Kinda disappointed with amplifi since it uses wifi. Any wired mesh system?

[doug_7506]

My house has plaster walls. So even my AC87U would have trouble getting a signal across the house.

A mesh system seemed the way to go. I decided on the entry Amplifi system. It works ok, but to my dissapointment, the mesh points use wifi, like an extender, to connect to the main router. Are there any mesh systems that use the ethernet over power or use an wired ethernet to hook to the mesh points?

Doug

 

[Ocellaris]

If you have Ethernet everywhere, just get APs and connect them to the primary router? You may be overthinking this.

 

[k1pp3r]

Meraki I believe does

 

[BlueLineSwinger]

There is such a thing as wired mesh networking, but it doesn't really apply to a WiFi setup. If you have ethernet going to the spots that need wireless, just get enough wireless access points (WAPs) to provide coverage.

Mesh networking, as it pertains to wireless, means having a number of WAPs spread over an area where wired networking is nonexistent and/or impractical. instead, the WAPs connect to each other to provide backhaul to a wired uplink somewhere. Often, the WAPs will communicate with hosts on 2.4 GHz, and to each other on 5 GHz. Such setups are typically seen in large outdoor areas, especially temporary ones. It's not something you'd really be looking to do in a home.

 

[Meeho]

Anandtech: Extending Home Networks - A Comparison of G.hn, HomePlug AV2 and Wi-Fi Mesh

 

[bds1904]

Open-Mesh is your solution.

You can use multiple AP's and the AP will use the Ethernet interface for the mesh traffic. This gives you all the advantages of mesh networking without the drawback of reduced bandwidth.

Open-Mesh handles seamless roaming wonderfully. You can face time or wifi call seamlessly while roaming from AP to AP. Ubiquiti UniFi to date has not been able to handle that. Even with their seamless roaming enabled you still get some packet loss during the roam. Open-Mesh handles the roaming seamlessly with B.A.T.M.A.N. Routing.

Open-Mesh will give you a centrally managed wifi system with seamless roaming. Simply put, it'll just work.

 

[Grentz]

Why in 2016 people still do not understand this. Use the same SSID and Key on mulitple APs, make sure they are on non overlapping channels (1,6,11 in 2.4ghz) and you have a robust network that clients will seamlessly roam between.

Clients roam on their own and figure it out, unless you are in a very high density client environment where you need to load balance APs, etc.

If you have wired backhauls, get some Unifi APs and enjoy.

 

[Grentz]

Open-Mesh is your solution.

You can use multiple AP's and the AP will use the Ethernet interface for the mesh traffic. This gives you all the advantages of mesh networking without the drawback of reduced bandwidth.

Open-Mesh handles seamless roaming wonderfully. You can face time or wifi call seamlessly while roaming from AP to AP. Ubiquiti UniFi to date has not been able to handle that. Even with their seamless roaming enabled you still get some packet loss during the roam. Open-Mesh handles the roaming seamlessly with B.A.T.M.A.N. Routing.

Open-Mesh will give you a centrally managed wifi system with seamless roaming. Simply put, it'll just work.

Ubiquiti works fine for roaming. Use it daily for calling and facetime with no issues. Zerohandoff should not be enabled except for on very specific cases.

 

[bds1904]

Why in 2016 people still do not understand this. Use the same SSID and Key on mulitple APs, make sure they are on non overlapping channels (1,6,11 in 2.4ghz) and you have a robust network that clients will seamlessly roam between.

Clients roam on their own and figure it out

Even on a single SSID setup with non-overlapping channels it's still the clients job to roam. Android and Windows clients HATE to roam, and when they do you get 2-3 seconds of packet loss. True seamless roaming uses "store and forward" to forward the "lost" packets to the correct AP. You'll see a little spike in latency for 1 second or so but you won't drop packets. The controller also encourages the clients to roam.

Ubiquiti works fine for roaming. Use it daily for calling and facetime with no issues. Zerohandoff should not be enabled except for on very specific cases.

Again, UBNT without zero handoff does the exact same thing as a regular setup. FaceTime may "work" but you sometimes encounter a stutter or 2. Wifi calling on the other hand does not. UBNT Zero handoff works for the most part but it is not supported on any current product.

So to summarize Open-Mesh just works, period. The others work pretty well but come with their quirks.

 

[Grentz]

My experience with open mesh has been contrary. It has had poor throughput and not the best coverage reliability for me. Again results may vary.

Fully aware of how roaming works both client based and AP based. For the extra inch in performance and mile in cost, we use Cisco at larger enterprises.

 

[Iceberg Mays]

I just got this this past weekend. The Orbi wifi router. This doesnt have the power over Ethernet you're asking for, but this doesnt require it. Unless youre looking for something that has a small footprint then this isnt for you. But its performance is hands down better than any mesh system out there right now. This pic is actually the satellite (in my bedroom). Which looks exactly like the router, which is in the living room. These two devices covers my whole house and every device in my home (12 and counting) are all under one home network with full wifi signal from the front yard to the back yard. My home is 2100 sqft and my biggest gripe before i got this was having a second router in AP mode i had to manually switch wifi networks, and i wanted something which mimics my work environment; wifi everywhere and the hand-offs between APs is transparent.
I gave it a real world stress test yesterday and it passed without a hitch. Steamed a 1080p movie (netflix) while my daughter was on her tablet streaming a movie and my son was also. Not one buffer. Ill take that.
Of course the Orbi system comes in a 2 pack, which is the router and the satellite. Tri band system, two bands are for wifi 5ghz and 2.4ghz. The third band is strictly for back haul communication between the router and satellite. so no loss in performance or speed. Also each of them has gigabit ports in them. The router has three available (because one is for connecting with the cable modem), and the satellite has 4.

Check out its reviews and its test compared to other routers and mesh systems. This thing is really worth the damn near $400 i spent. I was going to get the google wifi mesh system, but they were sold out everywhere. After reading the reviews of the orbi system, it was only $100 more for more features.

 

[stormy1]

shoot from the bottom or the top.
A friend has a similar home and a cheap dlink wifi router on a table in the basement covers 90% of it with 2.4 and maybe 50% with 5.
When it was upstairs it barely went to the next room at 2.4.
Another one we put a unifi AP in the attic(over living room) and one in the basement(under the bedrooms),3rd in the garage and it covers the whole house, garage/shop and patio with excellent signal in both bands.
Same situation, would just barely go into the next room even with the best wifi router at 2.4 and 5 forget it.

 

[doug_7506]

If you have Ethernet everywhere, just get APs and connect them to the primary router? You may be overthinking this.

What type of access points could I use/need? I want to stay away from Range Extenders.

Open-Mesh is your solution.

You can use multiple AP's and the AP will use the Ethernet interface for the mesh traffic. This gives you all the advantages of mesh networking without the drawback of reduced bandwidth.

Open-Mesh handles seamless roaming wonderfully. You can face time or wifi call seamlessly while roaming from AP to AP. Ubiquiti UniFi to date has not been able to handle that. Even with their seamless roaming enabled you still get some packet loss during the roam. Open-Mesh handles the roaming seamlessly with B.A.T.M.A.N. Routing.

Open-Mesh will give you a centrally managed wifi system with seamless roaming. Simply put, it'll just work.

I think you are right. check it out again and its seems like the proper solution.

shoot from the bottom or the top.
A friend has a similar home and a cheap dlink wifi router on a table in the basement covers 90% of it with 2.4 and maybe 50% with 5.
When it was upstairs it barely went to the next room at 2.4.
Another one we put a unifi AP in the attic(over living room) and one in the basement(under the bedrooms),3rd in the garage and it covers the whole house, garage/shop and patio with excellent signal in both bands.
Same situation, would just barely go into the next room even with the best wifi router at 2.4 and 5 forget it.

The problem I hhave had with APs is having to swithc manually between them.

 

[S-F]

What type of access points could I use/need? I want to stay away from Range Extenders.






The problem I hhave had with APs is having to swithc manually between them.

I have Unifi APs and have not problems roaming. I have one outside for my back yard and one inside. Roaming is so reliable that I actually use the logs from the APs to tell my home automation system if I'm inside or out back. Turns my monitor off when I'm outside. All announcements are played out back when I'm outside and so forth.