Mesh or WiFi extender

[Beancounter1968]

Hi

Ive had Vodafone broadband for a few months now and I'm struggling to get a decent connection to my Wattbike/IPad setup in the garage at the bottom of the garden. The router is at the front of the house and I have an old BT wifi extender in the the conservatory halfway between the two. 

The connection keeps dropping and I am starting to look into mesh networks as a solution or replacing the old BT extender. I'm not tech savvy so I find it pretty confusing to know what will work with the Vodafone router. I also run Sonos speakers around the house though I have no idea if they are connecting with the router or the extender. 

Any help and guidance is much appreciated and thanks for reading.

Phil

[BandOfBrothers]

Hi @Beancounter1968 

I think each has its own merits when it comes to WiFi extenders and mesh networks.

This is a pretty good write up which is one of many on the net.

》https://eu.dlink.com/uk/en/resource-centre/blog/wifi-extender-vs-mesh-wifi-which-is-better. 

Probably a route of trial and error !

There shouldn't be any issue with the Vodafone Connect Router although as Vodafone are not my ISP I can't share any personal experiences.

🌈 Stay Safe  🌈 

[Anonymous]

Mesh systems are more expensive, but for the extra dosh what you get is a system that you should be able to set up and forget! Extenders, on the other hand, work best when they are set up with their own SSIDs, which can mean users have to manually select whether they are connected to the router or to the extender!  I'm now at the point where if you have multiple users who you want this to work for seamlessly, then MESH for me is the way to go!

[Beancounter1968]

Thanks for coming back to me. 
I like the idea of the mesh but was worried about spending money on something that doesn't work with the Vodafone modem/router. Do the mesh hubs replace the Vodafone router or do you keep the router and the mesh hubs run off it. Would they all work with a Vodafone router or is there a specific type to look for? 

Thanks once again

[Anonymous]

This is where you have to do your homework!  Most MESH systems can be used either as a WiFi replacement or as a full router (though not modem and the VF router is both!) replacement.  So if you intend to continue using the VF router (just not it's WiFi) you'll want a system that can be set up as WiFi replacement only (having turned the router WiFi off).

The only replacement system that I'm aware of that needs to be avoided is some of the old BT SmartDiscs - these played rather fast and loose with the network multicast protocol, and caused problems not only with the VF router but several other routers too!

It's going to cost a little more but go for a brand where you know you are going to get support if you need it!

*Asus RT-AC86U (Merlin) Mesh master connected via TP-Link powerline to Asus RT-AC68U (Merlin) Mesh slave. Mesh node auto-switching is clunky with really old devices but completely transparent with modern devices!