[prateekm]

Originally Posted by 2500cc

Asus makes pretty solid and reliable routers, you may want to check these:

Thanks, will check them out.

Originally Posted by suku_patel_22

Get two TPLink C6 and hard wire them. They will offer much better coverage than a single router.

Thanks. Wouldn't a router + repeater work in this case? Also, what's hard wiring a router?

Originally Posted by itwasntme

A mesh router makes it future-proof and the speeds are consistent. You will need a backup power source for both. Wired connection is excellent but can be messy to look at.

Considering that I'm futureproofing myself, I was also thinking of a mesh router. Will a single one like this not work? My router is placed exactly in the center of the home. Also, is a power backup absolutely mandatory? We rarely face power cuts and there no setup for an extra power port near the router.

[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by prateekm

Considering that I'm futureproofing myself, I was also thinking of a mesh router.

Also, is a power backup absolutely mandatory?

Yes, that single powerful one should happily service your needs. W.r.t. UPS, I feel it is necessary in these WFH days even if you rarely have any power cuts. Murphy's law will always prevail :-).

Buy a mini UPS like the Resonate (check out the UPS thread) or go for a bigger APC brick types which can also power other similar essential gadgets.

[Traveler]

Originally Posted by prateekm

... Planning to switch to a Airtel Fiber that claims speeds up to 200 Mbps (where I wouldn't want the router to be a roadblock for slower speeds when the ISP is providing it)...

I have an Airtel 200 Mbps connection. Airtel provides a good enough Wifi Router with that plan. They provide either a Dlink or a Totolink AC1200 router that is sufficient for the speeds they offer. This is part of the deal.

If you still want to purchase your own then TPLink C6 is an excellent dual band router. I have 3 of these setup and hardwired and I get the full 200mbps speed on any device that I tesr over wifi.

[Red Liner]

Is a TP Link Dual Band Extender still the way to go? Getting frustrated having to exit my bedroom and go sit next to the router for better wifi lol.

[Traveler]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Is a TP Link Dual Band Extender still the way to go? Getting frustrated having to exit my bedroom and go sit next to the router for better wifi lol.

An extender is almost never a good idea. It's better to hard wire an additional wifi router to have better coverage and seamless wifi roaming inside the house.

Go in for an extender only if hard wiring the first and second router is impossible. Otherwise buy some CAT6 cable and connect both the routers.

PM me if you need help in hard wiring and subsequent setup.

Also remember to use the same brand and model for both wifi routers. Compatibility issue always arise between brands and even between different models of the same brand.

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by Traveler

An extender is almost never a good idea. It's better to hard wire an additional wifi router to have better coverage and seamless wifi roaming inside the house.

Go in for an extender only if hard wiring the first and second router is impossible. Otherwise buy some CAT6 cable and connect both the routers.

PM me if you need help in hard wiring and subsequent setup.

Also remember to use the same brand and model for both wifi routers. Compatibility issue always arise between brands and even between different models of the same brand.

Hardwiring and running cat cables in my apartment seems a bit tricky. I just wanted a foolproof (I am the fool ) solution to get going immediately. Why do you say an extender is no good? I found some views by bhpians using them to the contrary.

[Jaggu]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Hardwiring and running cat cables in my apartment seems a bit tricky. I just wanted a foolproof (I am the fool ) solution to get going immediately. Why do you say an extender is no good? I found some views by bhpians using them to the contrary.

Get the mesh router Deco M4 going now at ~8k for a pair, will work out easiest and stable to install. It is a darn good price also for a dual-band mesh system.

Issue with the repeater is technically you are halving the speed, becomes an issue when you have multiple devices hogging the band width, otherwise they do work fine and cheap.

[roamer012]

Originally Posted by Traveler

An extender is almost never a good idea. It's better to hard wire an additional wifi router to have better coverage and seamless wifi roaming inside the house.

Go in for an extender only if hard wiring the first and second router is impossible. Otherwise buy some CAT6 cable and connect both the routers.

Originally Posted by Jaggu

Get the mesh router Deco M4 going now at ~8k for a pair, will work out easiest and stable to install. It is a darn good price also for a dual-band mesh system.

Issue with the repeater is technically you are halving the speed, becomes an issue when you have multiple devices hogging the band width, otherwise they do work fine and cheap.

Pardon my ignorance, what is the difference between non hardwired mesh system (Meaning only one of the routers is plugged in to your modem) while the second AP is not versus the wifi extender other than the obvious difference of your second Access Points (APs) having beefier antennae?

Secondly are there any good mesh devices (2 APs) which support wifi 6 (Considering future proofing) below 10-12K

[Rahul_]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Why do you say an extender is no good? I found some views by bhpians using them to the contrary.

I used top of the line nighthawk x6 router combined with nighthawk dual band extender for a while. I tried all permutations and combinations of settings and concluded that extenders are not so good with all the interference around and thick concrete walls in case of my apartment. the wifi signal comes down to 16 floors to the ground floor to give me connectivity but wouldn't cross concrete walls to give me proper connectivity across 2 rooms 3 walls.

I ended up getting the internal tv wire from hall to room removed (even more so because I have not been using the DTH for over a year now) and got it replaced with CAT6 and now the connectivity is so very good - its 300mbps both at source and end routers which used to be skewed like 300/40 in the hall vs room.

My boss who used to lead one of the finest wifi access points in the industry also suggests same to our team. I guess there is still no replacement to a wired connection.

[rjainv]

Any suggestions on mesh routers that can be wall/ ceiling mount?
All the models I see on Amazon need flat surface or separate bracket for wall mount with no source link for the same.


Another question- as a substitute for mesh routers or hardwiring two routers for extending wifi range, has anyone experimented with network over power lines - something like feed the broadband from modem/primary router into power line, and tap power line in a far off room within same apartment to connect this broadband to another secondary wifi/router to extend the range?

[Jaggu]

Originally Posted by roamer012

Pardon my ignorance, what is the difference between non hardwired mesh system (Meaning only one of the routers is plugged in to your modem) while the second AP is not versus the wifi extender other than the obvious difference of your second Access Points (APs) having beefier antennae?

I am no expert but what I understand is (simple english) there would be multiple bands in a mesh system, this will be used to 1- connect other devices 2- connect the mesh together. So technically the satellite is given a dedicated band to connect and stream full speed similar to having a wired connection between mesh, whereas the extenders act like a normal device connected to modem and re-transmits the same and that basically cuts the speed by half.

Originally Posted by rjainv

Any suggestions on mesh routers that can be wall/ ceiling mount?

Clamps are the only options I have seen on mesh.

Another question- as a substitute for mesh routers or hardwiring two routers for extending wifi range, has anyone experimented with network over power lines

You need special devices at both end to enable this and are pretty costly.

https://www.amazon.in/s?k=powerline+...b_sb_ss_i_1_13

[rjainv]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

Clamps are the only options I have seen on mesh.



You need special devices at both end to enable this and are pretty costly.

https://www.amazon.in/s?k=powerline+...b_sb_ss_i_1_13

Thanks!

They seem to be on costlier side + looks like no Indian version available. Either US or UK pins.

[reignofchaos]

Originally Posted by rjainv

Another question- as a substitute for mesh routers or hardwiring two routers for extending wifi range, has anyone experimented with network over power lines - something like feed the broadband from modem/primary router into power line, and tap power line in a far off room within same apartment to connect this broadband to another secondary wifi/router to extend the range?

I have and it is a waste of time. I bought the most expensive possible power line adapters from a company called Devolo which invented this tech and all I managed with devices rated at 500 Mbps is roughly 3-4 MB/s. Also the speeds depend on the topology of your house and keep dropping as you take the devices further apart.

Don't waste your time and money on this. The only system that works well is ethernet with a high quality switch. After I moved to my new house, I got a cisco 24 port managed switch and now copy speeds between devices goes as high as 110 MB/s.

[amitk26]

Mesh router has inherent problem that for node to node communications in the mesh WiFi bandwidth is used.
Initally dual band mesh nw was touted as solution as 5Ghz band was relatively unused in home networks however nowadays it is also of no use because now lot of your devices will use 5 GHZ and many will be on 2.4 GHz.
Normally people do not realize how many devices they have but for two users in a home with 2 laptops + 2 mobiles + smart TV + tablet + WiFi printer there is a lot of traffic specially if you are streaming content and working from home.

There are few triple band mesh routers available as well which are quite costly but problem still remains

Best is to run an ethernet cable to area with coverage gap in your home and deploy one access point.

If you have some old router laying around and it supports AP mode you can use it as well to give a single network.

You can use two routers connected with cable as well but there will be slight inefficiency and if home printer or network file
storage is connected to one network you may have some problems accessing it from other wifi in your home unless you do proper setup.

[Sebring]

Saw the sleekest router at Mi. Anybody has any experience with these? The Mi store in Bangalore is full of gizmos.