Adding mesh to existing system or replace all together

[kohlpe0a]

Thank you in advance for any feedback.

My situation seems complicated to me, but likely is not.

Here is my current situation.

I have a two story house plus a finished basement. My network closet is in the basement and this is where my cable modem is. This cannot be moved.

In my basement I have a Linksys WRT 1900AC running DD WRT. On either end of the second floor of my house I have a LAPAC 1200 WAP connected to the main router over gigabit ethernet. I have a 16 port gigabit ethernet unmanaged switch in the basement and an ethernet jack or two in every room of the house, all connected via ethernet to the main router. All WIFI channels are manually locked in because if I don't do that they cause to much collision and are un-relaible

Any device that can connect over ethernet is, the rest are on wifi. I have a handful of smart house appliances connected over 2.4 because they don't have a 5g radio, but everything left over is connected over 5.g

I have seperate SSIDs for the 5 and 2.4 networks. Also, I have several extra SSIDs for devices to force them to connect to the closest WAP (ring doorbell, IP Cameras, etc).

The problem that I have is that eventually every week or so I loose internet connectivity at one or both of the WAPs and have to reboot them. I have been unable to diagnose this problem and I'm ready to fix it with hardware.

So the question is this... Do I just by a two Orbi system and put one in the basement and one on the second floor? Or (and this is the way that I am leaning) do I keep the router and by a six pack of PLUMEs and put them all over the house running with a wired backhaul?

Also, I have a crap ton of port forwarding and stuff setup but I can migrate that.

Also Also.... I'm particularly interested in peoples opinion of the Samsung Connect home system. I have a smartthings hub and big Z-wave and Zigbee network also and that has the built in hub.

 

[netwrks]

If you have ethernet in every room, use ethernet, instead of anything with a wireless backhaul, or wireless mesh. Cant' speak on Plume, Samsung Connect, or any of the IoT stuff you have mentioned.

 

[thiggins]

Buying Orbi to connect it via Ethernet, which isn't supported just yet, is a waste of money. You'll be paying for expensive 4x4 5 GHz backhaul radios and not using them.

When you lose internet on WiFi, is it on all devices? Do you lose just internet, but maintain local LAN connection? What have you tried to diagnose the problem?

If you want to shotgun troubleshoot the problem, get another router and AP. There is no need for a mesh system and certainly no need to spray a bunch of Plumes around the house. More APs isn't necessarily a good thing.

 

[kohlpe0a]

When I lose internet it’s just the Internet over WiFi that is lost. Wired connections still work. I have replaced the WAP and Router already once. It seems like it happens a little more frequently when I move my devices around the house. They don’t switch well

Buying Orbi to connect it via Ethernet, which isn't supported just yet, is a waste of money. You'll be paying for expensive 4x4 5 GHz backhaul radios and not using them.

When you lose internet on WiFi, is it on all devices? Do you lose just internet, but maintain local LAN connection? What have you tried to diagnose the problem?

If you want to shotgun troubleshoot the problem, get another router and AP. There is no need for a mesh system and certainly no need to spray a bunch of Plumes around the house. More APs isn't necessarily a good thing.

 

[thiggins]

Try turning Wi-Fi off then on again on the device(s) that disconnect.

 

[tannebil]

I use seven Plume Pods “sprayed” all over the house using wired backhaul. Works great. Not the cheapest solution but flexible, easy to manage, and well supported. All my wireless devices get the same 200Mbps+ performance in all rooms where a pod is installed.

With Plume, for anything other than a basic network, you really need to use a separate router and configure the pods in bridge mode.

The biggest PITA is devices that require my iPhone to be connected to 2.4 network for configuration (Anova Sous Vide cooker, Chamberlain Garage Door controller). Plume, like most mesh products, doesn’t support separate SSIDs for 2.4 and 5.