multiple wifi access point options

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1101

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#240397 6-Sep-2018 09:21

Hi. For a house that fully network cabled in each room, with poor wifi coverage....
I'm looking at wifi options

I was thinking simple wifi access points in the 4 rooms with really bad wifi signal.
Just cheapish access points that plug directly into the power socket & connect that to ethernet . Having the AP plugged into the wall
is just tidier than the usual AP that have separate power packs .
Then a different SSID on each access point . go to another room, then manually connect to that AP

The other option is a integrated, managed system , single SSID the supports 'roaming' between rooms & drops the signal & forces a reconnect to
the closest AP as the user goes from lounge to bedroom etc
What systems do that properly , ie drop & force a reconnect to the closer AP ?

What Im trying to avoid is the 'it doesnt work' caused by devices that wont auto reconnect to closer AP's as the user roams around the house

Peppery

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#2084711 6-Sep-2018 09:29

Personally I wouldn't go for stand alone APs these days as it's a bit of a management pain if you need to adjust anything.

If you want something simple, I've had good luck with Google WiFi. We don't use it meshed, just wired in to each room's ethernet.

If you're a bit more technical, UniFi is excellent.

gehenna

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#2084713 6-Sep-2018 09:33

Grab a modular mesh system. Google Wi-Fi, Ubiquiti Amplifi, Netgear Orbi, etc.

michaelmurfy

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#2084714 6-Sep-2018 09:34

It sounds like UniFi is the way to go for you.

The UniFi In-Wall access points could work well - https://inwall.ubnt.com/

Multiple access points with different SSID's sounds terrible - don't do that...

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darylblake

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#2084811 6-Sep-2018 10:53

Ok don't put in 4 access points if the house is not huge, its probably too many.

The first thing you need to know about wifi is positioning the AP's and the number of AP's. And for the sake of it do not buy 4 AP's and crank them up to full.

The biggest problems people have with Wifi is they turn them up too high, or poorly position them or have too many access points.

The easiest analogy is to imagine people in a room talking to each other. If some of them are screaming it makes some of the communication very difficult. Also if people are standing behind objects it makes it harder to hear. This is exactly the same for wifi.

As for myself I purchased 2x Unifi AC lites. Its a 240Sqm home, two storeys. I have an AP on each level and I have phenominal wifi everywhere in the house. I have mounted the AP's on the ceiling using the mounting plates.

1101

3122 posts

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#2084976 6-Sep-2018 12:13

This is a house with walls that seriously degrades the wifi signal. In some rooms the neighbors wifi is the same strength (still very low) .
If I cant get a descent signal in a room, wifi will allways be bad , so at least 4 AP's are needed (including downstairs)

I would have thought wifi mesh isnt going to work if the signal room to room is bad .

With centrally managed systems , is handover from AP top AP issue free ?

Jase2985

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#2084977 6-Sep-2018 12:15

factor in about 2 walls for wifi signal to go through to have acceptable coverage. 4 seems overkill in all but the largest of houses

1101

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#2084990 6-Sep-2018 12:33

Jase2985:

factor in about 2 walls for wifi signal to go through to have acceptable coverage. 4 seems overkill in all but the largest of houses

Normally yes. This site has walls that kill wifi signal. One AP was for downstairs , so thats 3 upstairs.
Even 2 AP's setup as a test wasnt enough.
I'll try for the fewest , I can allways add more.
Downstairs definitely needs one.

This looks like a possible option . I like the simplicity of plugging into the wall rather than stand alone units sitting on a desk.
And its a great price , perhaps too cheap ?
https://www.gowifi.co.nz/indoora/g2.html

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RunningMan

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#2084992 6-Sep-2018 12:39

Not necessarily bad, but consider what frequencies you are going to use when deploying multiple APs in the one area. If using 2.4GHz you won't get 4 non overlapping channels. You can do this with 5GHz, but the transmission through walls will be less.

What is the construction of the building?

Crowdie

228 posts

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#2085000 6-Sep-2018 12:50

1101:

I would have thought wifi mesh isnt going to work if the signal room to room is bad .

Correct. The mesh point (the mesh AP not connected to the LAN) has to maintain a backhaul radio connection to another mesh point (multiple hop) or mesh portal (the LAN connected mesh AP). If the backhaul connection is poor the client will have a fast connection to the mesh point but a slow connection to the LAN.

1101:

With centrally managed systems , is handover from AP top AP issue free ?

Roaming is not a management function.

Roaming between autonomous access points is commonly poor (this is one of the key reasons that Airespace created wireless LAN controllers so long ago) and the cheaper the autonomous access point the worse it tends to be. With a wireless LAN controller the client information is stored on the wireless LAN controller rather than the access point so the roaming process tends to be extremely quick. However, if you don't configure the radios correctly the client, which initiates the roam process, may perform poorly.

wratterus

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#2085009 6-Sep-2018 13:12

As Michael has said, the UniFi In-Wall APs would be perfect for this. They're a very smart little unit.

vulcannz

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#2085068 6-Sep-2018 14:32

I have a single AP, 2 story house, 265 sq m. It is mounted in the top ceiling, cover is excellent across the whole house. It's a 4x4 MU-MIMO AC Wave 2 unit, sometimes a single good upmarket APt will give you better and easier results than multiple cheaper APs. My 3 boys PCs (all gamers) are on the wifi and have no issues (with about 12-15 devices on the wifi). There's lots of second have stuff on trademe, I especially like the ruckus gear.

raytaylor

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#2086098 8-Sep-2018 13:02

Tip: to encourage devices to switch to the closest AP sooner when roaming around the house, turn down the power of all APs and make each AP coverage area smaller.

+1 for Unifi In Wall

We use these in large houses, new builds with structured cabling installed.

Ray Taylor

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Crowdie

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#2086387 9-Sep-2018 12:28

vulcannz:

I have a single AP, 2 story house, 265 sq m. It is mounted in the top ceiling, cover is excellent across the whole house. It's a 4x4 MU-MIMO AC Wave 2 unit, sometimes a single good upmarket AP will give you better and easier results than multiple cheaper APs.

vulannz has raised a couple of excellent points:

1. What vulcannz initially described is called receive sensitivity. The rule of thumb is that, all things being equal, a radio with more antennas will be able to detect and decode signals at much lower signal levels as well as being able to hold higher data rates. This, obviously, results in better wireless performance.

The easiest way to think about this is that you are having a conversation with somebody and you have a hand over one of your ears so you can only hear out of one ear. You can hear and understand the conversation but it will sound "muffled". The person slowly walks away from you while continuing the conversation. As the person gets further away you will start to have problems understanding some of the words. At this point take the hand off your ear and you will be able to understand the conversation again. This is because you now have two ears (antennas) listening rather than one.

2. You get what you pay for. The wireless brands normally recommended on this forum are bottom tier brands such as Ubiquiti. There are made to be sold at a very low price point. To achieve this price point sacrifices must be made in terms of quality and performance. Ruckus is one of a number of mid tier brands, although Ruckus would sit around the top of that tier, who invest more time and money in both quality components and R&D. This is why their access points cost more but perform better than the bottom tier brands. You work on the cost (production and R&D) of an access point being around 12% of its sale price. So, if you purchase a $120 bottom tier access point, it cost around $15 to make. What level of quality and performance are you expecting from a $15 access point?

Jase2985

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#2086424 9-Sep-2018 14:27

the problem you need to consider is even though yoru AP will cover the area, can your device talk back to it at a level that allows good performance