remote wifi shows good stable connections, BUT, no internet connection... Something somewhere is messing but what?? Router setting maybe??

Any ideas anyone? A virtual (or real pint!) is waiting here or at my local for you....

 

[24/7 farming]

I have a wireless mesh running thru 2500sqft house with 4 nodes, and a 5th in the garage. Inital setup was just basically a ethernet cable from the router into the primary node then place other nodes as needed thru the house so that each one can 'talk' to at least one other node to create a mesh, they just need a power outlet.
Now as more devices hav connected (12+ wit kids growing up and added wifi security cameras etc) our mesh started to struggle but I hav since fed each one with an ethernet cable (house has ethernet point in all rooms) which has cured the problem of the apparent overloading, also tried to hard wire as many devices as possible to reduce amount using the wifi.
So a simple mesh like in link below should get wifi thru the house, but does hav limitations if alot of devices are going to be using it

https://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-Dual-Band-Coverage-Parental-Controls/dp/B0B644N72G/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?crid=1OCUKEI0UJY3S&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.V2Z3UaGBnk6iqVEZ5i0F4HHxL95c8HHbgLxyraqhxF4xyj-n29cm_Dznw8O5GpsLwDEqFqb3Lte8igAlYdznndRyZiLeKM0gwXkiXOa2PRal86mPj9-5cDWN3nZgkOI0dGSamk_HtuE3j6uVCsL-mwVC_KSP6S6kF_hqgmo1Q2jAdOyru8wc7jiTymOsIhNTsfz-AoT4qPSa81Ae-ov8Pg.8nvWGMEkKnM_nreTik4HhSvZC-_IjW8S3Ddk9MHHI7E&dib_tag=se&keywords=mesh+wifi&qid=1724433370&sprefix=mesh%2Caps%2C275&sr=8-4&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.d7e5a2de-8759-4da3-993c-d11b6e3d217f

 

[rollestonpark]

As a general rule, use ethernet cable where ever possible it is fast, stable, reliable and removes load from the rest of the wifi system.
@steveR
We used starlink for awhile before fibre was finally installed.
From your description, I'm not exactly sure what's happening there. But IMO, the best way to setup a larger network off a starlink is:

buy the ethernet adapter for the starlink and thus disabling it's onboard wifi capabilities.
Connect starlink's ethernet adapter to an ethernet (not adsl) router (draytek ethernet gigabit router recommended) (I use OPNsense, but OPNsense is a bit techie, just to warn you).
From the router's ethernet ports connect your PCs and WIFI access points etc.
If there isn't enough ethernet ports on the router get a simple gigabit switch to increase it (blue gigabit netgear switches)

but never add a router to increase ethernet ports, putting a router on another router is never recommended unless you have a high level of understanding of how network routing works.
If your making up your own ethernet cables, always test the cables before use.

Just remember in networks, routers and switches are very different things.

 

[steveR]

As a general rule, use ethernet cable where ever possible it is fast, stable, reliable and removes load from the rest of the wifi system.
@steveR
We used starlink for awhile before fibre was finally installed.
From your description, I'm not exactly sure what's happening there. But IMO, the best way to setup a larger network off a starlink is:

buy the ethernet adapter for the starlink and thus disabling it's onboard wifi capabilities.
Connect starlink's ethernet adapter to an ethernet (not adsl) router (draytek ethernet gigabit router recommended) (I use OPNsense, but OPNsense is a bit techie, just to warn you).
From the router's ethernet ports connect your PCs and WIFI access points etc.
If there isn't enough ethernet ports on the router get a simple gigabit switch to increase it (blue gigabit netgear switches)

That, in effect, is just what I have done... which is why I am in head scratching mode. The Router is a recommended unit for using with Starlink too. I have tried direct connection to the router and also from an ethernet connection through the switch.

I am wondering if there are some settings within the router that need changing from default, but cannot fathom what, but I am suspicious of the various Mesh settings.

 

[Bloders]

We have starlink
As above, get the ethernet cable from starlink
Switch off starlink wifi and then set up a standard mesh system
We used TP Link units. Work well with no issues
Just looking to extend the mesh iver the yards at the moment