Mesh Wi-Fi Mashup

[pete y testing]

you might want to look at the netgear orbi system as it works differently in that atm its star topology with a dedicated 5 gig backhaul

or get ethernet run to where you need wifi and run the ubiquiti unifi wireless AC access points

 

[fbraz50]

you might want to look at the netgear orbi system as it works differently in that atm its star topology with a dedicated 5 gig backhaul

or get ethernet run to where you need wifi and run the ubiquiti unifi wireless AC access points

Thanks for the note but you must've missed one of my previous posts. I tried the orbi system but it lacks features, it's pretty bad. But the big kicker was that it broke in 2 weeks time. All wifi client throughput went to crap. Directly connected to main orbi router was still great performance but all wifi clients were down to a max of 15mbps. Not sure what happened and he lack of control prevented me from doing too much trouble shooting. Also when returning it at the store the employees were telling me that they had 4-5 units returned in the previous 2 days.

 

[pete y testing]

all i can tell you is here it works fine with 100/40M on both the router and sat with wifi clients , i have it in AP mode so not worried about the features as i have it connected to an asus router

 

[fbraz50]

all i can tell you is here it works fine with 100/40M on both the router and sat with wifi clients , i have it in AP mode so not worried about the features as i have it connected to an asus router

I probably got a bad unit is all. It worked great for about 2 weeks. The return rate did scare me a bit.

 

[paraplu]

Ubiquiti is also jumping on the mesh marketing: https://community.ubnt.com/t5/UniFi...oza-Mesh-Inwalls-10gig-switches/cns-p/1702478

 

[fbraz50]

Ubiquiti is also jumping on the mesh marketing: https://community.ubnt.com/t5/UniFi...oza-Mesh-Inwalls-10gig-switches/cns-p/1702478

That's odd.. Are they just re-branding to make the tech look cool or are they actually releasing some new gear that is somehow different? I ask because they already have Amplifi as an arm into mesh wifi systems.

 

[paraplu]

That's odd.. Are they just re-branding to make the tech look cool or are they actually releasing some new gear that is somehow different? I ask because they already have Amplifi as an arm into mesh wifi systems.

They are releasing new AP's. The ACM (http://www.ip-sa.com.pl/ubiquiti-unifi-mesh-p-2302.html) and a pro version (http://www.ip-sa.com.pl/ubiquiti-unifi-mesh-p-2304.html) available Feb 2017.

 

[sfx2000]

One of the other big challenges with MESH is the issue of Trust... e.g. Authentication and Authorization - in a mesh, you have, by design, agents in the middle - how can they be trusted, and how can credentials move around inside that mesh - and that was a hard problem to solve

Next time you have a mesh on the bench - can you try a couple of test cases?

1) Update WPA2-PSK passphrase on the root node while a client is associated with one of the leaf nodes - what happens here?
2) Change the SSID on the root node, how does this change move out to the leaf nodes?

One thing I've been itching to try - since many of these may not use protected management frames, is introduce some rouge traffic in the midst of things, so to see if the mesh can discover and heal...

 

[Sudhir]

can i connect 2/3 ampliFI HD router (base units) as mesh? will that have any better or worst performance then using the using the usual setup of base and 2 remote units?

 

[thiggins]

can i connect 2/3 ampliFI HD router (base units) as mesh? will that have any better or worst performance then using the using the usual setup of base and 2 remote units?

No. Not that I am aware of.

 

[Chairman007]

Simple question. If a house is wired throughout with Ethernet and can connect Google WiFi nodes such as Modem-->Google WiFi-->Gigabit switch-->other Google WiFi nodes, what benefit does orbi with wireless backhaul provide in terms of performance & stability of the signal? Not counting things like USB or additional LAN ports. Surely the orbi's performance via wireless couldn't outperform hard wired Google WiFi pucks, right? Just wondering.

 

[pete y testing]

the question is why would you buy google wifi if your house had structured ethernet in the first place , it makes no sense to buy a wifi mesh system to then just run them as wireless access points never mind the cost

the reason to buy google wifi , netgear orbi and any other mesh system that claims to provide whole house wifi is if you dont have structured cabling or cant have structured cabling installed , these mesh systems are an alternative to the traditional router and access points setups that you would run if you have the cabling in place

 

[fbraz50]

Simple question. If a house is wired throughout with Ethernet and can connect Google WiFi nodes such as Modem-->Google WiFi-->Gigabit switch-->other Google WiFi nodes, what benefit does orbi with wireless backhaul provide in terms of performance & stability of the signal? Not counting things like USB or additional LAN ports. Surely the orbi's performance via wireless couldn't outperform hard wired Google WiFi pucks, right? Just wondering.

For your scenario any of these systems would work wonders with the exception of the Amplifi system since it doesn't have Ethernet connections. The dedicated back haul helps those of us that do not have dedicated ethernet available in home.

 

[thiggins]

Ethernet is always best for backhaul.

Mesh systems that support Ethernet backhaul can be simpler to install and maintain than DIY APs.

 

[pete y testing]

but you have to agree mesh type systems cost considerably more and achieve the same result coverage wise as DIY AP's , so if you already have a good router in place ( which most ppl would do )and the cabling , adding any of the DWS / mesh systems and connecting them by ethernet wont achieve anything coverage wise over adding your own wireless access points

yes adding AP's may be a tad harder to initially install and setup but i dont see how there would be much in the way of maintenance once up and running , i had a set of ubiquiti unifi ap's running at home for prob 12 months and never looked at them once after the initial setup

now i have moved house and dont have ethernet throughout the house this is where these mesh systems shine and provide value for money as well as the coverage i need

 

[Chairman007]

Cheapest mesh like Google WiFi with Ethernet backhaul vs Router with wired AP's ... got it. Google WiFi via Ethernet should technically outperform wireless backhaul via orbi, right ... provided there are sufficient nodes to reach needed areas of the property. If true, then would it be best to drop a 5 port Ethernet gigabit switch off of each node to direct connect devices if they accept Ethernet as opposed to wireless? Example ... Node-->Switch-->Apple TV and TiVo?

 

[pete y testing]

got it. Google WiFi via Ethernet should technically outperform wireless backhaul via orbi, right ... provided there are sufficient nodes to reach needed areas of the property.

sufficient nodes is the key here , orbi covers a greater area wifi wise so less nodes are needed and thus less cost , i wouldnt say outperform as you are still limited to 867M max wifi sync to clients in both cases

i havnt tested the google wifi yet as its not available here in OZ and wont be for some time so cant tell you how many google wifi nodes would be needed to get the same coverage as the orbi but i can tell you 2 orbi pack ( orbi router and 1 sat ) cover my 3500sqf house and i can get my 100/40M internet speed anywhere in my house now

from read reviews and online comments im pretty sure you would need 3+ google wifi to achieve the same

Node-->Switch-->Apple TV and TiVo?

Google WiFi via Ethernet

if you had the ethernet it would be

ethernet ---> switch ---->Apple TV and TiVo and the google wifi node

meaning those devices would be running directly on the ethernet and not require the google wifi anyway

that is if im reading what you said right

 

[Chairman007]

By the way ... thanks for your responses to this newbie. Goal is 2 fold ... strongest wireless wifi for non-Ethernet hard wired devices as well as best opportunity for wired devices. That's why I thought it best to take the distributed Ethernet from the main switch directly to a mesh node and then take a small switch off of the node to any device that can take Ethernet. Mesh is then wired backhaul with the strongest wired/wireless signal that I can distribute.

 

[Chairman007]

I have a UPS already to the modem, primary mesh node & main wifi switch. I've noticed in the past that if power goes down and the router or main node reboots prior to the modem that feeds it, then the entire network gets mucked up. By keeping those powered up via UPS, then the other nodes can power up whenever power is restored and be in the proper startup sequence as the modem, main node & switch always stayed on. Good idea?

 

[pete y testing]

That's why I thought it best to take the distributed Ethernet from the main switch directly to a mesh node and then take a small switch off of the node to any device that can take Ethernet.

really wont make any difference , would perform the same ether way you connect them

Mesh is then wired backhaul with the strongest wired

if its connected to ethernet it will always use the ethernet as the node will see no need to use the mesh , thats how i see it working anyway the mesh will only come into play if the node doesnt have ethernet thus the node when connect to ethernet just acts as a wireless access point

Good idea?

sure if it works