What to Buy for a Large Home

[NotebookNeophyte]

I am confused as to what the best option is for my situation. I currently have Spectrum internet coming into the house (60Mbps) and a Linksys WRT1900 from a couple years ago. My modem is an Arris 16x sb6183. My house consists of 3 levels: Basement (with Home Theatre), 1st Floor (where my router is located) and 2nd floor bedrooms. The house is about 3300 above ground Sq.ft. plus an additional 1000Sq. ft. for the basement. I am currently using a Powerline to connect to my basement TV. I am getting speeds of about 16 down and 2 up..even in the same room as the router...and nothing I seem to do changes that...My goal is the highest possible streaming/internet speeds at the furthest distance from the router...Please note: I do not currently have the ability for true WAPS. Here are the options I've narrowed it to:

1. Wireless Mesh System (Either Velop or Orbi) which one????

2. Luxol 3100 (The Magnolia guys keep saying this 1 Watt router will be the best solution

3. Also ...should I bump my modem up to the Arris 32x sb6190 ??

I really appreciate any and all advice! Thanks in advance!

 

[degrub]

Not surprised about powerline issue. What model and spec version of powerline ? Do you have arc fault breakers ? Old wiring ?

if you have RG6 cable going to many of the rooms, you can use MOCA2 to reach any location where you have a cable outlet at near Gigabit bandwidth. Add WAP where you need it attached to either the MOCA2 modem or an inexpensive gigabit switch.

Otherwise, consider fishing CAT5e or 6 in a few strategic locations to get an ethernet backhaul to the ISP router. That or MOCA2 will get you the best reliable performance.

You may be able to get "good enough" performance out of a new generation wireless AC router, particularly on the 2.4 GHz band. For streaming to the TV, i would use cable or ethernet as it is usually less prone to issues. There is no magic solution for wireless if you have too much wood/walboard/distance reducing the signal. Also, the client device has to be of a reasonably recent generation (AC helps). it will likely take at least two APs or router/AP combos to give you enough coverage. The 2.4 GHz band will penetrate further through obstacles than the 5 Ghz band. Use 5 Ghz in a single room or possibly through a single wall.

 

[sm00thpapa]

Orbi is not a mesh system but I highly recommend it.

 

[tannebil]

There is no guaranteed solution without having wired backhaul of some kind. The performance of wireless is going to depend on the where you place the access points, the kind of walls you have, the placement of HVAC ducts, the location of large mirrors, the kind of floor between the basement and the main level, the particular wireless clients, and the exact meaning of the "highest possible speed at the furthest distance from the router". And even after taking all those factors into account, speeds are going to drop as you move away from the closest access point.

If 60Mbps is as fast as you need today, what about when you upgrade to 100Mbps? 200Mbps, 1GB? Are you willing to change everything out as part of upgrading to a higher speed? With an all wireless solution, you are not going to really know until you buy it, install it, test it, and optimize the placement of the access points. Install wired access to a three or four places in the house and most of that uncertainty goes away.

The latest powerline stuff is much better than the earlier stuff so you might try a set of the latest offerings. Likewise MoCA 2.0 bonded is extremely fast and reliable although at a minimum it requires changing out your splitters at the affected locations and, worst case, could require replacement of your coax. In both cases, you will be introducing uncertainty into your network and adding more active gear so, when you have a problem, you'll always be wondering if they are the source of the problem. Installing CAT5e or better makes that uncertainty mostly go away so that's the gold star solution. I use MoCA 2.0 bonded today and have used powerline in the past but I regularly wish I'd just pulled the damn cable 10 years ago.

I use seven Plume pods to cover my 2600sf, 1.5 story house. Works great but I'm using wired backhaul with all of them (5 CAT5e, 2 MoCA). Wireless backhaul works fine with them but typically knocked my speeds down but 30-40% and makes placement a bigger issue so, since I have wired, I'm using it instead.

 

[NotebookNeophyte]

Not surprised about powerline issue. What model and spec version of powerline ? Do you have arc fault breakers ? Old wiring ?

if you have RG6 cable going to many of the rooms, you can use MOCA2 to reach any location where you have a cable outlet at near Gigabit bandwidth. Add WAP where you need it attached to either the MOCA2 modem or an inexpensive gigabit switch.

Otherwise, consider fishing CAT5e or 6 in a few strategic locations to get an ethernet backhaul to the ISP router. That or MOCA2 will get you the best reliable performance.

You may be able to get "good enough" performance out of a new generation wireless AC router, particularly on the 2.4 GHz band. For streaming to the TV, i would use cable or ethernet as it is usually less prone to issues. There is no magic solution for wireless if you have too much wood/walboard/distance reducing the signal. Also, the client device has to be of a reasonably recent generation (AC helps). it will likely take at least two APs or router/AP combos to give you enough coverage. The 2.4 GHz band will penetrate further through obstacles than the 5 Ghz band. Use 5 Ghz in a single room or possibly through a single wall.

Thanks for the advice....I have a Netgear Powerline PLP 1200. I think I may just try the MOCA2 solution...it seems to be relatively cost effective and easy to use. If not, I'm still wondering what is best overall...a single high end tri-band router....or Orbi/Velop....a bit more research and I'll decide...Thanks again...

 

[degrub]

If it is point to point or dedicated cables, moca2 is easy. Watch out for splitters that are not rated for moca2 frequency and are not bidirectional. It can get a little tedious if you have digital cable tv as well. Search the moca forums here for advice.