Mesh Router or Repeater?

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Sachin23

Sachin23

Messages
203
Location
Bangalore/Ahmedabad
ISP
Airtel, Jio
(Have used BSNL, GTPL, Tikona, Spectra too)
Hi guys,

I do not get wifi signals in one of my rooms at the far end with the default router (BDT-121 Dual band 11AC GPON Router) that came with Airtel. I have an additional D-Link Router with me which I started using in AP mode to extend the range and it works fine.

The problem is that I now have two SSIDs and have to manually change them while moving in the house everytime - which is very inconvenient.

Did some research on the internet and I understand that using a MESH Router will solve my problem. However, since I am a novice, I would like to understand from you:

* If it is possible to solve my problem with the existing hardware that I have. It is D-Link 825ac. I also have an additional TP-Link TL-WR841N

* If not, there are a lot of mesh routers available on Amazon. Which one would you suggest - reasonably priced and good performance.

* Alternatively is there any other Router which I can purchase having good range to cover the entire house (1700 sqft) ?

Thank you in advance for the help.


P. S. - I did not find any existing thread on this topic so created a new one. In case there is one, you may link it down here please.
 
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Awesome. Glad you're enjoying the decos.

The only thing that has me worrying is that the phone remains connected to the farthest node even while I sit next to the nearest one
Click to expand...
Regarding this, I think it's just app that doesn't update the data in realtime until you manually refresh. Because I've been on the terrace and getting full 200Mbps while the Deco app was showing that my phone was connected to the ground floor deco. In reality my phone was connected to the 1st floor deco, it just wasn't updated in the app.


One more thing, can you please tell me if you've connected the two nodes wirelessly or with an ethernet backhaul? With wireless connection I found my speeds to be a little too fluctuating, but when I ran a 25ft cat5e cable and connected both the nodes with ethernet I was back to a constant 200Mbps speed 😀
 
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@vpsj - Yes, probably it's the app which is only updating after I open it. You are right!

I have connected both the nodes wirelessly. Haven't noticed any drop in performance or speed for the entire day today. Getting consistent speeds throughout. Am on a 100 Mbps plan. Speed test attached (this is while being connected to the secondary node and sitting at the farthest end of the house).

Screenshot_20200606-162528.jpg
 
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With Orbi, assuming Ethernet backhaul:

Over lan I get full gig.

Over WiFi I get up to 500-600+ Mbps if in the same room.

Assuming wireless backhaul:

Over WiFi I get up to about 400-500ish if in the same room as the node.

I have one router and 5 satellites, so 6 nodes. RBK50.
 
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Friends,

I took the plunge to buy Deco M5 mesh Wifi after reading this thread and realising that few of you have tried other routers already. The range of the stock router from Airtel is really horrible !

Any suggestions about how to configure the Airtel router to just work as modem (incl phone), will be really useful. Planning to use Deco M5 in router mode.

Thank you
 
Upvote 0
Friends,

I took the plunge to buy Deco M5 mesh Wifi after reading this thread and realising that few of you have tried other routers already. The range of the stock router from Airtel is really horrible !

Any suggestions about how to configure the Airtel router to just work as modem (incl phone), will be really useful. Planning to use Deco M5 in router mode.

Thank you
Click to expand...

All you need to do is connect your main Deco with your Airtel Modem's Lan port(NOT Wan port) with a Cat5e or Cat 6 cable(one such cable is provided in the Deco box). Then you should follow the Deco's app instructions and set up the 2nd Deco node.

After both of them are online, test that they're working properly, then just disable the 2.5ghz and 5ghz Wifi radio bands of your Airtel Router to prevent any interference with the Decos. And... that's it I think.

If someone can suggest anything else to improve the home wifi network experience, please correct me.

EDIT: I would also suggest you connect your Deco nodes with a cat5e/cat6 cable as well. These Decos don't have a dedicated backhaul so if they're connected wirelessly, you may get speed fluctuations when a lot of devices are using your internet at the same time
 
Upvote 0
Venkat R V said:
Friends,

I took the plunge to buy Deco M5 mesh Wifi after reading this thread and realising that few of you have tried other routers already. The range of the stock router from Airtel is really horrible !

Any suggestions about how to configure the Airtel router to just work as modem (incl phone), will be really useful. Planning to use Deco M5 in router mode.

Thank you
Click to expand...

Vpsj just summed it up. Setting it up hardly takes 5 mins (including unboxing 😛) and the app is really intuitive.

Btw I just checked and I now get 5Ghz in the entire house. Time to upgrade the plan to 200 or 300 Mbps!
 

Upvote 0
All you need to do is connect your main Deco with your Airtel Modem's Lan port(NOT Wan port) with a Cat5e or Cat 6 cable(one such cable is provided in the Deco box). Then you should follow the Deco's app instructions and set up the 2nd Deco node.

After both of them are online, test that they're working properly, then just disable the 2.5ghz and 5ghz Wifi radio bands of your Airtel Router to prevent any interference with the Decos. And... that's it I think.

If someone can suggest anything else to improve the home wifi network experience, please correct me.

EDIT: I would also suggest you connect your Deco nodes with a cat5e/cat6 cable as well. These Decos don't have a dedicated backhaul so if they're connected wirelessly, you may get speed fluctuations when a lot of devices are using your internet at the same time
Click to expand...

Thank you. I will try this approach to connect Deco M5. . But running a CAT cable between nodes will be a challenge given physical constraints of the apartment. I was considering M9 plus which has dedicated back haul channel but it is a bit expensive.
We have 2 TVs on Netflix and 3 devices using video conferencing. Even if all these devices are used simultaneously, the maximum bandwidth required seems to be less than 100Mbps. So I had assumed back-haul channel will be an overkill. Hoping this is the right assessment.
 
Upvote 0
Guys,

This is my first post here. I feel proud to be a part of this forum. Though I've been following this forum since couple of months, I've registered recently only.

Below is my current setup and need suggestions on options mentioned to improve it considering my current and new requirement coming up.

I've Airtel Xstream Fiber setup with 200Mbps plan since early 2019. I initially got a Nokia GPON + Wifi router (black coloured with single antenna). Once after lockdown started and kids started having online classes, I felt the range is not that much and I raised a complaint with Airtel . I was expecting another Nokia Gpon+wifi router (white one without antenna and standing type, have this at my parents house). But I got a Huawei HG8145V5 (Flat one with 2 antenna).

I was of the opinion that there will not be any range issues with this. But , kids started experiencing unstable network messages during their online classes. So, I decided to use one of my old routers which I got in 2017, an Asus Router RT-AC58U(dual band). I connected this via a lan cable from one of the lan ports of Huawei router to the WAN port of the Asus and connected it as an Access Point and also disabled the wifi (2.4ghz and 5ghz) in Huawei. Asus has an option to configure it as a router or Access Point, I felt this made a difference. Range has improved considerably , but there are still some places where speed is hovering around 50Mbps on the 5ghz band with just a single or two bars of signal.

Usually there will be 2 laptops for online classes, 3 mobiles and a 4K TV connected to this router along with a streaming device (mostly Apple TV 4K). The TV may not work always when the classes are going on. Also there is a requirement to put CCTV camera installation comprising of 5 to 7 cameras at my house. Considering this new requirement in addition to the current load and setup, I'm planning to go for mesh router setup. I hope the current 200 Mbps plan is fine considering the new requirement as well.

I'm considering the below mesh wifi routers.
1) Netgear RBK40
2) Netgear RBK20
Couldn't find any technical differences between RBK20 and RBK40 for both with a Router and one satellite setup with price ranging around 15K to 16K for both.
3) TP-Link M9 Plus. Price around 20K for a two piece setup.

All the above 3 have dedicated wireless backhaul / Triband and are AC2200 complaint.

Which one among the above would you suggest or any other like RBK50 or the newer Netgear Orbi wifi 6 model MK63(available for preorder from Netgear India store, this is just AX1800) or any other. The total premises area is around 3600 sqft, but the actual residence area is around 1500 sqft with the rest as open area.

Pl feel free to give your suggestions. Thanks in advance.
 
Upvote 0
Venkata Ramesh Chandra V said:
Guys,

This is my first post here. I feel proud to be a part of this forum. Though I've been following this forum since couple of months, I've registered recently only.

Below is my current setup and need suggestions on options mentioned to improve it considering my current and new requirement coming up.

I've Airtel Xstream Fiber setup with 200Mbps plan since early 2019. I initially got a Nokia GPON + Wifi router (black coloured with single antenna). Once after lockdown started and kids started having online classes, I felt the range is not that much and I raised a complaint with Airtel . I was expecting another Nokia Gpon+wifi router (white one without antenna and standing type, have this at my parents house). But I got a Huawei HG8145V5 (Flat one with 2 antenna).

I was of the opinion that there will not be any range issues with this. But , kids started experiencing unstable network messages during their online classes. So, I decided to use one of my old routers which I got in 2017, an Asus Router RT-AC58U(dual band). I connected this via a lan cable from one of the lan ports of Huawei router to the WAN port of the Asus and connected it as an Access Point and also disabled the wifi (2.4ghz and 5ghz) in Huawei. Asus has an option to configure it as a router or Access Point, I felt this made a difference. Range has improved considerably , but there are still some places where speed is hovering around 50Mbps on the 5ghz band with just a single or two bars of signal.

Usually there will be 2 laptops for online classes, 3 mobiles and a 4K TV connected to this router along with a streaming device (mostly Apple TV 4K). The TV may not work always when the classes are going on. Also there is a requirement to put CCTV camera installation comprising of 5 to 7 cameras at my house. Considering this new requirement in addition to the current load and setup, I'm planning to go for mesh router setup. I hope the current 200 Mbps plan is fine considering the new requirement as well.

I'm considering the below mesh wifi routers.
1) Netgear RBK40
2) Netgear RBK20
Couldn't find any technical differences between RBK20 and RBK40 for both with a Router and one satellite setup with price ranging around 15K to 16K for both.
3) TP-Link M9 Plus. Price around 20K for a two piece setup.

All the above 3 have dedicated wireless backhaul / Triband and are AC2200 complaint.

Which one among the above would you suggest or any other like RBK50 or the newer Netgear Orbi wifi 6 model MK63(available for preorder from Netgear India store, this is just AX1800) or any other. The total premises area is around 3600 sqft, but the actual residence area is around 1500 sqft with the rest as open area.

Pl feel free to give your suggestions. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

I'm facing speed issues with the existing setup of Huawei GPon+Asus router as mentioned in my above post.

Mine is a 200Mbps plan and if i do a speed test on Speed test.net or fast.com sites continuously say for around 5 times, the speed drops to around 45Mbps from either from 3rd test or 4th test after showing 200Mbps initially. This is happening more frequently now.

Is this an issue with the line or Huawei GPon or Asus router. I don't know where to start. Have been trying various options.

Is this an issue with how the Asus is connected to Huawei as posted above.

Which is the best option to connect two routers..

1) As posted above with Asus as an access point.
Just WiFi disabled in Huawei.

2) Huawei in Bridge mode as mentioned by few in earlier posts. Don't know what exactly is bridge mode and which router will take care of DHCP server and WiFi.

3) Saw some YouTube video (2-3 years old) with good explanation of how to connect two routers. Probably old technique. Lan to Lan connection. IP of Asus set as 192.168.1.2 and IP of other devices /range to start from 192.168.1.10 in Huawei.

Which of the above 3 are proper ways to connect two routers.

What could be the culprit in speed reduction due to continuous speed testing.

Need help quickly.

Thanks. In advance.
 
Upvote 0
Option 2 is best. Better search on how to set it up as bridge mode. If any help needed you can post screenshots here. In Bridge mode your ont will work as dumb fiber modem. Dhcp/routing everything else to be done by Asus router only.

Option1 n 3 are almost same. Option 1 auto ip config while 3 is manual ip config. Problem in current setup is all routing/dhcp is done by Huawei which got unknown underpowered processor. While the asus one with powerful dual core processor is sitting as dumb wireless access point.

Even if you buy mesh in future, using Huawei in bridge would give you all mesh functions else all parental control/bandwidth control features wont work on mesh.
 
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