Mesh Wi-Fi, school me.

Recently got rid of BT Broadband and now have regrets, their hardware was bombproof. New fibre supplier is fast but their router and range extenders are shocking. So thinking about putting in a mesh setup.

Who is the go to provider for easy install then faff free mesh setups? I would prefer to just put it in then never need to touch it! Will also need to connect smart plugs which are, I think, 2.5ghz which proved to be a challenge with the new router.

TP-Deco. Switch your new router to modem only and let the Deco take care of it.

Don’t know if they still make them, but on here the Google MESH solution seems to be a favourite.

I’ve got a Fritz system that came from my old ISP (zen) and it only has the main router and one node and works fine.

Relative technophobe here.

I installed TP-Deco M5 stuff, was fairly simple and now just runs on an app on my phone.

If you are on Fibre make sure you buy a Mesh system that can handle the speeds you receive on your fibre.

Made a massive difference to stability of the network. Location of the Mesh is still important though and will effect the speed you get attaching to each unit

Mine came as a pack of 3 but I did end up adding another one for another dead spot in the house.

So TP-Deco seems the way to go but which system? Its pretty overwhelming.

This is the one I bought

I’ve had a Tenda setup for years. No bother at all. Cheaper than others but it’s probably sending my browsing habits to Chinese intelligence…

I’ve been using a Tenda mesh network for the past few years. No issues. I occasionally turn on the extra nodes when needed. MW5 with plug in nodes 🤔

Likewise I use Tenda (as do many of my colleagues) and have had no issues at all. My dad has a Mercusys system which superficially looks like a Tenda, but doesn’t work as well. THe management interface is not nearly as good and it’s been know to randomly stop working and need a reboot. I’d avoid those

I did have a Tenda, but moved to TP deco – way better – faster and rock solid even going through victorian brick

I have no experience of other MESH systems, but I like how easy the Deco is to manage – we have a private network for the family (with parental controls for the kids) and a second ‘public’ network so we can give access to guests – it’s got a much simpler password but I just switch it off completely if we don’t have any guests so it is generally inaccessible. I can also share passwords via text and stuff like that.

TP-Link Deco here as well, totally idiot proof with management via the app and works really well in our Victorian semi with just two nodes. Combined with fibre, it’s wifi you can ignore (and I mean that in the best possible way).

Tenda network here as well – an advantage is that the house is cat5 wired so I can use an ethernet backbone for the Mesh routers – handy as the house is thick stone walls which kill the wifi signal.

Not all Mesh networsk let you have a hard-wired backbone.

Linksys MX4000 from Gigaclear here, replacing Tenda MW3. The MX4000 is Wifi 6 so has more bands, it’s a more expensive but performs better. I’m getting 430 Mbs from my phone!

Tried Tenda a couple of times here but it was rubbish.

Our latest Fritzbox from Zen doesn’t appear to offer the same coverage as their previous routers so I’m still in the market for some extender action.

Not all Mesh networsk let you have a hard-wired backbone.

This is definitely worth considering if you have the cabling and/or patience to set it up. Ours was fine without it, but I think hard wiring the backhaul (the link between the two nodes) will have freed up a bunch of wifi bandwidth.

I had Tenda previously – it was fine until a neighbour installed a wifi network on the same channel and it turned out there was no way to change the channel on the Tenda network so it was unuseable.

I’ve gone all in on a Ubiqiti UniFi system now – a bit geeky so probably doesn’t fit your brief but it is magnificently powerful

Tenda MW3 or MW5 here. I bought four but found that two were enough (albeit small new house).

Set them up once and they’ve been perfect ever since (sourced soon after lockdown and having to have both of us and daughter WFH. We only get <70mbps broadband and do teams calls, stream iplayer/prime video/Disney and game on a Switch so probably not pushing it hard to be fair.

if you go Tenda, MW3 is for <100 mbps, if you have a fast connection then go Mw6 or higer

TP Link Deco S4’s here. Simple to set up.
I changed the network SSID name and password on them to match the existing one that everything was connected to (and then changed the original to something else before switching it off). Everything just connected to it and worked without having to go roud each device manually reconnecting to a new network. It also means that every time we change broadband provided then it’s just a case of swapping out the router and plugging the cable in to it from the back of the master Deco node.

I changed the network SSID name and password on them to match the existing one that everything was connected to (and then changed the original to something else before switching it off).

This is a good tip – change the name and password to something you can remember. For bonus nerd points, change the settings on your phone hotspot to the same values then you can easily connect to that when out and about

We have an Netsys Orbi mesh network around the house.  It is getting on a bit – but almost bombproof and I ignore it most of the time, except for a 6 month check that it has loaded the latest version of the firmware.  Just looked at the newer versions and they are mighty expensive.  My son is moving out soon to a Victorian era house and I suspect that I will be sorting out his Wi-Fi, so useful thread!

I had a Tenda mesh system.  MW12 I think, from memory?  Something like that.  The high-end one, anyway.  It was utter dogshit, I sent it back.

Do you still have the BT hardware?  Can you reuse that?

I did have a Tenda, but moved to TP deco – way better – faster and rock solid even going through victorian brick

I found this too.  The Tenda was struggling to deal with 2 kids online gaming in disparate parts of the house simultaneously.  Since getting TP the whinging has ceased which is my metric for network usability.

Another happy TP-Link Deco users here. Very clear and easy to setup, handles everything this family of 4 can throw at it

Is anyone able to tell me the difference between:

TP-Link Deco M4

and

TP-Link Deco S4

The M4 has more certifications but other than that they seem identical

https://www.tp-link.com/uk/compare/?typeId=5700&productIds=38653%2C35616%2C35621

I’d go for the cheapest from those two

BT WIFI mesh has worked fine here. I’m sat next to the disc in the loft which is hard-wired into the laptop via a docking station. I imagine they are all much of a muchness, but setup was trivial for the BT system and it has made a huge difference with one disc on each floor of the house.

I miss my old BT system. It was bombproof.

I have Deco’s. Totally rock solid. Couple M4’s and an X60. They are all connected via ethernet though so can’t tell you how well they would work if connected wirelessly. Speeds from the X60 getting full 500mbits on devices with wifi6. Whatever system you get I’m sure you’ll be happy as they are all much the same.

Is anyone able to tell me the difference between:

S4 is an inch shorter – other than that not a lot of difference.

https://www.tp-link.com/za/compare/?typeId=5700&productIds=41515%2C36087%2C33095

As an alternative to the Deco, I use this setup, which has TP-Link’s OneMesh built in

Connect to the existing router, and the extender – with three wired inputs – goes behind the TV

In two other rooms, I have an additional extender – so I have a Mesh network, but with a bunch of places to plug in wired stuff (like my office desk, and Sonos speakers in various rooms)

Whole thing works really well, and once OneMesh enabled on all the extenders, it’s the same Mesh Network as the Deco

I changed the network SSID name and password on them to match the existing one that everything was connected to (and then changed the original to something else before switching it off). Everything just connected to it and worked without having to go roud each device manually reconnecting to a new network.

Does that work then? I change the TP the same Name and Password as my router, then change my router name, and all devices will then just auto connect to the TP mesh? I would expect devices to recognise that it is actually a different network.

I did the opposite. Created a new network and password and connected everything to that. When I get a new contract and router I just switch the cable and don’t pay any attention to the new details.

It’s also easy on the Tendas to make a guest network that can be toggled on/off for friends/kids.

Does that work then? I change the TP the same Name and Password as my router, then change my router name, and all devices will then just auto connect to the TP mesh? I would expect devices to recognise that it is actually a different network.

It worked for me, moving from a Virgin router to the mesh.

changed the network SSID name and password on them to match the existing one that everything was connected to

Same. To my surprise it worked saving a load of tedious hassle. From virgin ,spits on floor> router to google mesh

Does that work then?

Yeah, although it’ll confuse anyone who comes to your house and can’t get the info on the router to work if you aren’t there to correct them.

Also, unless BT demanded the hardware back you should still be able to use it, or buy similar on ebay.

Don’t use google mesh if you want to use a bt tv streaming box. They just don’t play together. I’ve got a nasty powerline and mesh hybrid at the moment and the bt box still hangs up due to it really needing >60mbs speed, no matter what they say. I’ve given up on the thing and just stream channels through apps instead. I do love how simple my Google mesh was before going to the blinking bt tv box though.

When checking on what to buy have a deco (see what I did there) at the last firmware update date. That Linksys up there was last updated in 2022, I wouldn’t with @cougar ‘s 🙂

If anyone is interested I was just about advertise some Deco M5s that are now surplus to requirements.

Drop me a PM if interested