WiFi 6 Mesh Systems Linksys (Cisco) vs ORBI (Netgear) and 2 node vs 3 node (boy have I got Questions)

Like Donald said, stay away from mesh systems if you can and run CAT6 cable to the access points. Each hop away from the root will double latency and cut throughput by 50%. I've seen 5G systems with 5 hops that had about 100ms latency and about 2Mb/s throughput.
 
Like Donald said, stay away from mesh systems if you can and run CAT6 cable to the access points. Each hop away from the root will double latency and cut throughput by 50%. I've seen 5G systems with 5 hops that had about 100ms latency and about 2Mb/s throughput.

that setup you mention is terrible. a 1 hop (or even 2 )with dedicated tri band isnt the end of the world and its plug and play.
 
Well the good news is the OBBI has 567mbs where previously there was no signal at all...

Will see if we can resolve the bad news or not...

More later...
 
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Ethernet through the house and using a couple access points will work better than mesh, but mesh would be a good thing to get you started if you don't have ethernet at the ready. Downside is the price. I think the Netgear mesh can be linked with ethernet backhaul once you get your ethernet wired.
Access Points are terrible because they don't want to let go of a wificonnection when you get to the edge of their range and another stronger one is available. Typically you have to turn wifi on/off/on to get the stronger one.

Mesh systems allow a handoff from a mesh router to another mesh router. The best backhaul for a mesh system is ethernet hands down.

My home has 4 google wifi pucks (mesh) with a ethernet backhaul.
 
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Like Donald said, stay away from mesh systems if you can and run CAT6 cable to the access points. Each hop away from the root will double latency and cut throughput by 50%. I've seen 5G systems with 5 hops that had about 100ms latency and about 2Mb/s throughput.
Why does everyone assume Mesh requires wifi backhaul?
 
Access Points are terrible because they don't want to let go of a wificonnection when you get to the edge of their range and another stronger one is available. Typically you have to turn wifi on/off/on to get the stronger one.

Mesh systems allow a handoff from a mesh router to another mesh router. The best backhaul for a mesh system is ethernet hands down.

My home has 4 google wifi pucks (mesh) with a ethernet backhaul.

I think he was referring to wired access points vs a wireless mesh. Mesh systems still employ access points, they just talk to each other (or the controller) to gracefully move clients between them based on signal strength.
 
Access Points are terrible because they don't want to let go of a wificonnection when you get to the edge of their range and another stronger one is available. Typically you have to turn wifi on/off/on to get the stronger one.

Mesh systems allow a handoff from a mesh router to another mesh router. The best backhaul for a mesh system is ethernet hands down.

My home has 4 google wifi pucks (mesh) with a ethernet backhaul.
The old Asus RT-AC66R routers that I am using as access points have a setting that you can adjust that drops clients if the signal level gets below a programmed level. They hand off just fine for me.
 
The old Asus RT-AC66R routers that I am using as access points have a setting that you can adjust that drops clients if the signal level gets below a programmed level. They hand off just fine for me.

AP's that support clustering/meshing/WDS will actually shuffle the associated devices to the AP that's closest in proximity. They act as a system. But for Joe Average home user this historically has been too expensive, though that's changed with some more recent products.
 
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So.

We got the ORBI with two satellites (RBK853)


Set up was not too difficult, it went fairly smoothly with the app and everything seems to move along fairly quickly. On advice of several reviews we initially set it up with the ORBI provided SSID and PW (supposedly unique to each one) and got the system running, went all the way to the end of the process and verified everything was working. We also set it up with all the routers in one room, another piece of advice from reviews. Of course we later moved them and allowed them to re-sync.

We then changed the SSID/PW to our old one and set about connecting the cameras... this turned out to be a bit of an issue, however I'm not completely sure that it wasn't due to a capitalization issue in the SSID. There are several post around the internet detailing issues with IOT devices and connection though, it took about an hour and a half of fiddling to get them to work. I'm happy to report that netgear does provide an easy way to turn off either 2.4 or 5.0 radios (there are older reports that you cannot do this) if you need something to recognize the 2.4 network. They do not provide a way to set different SSIDs for the two bands though there are hacks to do this.

The speed in the main room we use is almost triple what the old AC network would do in the same room. The porch and basement where there were dead spots now post better numbers than you could produce standing right at the old AC router (or anywhere else for that matter.)

So long as these units remain stable, you can count me as a happy camper and a mesh fan.

I now return you to your debate about whatever y'all are talking about.
 
I'm firmly in the camp that prefers wired connections to wireless, where possible.

But, modern mesh systems are a leap over the old school WDS/extender/repeater networks, and designed from the start to overcome their deficiencies (like halved bandwidth), as well as being easier to set up for users.

Like anything else, there are different levels of quality, but a TOL tri-band system like the Orbi, while not cheap, is going to be a better solution for most users.

I suspect that network hardware manufacturers are exploiting taking advantage, especially on the high end.

Of course, more radios and more antennas increase component costs, but not by that much, and the price of home networking equipment is getting out of hand, outpacing inflation, and going in the opposite direction of how technology price usually trends go.
 
AP's that support clustering/meshing/WDS will actually shuffle the associated devices to the AP that's closest in proximity. They act as a system. But for Joe Average home user this historically has been too expensive, though that's changed with some more recent products.
I know how they work, but my AP solution with a PC based router is a $200 solution that works great vs $1000.
 
I'm firmly in the camp that prefers wired connections to wireless, where possible.

But, modern mesh systems are a leap over the old school WDS/extender/repeater networks, and designed from the start to overcome their deficiencies (like halved bandwidth), as well as being easier to set up for users.

Like anything else, there are different levels of quality, but a TOL tri-band system like the Orbi, while not cheap, is going to be a better solution for most users.

I suspect that network hardware manufacturers are exploiting taking advantage, especially on the high end.

Of course, more radios and more antennas increase component costs, but not by that much, and the price of home networking equipment is getting out of hand, outpacing inflation, and going in the opposite direction of how technology price usually trends go.
I am pretty sure Netgear systems offer the option to hardwire each mesh node if you ever want in the future. It is probably time to upgrade my access points since the new radio seem to have much better range.
 
So.

We got the ORBI with two satellites (RBK853)


Set up was not too difficult, it went fairly smoothly with the app and everything seems to move along fairly quickly. On advice of several reviews we initially set it up with the ORBI provided SSID and PW (supposedly unique to each one) and got the system running, went all the way to the end of the process and verified everything was working. We also set it up with all the routers in one room, another piece of advice from reviews. Of course we later moved them and allowed them to re-sync.

We then changed the SSID/PW to our old one and set about connecting the cameras... this turned out to be a bit of an issue, however I'm not completely sure that it wasn't due to a capitalization issue in the SSID. There are several post around the internet detailing issues with IOT devices and connection though, it took about an hour and a half of fiddling to get them to work. I'm happy to report that netgear does provide an easy way to turn off either 2.4 or 5.0 radios (there are older reports that you cannot do this) if you need something to recognize the 2.4 network. They do not provide a way to set different SSIDs for the two bands though there are hacks to do this.

The speed in the main room we use is almost triple what the old AC network would do in the same room. The porch and basement where there were dead spots now post better numbers than you could produce standing right at the old AC router (or anywhere else for that matter.)

So long as these units remain stable, you can count me as a happy camper and a mesh fan.

I now return you to your debate about whatever y'all are talking about.
Good post, Im sure it will help some people out whom need the range.
I am very surprised that such a robust router/system doesnt allow different SSIDs. Your mention of the cameras caught my eye, we have 5 including the DB cam. I purposely use the 2.5 with a separate SSID as other wifi utilities like my wife robotic vacuums.
I guess it doesnt matter but something I got used to, using that band for things like that and my 5 for computers and streaming ect.
Glad it worked out for you.
 
I am pretty sure Netgear systems offer the option to hardwire each mesh node if you ever want in the future.

They do. There are 4 ethernet on each node (provided you have not bonded the WAN for over 1G service)

...
I am very surprised that such a robust router/system doesnt allow different SSIDs. Your mention of the cameras caught my eye, we have 5 including the DB cam. I purposely use the 2.5 with a separate SSID as other wifi utilities like my wife robotic vacuums.
I guess it doesnt matter but something I got used to, using that band for things like that and my 5 for computers and streaming ect.
Glad it worked out for you.

There seems to be great debate around the forums about this and there is a hack to do it using terminal or command prompt, though I think you need a MAC pre High Sierra to do it on terminal. I agree there should be an easy way to do it in the GUI.

On my old router I did it like you.
 
DuckRyder - In Advanced settings there's a Guest network that can have a different SSID.
 
True - didn't think of using that for 2.4 devices... I'll have to give it another look.
A guest network is isolated from the main network. You wouldn't be able to interact with the devices on the guest network, unless you were logged into the guest network.
 
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