TP-Link Deco Mesh WiFi System(Deco M5) –Up to 5,500 sq. ft. Whole Home Coverage and 100+ Devices,WiFi Router/Extender Replacement, Parental Controls/Anitivirus, Seamless Roaming, 3-pack

$200 budget WiFi range boost advice

I'm trying to decide on what to get my parents to fix up their WiFi.

Right now they are using a Verizon 4G converter for their home internet as they are in a rural area. Its fairly slow service but the best they can get. Right now they are using the provided equipment and its not giving them good range.

My mom requested I do some research into WiFi extenders, but as you can see from my recent post in this sub I just purchased my self a EdgeRouter X + UAP-AC-LITE combo and really like it. Therefore I am leaning towards something like that.

Their goal is to have better WiFi coverage on in the house and in some outside areas. My mom has seen the extenders you plug into an outlet and so has the idea of one she could move around to the outside outlets to boost the signal for music while working outside. Personally I don't know if a range extender works well or not, haven't used one due to not wanting multiple networks to connect to in each part of a home.

My question, with a budget of under $200 what would you recommend?

My findings so far:

1. 2 UAP-AC-LITE Waps + TP-LINK TL-SG105 Unmanaged 5-Port Gigabit Desktop Switch
2. TP-Link Deco Whole Home Mesh WiFi System, Amazon

I live at that exact same intersection. We have optimum, but got these and they helped our internet a TON: TP-Link Deco Whole Home Mesh WiFi System - Homecare Support, Seamless Roaming, Dynamic Backhaul, Adaptive Routing, Works with Amazon Alexa, Up to 5,50 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06WVCB862/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apip_XcP8t2agKm68b

Please don’t use that d link! Try something like this, they have 2 Ethernet ports for hooking one extra device up, or hook a switch before the AP

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06WVCB862/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_lR9MEbEXMNV3W

This is what I got for my place. TP-Link Deco Mesh WiFi System(Deco M5) –Up to 5,500 sq. ft. Whole Home Coverage and 100+ Devices,WiFi Router/Extender Replacement, Parental Controls/Anitivirus, Seamless Roaming, 3-pack https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06WVCB862/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glc_fabc_dlC_YIM1FbHC4QD1T

Works very well so far and my house is a bit over 3k sqft.

If you can't run a cable then mesh will be your best bet. You could give something like the TP-Link Deco M5 a try. It's currently on a great sale on Amazon. My friend has its little brother (the M4) and it works great for him.

Ok that makes a lot of sense!! Thank you. Would you recommend going with a mesh network (like the TP-Link Deco link) or buying individual APs like mentioned above? I need to cover 4 floors (basement needs wifi also)

Thanks!

Just curious, what's your issue with mesh?

Also, it looks like they do have a wi-fi 6 version. Know anything about this?

https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Deco-Whole-Home-System/dp/B06WVCB862

> TP-Link deco series

These guys? https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Deco-Whole-Home-System/dp/B06WVCB862

This mesh router is very highly rated from consumer reports and is much cheaper than most of the others. I bought it and have been very happy so far. We had to call Ting to get them to register the MAC address, but it took less than 5 minutes (my favorite thing about Ting is that when you call a person picks up immediately who can help you) and had been perfect since. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B06WVCB862/ref=ppx_yo_mob_b_track_package_o0_img?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Then the AX3000 will solve your problem, but if I were you instead of paying $149 for a router only I would buy the Mesh system for $149 it comes with three pieces which cover every single spot in my house with better speed and control it has two ethernet ports only in every piece so if you need more ports for hardwiring then buy $15 switch. Just a friendly piece of advice :)

TP-Link Deco Mesh WiFi System(Deco M5) –Up to 5,500 sq. ft. Whole Home Coverage and 100+ Devices,WiFi Router/Extender Replacement, Parental Controls/Anitivirus, Seamless Roaming, 3-pack https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06WVCB862/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glc_fabc_6Qw5FbTGP5Z0Z

I think the best bang for your buck is a TPLink m5-deco. I bought one of these systems as a housewarming gift for a friend and he loves it - uses it with Gigabit service. His nodes are wired so if you can wire them in with ethernet at some point, that's a big plus. You'll likely lose half the speed you get wirelessly at the main node at remote nodes in a wireless mesh with any dual-band system. It's currently on sale on Amazon for about $150 for a 3-node system, and additional single nodes are now about $65 each. Has great consumer reviews.

https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Deco-M5-Replacement-3-pack/dp/B06WVCB862/ref=redir_mobile_desktop?ie=UTF8&aaxitk=iXdx0qrTiJN.L.lHEryrWQ&hsa_cr_id=7982868810801&ref_=sbx_be_s_sparkle_mcd_asin_0&th=1

Tri-band systems will provide a better mesh experience, but for your needs and the speeds you pay for, you may find a dual-band setup serves your needs perfectly adequately. Also, remember most oil these systems can provide good coverage to the floor above or below the node, so if your 6000 sq ft is across two floors for example (3000 sq ft per floor), three or four nodes should provide adequate coverage.

So, I was thinking of going with the TP-Link Deco M5 (3 units) mesh system. Does anyone here have any experience with this system? Does anyone recommend this? The price is fairly attractive. Link below:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06WVCB862/ref=dp_cerb_3?th=1

https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-WiFi-Router-AX1800-Smart/dp/B085288G3M i also see this which supports gigabit speeds while the other mesh routers dont seem to be able to like this https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Deco-Whole-Home-System/dp/B06WVCB862 only up to 450 mbps

Try changing to google dns servers 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4, if that doesn’t work, I purchased this last month and my speeds are ridiculous on wifi. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06WVCB862/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_0vkqFbHN8VJFZ

My wifi speeds went from 30-40mb to 300-400mb, my isp is 500/500.https://i.imgur.com/3GpEkKK.jpg

Deal link: Amazon

Coupon code: 20SLICKD

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Would this be a good mesh-setup

Mesh Routers

Modem

I added it to my original post, she's referring to the https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Deco-Whole-Home-System/dp/B06WVCB862

But assuming the unifi setup is better than the TP link, how can then justify the differences between unifi and a "better" (more expensive) mesh like google, net gear, or eero.

​

We have symmetrical gigabit fiber at home 1000/1000

Since low cost is such a factor, presuming you have enough TV coaxial drops run throughout the house, I'd recommend DeCa over MoCa adapters to build yourself a wired backbone (for now). You can think of DeCa as MoCa's less costly, 200Mb/s little brother (equivalent to fast ethernet, 100Mb/s full duplex). The DirecTV gen3 ones are as cheap at $7 each on Amazon... for ethernet-like stability, a total brainer. You'll also need splitters that go from 5Mhz to >2150 Mhz (example) in place of any that don't (to pass the frequencies used for DeCa/MoCa ). Again, the overall point here isn't speed, it's stability and low-latency you gain from an all-wired backbone, and honestly 100Mb/s is enough for most internet activity anyways. You can always upgrade to MoCa 2.5 (GoCoax) adapters as budget permits.

With that settled, you'll need multiple wireless access points ("AP"s) to get enough signal to your clients around the house. Even on a budget, I'd recommend a single multi-AP system versus just a collection of cheap wireless routers and/or repeaters that cannot coordinate with one another. If you go with the latter, you'll likely be frustrated with overall experience, and may spend way more in opportunity cost that you ever saved by doing so.

For something that "just works", I'd look at a whole-house mesh product. I avoid the no-name Chinese whitelabel brands off Amazon and stick with a well-enough reputed networking brand. TP-Link Deco M5 should be good enough and is only $169 for a three-pack, $149 per two-pack. If you can spring for it, Eero would be even better, as it will keep connections "feeling fast" for all clients, all the time, regardless of what anyone is doing online, due to it having better Quality-of-Service design than any product in the segment, and is not a whole lot more at $249 for the dual-band three pack, $99 per single unit.

If you're more skilled, you can build a higher-performing wifi setup with a wired router and controller-based APs like TP-Link Omada, but you won't save any money in doing so, and network know-how is required, so it's probably just easier to stick with the whole-house product. No harm in that.

So that's the bare-bones, can't-get-much-cheaper-than-this, works-out-of-the-box way to bootstrap yourself at least a baseline-reliable home network in your situation.

The main reason you hear good things about Ubiquiti access points is because they are access points, not mesh (though they can be used as mesh as an option). Properly connected access points perform far better than mesh, especially a house like your with WiFi unfriendly plaster walls. The catch of course is that they need to be connected back to the main router via Ethernet or MoCA if you have coax. Not wireless like mesh or crap like powerline.

If you really cannot use Ethernet or MoCA to connect access points then you should get a quality tri-band mesh system like Eero Pro. They cost more but you wan't to minimize the speed loss caused by your walls. Eero also is one of the very few home routers with actually functional QoS. The SQM QoS in Eero will help keep your connection running smoothly and fairly regardless of what you are doing online. You mentioned your slow upload, SQM deals with this to keep it running well.

> Is this an ideal hub to them add on to? > https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N9FIELY/

That is a rather deceptive product description as it says it is an AC-M access point but also has a picture of a USG which is a router. Note that proper access points are just that, they don't contain routers. You can use the AC-M to connect other APs wirelessly but as I said that is not the ideal way of setting them up for performance reasons.

> Adding access point like this ideal? > https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Networks-802-11ac-Dual-Radio-UAP-AC-PRO-US/dp/B015PRO512

The AC-PRO is rarely a good deal now. Either get the AC-LITE or AC-M for most uses or the nanoHD for higher end speeds.

> Or an all-in-one Tp-Link with 3 hubs ready to go: > https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Deco-Whole-Home-System/dp/B06WVCB862/

While that likely will be an improvement over the MW6 that is still only a dual band mesh system so performance is going to be limited with your walls. It also has no useful QoS.

>I tried to use the WiFi extender that works through the power wire and it did not work in my house

Most likely cause is that you didn't put both devices on the same group.

> if the tp link mesh WiFi works like the extender

This one?

Yes. But I don't know how big your house is, but these and these work just as well, for a lot less.

For more advice, go to /r/techsupport (I don't know too much about it).

150/150 was replaced with 200/200 and I think they stopped offering that as well. I understand they start at 50/50 now, the next speed up is 500/500, and then the gig. They have really good deals on 500/500, try to get someone in the retention department and give them a comparison from AT&T like the other person mentioned, even if you can’t actually get AT&T in your area.

As for the router, ask Frontier to replace your gateway with an NVG468MQ. They offer extenders that can pair with it (they called it WiFi Everyware). More info on that is available here https://frontier.com/features/wifi-everyware

If you want to continue to use your own router, TP Link has some great mesh WiFi systems on Amazon between $100-$200.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06WVCB862/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_9yA8EbCPQ9Y8N

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RLHLXLC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_WzA8EbZ34CKRV

I highly doubt you will notice a difference between a WiFi 5 or WiFi 6 router. Also, few devices even support WiFi 6, so those devices won't even benefit from WiFi 6.

WiFi 5 and Wifi 6 routers (mesh or not) will all be dual band (2.4GHz and 5GHz) unless you're getting something super super super cheap (like a $20 router or something).

In your situation, you're using the ISP provided router. In my experience, those have always been unreliable. It appears to me that you are aiming for reliability and range. That's why I suggest a mesh system. Make sure to get a good one too, not a cheap one. A good budget friendly one would be something like the TP-Link Deco M5. I had my coworker get them and they were super simple to set up and provided excellent coverage in his home. He has never came back to me complaining about his WiFi since (it's been almost a year now).

Just keep in mind that if you get a single WiFi 6 router, you will have great coverage in the room the router is in and some surrounding rooms. But once you get to the edges of your home, different floors of your home, your driveway, or backyard... Your coverage will be worse. Your signal might be more reliable and better, but speeds might not be the best when you go further away from the router. With a mesh system, you'll get yourself better speeds throughout your entire home.

One thing to keep in mind is that if you get a mesh system, make sure the mesh routers are not too far away from one another (like putting them in the corners of your house). If they are too far, then they might have trouble connecting to one another, which will cause issues. Another possibility is that the wireless ones connect with a bad signal and just spread a bad signal. I suggest staggering them like this image. This way they are not too far away, but still provide coverage in the areas you need most. Get yourself the speedtest.net app on your phone and go around your house to see how the coverage and speeds are like. Then start moving the mesh routers around until you find a good placement for them that gives you the best speeds in the areas you care about most.

One last thing, no matter the option you decide, make sure to disable the WiFi on your ISP's router to reduce any interference between the ISP router and your new router(s). If you don't disable the WiFi on it, then you can get some interference, which could cause less range on your new router(s).

If you use existing Cat 5e wiring in your house and your existing ISP modem, you can distribute wired Ethernet to at most 7 different rooms in your house with the shopping list below.

8 Port Gigabit Ethernet Switch
$29.99

~~Wall plate jack~~
~~$0.92 * 8 = $7.36~~

8P8C Plugs
$4.20

8P8C Crimp Tool
$5.15

Grand Total (before shipping and taxes)
$46.70

$46.70 < $125.

EDIT: You can then add mesh wifi access points with Ethernet backhaul and pass through for $169.99 so you can use the same wifi network throughout your home with consistently strong signal as well as not consuming your Ethernet ports. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06WVCB862

I don’t use one myself as I have everything hardwired. Different models may or may not have an Ethernet port, usually only one per satellite if they do. However modern WiFi adapters adapters are just as good as having an Ethernet connection nowadays.

I'd go with something like the TP-Link Deco + An ethernet switch for any additional devices at the main node. https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Deco-Whole-Home-System/dp/B06WVCB862

https://www.amazon.com/Ethernet-Splitter-Optimization-Unmanaged-TL-SG105/dp/B00A128S24

&#x200B;

You'd want the parent node where your modem is, one in the middle of the house and then one in your room that's bridged to the device you're connecting via ethernet.

I have a SB6183 +TP-LINK decco M5 + a few Tp-link 5 port switches with Comcast 150mps business account.

I have two pi-holes setup using a pi-zero and docker running on my htpc.

Pi-hole