[SOLVED] Best system for multiple devices/ solid performance and future

[Filipe Bispo]

Hi guys, sorry to bother you but I reached the tipping point with my provider router wich is lousy when multiple devices are connected and finally decided to buy a router/mesh/system.



The reason I didn't buy them yet is because I'm the type of person that hates to pay more for what he doesn't need, pay for something just to find that 40 days later the price is halved and pay for something just to discover a year later that solution isn't enough and I will have to spend more money on a new solution.



And I did look for info many times before, but I ended up not buying anything when I find out the routers I'm consedering have alread 4-5 years of existance so I defenitly think the information I looked for is outdated.



I need a solution for a house where 3 people live, 2 of them work remotely has programers, and there are around 10 (will grow in the future) smart devices connected like tv, lamps, google home, smart plugs, chromcast. plus 3 phones and max 4 computers which gives a grand total of something between 15-20 smart devices.



My internet connection is of 200 Mbps but will grow to 500 or 1Gbps not decided yet. And I expect to have between 20-30 smart devices connected untill end of 2021.



I want something that can handle well 40 devices. Also I don't want to spend more than what I need. I'm really unware of what to buy. I was thinking of tp-link archer c7 but is old and only has a single core, will it handle that many smart devices?



Should I start thinking on a mesh?



A sound advice would be apreciated. Best regards, Filipe Bispo

 

[Ralston18]

Requirements are key.

This:

"The reason I didn't buy them yet is because I'm the type of person that hates to pay more for what he doesn't need, pay for something just to find that 40 days later the price is halved and pay for something just to discover a year later that solution isn't enough and I will have to spend more money on a new solution."

Many people feel much the same including me.

However, it is for the most part better to pay more now in a manner that will support and facilitate future growth.

Sure prices may drop but device quality is likely to decline as well.

And current events indicate that the future is likely to be very uncertain with respect to such things.

You have the start of a strategic plan. Add some additional details but allow for lots of uncertainty. Planned/hoped for phase-ins for example.

A specific and detailed set of current and future requirements needs to be established as much as may be possible. Keep the requirements simple, straightforward, and flexible. Things will change and/or evolve.

What is your expected budget: now and later?

Mesh is a tactical/technical decision - mesh may or may not meet your requirements.

 

[Filipe Bispo]

If I say I want to spend the least possible then I would be happy to spend under 100€. Although I can go up to 250€ if it's the right decision.

 

[Filipe Bispo]

As for requirements supports up to 40 devices, allows wireless uo to 1gbps ('ll be happy if effective speed is around 500mbps) range of 30 mts radius through walls

 

[bill001g]

Mesh is the worst possible technology you can consider. It is marketing trying to get people to buy new stuff they don't actually need. It really is just a slightly better repeater. It suffers from many of the same problems as the older repeaters. Like a repeater you are giving up performance for coverage. You never want to use a repeater unless your problem is no signal in some area that have no other method of getting signal to.

The main problem with wifi is fundamentally how it works. The router itself is seldom the limitation even though some some have limits on how many clients they allow to connect. The key problem is there is only a fixed amount of bandwidth and there is no central control over how much each device can use and when they can use it. It is half duplex and dependent on the end devices ability to correctly decide when it is safe to transmit and when it is not.

There is not much solution for this. You can't solve the problem of 1 machine doing massive downloads and impacting other machines. There is some small ability with things like mu-mimo but it does not seem to work as well as they claimed in real life.

The new 802.11ax that they have called wifi6 for again marketing reasons i suppose to have some improvements.

This was only finalized the end of last year and equipment (ie end devices) has only recently started to use the hardware. It is hard to say how much of their claims is actually true and how much is marketing.

The key features are it uses more bandwidth so it will be faster...how much we will see. It also has a better method to share the bandwidth between clients. Will be interesting to see how well it works in a mixed environment with the older 802.11ac devices. It is still half duplex and still can not eliminate the neighbors wifi usage from interfering so it will be interesting to see how much better it really is.

If you REALLY want to buy something to day I would buy the wifi6 stuff. I am going to wait a year or so mostly so the price will drop but to see how much of this is real and how much is marketing hype.

 

[Filipe Bispo]

So probably I should get a temp solution with something AC and then buy AX next year or just buy now AX now?

 

[bill001g]

If you aren't having issues I would just live with you have and reevaluate the situation in 6 months.

First I would wire ever device that has the ability they will get better performance and not compete for wifi. Next attempt to balance your device between the 2.4g radio and 5g radio based their usage. If you still do not have enough bandwidth I would add a inexpensive router running as a AP. In effect you are adding another 5g radio. There are 2 non overlaping blocks of 80mhz so ignoring your neighbors you should be able to have 2 signals. This is what the tri-band routers are doing. You likely will need to disable the 2.4g radio on the ap unless you set them to 20mhz. To get higher speed they use 40mhz and there is only 60mhz total.

Now when 802.11ax comes out it actually can use both blocks so there is no co-existing with neighbors after that.

 

[Filipe Bispo]

hmm, I think I'm going to do what you suggest and get cable around the house for the laptops.