‘Mesh’ WiFi’ systems

Medz

Hello all,

Having recently moved into a new home with a longer garden I am mulling over purchasing a ‘mesh’ WiFi system in order that I have good WiFi throughout the house; but also in the room at the bottom of the garden.  

I gather that given the objective this is the better approach to using eg Devolo Powerline plug in extenders. 

I am really struggling however to understand which particular system to choose.  

I don’t understand the pros and cons on the various review sites as they typically relate to technical specifications (which goes over my head).  

I also can’t seem to necessarily find on the online descriptions the maximum distance a satellite can be placed (in order to confirm that I could successfully place once in the room at the bottom of the garden). 

The Linksys Velop Tri band was one of the systems I looked up as I happened across it on QVC while channel surfing. I don’t know though if that is a good system.  I don’t know what else to look at. 

I really hope that someone knowledgable about such things can help me with their advice. 

My thanks in advance for your always brilliant and generous advice. 

Best wishes. 

bill888

There's no simple answer.  You may end up having to try different products.  No product is perfect.

Certainly Netgear Orbi and Linksys Velop products are the more premium products.  'Tri-band' models are usually better for 'best speed'.  There are less expensive 'dual band' products circa £100 if 'speeds' are less important.  The speed of your broadband connection (eg. 10mb, 100mb, 350mb), what wifi speeds you expect, and budget may determine what you purchase.

I would advise you purchase any products from a retailer that has a good returns policy if you believe the product is 'faulty' and doesn't perform as advertised in first few weeks of use.  eg. Ama..n

Regarding your room at end of the garden.  What is the distance from the house?     If it is quite significant distance, you may end up having to install a long exterior grade ethernet cable with wall sockets on the ends, from main house to that room/shed/cabin at end of the garden.  You can then install a cheap wireless access point (eg. TPlink TL-WA801n) in the 'room' if you don't need more than 30 mbps via wifi.  If there is no mains power, it comes with a POE adapter which allows you to send low voltage power down the ethernet cable to power the TL-WA801 access point.

mgfvvc

I have a "cheap" 3 node TP-Link Deco M5 mesh. It covers a fairly big detached house and garden with no issues. Last time I looked a 3 node Deco M4 was only £100 and will probably cover a normal sized house and garden with no issues if they are placed suitably. Mine are arranged with one on the ground floor at the back of the house, one on the first floor at the front of the house and one in the loft. The locations are based on where the modem is and where I need Ethernet sockets, rather than being placed for the best coverage, but I have not had any issues with coverage. Speeds are adequate for 2 people working from home and 2 kids using various streaming devices.