WiFi MESH: which one?

I am about to look for better WiFi network in my home. Too many times I suffer from bad coverage, disturbances, etc. So I want to look for a good WiFi mesh product, with 3 or 4 stations.

I assume there are forum members with a lot of experience with audio streaming and WiFi MESH. So here are my questions:

  1. I read that MESH systems with Tri-Band have better and stronger coverage and signal. Is that correct?
  2. I would like to set priority to audio streaming. Can I use QoS (quality of service) on a MESH system?
  3. Are there any other features/functions I should take into account?
  4. Which MESH products are recommendable with these features, and affordable?

Hi kolfMaker,
I did some throughput tests with a Lyksys WiFi6 Mesh system. It was so good that you would never need to worry about QoS. It was staggeringly good. And no, I have no affiliation with them. One down side is that it was quite power hungry and got hot. This was around 18 months ago so I assume more modern units are a bit more eco friendly. Check out all the brands, the throughput on any WiFi 6 system is incredible. In some rooms the throughput was over 800mb/s. This was tested running a server on one Mac and checking send and receive data rates.
Costs etc…over to you.
M

1 Like

Thnx @MartinD for sharing your experience!

Few questions:

  1. Is you Linksys MESH WiFi ‘dual’ or ‘tri’-band?
  2. Besides that the thoughput is high, does it support QoS?
  3. What is the model number of this Linksys product?

Hi KolfMAKER,
It was a Tri-band system.
From memory it did support QoS but you should check this.
Again, from memory it was a Velop system.
As I said earlier, this was a couple of years ago and things have moved on, so I would shop around. This was a test for a client so the units were eventually installed for him.
For me, power consumption would have been an issue as they consumed around 14w each. Again, newer stuff will be better I guess.
M

Thnx @MartinD

Aruba AP22’s as long as you’re willing to run ethernet home runs for each access point. It’s amazing.

@John_Lauer

Thnx John, I believe Aruba has a good reputation. So definitely worth looking at the AP22.

Do I understand correct that each AP22 needs to be connected via an Ethernet cable?
Is that a must, or can they be set up without Ethernet cabling?

Only ethernet as far as I know.

I have 3 Netgear Orbi units in my house. Easy to manage, but they don’t offer some advanced features that others do to better customize the network layout. They can ethernet backhaul, or they have a dedicated 5ghz wireless backhaul radio. My set are several years old, but still work great.