[Review] WiFi Mesh network - a premium setup that's well worth it!
- 12353
- 57
-
- Last Comment
Always been battling patchy network connectivity at homes, all thanks to the robust concrete Indian constructions!
Used to always struggle with connectivity just 2 rooms away from the WiFi router.Had some pricy WiFi routers in the past, only to see them fail in 2 to 3 years. Ever since then, I was only relying on the free routers provided by broadband providers.
I tried a few range extenders but only to be disappointed in being reliable.
Fast forward to 2024 - invested into a WiFi mesh network after receiving good feedback from friends about how reliable they were for purchases made 6+ years ago as well! That's quite promising to be honest.
Model chosen: TP Link Deco AX3000 (Deco X55) 3 podsLink for reference (not affiliate link): https://www.amazon.in/TP-Link-Deco-AX3000-Syste...
Wall Mounting stand: https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0D5VRLYHM?ref=ppx_yo2...
Pairing using the "Deco" app was super easy. We have broadband from Act Fibre and all I did was to connect the input cable and wait for a few minutes.Post that, connect any device to your new router post which you are prompted to login into your Act Fibre account. That's it! Your base router is configured.We got the other 2 pods installed a few days later duly owning to the drilling of wall mounts and adding a plug point. Realised that the 2 new pods automatically connect to the base router and forms a mesh network with 0 additional efforts.
Advantage of mesh network:
- You get way better network coverage. I have not yet encounter any part of our home that has a weak patch. I get to see 150Mbps+ speeds across and goes up to 300 Mbps easily. I am subscribed to a 500 Mbps connection from Act.
- Single SSID throughout the home. This helps connect smart devices to a single network and operate any smart device throughout the home with ease.
- Wireless CCTC cameras. Due to almost nil WiFi coverage in our front verandah, I was considering wired CCTV cameras but duly considering the dangling cables and ugly setup I refrained from it. I know wired CCTC cameras have inherent advantages but I am ok with the tradeoff and want to opt for wireless CCTC cameras. Will be setting these up soon (waiting for the upcoming prime day sale).
Range of devices being used
- Mobiles
- Tablets
- Smart TVs
- Smart home equipment (vacuum cleaner, plugs, lights)
- CCTV cameras
- Laptops
Top Comments
Click here to reply
Reply
![Sample @Rs 1 - Quench 2% Niacinamide Ultra Light Gel Moisturizer and other items [user specific]](https://cdn2.desidime.com/topics/photos/1896643/medium/Screenshot2024-12-24at10.05.45AM.png?1735014994)
investment cost for routers and setup cost (drills - carpenter, etc)
Routers 15k
Wall mount 1.5k
Electrical and drilling 2k (mostly for new plug points)
Overall cost me 18.5k
But then again, 3 camera CCTV system with screen was costing me 25k plus the dangling cables all around. Wireless cameras costing me 3k to 4k including micro sd card for each unit. Plus screen, in case I need one. So partly saved money from the CCTV setup as well overall that went into the mesh network.
wireless repeaters are useless imo and the setup you have done is pretty decent I would say... there is nothing worse than having a patchy internet... I have seen ppl spending 30-50k just to get good coverage
I assume you had to go via Mesh because you did not have hard wire running from main to all other rooms?
If there was hard wire provision you could have saved a lot and could have done the setup under 3-5k at max... I had done the same 4 years back with 3x Mi Router 4A (Gigabit) which I had got for 1k each
Flashed OpenWRT and running them in wired mesh with fast roaming. This along with network wide adblock thanks to OpenWRT
Sounds great to read about your setup. Sadly, I am not capable of doing all of that myself
Did you end with a single ssid in the end and can operate any smart device across the network irrespective of which router it's connected to?
I personally prefer 2 SSIDs 2.4 and 5... this ensures no matter what my priority devices are always connected to 5ghz and does not fall back to 2.4ghz... have connected all my iot devices to 2.4ghz and mobile/tab/laptops/tvs to 5ghz
Single SSID is also possible to setup in Openwrt
Yes I can operate/access any device across the network... this setup is exactly like mesh but using cheaper devices... this is only achievable via openwrt
You can check out https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/network/wif... for wireless mesh using openwrt and below video to set up simple fast roaming