Mesh routers are a game changer that everyone's sleeping on

TheMadTitan · Jan 27, 2020

Everyone's talking about the next gadget, OLED TVs, electric vehicles, and 5G, but getting a mesh router will fully change your wifi experience in your home. Areas with weak or dead signals will be revitalized, areas with decent coverage will go Super Saiyan; the shit is ridiculous.

My sister grabbed the Eero mesh set since it was on sale for $170 on Amazon (not anymore lol). It arrived yesterday, but I was too tired to deal with network bullshit, so I only set it up today. However, I did take some speed tests in the house.

Warning, big ass image overload; I did this on my phone. Speed test app is Meteor, btw.

Before:

After:

I'm sure you can chalk some of the speed increase to the Eero's likely being a bit faster -- I've been using a Belkin AC1200 router, I'm sure these are a faster AC spec-- but that can't really account for such drastic increases. And I tested several times. The slowest speed in the after more than doubled once I moved the node from a corner of a wall more toward the center.

Everyone should jump on a mesh router as soon as possible. I still plan on buying this one, though.

Admiral Woofington · Jan 27, 2020

Is, is this where you ask for a volunteer from the audience and I walk up saying the lines you told me to say?

nsilvias · Jan 27, 2020

you're comparing a cheap router to an expensive router op.

anything under 100 dollars is going to be not that great.

Polioliolio · Jan 27, 2020

25% off the reviews are 1 star. Yikes.

XMonkey · Jan 27, 2020

Good tech. I wish I lived in a home big enough to need one.

bmdubya · Jan 27, 2020

Yeah, I got Google WiFi set up in my house and it's amazing. My gaming PC is not close to the modem, so my options were to either get a USB WiFi card, or run a long ass cable to the office to get internet. Tried the WiFi card, and download speeds were like 15 mbps.

Looked into Google WiFi, set up one of the access points in the office. Plugged an Ethernet cord into the access point, and now I get 275 mbps download on my gaming PC. It's amazing.

captive · Jan 27, 2020

Ubiquiti Unifi, not point in even discussing anything else.

TheDestructiveSquirrel · Jan 27, 2020

You are sleeping on your router?

MajesticSoup · Jan 27, 2020

Mesh is only needed if your house is over 1500 sq ft. Under that a great router like an ASUS ac86u is more than enough.

GoldenEye 007 · Jan 27, 2020

Yeah my traditional router crapped out November last year after 4-5 years of use. Had no idea how much the game had changed.

Ended up with a TP Link M9 that was $199 at Costco for 3 units. Only need one unit truly but I setup 2 just in case and it's been rock solid. And the speeds have been consistent getting the full speed of the internet service.

At that price point, decently reviews regular routers were getting up there anyway.

PixelatedDonut · Jan 27, 2020

Imagine thinking everyone lives in a big home.

GoldenEye 007 · Jan 27, 2020

PixelatedDonut said:
Imagine thinking everyone lives in a big home.

I mean, they can be setup as a single unit too and they're not that much more expensive than similarly capable traditional routers. Except you get more flexibility should your living arrangements change!

Ciphyde · Jan 27, 2020

I recently installed 2 of those small square Netgear Orbis (1 connected to router and 1 satellite plugged on the opposite side of house) and there is no dead zones in my house anymore, where ever I go Im getting great wifi, was definitely worth $120 and I feel like 2 are more than enough for the size of my house

Stuggernaut · Jan 27, 2020

I just put Google's Mesh in my house 2 weeks back because my WiFi sucked on the ends of my house (single story long rambler). I had just put in some new equipment in my back room (smart lights, Google mini I got for Xmas) and the signal was bad. I had done extender and it worked great but I did not like a 2nd SSID. The signal in my bedroom at the other end was also not spectacular in any way.

So anyway, mesh.. bought the kit on sale (still $250) that had the 3pc with smart speakers. Setup was literally plug it in, point it to my network and follow a few prompts.

Before mesh I was about 25/35 (down/up) and was ok speed but the connection would drop a ton.

After mesh, connection is 100% just about every corner of my house, with maybe 95% in one corner that has a lot of pipe/wiring in the wall. My speeds just now on my phone over WiFi was 94/93 and when I tested in the furthest part of my house it was 92/90.

Needless to say I am super happy with the results. Wish i would have done this months ago!

Relix · Jan 27, 2020

This is relevant to me. I live in a 1200sq feet apartment and I've been using ATTs shitty router modem for a while now. I usually don't care but on nights I have problems with the WiFi. Perhaps too many WiFi around?

i was thinking of just using it as a modem and getting a new, fast router. The google mesh router doesn't fully work for me... I want my consoles plugged directly through Ethernet and it only has two ports or so. I have a gigabit fiber connection so I am open to suggestions.

Sun's Resting Place · Jan 27, 2020

They were a game changer for me. I don't even live in a big home and my wifi was giving really fucking crappy signals everywhere that wasn't my bedroom.

I put in 3 Google Wifi nodes and now I get 100mbps everywhere in the house, no matter where I am. I was getting like 4-6mbps at the front of the house when i was just relying on the one wireless router.

TheMadTitan · Jan 27, 2020

Admiral Woofington said:
Is, is this where you ask for a volunteer from the audience and I walk up saying the lines you told me to say?

lol, sure

nsilvias said:
you're comparing a cheap router to an expensive router op.

anything under 100 dollars is going to be not that great.

The router is cheap now, but when it first came out, it was $70-$80. Not the most expensive thing on the market, but not the cheapest. Even then, a purely faster router isn't going to alleviate the dead spots and poor signal as well as a mesh setup, which is mostly what this thread is about. Even in the worst part of the house, wifi is better than what it was in the best spot in the house on a single router setup.

Polioliolio said:
25% off the reviews are 1 star. Yikes.

Yeah, that is cause for concern, but the $170 price point made it worth it to test out if mesh was worth it. Today proved it was worth it. I'm probably going to have this one sent back and get the Arris one.

XMonkey said:
Good tech. I wish I lived in a home big enough to need one.

Even small homes could benefit if you have a wall that utterly kills your coverage. Or even spreading your coverage outside more.

captive said:
Ubiquiti Unifi, not point in even discussing anything else.

Not sure I'm prepared to pay those prices!

MajesticSoup said:
Mesh is only needed if your house is over 1500 sq ft. Under that a great router like an ASUS ac86u is more than enough.

If your small house has a wall that kills signal, I'd say it's still worth it.

PixelatedDonut said:
Imagine thinking everyone lives in a big home.

Depending on your arrangement, it's workable in a smaller home too.

alstrike · Jan 27, 2020

captive said:
Ubiquiti Unifi, not point in even discussing anything else.

What he said ⬆️

I'm tempted to buy the new Unifi Alien but it's a bit on the expensive side...

0ptimusPayne · Jan 27, 2020

Block construction one story home. Google Wifi has been clutch. Putting Ethernet upstion the new house we're building, so I'll be able to hardwire the mesh through the entire house. Gonna be dope.

Deleted member 1722 · Jan 27, 2020

Not being slept on, just waiting for the market to mature.

TheDestructiveSquirrel · Jan 27, 2020

I had no idea that newer routers supported way faster connections, I had an N modem and kept wondering why my wired speed was so much faster than wi-fi, talked to the ISP and got a newer modem and holy crap, then bought a newer router and got even faster lol

captive · Jan 27, 2020

TheMadTitan said:
Not sure I'm prepared to pay those prices!

i can buy two Unifi AP Lites for less than the 170 bucks you paid and those two will cover probably 5k sqft.

bionic77 · Jan 27, 2020

XMonkey said:
Good tech. I wish I lived in a home big enough to need one.

I live in a 4,000 sq foot house and my OG Netgear Nighthawk reaches every corner. I am sure I would get more bars if I had mesh but if something works I am not included to change it unless there is some benefit or improvement. We even have wireless cameras around the house and outside and they all stream perfectly.

ty_hot · Jan 27, 2020

Im happy with a DD WRT router already, ethernet to the PS4 and wifi for the entire house (including balcony) with great speeds. I tried to set up ad block in the router level but it ended ng up with connection to Microsoft servers - no Windows updates, no OneDrive sync (at all) and no valid livense for my Office 365.

Honestly need to go back and try again, but I am afraid it might somehow fuck up all my Google Home connections and Philips Hue devices (I know these shouldn't be related as long as I dont change SSID but in reality they did stop working and I had to set them up again last time...).

BringBackSonics · Jan 27, 2020

We have a 5g modem with a repeater in our house. We could spend the 200-300 for mesh wireless, but even in dead spots we still get 60-80 down

GreenMonkey · Jan 27, 2020

MajesticSoup said:
Mesh is only needed if your house is over 1500 sq ft. Under that a great router like an ASUS ac86u is more than enough.

I've got a TMobile branded one flashed with Tomato.

I've been using open-source router firmware for over a decade now. Not sure if I could go back to closed source.

Don't have a big place to cover though (<1000 sq feet and half a basement).

opticalmace · Jan 27, 2020

We have 3 google wifi pods (4, but father in law is borrowing one) and they are hella dope. Definitely sticking to mesh from now on.

BlackSalad · Jan 27, 2020

bionic77 said:
I live in a 4,000 sq foot house and my OG Netgear Nighthawk reaches every corner. I am sure I would get more bars if I had mesh but if something works I am not included to change it unless there is some benefit or improvement. We even have wireless cameras around the house and outside and they all stream perfectly.

pretty much my same setup and size of house with an OG nighthawk, works perfectly throughout and with three cameras outside. never has any issues with that router, it was expensive at the time but so worth it

Septimus Prime · Jan 27, 2020

I'm still happy with AmpliFi HD.

TheMadTitan · Jan 27, 2020

captive said:
i can buy two Unifi AP Lites for less than the 170 bucks you paid and those two will cover probably 5k sqft.

I was confused by the site admittedly and focused purely on the $500 thing with the stands.

But where are you seeing this pricing? Their website has two going for $178 before taxes.

ty_hot said:
Im happy with a DD WRT router already, ethernet to the PS4 and wifi for the entire house (including balcony) with great speeds. I tried to set up ad block in the router level but it ended ng up with connection to Microsoft servers - no Windows updates, no OneDrive sync (at all) and no valid livense for my Office 365.

Honestly need to go back and try again, but I am afraid it might somehow fuck up all my Google Home connections and Philips Hue devices (I know these shouldn't be related as long as I dont change SSID but in reality they did stop working and I had to set them up again last time...).

Randomly killing networked things with router level adblock made me unplug my Raspberry Pi with Pi-Hole. Everything seems to be working fine with NextDNS, though. Try that route.

mrmoose · Jan 27, 2020

I'm already not happy that my neighbors all seem to have super powerful wireless networks that breach my house, I can't imagine if everyone gets mesh for smaller houses because they erroneously feel like it'll speed their internet up.

On a side note it just boggles my mind how featureless some of this software is. Like you should be able to detect which machine is using bandwidth and for a lot of you can't put of the box.

Stinkles · Jan 27, 2020

It's currently too expensive In terms of mild convenience vs essential new tech. Also 5g will likely need a mesh type solution especially when people use their phone as the new cable modem for the house.

Quality Garbage · Jan 27, 2020

bionic77 said:
I live in a 4,000 sq foot house and my OG Netgear Nighthawk reaches every corner. I am sure I would get more bars if I had mesh but if something works I am not included to change it unless there is some benefit or improvement. We even have wireless cameras around the house and outside and they all stream perfectly.

I got 3800 sqft and a garage totaling 4 floors. I had to go mesh to cut through the redwood frameing.

It's made the whole place accessible when it wasn't before.

Darknight · Jan 27, 2020

TheMadTitan said:
The router is cheap now, but when it first came out, it was $70-$80. Not the most expensive thing on the market, but not the cheapest. Even then, a purely faster router isn't going to alleviate the dead spots and poor signal as well as a mesh setup, which is mostly what this thread is about. Even in the worst part of the house, wifi is better than what it was in the best spot in the house on a single router setup.

Eh? $70-$80 even when released is still considered cheap. A better router most certainly would have given you better coverage. Netgear Nighthawks were twice the price and at the time were considered some of the best coverage for a router.

Stinkles · Jan 27, 2020

Quality Garbage said:
I got 3800 sqft and a garage totaling 4 floors. I had to go mesh to cut through the redwood frameing.

It's made the whole place accessible when it wasn't before.

wtf is this ozymandias shit! Twenty years in San Francisco and seattle has taught me 1200 sq ft is basically double Versailles.

bionic77 · Jan 27, 2020

BlackSalad said:
pretty much my same setup and size of house with an OG nighthawk, works perfectly throughout and with three cameras outside. never has any issues with that router, it was expensive at the time but so worth it

My internet is only like 100 Mbs so maybe if I had some gigabit connection and was downloading 4 giant games at the same time on Steam in 4 corners of the house while my neighbor was stealing internet at the same time to watch ultraHD porn then I would see my Nighthawk crumble to its knees, but for my needs it always delivers. Which surprises me because I would have assumed with all the shit connected to wireless (two televisions, 3 laptops, iMac, garage, 3 HD wireless cameras, Switch, PS4, 2 phones, some Apple TVs and probably other dumb shit I am forgetting) I would have thought at a certain point it would be too much but this SOB keeps chugging right along.

Will be a sad day when i have to replace it.

Z Y · Jan 27, 2020

captive said:
Ubiquiti Unifi, not point in even discussing anything else.

This. I have 3 AC-Pros covering 2200 square feet. Maybe overkill but they weren't any more expensive than a mesh system. Rock solid.

You do need to hardwire them though. Could be a dealbreaker for some.

maximumzero · Jan 27, 2020

AirPort Extreme still going strong, don't see a need to replace it yet.

Edit: Christ this is really a stealth brag thread.

Menx64 · Jan 27, 2020

Talk about an overkill. Did you do any sort of site survey?

I remember a high executive asking me to design a fully redundant mesh for his house... But, if money is not an issue, there you go...

Oh, and the guy I did talk about above, didnt have any redundant ISPs, so he ended up with a mesh and a single point of failure...

Quality Garbage · Jan 27, 2020

Stinkles said:
wtf is this ozymandias shit! Twenty years in San Francisco and seattle has taught me 1200 sq ft is basically double Versailles.

Well, it's why I only show people 1 floor instead of all 3.

super-famicom · Jan 27, 2020

Z Y said:
This. I have 3 AC-Pros covering 2200 square feet. Maybe overkill but they weren't any more expensive than a mesh system. Rock solid.

You do need to hardwire them though. Could be a dealbreaker for some.

Yeah, I really wanted to go Ubiquiti, but my current living situation doesn't allow me to hardwire. Instead, I went with the Synology AC2600/MR2200 mesh combo. It works quite well for me.

NineConsonants · Jan 27, 2020

One of the few perks of living in an apartment. No need to worry about WiFi dead zones. Though this is going off a gigabit network.

mrmoose · Jan 27, 2020

maximumzero said:
AirPort Extreme still going strong, don't see a need to replace it yet.

Edit: Christ this is really a stealth brag thread.

I replaced my AirPort Extreme because the wireless was becoming unreliable and I didn't like the fact that Apple got out of the router game altogether.

ruggiex · Jan 27, 2020

Rocking with the Synology mesh router since I need dynamic dns with Google domain, couldn't be happier.

GoldenEye 007 · Jan 27, 2020

Menx64 said:
Talk about an overkill. Did you do any sort of site survey?

I remember a high executive asking me to design a fully redundant mesh for his house... But, if money is not an issue, there you go...

Oh, and the guy I did talk about above, didnt have any redundant ISPs, so he ended up with a mesh and a single point of failure...

I mean, meshes don't require a site plan lol. And their not as expensive as you're thinking. Not much more than the cost of a good traditional router. Sometimes even the same price or sightly cheaper.

Cream Stout · Jan 27, 2020

so.. i need to get an internet connection to the paint shop at our building. i need to go through my office walls, 2 cinder block walls and the metal mixing room. length would be about.. 40-50 feet i think. would mesh be good for my situation? i have no way of running a cable to the mixing room, and i've tried powerline adapters with no luck.

SABO. · Jan 27, 2020

I dont think anyone sleeping on these. They've risen in popularity.

Not everyone needs one though.

captive · Jan 27, 2020

TheMadTitan said:
I was confused by the site admittedly and focused purely on the $500 thing with the stands.

But where are you seeing this pricing? Their website has two going for $178 before taxes.

Randomly killing networked things with router level adblock made me unplug my Raspberry Pi with Pi-Hole. Everything seems to be working fine with NextDNS, though. Try that route.

bh has them for 78 bucks. https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...2Cub03VHCUlbdffzehkAQPHHe57OmQIMaAkTkEALw_wcB

the crazy part is you dont need a switch or cloud key or gateway, you can literally plug in the AP, have it create network and plugin another one and have it join the same network. Literal enterprise grade wifi.

henhowc · Jan 27, 2020

Don't think people are sleeping on these. Just not as many people who live in larger homes that require them.

TheMadTitan · Jan 27, 2020

Darknight said:
Eh? $70-$80 even when released is still considered cheap. A better router most certainly would have given you better coverage. Netgear Nighthawks were twice the price and at the time were considered some of the best coverage for a router.

I'd consider that more middle tier given that there were $30-$50 AC routers. Top of the line at the time was AC1700 and AC1900. I'd consider me middle of the road. And even with an AC range extender, it still didn't do anything to help with the dead zones. I could literally roll to my right in bed and wifi would drop. So even with a slower speed, the sheer configuration of the network signal made it worth it.

The extra speeds were an unexpected bonus.

Mesh routers are a game changer that everyone's sleeping on

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