[SOLVED] Single mesh wifi6 router vs traditional router

[t65497159]

Hey guys, I've seen a single mesh wifi 6 router being sold at Costco and other stores, I know that they also usually come in with a few satellites(nodes) to improve coverage in larger homes. However, I am just wondering, what is the benefit of a single mesh wifi 6 router over my current traditional router? If I don't buy the satellites(maybe because my home is small), do I still need the replacement of a single mesh wifi 6 router? Thanks

 

[bill001g]

Nothing at all. Mesh is a form of wifi repeater. Its only real purpose is to increase wifi coverage and it is not the most optimal solution but it works for people that have no other options.

Now if your current router is not wifi6 then "maybe" the wifi6 is better. It depends on many things most on what your end devices support. Most end device still do not support wifi6 and many that do say they support it do not fully support all the options...you need to read the fine print.

Unless you have the ability to use wifi6 today with your end devices I would wait. Wifi6e is just starting to come on the market. They key feature that is exciting is it runs on a new radio band that has massive amounts of new bandwidth. Most the problems with current wifi is that everyone is fighting over the same radio channels and stomping on each other. I suspect by this summer we should see much more wifi6e product on the market.

 

[t65497159]

Nothing at all. Mesh is a form of wifi repeater. Its only real purpose is to increase wifi coverage and it is not the most optimal solution but it works for people that have no other options.

Now if your current router is not wifi6 then "maybe" the wifi6 is better. It depends on many things most on what your end devices support. Most end device still do not support wifi6 and many that do say they support it do not fully support all the options...you need to read the fine print.

Unless you have the ability to use wifi6 today with your end devices I would wait. Wifi6e is just starting to come on the market. They key feature that is exciting is it runs on a new radio band that has massive amounts of new bandwidth. Most the problems with current wifi is that everyone is fighting over the same radio channels and stomping on each other. I suspect by this summer we should see much more wifi6e product on the market.

Thanks for your reply. Is there any performance boost at all if my client device does not support wifi 6 and the router supports it? Or there is no benefit at all...

 

[bill001g]

In general it will be the same but there are cases it could be worse actually. It depends on the details of the wifi6 router. All wifi6 routers will drop back to support 802.11ac. Many wifi6 routers only support 2x2 mimo so if your current router and end devices support 3x3 or 4x4 you will get a speed drop when they wifi6 router drops back to 802.11ac

 

[t65497159]

In general it will be the same but there are cases it could be worse actually. It depends on the details of the wifi6 router. All wifi6 routers will drop back to support 802.11ac. Many wifi6 routers only support 2x2 mimo so if your current router and end devices support 3x3 or 4x4 you will get a speed drop when they wifi6 router drops back to 802.11ac

Hey last question... I decided not go with a wifi 6 router at this point, and I am choosing between the google wifi which is AC1200 and nest wifi which is AC2200.. Given that my internet speed is only 200M, I am wondering that which one will be better just by looking at the AC bandwidth? My understanding is that both router's bandwidth will be greater than 200M no matter if it's the 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz channel...

 

[bill001g]

The 2200 is a strange device. The way they get 2200 is 400+900+900. The 1200 is 300+900. The 400 speed is using a non standard data encoding that most end devices do not support. SO this means for most end devices it will run the same speed. In addition a end device can only use 1 radio on the router so have 2 5g radios does not improve the speed of a single device. You would have to find a way to allocation 2 different devices to the radios.

Since you did not list the exact brand of 1200 you are looking at you have to be a little careful. Some manufactures only put 10/100 ports on those.

You will not get 200mbps using the 2.4g radio even sitting on top of the router. The speed you get on the 5g band will be determined by the distance from the router and how much interference you have. Many people can get about 300mbp rates but it varies greatly between houses.

 

[t65497159]

The 2200 is a strange device. The way they get 2200 is 400+900+900. The 1200 is 300+900. The 400 speed is using a non standard data encoding that most end devices do not support. SO this means for most end devices it will run the same speed. In addition a end device can only use 1 radio on the router so have 2 5g radios does not improve the speed of a single device. You would have to find a way to allocation 2 different devices to the radios.

Since you did not list the exact brand of 1200 you are looking at you have to be a little careful. Some manufactures only put 10/100 ports on those.

You will not get 200mbps using the 2.4g radio even sitting on top of the router. The speed you get on the 5g band will be determined by the distance from the router and how much interference you have. Many people can get about 300mbp rates but it varies greatly between houses.

So I think my understanding has been wrong then... I thought with the AC1200 router, since the 2.4GHz channel supports a bandwidth up to 300 Mbps, my end device can run at 200Mbps because that's my internet plan's speed?

 

[bill001g]

Those are numbers put out by marketing people. They do things like add the transmit and receive speed together. They would call a 1gbit cable 2gbit even though ethernet can actually do that since it is full duplex unlike wifi. The 300 number more represents the way data is encoded there is all kinds of overhead that prevent you from actually getting those speeds. It is some silly lab number that does not represent real life usage. You will be extremely lucky to get even 100mbps on any 2.4g connection.