Mesh networks and the Tower of Doom

I upgraded my home wifi to a Mesh network system. I’m not sure I could have introduced more of a plate tectonics shift if I tried, but…my router started to implode on certain 2.4Ghz traffic without explanation and I needed to upgrade or replace it anyways. Hmm conventional router or Mesh ?

I chose a Tri-band Mesh setup so the 5Ghz back-haul was dedicated and that the host devices would play nice amongst each other without being a parasite on the client 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz bandwidth. Or so the theory goes.

Still early stages and I cannot be sure I have my satellite units in the right locations- but if you do this , expect a fair amount of kerfuffle. Ultimately I hope to leverage the mesh setup to run hard wire Ethernet to some remotes, assuming the 5Ghz connection can support that out of the satellite units.

Early days, still learning.

I am happy with all my Pis using RJ45 Cat6, peace of mind :slightly_smiling_face: :wink:

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@abcd567 as I would if the person who built my home had planned in the 1980’s for something as important today as a generous Cat 5 or 6 install. But no, this house has a few feet of RG59 and little else of importance to me aside from electricity. Hmmm. Good news is, blank slate.

Bad news is, its expensive chalk.

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My 4 satellites (from a brand better known for searching the internet) are connected through Cat6; though they could communicate wirelessly as they are close enough together (California houses are tiny). Most common issue was around wireless devices jumping between satellites to try to connect resulting in dropped connections. Now I have 2 hubs in the house and devices hardwired where I can. Two RPi seem to be fine wirelessly though. Don’t get me started on the Roku.

My apartment is also like your house (no ducts or wires for communication except one phone cable to phone socket & and one tv coax to tv socket), as it was built in late 1980s. I run my RJ45 Cat6 & RG6 along wall under the carpet, and have drllled holes in walls wherever the cable (RJ45 & RG6)has to cross from one room to another. It was one time effort.

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I know many are restricted in what they can do to their apartment/ town home/ etc. so its really a matter of thinking out where I want to put an ethernet switch or ports. We’ll see if the mesh setup can deliver, or it will be time to get physical.

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Picking up that old thread

I’ve found a weird issue since i am operating my AirSquitter. This is an Orange PI zero with further development by Jetvision.

Since the device is in the network, on my work laptop (connected through Palo Alto GlobalProtect to the company network) it causes latency issues with real time applications (e.g. video conferences)

i found that out because the issue is not active if i am enabling the guest network on my router and connect my work laptop to it, so it does not “see” my local network devices.

I am now planning to disable Mesh and activate a normal WiFi extension with different SSID names to verify if the problem persist.

Just in case someone has similar observations