Does anyone have experience of Mesh Wi-fi? I seem to be unable to get a reasonable wi-fi signal through our house. It’s hardly a castle – I’d say a medium size 1970’s 4 bed – but it seems whatever I do I get dead spots. I’m guessing the lining in the chimney and the other materials used are the problem.
I’ve bought some Devolo homeplugs following reviews here but they didn’t cure the deadspots and Sonos and iPlayer would just hang. I added in a non wi-fi TP Link plug which via an ethernet cable got the Sonos unit and Roku sorted and had no noticeable impact on the wif fi speed.
The Devolo app I have claims the signal is reaching the 2 remaining extenders but internet radio just hangs and stutters despite being less than 4 feet from one of them. Videos spool. It’s an old Netgear N300 DGN 2200 router which is on the floor (a problem with power socket access not being near the BT master socket) which I guess doesn’t help. I’m skeptical that a different router will get to the blindspots.
The Google mesh wi-fi gets good reviews but it’s not cheap. It reckons to resolve deadspots with a single SSID / password. I’m tempted but wondered if I’ll just be pissing £300 away?
Chrisf says
I had an issue with wifi coverage in some of the bedrooms (which meant the kids phones switched to 4g and used all their data plans….) so I switched to a mesh wifi. So far have been very impressed and signal coverage appears excellent.
I go a US brand called Luma. Not sure if available in UK (it isn’t officially available here in Singapore but Amazon US would supply).
https://lumahome.com
Some neat features – ability to assign computers / phones / etc to different users and control the usage individually, a “pause the internet” feature – great at meal times, and monitor of speeds for each of the hubs. I went with the default 3 hubs, which works fine for me – although this can be extended.
fortuneight says
Thanks – doesn’t show up on the UK listings but I could bring back from US. I also noticed how much cheaper Google Mesh is on Amazon US – £329 for a 3 station pack in UK, $256 in the US. Worth the cost of 3 plug converters!
davebigpicture says
Don’t forget the US is 110v. You’ll need to check if the US model will take 240v.
fortuneight says
You just beat me to it. From the Q&A on Amazon US it says the units are “100-240v, 50/60 Hz, and comes with a USB-C adapter” – so I think it means they will work here.
davebigpicture says
I bought Devolo too. The extenders work best if you’re in the same room otherwise I log onto the main BT Hub. IIRC, the sender should be plugged into a wall mains socket rather than a 4 way block as they don’t like passing data through them. Besides, the less components in the chain, the better. If I were you I’d get a mesh network from somewhere that won’t quibble if you return it. I did consider the BT mesh network as the Devolo are merely adequate but decided I’d wait until something stopped working rather than upgrade a set up that was “OK”.
Twang says
Also Devolo doesn’t like sharing a socket so if it’s a double, not having anything in the other side is better. Mine is reasonably OK with 4 stations which make up one network. I just got a good (free, Android) app called WiFiMan which allows you to see which station you’re connected to and has a little graph of the state of the signal in real time which is handy for trouble shooting.
fortuneight says
Each extender has it’s own wall socket; no 4 way blocks. The master is sharing a double plug though. I’m a bit dim about all this but the Devolo app shows the master receiving 220 Mbit/s from direct from the router by ethernet cable. The relay upstairs shows as 215 Mbit/s. As the signal has to pass through the master, then to another relay before hitting the upstairs one, I’m wondering how it speeds up?
Totally out of my depth here….
fortuneight says
That would have made fractionally more sense if I’d said the master was receiving 200 Mbits
Twang says
Yes I wondered that…
Lemonhope says
Can’t your broadband provider supply a newer router? Suggest to them that you are considering leaving and they may be persuaded to upgrade you free of charge.
fortuneight says
I’m not using an ISP router – I’m with Zen – very helpful people but no kit.
mikethep says
Really? They gave me a funky FRITZ!Box 3490, which looks like a 1950s Cadillac and works very well.
GCU Grey Area says
As was said many moons ago on this site, or the old Word site, ‘I have nothing to add to this thread, but that won’t stop me’.
FRITZ!Box – three more from them later.
Moose the Mooche says
That was me!
Before 2011: “I have nothing of value to say”
2011 -> infinity: “I have nothing of value to say, but that’s not gonna stop me!”
GCU Grey Area says
Huzzah! I should have looked on the other computer first – I may have a mock t-shirt with the right words on it.
Twang says
Is running an ethernet cable to the other end of the house an option? Second WiFi transmitter there or something? Asking for a friend.
Mike_H says
All 5 of my computers and my smart TV use ethernet rather than WiFi, although your place sounds like a much more difficult wiring job than my flat.
I only use WiFi for my phone and Kindle. WiFi is inherently prone to unreliable connections. Do you have lots of close neighbours also using WiFi? Kitchen with microwave oven directly between your router and known blind spots? Maybe the channel you’re currently on is congested. Some routers are better than others at finding less-congested channels. It’s a good idea to periodically power your router off and back on again to get the best signal. They can get stuck on a bad channel. Lots of WiFi apps will show you the least congested channel to use.
johnw says
I’ve not had any experience of ‘basic’ mesh wi-fi but my understanding is that Sonos works on a mesh system where they talk to each other directly rather than via the router. If your Sonos system doesn’t work, other mesh systems may not either.
Have you made sure there’s nothing else “broadcasting’ on the same channels as your wi-fi is using?
Twang says
That WiFi app will show you what’s using what channels.
Leedsboy says
Sonos only creates a mesh network if you hardwire one of the speakers to your router or if your hard wire a Sonos Boost to your router. Otherwise, it’s connecting through your normal WiFi (which can be a bit of a problem with drop outs etc.).
Mike_H says
I get the impression from your description that the Router is not plugged into the master phone socket. That could be a major part of your problem. If it’s getting it’s connection from a slave you will not be getting your best signal. If the wiring from the master to the slave is damaged or just a long run it can pick up interference along the way, possibly intermittently.
Also some cordless phone handsets can seriously degrade the wireless signal. The older BT ones particularly, as they used to use the same range of frequencies. They may have changed that now. One would certainly hope so.
I was told a few years back by a BT engineer to steer clear of BT’s own wireless phones and to get a Panasonic one.
davebigpicture says
I extended the RJ11 cable from the master socket to try and get the router more towards the middle of the house but it was a disaster. The hub just wouldn’t work consistently so I had to put it back on a short cable and it’s been fine ever since. It’s a BT hub BTW and the Wi-fi range is no better than the Virgin box it replaced, despite claims to the contrary.
Leedsboy says
I have the BT Wholehome mesh kit. It’s pretty good and has given me a really good level of coverage across the house and into the garden (I have an office in the garden so this was important. Easy to set up and the app has some good functionality as well.
Ainsley says
Buy what you want from Amazon – keep the packaging (although I don’t think that’s a requirement) and if it doesn’t sort the problem just return it.
That would work with any online supplier but I know Amazon won’t mess about.
John Walters says
I tried the Netgear Orbi system first of all, but it failed after a couple of weeks so I returned it to Amazon ( kept the original packaging so returning it was not a problem ).
I now have the google system which I have been using for 3 to 4 months without a problem. Good speed throughout the house which had many dead spots.
I have a large Edwardian house so I bought 4 google units.
As I say, so far so good. My Sonos system has never performed better. No interruptions or disconnections that I can remember since purchasing the google system.
Hope this helps.
fortuneight says
Thanks to all that have replied. Think I will take the plunge!
Harold Holt says
I’m surprised the power-line adapters aren’t working as expected. Can’t comment on mesh WiFi but they do sound expensive. The Google 3-pack retails around AU$500 down here.
I’ve got a simple single Netgear WiFi extender halfway to the other end of the house which is mostly used for wife/son streaming Netflix and Youtube in the bedrooms. It does the job ok, and was only AU$75 (about GBP45-50), and can do a wired connection to it if necessary (it’s original purpose was to connect a Foxtel IQ box to our router). As far as I can tell the bandwidth between the extender and the router is greater than our downstream speed to the house, so shouldn’t be an issue for us, but I suppose the viability of that to your situation depends on the nature of the layout and the signal blockers your trying to work with.
Good luck.
fentonsteve says
@fortuneight Harold’s post has got me thinking… are the power-line adaptors on the same mains ring? They need to be, as the signal won’t got through the consumer unit (aka “fuse box”) and jump to the other circuits. There’s usually one ring for upstairs, one for downstairs and often another for the kitchen.
If your router is on the floor because of where the power socket is, try a short mains extension lead to get it up higher (the power-line adaptors might not like it). It’s a much cheaper to experiment than buying a Mesh system.
davebigpicture says
I wondered that but I just checked our fuse box and the upstairs ring is separate from the downstairs and our Devolo definitely works between floors as my soon has a desktop for gaming with no wifi, just a cable connection. I am confuse.
fentonsteve says
Edith: please change that to “probably need to be”.
fortuneight says
I’m not sure if they are on different rings. If each fuse in the fuse box represents a different ring then yes they are. It’s not been an issue with the homeplugs, and according to the Devolo app the relays are connected.
I’ve moved the router onto a table so it’s off the floor and not sat on the DSL modem. Over the weekend I discovered the internal phone line extension was broken and so connecting the master phone direct to the BT master socket has not only brought the phone line back but put an end to the frequent broadband disconnections I’d get that lasted between 15 seconds up to 3 minutes or so (it happened twice during the Live Album podcast).
This may have no impact at all on the wi-fi signal but I’m going to wait and see for a bit.
Thanks again for all the suggestions.
Mike_H says
I can’t see why having homeplug devices on different circuits from the same consumer unit would make any appreciable difference. Unless they are all at the furthest points of extremely long circuits. All of the circuits are connected together on the live and neutral busbars once you get past the circuit breakers or fuses.
fentonsteve says
MCBs are, electrically speaking, common-mode inductors. Fuses are simpler, differential-mode inductors. All types of inductors present an impedance which rises with frequency.
MCBs are designed to pass mains frequency (50Hz) and not the 100MHz or more of Ethernet.
So the signal level of the Ethernet signal will be reduced by passing out through one MCB onto the bus bar, then further reduced by passing through the next onto the other ring circuit.
Sorry, I am very dull. I should make that my catchphrase / footer.
Harold Holt says
Course, then there’s the speed of light to consider from one end of the house to the other. It is a really big house after all.
Moose the Mooche says
Isn’t this all due to a misplaced cucaracha on the thermistor?
Mike_H says
It’s the wotnots on his widgets, I reckon.
Harold Holt says
Nah, oojamaflips on the doovelackey. Or under it.