Wired home - Coaxfi vs. AP

[adambean]

Hey all,

I get a decent WiFi signal across the board, but I have a couple areas in particular that I'd like to strengthen. Two story home, central termination in basement. I ran ethernet and dual coax to every single room. The secondary coax line is no longer in use (DirecTV used to required two).

I'm in debate at this time between three options:
1) Coaxfi (wifi over coax)
2) UniFi AP
3) Secondary router as an AP

#1 Is cheap and leverages existing unused cables, but not yet sure I understand my router/results (below). Using the antennas in the areas in question (living room, upstairs bedrooms) the signal absolutely does strengthen, no doubt about it, it works.

#2 I've tinkered with already, results were good, but not great. Used the Long Range and was expecting better results. Walls are not friendly to this AP as my Router appears to have better penetration in some scenario's. I like this idea, but the lack of hand-off between Router and AP, was a bit of a bummer. My router as-is can swap connections between its bands, but the AP doesn't appear to be able to do this on its own, or with my router. The AP showed 'heavy' load when all of my ... ~20 wireless devices were connected, this is worrisome as I don't do a lot over WiFi being that my whole house is wired. I'd assume to "optimally" use any UniFi gear, I'd need to further invest into their setup. While a stand-alone AP is super easy, just removes the single source of maintenance and management. More testing required here.

#3 I just ordered a cheap AC66u to test with, will have results within the next couple days. If the results are good, this would be nice as putting a secondary Asus router in AP mode still maintains a pretty easy to manage setup.

In diving further into to #1. My biggest dilemma now is really understanding the router and which antennas I'd replace and if it's the right move. I have four rooms in which I'd like to put one of these Coaxfi antennas.

I did some testing with the 8 antennas on this router and could use some help here validating the data and understanding of this router.

Looking at the router right side up (ASUS is shown the proper way), the antenna numbering starts in the upper left at #1, ending at #8 on the side upper left.

Antenna #2 is a must, only way to have a broadcast happen. In each of the following tests, #2 was used in conjunction to each of the numbered antennas individually. Router is in the basement, and I walked roughly 20 feet away to conduct each test at the same location every time. Summary of what appears to be each antenna purpose + Test runs below.

5.1 vs 5.2 is each of the two 5ghz channels that this router broadcasts.

Three questions come from this data.
1) Being that the data seems quite odd for a couple antennas (primarily #3), is it safe to assume that the antennas are made to be paired with one another in some fashion?

2) Given the nature of this crazy router, 8 antennas, all serving different purposes with three different broadcasts ... is Coaxfi a smart solution?

3) If #2 is a YES, how do I know which antennas to convert and why? In theory, using these new antennas, won't I hurt my range somehow in regards to #1 potentially?

Again, thanks for all your help and sorry for all the pestering. You've helped me to understand more than I did before. I hope that ultimately I pick your solution, but as of now, I'm simply uncertain.

Thanks!

My interpretation of the data below:
#1 = 5.2
#3 = No clue, this is odd
#4 = 2.4 + 5.2
#5 = All
#6 = All
#7 = 5.1
#8 = 5.2

Tests:
#2 (stand-alone)
2.4 = 63-70
5.1 = 82-84
5.2 = 64-67

#1
2.4 = 61-67
5.1 = 83-85
5.2 = 54-57

#3
2.4 = 63-68
5.1 = 83-85
5.2 = 63-66

#4
2.4 = 49-53
5.1 = 83-85
5.2 = 56-57

#5
2.4 = 58-62
5.1 = 67-69
5.2 = 64-65

#6
2.4 = 50-54
5.1 = 69-75
5.2 = 60-62

#7
2.4 = 70-71
5.1 = 62-64
5.2 = 62-64

#8
2.4 = 67-70
5.1 = 81-82
5.2 = 57-58

 

[beboptrumpet]

I run Moca in my house, I have a couple action tech Moca 2 bridges
ECB6200K02
With channel bonding. Go with the bonded ones...especially Given that you have a dedicated coax line, They are reliable--I don't even reccall the last time I reset them. They are a lot faster and add far less latency than powerline. Personally, I connect an access point to one and my router to the other...the MocA serves as the backbone.

If you don't need that much thuroughput, you can get Moca 1 adaptors a lot cheaper...i have these set up for my TiVo. They provide better than 100mb of thuroughput and are rock solid.

Action tech makes a bridge/access point combo. I believe one is moca 1.1 and the other is moca 2. You plug it in then hit the wps buttons on the router and ap and it copy's your settings and create a mesh network. The ease of setup, performance, and reliability are compelling.

I've tried using wifi and power-line before. In my experience Moca is the next best option after Ethernet for connecting another access point.

Coaxfi looks interesting, but it's installation is complicated and from what I've read, it's claims are exaggerated and completely wrong on the 2.4ghz band. Adding an access point (or two) would be a much easier, more reliable, and would cost less. moca 2...especially the boxes with bonded channels are faster internet than almost all home connections...it is rated at 1Gb and comes much closer to its claims in real life than competing products. And finally, adding additional outlets after the 1st two costs half as much, so if you decide you need a third access point, it's not going to cost as much.