I come here looking for recommendations. It's time to overhaul my WiFi in my home. Here are the details:
Existing System
House is around 4,800 sq/ft with a finished basement/media room and then two main living floors. Fully wired for ethernet in each room. We're in a more rural area so WiFi interference with others is minimal. Our main (350Mbps) Comcast line comes into a media closet in the basement where I have a full panel to feed all other rooms in the house. Right now that feed exits a personally owned Arris modem into a Gen5 AirPort Extreme which acts as the main router. WiFi requirements in basement are minimal so while the WiFi network is active, it's main function is as a wired router:
Ethernet port one feeds a gigabit switch in the basement. This then feeds a number of components in the media closet including gaming equipment.
Ehternet port two feeds the family room
Ethernet port three feeds upstairs bedroom 1
In the family room we have an AirPort Extreme Gen6 (tower) in bridge mode. This is the main wifi node for downstairs and has three hardwired connections...an Arlo basestation, a Lutron basestation, and our main iMac computer.
In previously mentioned bedroom 1, we have another Gen6 AirPort Extreme in bridge mode. There is an additional Arlo basestation hardwired to it.
As my three kids aged, the bedroom 1 AirPort Extreme wasn't doing the job in the upstairs corners of the house (their rooms) so I ran another hardwire from the ethernet switch to bedroom 2 where I dusted off an old Gen5 AirPort Extreme and have that running in bridge mode.
With 5 people in the house, a Sonos system, multiple computers/phones, my AirPort app is currently showing:
Basement AirPort: 6 connected devices
Family Room AirPort: 20 connected devices
Bedroom 1 AirPort: 13 connected devices
Bedroom 2 AirPort: Currently this is zero devices but I rebooted it last night. I find when I do that, those devices jump to one of the other nodes and hold on as long as possible before they reconnect. I'd say normally there are 3-6 devices connected here.
So...40 WiFi devices. Two Gen5 and two Gen6 AirPort Extremes. Right now I have the main network all running under the same SSID for all 4 access points as well as the 2.4 and 5.0 bands.
Current
Stay at home orders have stressed the system. Even with four access points, I'm getting some slow speeds (~10Mbs) in some rooms. Coupled with the fact that the AirPort devices are on life support, I know we're going to have to change soon. Plus, my "youngest" router is seven years old...I'd love to have some of the new router technologies.
Since my entire house is hardwired and since I currently need ethernet connections on in the family room and bedroom 1 for Arlo base stations, I was thinking I was going to avoid mesh systems and look at dropping in 2-3 high-end routers that will serve the same function as the AirPorts, just with better range and technology. Just like my system today, the basement unit would act as the router while the two family room and bedroom 1 units would be hardwired bridge/access point mode. Ideally, they would also combine the 2.4 and 5.0 networks into one SSID as my current AirPorts do today.
I'd be interested if anyone has any feedback to the plan and/or has specific router recommendations that would work well in this environment. Obviously I keep my technology a long time so I'm willing to spend more to future-proof. My kids are currently 9, 12, and 15. We're heading into prime bandwidth years.
Thanks all.
Existing System
House is around 4,800 sq/ft with a finished basement/media room and then two main living floors. Fully wired for ethernet in each room. We're in a more rural area so WiFi interference with others is minimal. Our main (350Mbps) Comcast line comes into a media closet in the basement where I have a full panel to feed all other rooms in the house. Right now that feed exits a personally owned Arris modem into a Gen5 AirPort Extreme which acts as the main router. WiFi requirements in basement are minimal so while the WiFi network is active, it's main function is as a wired router:
Ethernet port one feeds a gigabit switch in the basement. This then feeds a number of components in the media closet including gaming equipment.
Ehternet port two feeds the family room
Ethernet port three feeds upstairs bedroom 1
In the family room we have an AirPort Extreme Gen6 (tower) in bridge mode. This is the main wifi node for downstairs and has three hardwired connections...an Arlo basestation, a Lutron basestation, and our main iMac computer.
In previously mentioned bedroom 1, we have another Gen6 AirPort Extreme in bridge mode. There is an additional Arlo basestation hardwired to it.
As my three kids aged, the bedroom 1 AirPort Extreme wasn't doing the job in the upstairs corners of the house (their rooms) so I ran another hardwire from the ethernet switch to bedroom 2 where I dusted off an old Gen5 AirPort Extreme and have that running in bridge mode.
With 5 people in the house, a Sonos system, multiple computers/phones, my AirPort app is currently showing:
Basement AirPort: 6 connected devices
Family Room AirPort: 20 connected devices
Bedroom 1 AirPort: 13 connected devices
Bedroom 2 AirPort: Currently this is zero devices but I rebooted it last night. I find when I do that, those devices jump to one of the other nodes and hold on as long as possible before they reconnect. I'd say normally there are 3-6 devices connected here.
So...40 WiFi devices. Two Gen5 and two Gen6 AirPort Extremes. Right now I have the main network all running under the same SSID for all 4 access points as well as the 2.4 and 5.0 bands.
Current
Stay at home orders have stressed the system. Even with four access points, I'm getting some slow speeds (~10Mbs) in some rooms. Coupled with the fact that the AirPort devices are on life support, I know we're going to have to change soon. Plus, my "youngest" router is seven years old...I'd love to have some of the new router technologies.
Since my entire house is hardwired and since I currently need ethernet connections on in the family room and bedroom 1 for Arlo base stations, I was thinking I was going to avoid mesh systems and look at dropping in 2-3 high-end routers that will serve the same function as the AirPorts, just with better range and technology. Just like my system today, the basement unit would act as the router while the two family room and bedroom 1 units would be hardwired bridge/access point mode. Ideally, they would also combine the 2.4 and 5.0 networks into one SSID as my current AirPorts do today.
I'd be interested if anyone has any feedback to the plan and/or has specific router recommendations that would work well in this environment. Obviously I keep my technology a long time so I'm willing to spend more to future-proof. My kids are currently 9, 12, and 15. We're heading into prime bandwidth years.
Thanks all.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram