Wifi down, plants dying

Powerline is crap, yes.

I have a 200 Mbps connection, am happy running ethernet to the access points and key workstations and my existing moca link is fine for where it goes.

A mesh built with the latest 802.11ax might be up to my wife’s video editing needs, but really, I prefer to stay off the bleeding edge. Give me cheap, fast, slightly obsolete gear any time :slight_smile:

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Our router has the capability to set availability schedule based on the child’s device ID(MAC address) works pretty well for us.

Glad to hear it. Schedules would not suffice here… my kid is exceptional :slight_smile:

IMO, one should resort to mesh network solutions only when running Ethernet back-hauls to APs is not feasible. And then only using a mesh network solution that has a separate back-haul channel. (The NetGear Orbi is one such product. I think the eero Pro is, too?) Otherwise it’s just a WiFi repeater setup with some dubious “smarts.”

It depends. I’ve a pair of Comtrend G.hn powerline Ethernet adapters that are rock-solid from one end of one of our home’s worst branch circuits to the end of another of our home’s worst branch circuits, crossing the phase split in the process. Didn’t get more than… ±80Mb/s on those circuits, but it was a rock-solid 80Mb/s. That’s more than sufficient for a lot of home networking needs.

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Good to know about the Comtrend.

And it depends on the environment a bit, I think. A powerline link that worked for a long time stopped working for a while, then started again. No idea why.

Fun fact: I first saw powerline networking in the late 1970’s; my Dad used it in circular pivot irrigation system controllers. Didn’t need much bandwidth for that!

only when running Ethernet back-hauls to APs is not feasible

For businesses I agree with that, but why for at home? I’d prefer a mesh network (wired or wireless) over APs any day for at home. APs may provide better speed since each one creates its own signal but that’s a little unnecessary for most households, separate networks to manage etc.

I’m surprised powerline isn’t better these days, 80Mbs is pretty good though.

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I’ll answer that question with another question: Why should a home network be any less robust and reliable than a business network?

So do the individual nodes in a mesh system. There are one or two differences, however:

  • Mesh nodes without either a wired backhaul or a channel dedicated to a backhaul are sharing the same bandwidth with which they’re serving clients with backhauling the data. This makes them no better than a WiFi repeater.
  • Even the products that do have a dedicated backhaul sometimes “optimize” performance by “intelligently” messing with traffic. This can lead to inexplicable failures in client connectivity. Some of the same things we’re seeing Rachio users experiencing.

I can’t find the thread, now, but there was a recent case where a user would have a product working… until it didn’t. He’d power-cycle one-or-another of his mesh nodes and it would start working again. Finally, at our prompting, he did some long-term network traffic logging. Lo and behold: A device discovery protocol (I forget which one) would be present and the client would be working. Then the network discovery protocol would disappear from that node and the client would become disconnected.

A quality AP from the likes of Ubiquiti or EnGenius (I prefer the latter) would not arbitrarily decide to filter traffic in the name of wireless network performance enhancement.

Good network design is good network design, regardless of whether it’s home or business. As for “separate networks”: Not with APs. E.g.: My home network is “flat.” Wired and wireless networks share the same subnet.

The Comtrend G.hn powerline Ethernet adapters focus on connection stability over bandwidth. Besides: That’s “worst branch circuit” to “worst branch circuit” and crossing the phase split. Absolutely worst-case deployment. I’m actually surprised it did that well, honestly.

To each their own. If a mesh wireless network is serving you well, who am I to question your choice? I’m only saying that, as a network engineer with more than a little experience in such things, that I would employ a mesh network only if wired APs were not feasible.

Most kids are to smart and just turn on Mac address randomization so you can’t filter by Mac.

The newer mesh devices are quite robust compared to repeaters since they have enough bands to have dedicated wireless backhaul. With a wired mesh, if the connection between the host router and remote satellites goes down while ethernet is connected, a remote satellite will auto connect to the host router over wifi and keep things running pretty much seamlessly. With an AP, if the ethernet connection fails, there’s no option other than the user to troubleshoot and re-establish the connection with the remote AP. Of course most APs these days actually do ‘mesh’ and vice versa. I still consider true APs to be bridged together. So I think we’re actually saying the same things but because mesh and AP terms are blurring their technology together it’s weird. APs typically need more user tinkering though and offer some different protocols. I don’t mesh or APs in my house, I’m covered with my one Netgear Nighthawk CAX80 :slight_smile:

I still think of the old netgear powerline adapters I had, going through different circuits I was getting a spotty 5-10Mbps at best. I never bothered with powerline again lol but they definitely have their uses.

APs generally outperform mesh devices because they are better placed. Wi-Fi works better when the device is mounted high up and out in the open. A typical AP is powered over its Ethernet cable and looks similar to a smoke detector. Mounted on the ceiling, they are very innocuous.

OTOH, mesh devices are typically powered by a wall wart. AC receptacles are usually near floor level, so the node ends up on a shelf or table. The lady of the house thinks they are ugly and puts books or plants in front, further degrading performance.

In a ranch-style home, it’s easy to feed ceiling mounted APs with Ethernet cables run through the attic. With false ceilings, it’s also simple. For other construction types, you may need to pay a pro a few hundred bucks to run the cables, but you’ll end up with higher performance / reliability and better aesthetics.

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Wi-Fi works better when the device is mounted high up and out in the open.

Be that as it may (and I love PoE), most people haven’t pulled and terminated cable nor would they want to deal with an ethernet port issue etc and need to climb up a ladder to reach it. Seems like a lot of people don’t bother to replace smoke detector batteries when they beep. When I was a tech most of my non-install jobs were to fix APs, mostly because the businesses wouldn’t grab a ladder and move a ceiling tile. I’m going for ease of use these days which is why I’d recommend mesh over AP. Unless you’re really having issues, the wifi strength based on install location is negligible for most household situations, especially a ranch. Plus you’ll still have the modem and/or router chilling on a shelf or table somewhere.

See if your router has the ability to access its settings, either through a website or through an app, to schedule certain users for access. That way you can choose who has access and when.
Devices such as the Rachio will have constant access, while your teenager’s devices can be limited.
If your router does not have this ability, you can either buy a new router with these features, or you can get a cheap router and just connect your teenager’s devices to it and put the plug for it on a smart wifi outlet that you can control and schedule through an app that only you have access to.
This new cheap router can be plugged right into the back of your existing router for plug and play use. You’ll just need to setup the login name and password, as usual.

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