Mesh network versus a simple Wi-Fi extender

Overall Wi-Fi extenders are terrible. A lot of them take a weak Wi-Fi signal and try to extend that signal further which further degrades the signal. The best Wi-Fi extenders use a wired connection but they are still use older technology.

mesh networks are so much better especially using the newer Wi-Fi 6e connection. I used to use 4 routers in my house in a wired/non-wired bridge mode setup with good coverage, plus getting decent speeds. I moved to a newer 6e mesh network and coverage is better using less equipment, and internal network speed (Wi-Fi and wired from each mesh router) has almost doubled in speed. I use switches attached to each mesh router so all the devices in each room think they are attached to a wired network instead of Wi-Fi. 

There is a lot of incorrect information in this talk. Let me see if I can clear a few of these things up because most people think all you have to do is buy a router, turn it on, use the default ssid’s and you are good to go, which is far from actual experience. I have setup enterprise networks starting back in the late 80’s.

Somebody commented about wifi speeds (internal network) and then internet speeds, 2 different networks. Either 1 can be a bottleneck. You can buy a 1G internet network speed but only see 100Mb throughput because your internal network sucks, or you can have a 1Gb internal network (or faster) but your network speed tests show 100Mb because you only have a 100Mb internet. I have a 1.2Gb internet and have a 1Gb wired internal network with a 800-900Mb wifi network anywhere in the house except for the garage and the outside patio. Some people think 100Mb internal network speed is ok, but it’s far too slow for my house. The whole house is automated (from refrigerator, stove, to doorbell, all locks, garage doors, grill, lights/switches, thermostat, and more), along with streaming music, streaming HD tv to multiple TV’s plus now using Roon ARC in the cars. 

Some discussion about using wifi instead of wired from a router, even if the router is using wifi to connect to the mesh network. Most of the devices using wifi use the 2.4ghz network so if you use a switch connected to a router, these devices now will use the 1Gb Ethernet network, so then it helps to create a quality internal wifi network, and that’s where the newer wifi 6e mesh equipment comes into play.

Not all mesh networks are the same and the backhaul and fronthaul configurations can make a big difference. Look up the differences between a wifi 6 mesh network capability’s vs the wifi 6e mesh network capability’s. 
 

If you are 15 ft from the router using wifi, you should be getting 800Mb wifi speeds when using the current computers/iPhones/tablets. If not, you got issues. Every time you go thru a walk, a floor, any obstruction, wifi speeds will degrade, that’s why you want to use a wired connection to each router and if you must use wifi, then get a 6e mesh network so you can get a private backhaul between the routers.

Sorry, the statement above “Every time you go thru a walk,” should say “Every time you go thru a wall”.