I’m looking to upgrade my existing Wi-Fi setup to something that performs better, and has better coverage in the house. The current setup consists of the ISP provided router/AP combo, and a second Wi-Fi network (not mesh) that covers the office and bedrooms upstairs.
The reason for the separate network upstairs is that the AP downstairs doesn’t reach that far. The combo box is currently located inside a small closet (where all ISP/power the connections terminate), and the bedroom is all the way on the other side of the house and a floor op. Moreover, the house uses a lot of concrete, which doesn’t help the situation.
I’d just like to solve the problem properly, I’m not a complete novice when it comes to networking, but I do lack the knowledge to make the… correct decisions here.
One of the things that I’m struggling to determine is if it is worth to “invest” in new Wi-Fi 6 access points. Or whether I should instead go for new (or second hand) Wi-Fi 5 access points. And whether going for “long range” models would help indoors by blasting through the concrete.
Any recommendations are welcome.
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Best setup for APs or mesh satellite units is when they are connected via wired ethernet cables to their location. If you don’t have ethernet wiring in your house, perhaps you have coax which would allow you to use MoCA adapters to get wired connectivity. Here are some diagrams from GoCoax that show how to do that.
If you want “solid Wi-Fi performance”, go with a prosumer setup such as Ubiquiti UniFi or TP-Link Omada. You would wire APs as needed to provide coverage in the house. Anything less - including mesh, and wiring mesh, is going to be less than what you stated you want. The only advantage to wiring mesh (which makes it not mesh) is the management of the network (and both UniFi and Omada are centrally managed when you have the requisite controller. To me, it’s pointless to be spending money on a system that where you’re going to disable the whole reason it’s marketed - the mesh (which is wirelessly uplinking). Cabling access points and wiring as many of your devices as possible is where the best performance and reliability comes from.
Wifi 6 only helps with client devices that are wifi 6 compatible (or for mesh wireless backhauling that is also wifi 6 compliant). It does not help any previous (wifi 5, wifi4 etc.) client protocols. However - wifi 6 is becoming ubiquitous and you may not be saving much money by looking for wifi 5 deals. Or, in other words - it doesn’t hurt to have wifi 6 devices.