Question WAPs vs wired consumer mesh products

[raymanh]

Head in a spin after days of research. I'm looking to expand the wifi of my home where currently the ISP provided all-in-one only serves about 20% of the house. Just got new gigabit FTTP and I thought I may as well get wifi 6 stuff as it's been out for a while.

I cannot decide between WAPs like the Netgear WAX214 or a set of those consumer mesh systems like Decos wired up to ethernet. Everyone keeps recommending the former, but in a situation where I don't need any extra features is the consumer mesh route the best way to go?

WAP Pros: More features, apparently more reliable.
Cons: More expensive. Harder to set up for a newbie like me. Seems to need to buy an extra controller for better roaming, although some just say using the same SSID/password is enough.

Consumer mesh system Pros: Cheaper, centrally managed without needing to buy a controller or subscription.
Cons: I read that they will all use the same channels for fronthual so won't be as good? Although that was a comment from a couple of years ago. Generally don't have PoE except Deco X50 PoE. Won't last as long (read this somewhere but don't exactly know why)

Any thoughts?

 

[kanewolf]

Head in a spin after days of research. I'm looking to expand the wifi of my home where currently the ISP provided all-in-one only serves about 20% of the house. Just got new gigabit FTTP and I thought I may as well get wifi 6 stuff as it's been out for a while.

I cannot decide between WAPs like the Netgear WAX214 or a set of those consumer mesh systems like Decos wired up to ethernet. Everyone keeps recommending the former, but in a situation where I don't need any extra features is the consumer mesh route the best way to go?

WAP Pros: More features, apparently more reliable.
Cons: More expensive. Harder to set up for a newbie like me. Seems to need to buy an extra controller for better roaming, although some just say using the same SSID/password is enough.

Consumer mesh system Pros: Cheaper, centrally managed without needing to buy a controller or subscription.
Cons: I read that they will all use the same channels for fronthual so won't be as good? Although that was a comment from a couple of years ago. Generally don't have PoE except Deco X50 PoE. Won't last as long (read this somewhere but don't exactly know why)

Any thoughts?

Does your ISP router provide any services beyond internet (TV, phone) ? If so, that makes it difficult to replace.
Mesh systems generally have a primary node that acts as a router.

 

[JohnMGotts]

Maybe MOCA is a better option.

 

[kanewolf]

Maybe MOCA is a better option.

As long as ethernet cabling is available, it is the best wired option. MoCA is just a substitute for ethernet cabling.
The OP said he would use a wired backhaul network with either APs or mesh system.

 

[raymanh]

I'm planning on running ethernet anyway so it's a question of more enterprise APs versus consumer 'mesh' systems with ethernet backhaul

 

[kanewolf]

I'm planning on running ethernet anyway so it's a question of more enterprise APs versus consumer 'mesh' systems with ethernet backhaul

In the middle is the UniFI system from Ubiquiti. It is what I have in my home. 4 APs, 9 switches and the router. I run their free management software on a PI4 that also runs PiHole for DNS.

 

[faalin]

In the middle is the UniFI system from Ubiquiti. It is what I have in my home. 4 APs, 9 switches and the router. I run their free management software on a PI4 that also runs PiHole for DNS.

I would second the Ubiquiti UniFI system as well. My entire system at home is Ubiquiti, Dream Machine firewall, switches, AP's and NVR system.

You can host the controller on a computer or if you want to make the leap and buy a dream machine that will turn into the host controller.

 

[raymanh]

In the middle is the UniFI system from Ubiquiti. It is what I have in my home. 4 APs, 9 switches and the router. I run their free management software on a PI4 that also runs PiHole for DNS.

Does it work well just as a set of APs with a stanard PoE switch? No dream machine or computer running their software, budget doesn't really allow unfortunately

 

[kanewolf]

Does it work well just as a set of APs with a stanard PoE switch? No dream machine or computer running their software, budget doesn't really allow unfortunately

Multiple APs work better with the management software. You can run it on a laptop or PC. You run it for configuration, you don't have to run it 24x7. But with multiple APs, the software will send the changes to ALL the hardware at the same time. The phone app, works on one at a time, so it is less convenient and less full featured. As I said, the software is a free download from the Ubiquiti website. "Standard" and POE can be misleading. There are multiple POE standards. The UniFI APs are all 802.3 compliant. The extension could be important because that defines the power budget.
Using UniFI switches and router have the benefit of simple VLAN definition. That allows you to have isolated guest WIFI on all your APs. The APs can have 4 SSIDs and you don't HAVE to have the same 4 on all your APs. I have three SSIDs -- <Home> , <Guest> , and <IOT> . They are all isolated and have independent DHCP and IP ranges. Without UniFI switches and router, it is up to YOU to do the VLAN configuration on your switches and router manually (assuming you have VLAN compatible hardware).
One other thing to keep in mind, is that UniFI APs will wirelessly connect to other UniFI APs, but NOT to any other brand. If you want UniFI APs only, they need to have wired backbone.