Have you thought about TP-Link's Deco PX50  ? - 3 x 1.0Gb ports per unit and powerline (G.hn) for the backhaul. 

richms:

 

Also if you do get cheaper dual radio stuff, you can set it up so the mesh stuff only meshes, and then plug accesspoints of your choosing into their ethernet ports to distribute to end devices. just use opposite ends of the 5GHz for the mesh and the devices, and be sure to seperate them by a reasonable distance so they are not crapping over each others radios.

 

A few friends in the US have got some incredibly cheap mesh sets from woot and used those as the backhaul around their properties and for nothing else on them and that works fine with just 2 radios until you start doing multiple hops. Even the triband stuff doesnt do that well and I suspect there will be some 4 or 5 radio ones coming out with 6GHz to better do multihop meshing.

 

Any idea how i would go about doing this? For example, its easy enough for me to find some more deco x50's (or other dual band AX mesh systems). Are you essentially saying setup a mesh but dont connect any clients to the mesh. Then create a 2nd "wired" mesh (with different routers) but the wired part is simply wiring it self to the first mesh, and connecting clients to the 2nd "wired" mesh? If so, interesting thought. That is definitely something i can experiment with (do you think this would see a significant improvement?). If i understood wrong, please give some more info :)

gokiwi64:

 

Have you thought about TP-Link's Deco PX50  ? - 3 x 1.0Gb ports per unit and powerline (G.hn) for the backhaul. 

 

Not exactly the PX50 (i havent seen these cheaply in secondhand market), but i did definitely consider powerline ethernet kits and using that as the backhaul for wired mesh. Problem is, powerline ethernet often times is worse than wifi (both speeds and surprisingly latency too), specially in older houses. I tested this theory out in my previous house, and powerline (short distance) only gave me extreamly low speeds and wifi even without mesh gave me significantly (SIGNIFICANTLY) higher speeds and better latency. Also i found it hilarious i read somewhere (reddit?) that someone said whenever they ran their washing machine, their powerline speeds dropped really low. Ofcorse i will give this a go again when i can, but i dont think its practical. Great idea though in theory. 

To be frank. Just go with Grandstream. 

https://www.gowifi.co.nz/access-points/indoor-access-points/gwn7660e.html or https://www.gowifi.co.nz/access-points/indoor-access-points/gwn7670.html 

Pair it with https://www.gowifi.co.nz/switches/gwn7700p.html or https://www.gowifi.co.nz/switches/gwn7721p.html (entirely dependent on how many APs we're throwing at this).

I imagine we already have a router that's capable enough, in which case > occupy one port on any of the GWN switches from the router to the switch, plug all of your APs into the PoE switch and one of the APs can manage ALL of the APs...

I'm likely to go down this route with my in laws when they finally activate a fibre connection and this is exactly how I would do it.

MaxineN:

 

To be frank. Just go with Grandstream. 

 

https://www.gowifi.co.nz/access-points/indoor-access-points/gwn7660e.html or https://www.gowifi.co.nz/access-points/indoor-access-points/gwn7670.html 

 

Pair it with https://www.gowifi.co.nz/switches/gwn7700p.html or https://www.gowifi.co.nz/switches/gwn7721p.html (entirely dependent on how many APs we're throwing at this).

 

I imagine we already have a router that's capable enough, in which case > occupy one port on any of the GWN switches from the router to the switch, plug all of your APs into the PoE switch and one of the APs can manage ALL of the APs...

 

 

 

I'm likely to go down this route with my in laws when they finally activate a fibre connection and this is exactly how I would do it.

 

Those are cheaper than i expected. Interesting. That said, other than potentially having some extra functionality, are those access points actually that much better than the deco x50s im already using? The deco x50 (in theory) is AX3000, and dual band, just the same as these (would be similar or more expensive than these new, but can be had for half the price secondhand). So would this actually be an upgrade? Im asking because in practice the device may performs a lot differently to theory (and im unsure if these Grandstream ones have better coverage/distance/strength compared to things like decos).

neon:

 

Any idea how i would go about doing this? For example, its easy enough for me to find some more deco x50's (or other dual band AX mesh systems). Are you essentially saying setup a mesh but dont connect any clients to the mesh. Then create a 2nd "wired" mesh (with different routers) but the wired part is simply wiring it self to the first mesh, and connecting clients to the 2nd "wired" mesh? If so, interesting thought. That is definitely something i can experiment with (do you think this would see a significant improvement?). If i understood wrong, please give some more info :)

 

Yes, the mesh will basically make all the ethernet ports on all the units one network, so you can hang any other devices you like off them. We have done this between buildings with some horrid orbi things in the windows of them that could see each other. The wired devices worked fine but wireless off the orbis was trash tier performance because of all the other networks in the area and the windowsill device seeing them all. Putting an old 802.11ac accesspoint in the middle of the room wired into the orbi was so much better for the portable devices. From memory it was the difference between not able to play youtube and it working just fine.

neon:

 

MaxineN:

 

To be frank. Just go with Grandstream. 

 

https://www.gowifi.co.nz/access-points/indoor-access-points/gwn7660e.html or https://www.gowifi.co.nz/access-points/indoor-access-points/gwn7670.html 

 

Pair it with https://www.gowifi.co.nz/switches/gwn7700p.html or https://www.gowifi.co.nz/switches/gwn7721p.html (entirely dependent on how many APs we're throwing at this).

 

I imagine we already have a router that's capable enough, in which case > occupy one port on any of the GWN switches from the router to the switch, plug all of your APs into the PoE switch and one of the APs can manage ALL of the APs...

 

 

 

I'm likely to go down this route with my in laws when they finally activate a fibre connection and this is exactly how I would do it.

 

 

 

 

Those are cheaper than i expected. Interesting. That said, other than potentially having some extra functionality, are those access points actually that much better than the deco x50s im already using? The deco x50 (in theory) is AX3000, and dual band, just the same as these (would be similar or more expensive than these new, but can be had for half the price secondhand). So would this actually be an upgrade? Im asking because in practice the device may performs a lot differently to theory (and im unsure if these Grandstream ones have better coverage/distance/strength compared to things like decos).

 

The 7660E offers the same theoretical performance. You just won't get those insane 20MS spikes that the X50 has(I hope you're not on launch firmware, but I don't think the updated firmware fixed this). Ask me how I know 😁

The 7670 is WiFi 7, you'll get a little more if you go full 160mhz and you have 2.5gbps backhaul to it, but realistically speaking you don't need multi gig wifi. The 7660E is perfectly adequate and you'll probably find stability more than performance. Hell in the right conditions, the 7660E will pull a gig.

The switches will give you room to grow as well since they're all 2.5gbps.

If I could put a car comparison into this. It's like buying a Lotus Exige... for less than a Lambo Gallardo... and then being one second behind it on the Top Gear track.

It's fast, it's cheap, it's solid, and it has some enterprise features.

richms:

 

neon:

 

Any idea how i would go about doing this? For example, its easy enough for me to find some more deco x50's (or other dual band AX mesh systems). Are you essentially saying setup a mesh but dont connect any clients to the mesh. Then create a 2nd "wired" mesh (with different routers) but the wired part is simply wiring it self to the first mesh, and connecting clients to the 2nd "wired" mesh? If so, interesting thought. That is definitely something i can experiment with (do you think this would see a significant improvement?). If i understood wrong, please give some more info :)

 

 

Yes, the mesh will basically make all the ethernet ports on all the units one network, so you can hang any other devices you like off them. We have done this between buildings with some horrid orbi things in the windows of them that could see each other. The wired devices worked fine but wireless off the orbis was trash tier performance because of all the other networks in the area and the windowsill device seeing them all. Putting an old 802.11ac accesspoint in the middle of the room wired into the orbi was so much better for the portable devices. From memory it was the difference between not able to play youtube and it working just fine.

 

Mesh networks will always perform better over wired and I can't count how many times I would have to educate the customer on this when I wore the green hat.

However not everyone can do that. And honestly, OP sounds like he's outgrown the app. I personally would not suggest continuing to use the Deco X50s. They aren't that good.

So just to add a .02 - You mentioned concrete walls.  Awkwald shape.  Tere's an implication of concrete walls between the ONT and where the Access Point needs to live.

IMHO, Most likely, this makes ANY form of wireless connection, mesh or otherwise, pretty likely to not do well.  You effectively have a light faraday cage between the 2 crucial point to point devices.  FWIW - I figure you may want to make that extra effort and run at least one hard wired connection. 

I'm a bit late to the party, but I think you already have the 2 Deco units - rather than spend ANYTHING on other units - maybe just use your existing and spend the cash on getting a hard wired line in?

do you need WiFi 6/7 because you have such devices and hyperfibre or local NAS/server? or just for future-proofing? if it's the latter, i wouldn't deem it an immediate need.

in your situation, i would... get a good router, mikrotik Hex S (2025), RB5009. then, if you can live with going back to WiFi 5, grab a few of the Ruckus R610, currently going for as low as $45 on TM (you can start with 2). you will need PoE injectors or even 12V adaptors to power these.

Ruckus are awesome with RF. and running Unleashed, the R610 can do wireless mesh and can be upgraded to wired backhaul when (if?) you get to it.

Agree with others on grandstream I've got a 200sqm house with 2x GWN7665 hardwired back to a POE 2.5gbe switch GWN7700MP. 600-800 down/450-500 up anywhere in the house.

Ones a master the other is slave and they just work. Setup in 20 mins configured the master then the settings migrate over to the slave.