Looking for a Mesh or "wifi backhaul" solution for home

[tuerta]

I'm in an old rented house that I can't tamper with the walls in. It's not very large, but the network feed from Verizon comes in at one corner of the house and my office is the diagonal opposite side through a couple of walls and I don't get full wifi bars but can't run ethernet to either.

Current network configuration is a small homelab of various mini PCs including an OPNSense router PC, connected currently to an Asus AX86S in Access Point mode that serves wifi to the various devices in the house.
Incoming internet is around 300 Mbps up and down.
There are like 20 wifi devices in the house, with about half only using 2.4Ghz

My office includes multiple PCs including one devoted to gaming, plus I'm often moving big files from my PCs to the homelab servers so I want a fast LAN speed.

I was considering adding another Asus router to my office as a sort of bridge maybe in AIMesh mode that I could connect 2 or 3 PCs to for a faster connection to the homelab and internet. But I'm also open to switching to things like Omada devices on each end.

I'm trying to standardize on 2.5G ethernet for the home lab connections and in my office so am looking at some of the new Wifi 7 setups as an option since they often have multi-gig uplinks. (Mildly regretting that I didn't get the AX86U instead for its 2.5G jack, but that was years ago, and I can find other ways to repurpose the 86S if needed)

What is the wisdom here for the fast LAN bandwidth that I want across my house in the absence of ethernet? Open to spending 200-350 USD per device at each end as needed.

 

[Tech9]

diagonal opposite side through a couple of walls and I don't get full wifi bars

If 5GHz wireless has issues reaching this location - doesn't sound very friendly to 6GHz wireless link. Your only chance is high-powered devices with dedicated radios on both sides of the link and this limits your choices to the consumer market mesh systems with currently attached to Wi-Fi 7 products beta testing period. Not guaranteed to work as advertised at the moment of purchase.

 

[OzarkEdge]

I'm in an old rented house that I can't tamper with the walls in. It's not very large, but the network feed from Verizon comes in at one corner of the house and my office is the diagonal opposite side through a couple of walls and I don't get full wifi bars but can't run ethernet to either.

Sounds like you need a second wired AP at the other end of the house. Is there RG-59/RG6 coax cable in place that can be used with MoCA2.5 adapters? Can you sneak a coax cable around the outside of the house and poke it through the walls, terminate, and good to go?

OE

 

[degrub]

Is Verizon's drop FIOS, Coax, or LTE ?
If you have coax, yes, MOCA might be an option depending on above.
Crawl space/basements open up possibilities.
Talk with the owner about possibilities after you explain the situation. Maybe get lucky or offer to pay for the upgrade if they don't object.
Sometimes a different ISP will be willing to terminate at a different point on the house. Maybe Verizon would as well if you show them a quote and are willing to cancel them.

 

[Tech9]

Can you sneak a coax cable around the outside of the house

You perhaps mean Ethernet cable. No point running MoCA on coax around the house.

 

[OzarkEdge]

You perhaps mean Ethernet cable. No point running MoCA on coax around the house.

Fair point... I meant coax only because it's traditionally more suitable outside. If Ethernet, then it would need to be built and installed for exterior use... I've not done that. Also, I can cut and terminate Ethernet to get on your LAN; MoCA would be encrypted.

OE

 

[Tech9]

I can cut and terminate Ethernet to get on your LAN

Come on... How do you know which side of the cable to terminate? Must be the one with DHCP server...

 

[tuerta]

Is Verizon's drop FIOS, Coax, or LTE ?
If you have coax, yes, MOCA might be an option depending on above.
Crawl space/basements open up possibilities.

It's Verizon Fios. Their hardware in the basement. There's a pre-existing ethernet cable from the basement box to the front corner of the house, where I parked all my network and homelab machines.
We actually have a downstairs neighbor who has the floor between us and the basement. We have the second floor to ourselves, but it makes it essentially impossible to run any cabling just for us. We aren't even allowed to hang pictures on nails in the wall. Hence my interest in wireless backhaul.

 

[OzarkEdge]

Come on... How do you know which side of the cable to terminate? Must be the one with DHCP server...

I'll terminate both sides... I'm a determined vandal, the kid living next door with plenty of time to do stupid things before he grows up.

OE

 

[Tech9]

Hence my interest in wireless backhaul.

Your requirements for 2.5GbE LAN ports through wireless link going through few walls... are from tough to unlikely to happen.

 

[degrub]

Have you tried ethernet over power ? AV2000 spec devices ( Netgear is my favorite). An older house should have ordinary breakers without Arc Fault or possibly even GFCI. Just make sure you can return, no fee, so you can try them. i assume you are in the US.

100 Mbit/s link rate should be plenty for streaming devices.

Look at flat ethernet cable CAT6 for a not too obvious long run.

What about the attic to make a backhaul drop ? Alarm installers are pretty good at difficult installs for reasonable price.

Realistically, you are not going to get much wifi speed unless you have direct line of sight with no obstacles.

 

[tuerta]

I'm wondering how the Zenwifi BT8 mesh units would fare, using MLO and multiple bands it can aggregate...

Your requirements for 2.5GbE LAN ports through wireless link going through few walls... are from tough to unlikely to happen.

 

[tuerta]

Have you tried ethernet over power ? AV2000 spec devices ( Netgear is my favorite). An older house should have ordinary breakers without Arc Fault or possibly even GFCI. Just make sure you can return, no fee, so you can try them. i assume you are in the US.

100 Mbit/s link rate should be plenty for streaming devices.

I did this a few years back in my last house (a 3 story house with similar issues trying to get wifi to "his and her" offices in opposite ends of the house). I have not looked into that lately.

 

[degrub]

100 Mbit/s will cover most all "office " tasks. i ran a house with 3 kids and 2 work from home for many years over 38 Mbit/s DSL line. Only the gamer noticed anything.

 

[Tech9]

I'm wondering how the Zenwifi BT8 mesh units would fare, using MLO and multiple bands it can aggregate...

You'll be one of the first users around here sharing experience with this model... what it aggregates in real life, unknown.