Question Upgrade from BT Whole Home WiFi (AC2600) to TP-Link Deco XE75 (AXE5400) ?

[MuttonJeff]

I currently have BT Whole Home WiFi, connected to (approx) 60Mbps broadband. I've signed up for FTTP, so should be getting 300Mbps in the next few months.

The WiFi works fine most of the time, although I do get occasional drop outs, where devices are connected to the WiFi, but can't get any internet... But when it's all working it seems ok.

I'm thinking of upgrading to the TP-Link Deco XE75, mainly to use the WiFi 6E for wireless PC VR on a Quest 3, but will I see any other benefits? I'm hoping the newer models will have a more robust connection and will eliminate the drop outs, but I assume usual stuff like web browsing won't improve.

I also have alot of WiFi devices around the house... In particular over 50 Hue bulbs and switches, which occasionally lose their connection (you press the light switch and nothing happens). Is this likely to be a factor?

In short, other than using WiFi 6E for PC VR, are there any other benefits to spending £350 on a new mesh WiFi system?

Thanks.

 

[Ralston18]

Be sure to distinguish between network and internet. The network can be fine but internet connectivity can be intermittent.

How many devices are routinely connecting to outside (internet) locations? Many devices now do so and sometimes that is not immediately, disclosed, known, or recognized. The devices perhaps doing or attempting updates, backups, or simply phoning home.....

= = = =

I would do some additional testing by scaling back on the number of active house WiFi devices.

Determine if the problems continue or change. Then increase the device count one by one or at least in small increments.

And consider that the number of devices may not be a single variable. Could be some combination of devices causing the drop outs.

Likely there is some threshold bandwidth where too many devices are competing for too little bandwidth.

Also what wireless frequencies and channels are being used? What about neighbors, if any, the problems could include interference from neighboring WiFi networks.

A new router (WiFi 6E or otherwise) may not resolve the problems.

More needs to be known about the problem(s).

 

[bill001g]

Does the quest3 support wifi6e.

So the main difference between wifi6 and wifi6e is the support of the 6ghz radio band. Any device that does not also have the ability to function on the 6ghz radio band will not function any different.

Very technically even if you have all wifi6e devices that can run on 6ghz they may actually get less signal because the higher frequencies are absorbed more by the materials that make up the walls and other parts of your house. The 2.4g radio band actually has the best coverage for most people. Also setting it to 20mhz radio bands helps reduce the interference and does not matter for device like lightbulbs that do not need much bandwidth.

In some cases the new deco unit might be slower even though it supports wifi6e. It only has 2 antenna so it can at most run 2x2 mimo....and this is even when it goes back to older wifi encoding. If you would happen to have a end device that is only wifi5 but has 3 antenna you current router support 3x3 on wifi5 and would be faster than the new router running wifi5 at 2x2.

Note this is more of a technicality since the vast majority of wifi devices only have 2 antenna and only support 2x2 mimo.

In general I am going to bet you get no benefit but I don't know the limitations of vr headsets. You should easily be able to get 300mbps in the same room as your current router. Wifi6 could run faster in the same room...maybe you get 600mbps...but does the vr actually use it and is it going to be limited by your internet connection.

You coverage in your house for other devices is impossible to predict. Some routers work better in some houses but this is extremely variable which is why you see reviews that say every router is garbage and other saying it is the best. They are reviewing their house not the router.

Technically all routers should perform the same since almost all transmit at the same legal maximum power. Your end devices though are the other half of the connection and many of those do not transmit at full power. In addition even tiny difference in placement of wifi devices greatly affects the reflection patterns and interference patterns of the signals.

 

[MuttonJeff]

Thanks for the replies.

The quest 3 does support WiFi 6E... I don't think much else I have does.
I'll be using the Quest 3 a few feet away from one of the mesh units (be that the old or new one), so walls won't be an issue.

Sounds like I won't get much benefit from the upgrade... I was reading that the TP Link units communicate with each other on the 6E channel, so was hoping that would mean less interference, so a more stable signal... I don't think the problem with the drop outs are the internet... Sometimes my phone/laptop (on WiFi) will loose connection, but my wife's laptop (WiFi) in a different room, and the TV and PC (both wired) are still connected.

 

[bill001g]

I would try what you have now with the VR and see how well it works.

There is no magic solution to the wifi signal being absorbed by the walls. Unlike the marketing material pretends you can't just stuff magic boxes in remote rooms and all your wifi issues go away.

It takes very careful placement. The repeater unit must be in a area that it can get very strong signal from the main router but still be able to provide strong signal to the remote unit. If it was all a big open room you would place them 1/2 between. When you have walls and ceilings involved it is much more complex. If you say have a concrete wall that absorbs almost all the signals you can place the repeater on the side near the router but it can now not send the signal to the end device. You could place it on the side with the end device so it can now send the signal to the end device but now it can't get a good signal from the router.

Mesh stuff is mostly marketing. What you want is to have some kind of wire going to the remote rooms that you then attach a wireless radio to...ie a AP, or cheap router running AP mode. Ethernet is optimum but most people that have that are not buying mesh systems anyway. If you have coax cables you can look at MoCA to provide the same function as ethernet. You can also look at powerline systems.

Very last where there is no other option you consider mesh. Even most mesh systems are pure garbage. You need ones that have dedicated radio chips to talk between the router and the remote units. This makes these device extremely expensive because if you talk wifi6e you have 4 radio chips in each box. A 2.4,5 &6 and then a extra radio to talk between the units.
Many times these systems are so expensive you can consider having a electrician run ethernet cables...it depends on how complex you house is.