Which is best mesh system?

Jun 3, 2018
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I have a three floors concrete residence. Currently using a Netgear wireless router + 2 extenders. VDSL comes in on the main floor with 25-40 Mb. Signal in the bottom floor is down to around 3-4 Mb. Considering mesh systems. Currently seems best systems are Linksys Velo and Netgear Orbi. Seems for me the Orbi is most fitting. Appreciate any advice.
 
If you can get one ethernet cable on each floor for access points it's going to be a lot better. the mesh still has to pass through the concrete.
If your extenders are already wireless then you have a mesh system. a new one might not be a lot better. if you can't get the main router on the central floor then the top one is still going through two points.
 
Mesh systems are really just a fancier version of the older extender/repeaters. They still suffer the fundamental problem that they must placed in a area that gets good wifi reception and still be able to transmit a good signal to the remote device. This does not work so well when a wall floor is blocking the signal. You can't place it inside the wall so you get a problem no matter what side you place it on.\

The main so called advantage of mesh systems is some...but not all...use a different radio channel to talk to the main router than the end devices. The older repeaters used the same radio channel causing interference. Still as crowded as wifi is you now have 2 radio channels that can take interference from neighbors.

If you can not get ethernet cable I would consider powerline adapters between the floors. You should then be able to use your 2 current "extenders" as AP by plugging them into the powerline. The newer powerline based on av2 works much better than the older av500 and av200 units.
 
Jun 3, 2018
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Thanks for the responses. BTW, one of the other advantage of the "mesh" system vs the old extenders is that they do *not* establish a separate network SSID. So for instance, I can have the printer connected to the satellite and print on the main floor while connected to the router. That does not work with the extenders.

I finally installed the Netgear Orbi AC 3000 router and satellite today. Installation was a breeze. Immediately the Wi-Fi downstairs jumped from around 3-5 Megabits/sec to around 22-25 (out of 35 or so coming in). A tad slower than on the main floor but a definite improvement and enough for most purposes. Finally should be able to conduct online conversations with my overseas colleagues without interruptions. Pricey but worth it.

On the other hand, I got burned ordering the extra satellite in the Pro line. Beware, they won't connect to the router. Should have been more careful but then B&H stock either the Home router/satellite 2 unit package, or the Pro satellite. Makes no sense. Now have to ship back the satellite and find a way to order a second home satellite.