Mesh Wi-Fi Mashup

[thiggins]

What happens to throughput when you start bouncing signals around a mesh Wi-Fi network? We compared multi-hop performance for eero, Luma, Amplifi and Amplifi HD to find out.

Read on SmallNetBuilder

 

[sfx2000]

Nice write up - question however, was there any attempt to see if this would mesh between different vendors?

 

[hifiguy]

Tim, will you be adding the Netgear Orbi to these results? I'd like to see how it compares to the others.

 

[Dave in NM]

Where's orbi? When does Asus' solution come out?

 

[pete y testing]

interesting review and i had to read it a few times to understand the meat and gravy , im actually amazed how mesh is so buzzed atm as it aint really that much of a benefit

will you be adding the Netgear Orbi to these results? I'd like to see how it compares to the others.

the orbi isnt mesh yet its just star topology , it is suggested it will actually be mesh in the future but thats TBA

When does Asus' solution come out?

not even on the horizon yet as far as i know

 

[whsbuss]

As always a great review. Gives us a starting point to engineer our own dead spot solution

 

[Trentors]

Great review!

I does however confirm my fears about mesh networking: It is VERY slow.

Even the performance of the main AP is much much lower than a normal BHR. I will keep my BHR and add another a normal wired AP instead.

 

[thiggins]

Nice write up - question however, was there any attempt to see if this would mesh between different vendors?

No. And there won't be. These systems are too proprietary. Amplifi prelinks its "mesh points" / extenders. I checked whether I could swap regular and HD mesh points and I could not.

 

[thiggins]

Where's orbi? When does Asus' solution come out?

I don't have my Orbi sample yet. NETGEAR offered a pre-release sample, but I asked them to not sent it until it had released firmware.

I'll run the same test on it when it comes in

 

[thiggins]

It does however confirm my fears about mesh networking: It is VERY slow.

It all depends on your starting point. Mesh and/or wireless extenders can provide benefit by lighting up an area that would otherwise be inaccessible. But each hop will cost you throughput and placement is important.

How much throughput do you need? You can do a lot with >50 Mbps.

 

[Trentors]

It all depends on your starting point. Mesh and/or wireless extenders can provide benefit by lighting up an area that would otherwise be inaccessible. But each hop will cost you throughput and placement is important.

How much throughput do you need? You can do a lot with >50 Mbps.

Well I have to admit to I am using the BHR approach. I tried Ubiquiti Unifi with two UAP AC Pros but the performance of my RT-AC3200 was better. It covered the entire house and in the spot where I sit and work the most it was much faster. Speeds surpassing 700 Mbps.

I agree that >50 Mbps is enough in most situations but my current ISP speed is 300 Mbit so it would seem a shame not being able to take advantage of this. Though I mainly use the high speed to access a NAS server where everything is stored.

 

[thiggins]

Speeds surpassing 700 Mbps.

Max throughput right next to the router, correct? And with what class devices? How is the NAS connected?

 

[Trentors]

Max throughput right next to the router, correct? And with what class devices? How is the NAS connected?

Yes. I am sitting close to the router (but with a small wall between). An AC1300 class laptop (this is also the reported link speed). The NAS is wired directly to the router.
With the UAP AC Pro the link speed was 600 Mbps and the actual speed where around 350 Mbps. It was located in the same spot as the router currently is.

 

[thiggins]

So is the reported 700 Mbps link or actual throughput with the RT-AC3200?

So what is your actual throughput once you put some distance and a few walls between the laptop and router?

 

[L&LD]

Mesh. Everything I feared it would be. This would be the solution offered by the geek mob so that they could easily recommend something better in a few short months (when most will be wise to the pitfalls of 'mesh', 'proprietary' and 'more expensive with less performance' traded for 'easy setup' instead of a few minutes reading simple instructions).

 

[Trentors]

So is the reported 700 Mbps link or actual throughput with the RT-AC3200?

So what is your actual throughput once you put some distance and a few walls between the laptop and router?

Yes actual throughput (reported link speed is 1300 Mbps). The furthest I can away from the router does include a few walls and a floor. This gives around 100 Mbps - sometimes less - sometimes more. Though it is done by speedtest on my phone (867 Mpbs 2x2 AC class device). In this spot I was not able to get a stable connection with the AC Pro.

 

[paraplu]

Nice review but it would be even better to compare with a reference router e.g. R7000, with worst-case an additional cheap wifi extender.

Considering the 'reconnect' -test, is it correct to assume that these mesh devices do not provide seamless auto roaming?

 

[thiggins]

Considering the 'reconnect' -test, is it correct to assume that these mesh devices do not provide seamless auto roaming?

No it is not. As has been discussed many times before, the STA is largely in control of the roaming decision. APs can only do so much to encourage STAs to roam. If they don't want to, the only option the AP has is to block it from connecting, which is usually not a user-friendly choice.

As I noted in the review, my test STA moved smoothly from the office to middle node. Moving from middle to kitchen node had to be forced. This was probably because the STA could still get a signal level from the middle node that was above its roaming threshold.

 

[Dave in NM]

interesting review and i had to read it a few times to understand the meat and gravy , im actually amazed how mesh is so buzzed atm as it aint really that much of a benefit




the orbi isnt mesh yet its just star topology , it is suggested it will actually be mesh in the future but thats TBA



not even on the horizon yet as far as i know

Good to know. I think Orbi is "too big" and "too few units" compared to Luma and Eero. So far Eero's winning in my research.

 

[whsbuss]

Question is why does eero only do AC1200?