WIFI Extender

[buckeyebri]

I was looking to get a WIFI Extender for my house to increase coverage in certain areas. I have a NETGEAR WIFI connected to my cable modem. I purchased a NETGEAR Nighthawk X4S Tri-Band Mesh Extender. Problem is that I can’t keep it connected to the base and have to constantly reset it. I went back and read a lot of the reviews on Amazon and this seems to be a common problem with the product. I am in the process of sending it back.

Now that I’m back to square 1 I have to figure out what to purchase in place of it. I’m looking at an EERO as a possibility. A co worker suggested the Google Nest.

Anyone have any thoughts/suggestions?

 

[starBUCKS]

Just can speak from experience with eero, very happy with it. Felt hopeless getting signal to one part of my house, but eero fixed that.

 

[sparcboxbuck]

https://www.openmesh.com/datto-networking

Depending on what you want to do, this will likely flex enough for you. I have two outdoor extenders, and three inside. Seamless 100% signal across the entire property. Sitting on a lot that is roughly 100 x 350 ft.

It’s not expensive and it’s pretty simple to set up and manage. I know that it’s used in a lot of hotel / resort properties and has remote management capabilities... which I used to set up, but it’s pretty much set it and forget it.

Here’s a shot of the access point interface.

 

[sparcboxbuck]

https://www.openmesh.com/datto-networking

Depending on what you want to do, this will likely flex enough for you. I have two outdoor extenders, and three inside. Seamless 100% signal across the entire property. Sitting on a lot that is roughly 100 x 350 ft.

It’s not expensive and it’s pretty simple to set up and manage. I know that it’s used in a lot of hotel / resort properties and has remote management capabilities... which I used to set up, but it’s pretty much set it and forget it.

Here’s a shot of the access point interface.

View attachment 24395

Edit: Looks like openmesh has been acquired by some other company. There seems to be a lot of openmesh hardware on eBay, but I don’t know if the lifetime free web management solution can be attached to these. Only mention because, if it can, the hardware deals on eBay are pretty good. If you can get grandfathered hardware and still use the CloudTrax account, you’d be rock’n.

 

[Dryden]

Bumping this to say I yanked out my Netgear extenders and installed an eero 6 3-piece system about two hours ago.

Holy shit my home wifi is on par with the Ubiquity Unifi mesh I installed at my company in 2019. Coverage everywhere, no dead zones. Download speeds on my kids’ desktops and school issued Chromebooks more than doubled, and upload speeds for them increased by a factor of 6x.

My Sonos speaker in my three season room has been playing music for two hours without a drop or hiccup. My picture quality in every app on my AppleTVs is better with no pixelation or artifacts.

Wish I’d done this two years ago.

 

[exhawg]

I've had a TP-Link Deco M5 mesh for 6-7 years now. I think they have some newer models out, but I haven't had any issues. I did upgrade my main unit to an M9 when Covid hit, but I think my ISP was having issues at the time rather than my network. One of the newer models has built in powerline so you get wired advantages without needing Ethernet in your house. My house was wired for U-Verse that we don't use so I use those cables, but they are just Cat-5 so I'm limited to 100Mbps backhaul.

 

[Steve19]

I'm using tp-link Deci as well and am very happy.