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Networks Mesh network vs access points

Discussion in 'Tech Support' started by jamsand, 12 Sep 2022.

  1. jamsand

    jamsand Minimodder

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    Hey guys,

    I'm not much of a networking guy so looking for someone with more knowledge. I'm moving to a new house which is 145m2 over three floors + 20m2 garden.

    I'm about to move to virgin but I'll only have the standard router which from experience in my current house isn't going to cut it.

    I want to have full. Coverage in the house and then a separate access point in the garden where I'm planning to build a man shed.

    Am I better off with a mesh network just out the box and easy to set up or learn a little networking. Set up a router with a few wireless access points? I assume I wouldn't need a switch as I'd only have 5 devices and a printer on the network.

    Thanks for your help!
     
  2. jamsand

    jamsand Minimodder

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    Budget is upto £500ish initially and if I can only get the house coverage and expand to include the garden later that's fine. Also don't mind running cables if I can hide them
     
  3. saspro

    saspro IT monkey

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    Wireless AP's with a wired backhaul to a central switch will always be best, mesh can be better than nothing (providing the floors don't blick the signal)
     
  4. sandys

    sandys Multimodder

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    If you are moving to a new house and don't mind wiring then you can sort some decent infrastructure pre wiring some ceiling mount APs per floor, powered from a POE switch and never have to think about it again.

    If your house is empty its the best time to get some one in and do a couple of wired runs to each room, you'll appreciate it in the long run, I did not do this and ended up having to go overboard on mesh satellites because double extended house meant that some of my interior walls were obviously ex-external doubly thick bad boys where wifi did not pass. So I have a mix of wired backhaul and wifi connected units.

    You might want to think about where you might go with your network, cameras, doorbells etc as this can all be wired back to same POE switch for reliability.

    Between floors from my experience doesn't tend to be too much of a problem for mesh, it's the through walls that is the killer the more walls you have to penetrate the worse the signal gets.

    If you go mesh plan to get one with a dedicated channel for backhaul, my cheapies do not have this so it has to do the relay of information on the band you are using cutting the bandwidth and response by half.

    For me I don't mind, I don't need absolute performance everywhere, just coverage, so I have wired 2 of my offices and lounge which are the main use areas, the third office in the attic depends on wifi backhaul but it is only used for light VPN duties and is plenty of bandwidth, as does my garage at the bottom of the garden.
     
  5. liamredskis

    liamredskis What's a Dremel?

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    Since you're moving to a new place, I'm assuming you'll have little trouble hiding cables behind furniture etc. since you can plan the interior layout of any room ahead of time. Hence, I'd go with a mesh network setup, which I think will be the cheaper option in your case given that you don't need that many nodes. Also, I believe installing a mesh will be less headache-inducing overall.

    A friend of mine recently relocated his eCommerce base of operations to a building with similar dimensions as your new home. He also had to connect a few desktops at the nearby warehouse (like your soon-to-be man shed). Both of those buildings have very thick walls (since he also sells mattresses, he didn't want to risk contamination), which kind of limited his choice, meaning he decided on a mesh network pretty fast. Such a network is also somewhat easier to secure, though he does call an IT guy at least once a month...
     
    Last edited: 24 Nov 2022

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