Recommendation wireless home system

[miro123]

Hello,
I'm novice in this forum.
I'm going to upgrade my home network. I struggle to define my wireless network. I already build the hard part - wired network.
My requirements are
- two or 3 WIFI points to cover my 3 floor house.
- dedicated wireless networks - I want to separate wifi from wired network
- wired connection to every WIFI point or between them for wired backhaul
- low power consumption -features like switching off during nighttime etc.
Nice to have requirement
- comprehensive settings - i'm familiar with tcp/ip and networking as software developer.
-
Questions
- what type of device I have to choose - Mesh, access point or wifi router, or som mixture of them?
- I have looked at SNB recommendation artical but they seems to be outdated. Am I correct?
- Can you recommend me an articles on this subject to read?

Thanks in advance,
Miro

 

[Tech Junky]

A lot of this depends on the construction of the home.

I general though an AP per floor should be more than enough unless you have concrete walls lined with metal.

Most AP's though are LE at 20-30W each and making them dormant with scheduling just restricts IP traffic not the power itself.

SMB type AP's allow up to 8 SSID's per band allowing to separate traffic if you're going to dive into networking deeper than the average person and use VLANs.

I use Zyxel as they have a good price / performance calculation compared to their competitors. NWA210AX is what I'm using but, they came out with a new model that offers 6ghz band as well but, if you have a lot of 5ghz devices it won't do much for you since it disables 5ghz to offer 6ghz but, that's the NWA220AX. $150/$180 on Amazon.

For powering these devices you'll need an AC adapter or use POE++ with either an injector at each AP or POE switch. The 210 comes with an AC adapter and the 220 should as well even with some reports that it doesn't. The power adapters are cheap though to pick up on their own.

Using these APs I can hit 1.5gbps on a single client using 160mhz and an AX411 client adapter. If the clients aren't ADL/RPL for their CPU though then you'll be using an AX210 which will still get you about 1.2gbps. The key is to use the 2.5gbps port on them and make sure the path is not bottlenecked by slower ports. These speeds though make LAN transfers bearable but still an Ethernet connection using 5gbps is much quicker when you really need to move data.

Mesh is more of a gimmick with slow speeds and over priced gear.
Routers are supposed to be used at the WAN not the entire network and are a waste of money if you're putting them into AP mode.

If you want to with the Zyxel units you can convert them to mesh mode but, I haven't tested the speeds or stability for that.

 

[coxhaus]

You might look at the Cisco CWB150AX WIFI6 wireless units. If you want WIFI6. I had 8 ax units on yesterday on my 2 APs. They run with POE+ power or I think they include a power adapter. I will look as I have a third one on its way. I am going to add it to my wife's sewing room where she spends most of her time. I want her to have better 5GHz performance and the units only cost $103 each. They are cheap enough to put one in every user room.

Power wise, they only draw max 9.2 watts each.

 

[Tech Junky]

Cisco CWB150AX WIFI6

Cisco Business 150AX Wi-Fi 6 2x2 Access Point 1 GbE Port - Ceiling Mount, PoE Injector Included, 3-Year Hardware Protection (CBW150AX-B-NA) https://a.co/d/2Ku5h42

Reviews don't look great. Though the included injector helps save money. Most of the complaints are the slow boot time.

 

[coxhaus]

Cisco Business 150AX Wi-Fi 6 2x2 Access Point 1 GbE Port - Ceiling Mount, PoE Injector Included, 3-Year Hardware Protection (CBW150AX-B-NA) https://a.co/d/2Ku5h42

Reviews don't look great. Though the included injector helps save money. Most of the complaints are the slow boot time.

They work fine for me. They do boot slow as the code lives in the cloud. I did add a UPS to include my POE+ switch. We had a bad ice storm and power was going up and down.
I think of them as a cheap WIFI6 APs that I can buy a lot of to have good 5Hz performance in a lot of rooms. Once you start going through walls 5GHz performance goes down. My 3 bathrooms are killers for me with all the tile and stuff. Passing through my bathrooms causes wireless degrading.

 

[Tech Junky]

Once you start going through walls 5GH

I have no issue in 1300sq ft keeping good speeds. Drywall and steel studs. Materials make all the difference in signal penetration. The Zyxel devices are also 4*4 instead of 2*2 like the Cisco. Making changes is relatively quick and reboots take a couple of minutes.

But if you need several to cover 3000+ area then sure it makes sense possibly.

 

[coxhaus]

My wife's wireless works in her sewing room. The signal has to go through 2 walls. It will work better with an AP on the ceiling in her sewing room. And why not they are cheap enough to add another AP.

Changes are instantaneous it's just when you lose power the AP needs to reload code. This is just the way cloud-based systems work. The APs have 1GHz quad processor.

 

[Tech9]

Can you recommend me an articles on this subject to read?

Many threads on the same subject in this very same forum section.

I would go with Ubiquiti UniFi or TP-Link Omada for better price/performance in home application. You can find threads with equipment model numbers listed. How many APs you need - no one here knows. It depends on many different factors. What type APs you need - it depends on your preference. Wall plate, ceiling, outdoor models available with Wi-Fi 5/6 radios. Wireless mesh options are available with both UniFi and Omada. With SMB equipment you get better hardware/software quality, native VLAN support for better network segmentation, easier system upgrades and expansion when needed.

 

[OzarkEdge]

Can you recommend me an articles on this subject to read?

TP-Link Omada In-Depth Overview — McCann Tech

My in-depth overview of TP-Link Omada. This overview covers Omada controllers, routers, access points and switches, and compares Omada with Aruba’s Instant On and Ubiquiti’s UniFi.

evanmccann.net

OE

 

[coxhaus]

I think we are getting close now days with cheap APs to being able to add one to every high use room or at least I am.

 

[tgl]

I think we are getting close now days with cheap APs to being able to add one to every high use room or at least I am.

The 6GHz spectrum is going to make that idea even more compelling, because of how poorly it goes through walls. One low-power AP per room will work really well, if you can manage wired backhaul for them.

 

[Tech9]

One low-power AP per room will work really well

I have in use 4x APs system on low power in about 120sqm home in Europe and it works very well indeed.

 

[Clark Griswald]

I have in use 4x APs system on low power in about 120sqm home in Europe and it works very well indeed.

Four APs in such a small area, although set to low, seems excessive, but different situations require different tools.
Living in the USA we are fortunate enough to have a such poor building standards that our 6000 covers 233sqm of our poor built single level palatial estate
I placed household devices (thermostat, garage door, "friends/guest") on AP.

 

[Tech9]

Yes, different approach is required according to the environment. My house in N. America is much more Wi-Fi transparent and different channels are available with different Tx power allowed. In EU higher channels on 5GHz band are not available and higher power options are in DFS range. More APs on low power work better than few on high power though. This is valid for both environments. Better planning and right equipment gets better results.

 

[Clark Griswald]

Better planning and right equipment gets better results

I agree with your statement, yet there you are setting such a high standard

 

[Tech9]

This thread went further ahead and the situation is similar:

RT-ac86u + 4/5 rt-ac68u AiMesh nodes upgrade advice

Hi all, I currently have at home a RT-AC86U as main router, with 4 RT-AC68U as AiMesh nodes all running latest Asus Merlin's firmware (386.10). 1gb Ethernet is in each room (except in the attic where I use a decent powerline) and I have around 30 devices connected, of which around 12 are...

www.snbforums.com

There are some ideas with specific equipment from Omada series.