We have an older house, as in, 100 years old, so I don't have the ability to fish Ethernet wire everywhere. Up to now, my network is a real spaghetti bowl of routers running ddwrt running in some bridges capacity to relay the signal. It works but the furthest rooms have a decent WiFi signal but poor…POOR…speed.

One of my routers, an ASUS, has AiMesh. Are all mesh systems about the same? Would it be advisable to get another asus router or two and use the mesh system over my current bridged networks?

The biggest considerations are signal strength (are you getting good signal/speed) through out the house and do you have additional areas that currently don't have that strength where you will need it. Solutions vary and if you need it outdoors or indoors or both you will have different solutions.

Are you currently getting good strength of signal in the house? How large is the area? Do you have additional areas you want to get your broadband to?

100% yes. I'm currently using 3 Deco mesh routers in my 2900 sqft single story house and its great.

Having units across the house to directly plug in TVs and Xboxes works so much better than having everything in the house trying to pull WiFi off 1 router.

Plus you should also get excellent wifi coverage outside the house as well.

So, to answer some questions, the signal is good everywhere because I have MULTIPLE routers that are bridging my main router.

So, if I were to look at a path from, say my home office it would look like this:

PC -> Router hardwired -> wifi connects to main router -> which then connects to my mobile broadband router.

What this means is depending on where you are in the house, you have to connect to new wifi SSID. It works, but it's cumbersome, and most importantly, its slow depending on who and what you connect to. My kid's rooms are far away from any routers, so the signal to a router is moderate to weak, which then has to hop through the network back to the main router. It's workable, but not ideal.

I feel like depending on which router is connected, the speed may be slowed because of pathways and bandwidht available on the wireless side.

I don't care about outdoor but if it works better, then that's great.

The area I need to cover is probably 2000 sq feet max, but there are stone walls, lots of wood, and junk that it has to pas through which affects speeds as well. I am HOPING to be able to get Starlink and use this to broadcast it better.

I really don't know how mesh is better than what I have aside from having one ssid, but if someone can explain why it's better and faster, I would appreciate it. I feel like it will be but don't know why. What I'm reading is that my
Current setup is faster than mesh….hmmm. Thoughts?

BrazosDog02 said:

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I really don't know how mesh is better than what I have aside from having one ssid, but if someone can explain why it's better and faster, I would appreciate it. I feel like it will be but don't know why. What I'm reading is that my
Current setup is faster than mesh….hmmm. Thoughts?

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Most mesh systems have a dedicated radio just for the wireless backhaul back to the primary router. Your kludged together setup is likely having collisions when multiple clients are trying to use the network at the same time since the router's radios are also half duplex.

Is this true for all routers set up like this? I ask because some on my system are what I considered pretty nice routers, but again, I know just enough to get me into trouble.

BrazosDog02 said:

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Is this true for all routers set up like this? I ask because some on my system are what I considered pretty nice routers, but again, I know just enough to get me into trouble.

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Unless it's a "mesh" router, it's very unlikely to have a extra radio just for the backhaul. DDwrt might let you use 5ghz or 2.4ghz as a backhaul. I'm using an older Asus router as a wireless to ethernet bridge and the speeds on it aren't great.

I see. So it sounds like I should see an improvement with a mesh system.

I have one ASUS router that's pretty new and has their version of mesh…AiMesh I think. Would it be better for me to get a second router that will utilize that possibly proprietary technology since I have one already, or should I go with some other option and add it on like the Deco suggested earlier on?

Which router do you currently have? Hard to beat Asus, so I'd be inclined to just get another one just like yours

It's an ASUS AC1900 WiFi Gaming Router (RT-AC68U).

What about using MoCA? I have coax in every room, but it's tied up with dish network right now. Not sure if I can double dip that coax?

I thought DTV used the same frequencies as MoCA on the coax so it may not work for you. Mesh is the best solution. You'll have a single SSID and then you wont have the half speed and collision issues caused by the way extenders work.

It actually just occurred to me that dish ran all my coax outside the house since it's an old home and I don't want them doing stupid things indoors, so I guess I could just buy some sort of direct bury Ethernet cable and run it along side my dish.

Do they sell such a thing ? That would be super easy.

You shouldn't need to do that if you're running a mesh system. They don't need to be hardwired except at the base station. Put that next to the cable modem and then plug in the beacons in other parts of the house.

I was thinking in terms of cost as well. Buyin decent mesh nodes may be expensive.

BrazosDog02 said:

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I was thinking in terms of cost as well. Buyin decent mesh nodes may be expensive.

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You can get a Deco mesh for under $200. Cost should not be an issue. This is what I'm running and it's been solid for an entire home and outdoor solution

Limited-time deal: TP-Link Deco WiFi 6 Mesh System(Deco X20) - Covers up to 5800 Sq.Ft. , Replaces Wireless Routers and Extenders(3-Pack, 6 Ethernet Ports in total, supports Wired Ethernet Backhaul) https://a.co/d/8OjkoaD

Deco mesh + gigabit powerline ethernet to hardwire backhaul them will set you up. The powerline is not required but having the hardwire will improve your latency and probably the speed vs a wireless mesh only. Especially if you plan to game on any of the satellite mesh units.

How would you use a power line in conjunction with the mesh and provide for backhaul with it? I'm in completely unfamiliar territory here.

BrazosDog02 said:

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How would you use a power line in conjunction with the mesh and provide for backhaul with it? I'm in completely unfamiliar territory here.

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Powerline provides a hardwire from the main unit to the wall unit. Then from the wall unit to your satellite unit. Its a better solution than the wireless beam that the satellite units would use to the base unit.

For powerline, it takes your main internet hardwire and sends it out to X number of units depending on how many you buy. Its a very good solution for older houses. Even a 2 wire old house can use a powerline unit.

I am trying to understand the mesh vs bridge situation. I have read a lot and I just don't think I'm quite smart enough to get it. This is probably why I failed out of Computer Engineering even with Dr. Peterson helping me directly. LOL.

Here are a two scenarios. These are real and how my network is setup. I have tested both, and the one with mesh is considerably faster for any PC connecting to it via wifi. As you can see with the bridged setup, some PC suffer which is why I am rearranging some stuff. There is going to eventually be hardwired CAT6 to PC 2 and PC 3. PC 1 in the office simply has no ability to get cat6 to it, or I would do that. I can't even reasonably connect it to a switch from the hardwire in PC2 area. Anyway, that is not done yet so these two scenarios are what I have tested.

How are these different?
How are they the same?
What is good or bad about each?

They both accomplish the same goal of extending the wifi connection to the PC systems.

I just drew these out in visio because there is just no way to write all this crap out.


ORIGINAL SETUP WDS BRIDGE Red and Yellow bolts indicate marginal and poor signal and thus poor speeds to these workstations. It is connected to one or the other, but both options are not great signal.



NEW SETUP: ALL MESH

Does anyone need 1 more Deco?
I've got the system set up for my house now, and I have it adequately covered. I have an unused Deco X20 that I'll sell to someone for $60.
I'm in Houston.

I was in a similar spot trying to get wifi across the house to my shop. I tried repeaters, routers, powerline adapters etc. Nothing worked great. I got 3 Orbi system and now it works great. I don't see a drop in speed and great coverage everywhere. I turned off the DHCP and router function on the Orbi so I could still do all the other functions off my router.