Wi-Fi System Roundup

[pete y testing]

Kind of poorman solution

but not even close to the orbi in working or how it performs

 

[pege63]

obviously environmental conditions and building materials are you issue , i have a 350 sq meter house and with an 88u in the middle the whole house is covered with 5 gig wifi , walls are plasterboard with brick exterior location , location , location and no solid walls helps

Within my boundary, I only have plaster walls that divides the rooms, but the outer walls between the apartments are clearly 30 cm reinforced concrete such as floors, walls and ceilings. The rods in the plaster walls are made of aluminum and the router is in the center and hangs 2 meters on the wall about 20 cm from the roof, but I think the aluminum beams are the problem, as the signals bounce round between them. The beams have a space between 50 cm as the plaster walls are attached to them, i think if they where of wood it would be a nother outcome. Or shall i hang the router upside down with antennas down, i have done that in my kitchen with the R7000.

 

[sm00thpapa]

At best buy now and I see a Samsung home mesh system AC2600. Any chance of testing it?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

 

[thiggins]

At best buy now and I see a Samsung home mesh system AC2600. Any chance of testing it?

Unlikely. I have no contacts and plenty of other things to review.

 

[Josh P]

I have Lyra under test. Not impressed at all with performance, or the setup experience. Something seems definitely wonky with its DHCP server.

I'm seeing a few reports of poor performance and instability from the Asus Lyra. In your experience how does this system compare to the Linksys Velop in terms of performance and overall stability?

Thanks in advance for your input.

 

[thiggins]

In your experience how does this system compare to the Linksys Velop in terms of performance and overall stability?

Velop didn't do that well the first time around.

I started retesting Velop with latest firmware and the new process. So far, results are very poor. I am getting very low throughput on the Hop2 node.

I cannot comment on long term stability. I don't test the products for extended periods.

 

[Josh P]

Velop didn't do that well the first time around.

I started retesting Velop with latest firmware and the new process. So far, results are very poor. I am getting very low throughput on the Hop2 node.

I cannot comment on long term stability. I don't test the products for extended periods.

Thank you for the reply!

That's odd, I'm currently testing both systems (alongside AmpliFi and Orbi) and Velop is showing very promising results in my usage. For example with a 200Mbps internet connection I still have 200Mbps on the first node/hop placed on the far end of the home from the main unit, going through a few walls. AmpliFi and Lyra struggle a lot and have a major performance hit (Orbi is still king).

Any idea what might be causing such low throughout in your tests or why I'm seeing such decent results? I'm confused and still undecided which of these systems I will keep.

 

[thiggins]

No, I have not investigated in detail. One hop isn't hard to optimize. Two is where you really see how products manage backhaul. Which is why I test that configuration.

 

[Josh P]

No, I have not investigated in detail. One hop isn't hard to optimize. Two is where you really see how products manage backhaul. Which is why I test that configuration.

Makes sense.
Thing is, both the Lyra and AmpliFi struggle with a single hop.

 

[thiggins]

Makes sense.
Thing is, both the Lyra and AmpliFi struggle with a single hop.

It is early days for Lyra, as it usually is with new ASUS releases. You won't really be able to judge the product for a few months.

AmpliFi is not a serious long-term contender in this market.

 

[GeekJoe]

I've heard that the interface for the Orbi leaves a lot to be desired. Any thoughts on the UI?

 

[RogerSC]

I've heard that the interface for the Orbi leaves a lot to be desired. Any thoughts on the UI?

If you need to have your hands on a router's web admin GUI all the time, then it most likely isn't for you, unless you're willing to trade off fiddling for great wireless *smile*. For example, the Orbi has only one SSID, and it decides which band each client uses. They removed a couple of things this last time around that I think that they're going to have to put back, being able to turn off 2.4GHz. wireless, and forced auto-update for the firmware. Netgear would like this to be as turnkey as possible for users, and were working towards that when they went a couple of steps too far *smile*. For example, Orbi doesn't put any of my clients on 2.4GHz., yet won't let me turn off that band to benefit my neighbors. And if they introduce a new bug or two (that happens), I can't easily prevent my Orbi from auto-updating to that new, buggy release. Or prevent it from auto-flashing back to the buggy release once I've flashed back to a stable release. They've said that they're going to take care of this, but no ETA for doing that yet.

The intention is, as far as I can tell, that the Orbi be as self-managing as possible. I'm fine with that, as long as I can do what I need to do when things happen. And they do happen in real life *smile*.

At any rate, the Orbi is doing fine here, great wireless *smile*.

 

[WiFiNemesis]

AmpliFi is not a serious long-term contender in this market.

Tim, why so exactly?

 

[thiggins]

Tim, why so exactly?

Not enough market share to make it worthwhile to have a product line separate from the much larger UniFi businesss.

I also think Plume will be absorbed by Comcast. Luma may not make it either due to its relatively tiny market share.

 

[sm00thpapa]

Was thinking with the eero systems. Will the circuit breakers interfere with the 2 beacons like they do with the powerline adapters if placed in a bedroom socket?

 

[thiggins]

Was thinking with the eero systems. Will the circuit breakers interfere with the 2 beacons like they do with the powerline adapters if placed in a bedroom socket?

eero Beacon does not use HomePlug.

 

[sm00thpapa]

So I just picked up the eero 3 node $499.99 pack and so far so good. I'm loving the speed and range in my 2 story home. We'll see how it goes the next few days.

 

[WiFiNemesis]

Not enough market share to make it worthwhile to have a product line separate from the much larger UniFi businesss.

I also think Plume will be absorbed by Comcast. Luma may not make it either due to its relatively tiny market share.

So should I also cross out Google WiFi because of Google's propensity to abandon products?

Then again, based on your experience, how long should I expect a WiFi "investment" to last? It's occurring to me that I need to reset my expectations...

 

[pege63]

Here is a test in Swedish biggest PC magazine, use the translate in Google for English.

 

[thiggins]

So should I also cross out Google WiFi because of Google's propensity to abandon products?

Then again, based on your experience, how long should I expect a WiFi "investment" to last? It's occurring to me that I need to reset my expectations...

You might for Google. Although I'll point out the OnHubs can be flashed with GWiFi firmware and used as 3x3 mesh nodes.

Wi-Fi technology is still experiencing a high rate of change. 802.11ax will be here by the end of the year and will appear in both single router and Wi-Fi system flavors. Then there will be an 11ax "Wave 2" since uplink MU-MIMO is not supported in this first round.

If you want to stay "current", you can expect something new to buy each year. That does not mean you should go for it. The new technologies being introduced require devices to also support it and those typically lag behind by 2 years and are driven by smartphone refresh cycles.

I never recommend jumping on new Wi-Fi products when they first come out. They are too buggy and the cost/benefit calculation doesn't make sense. Wait at least 6 months to a year before buying to give vendors time to find real world bugs and issue firmware updates. Or better, buy a generation behind. You may still not see significant performance improvement, but at least you will save money.