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Originally Posted by KJ1325
We close April 12th. I have some Wi-Fi questions and I'm fairly techy. What's everybody using? At my northern home I use Google Mesh. Its ok but the coverage doesn't seem the best. I have 4 in a 2000 square foot home with finished basement. Main on modem, 1 upstairs, 1 garage (Wi-Fi opener and wouldn't work from in house, and 1 downstairs. For cameras I'm using Blink. They work but not thrilled with them. Eventually will go CAT6 cameras. I know I'll get a lot of different opinions but that's what I'm looking for. And what about irrigation Wi-Fi? What else can I monitor? I think our home will have a Wi-Fi thermostat since the home is new. I have Nest at northern home and I like it.
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The size of you home here will affect how you lay out your network. If you are buying a new built spec home with the smart package don't get too excited. They only punch down for phone outlets and it is bare minimum cat cable. The block in the garage low voltage panel is a phone block not a ethernet block. For some reason no ethernet jack in in the living area near the cable outlet. Most outlets in the bedrooms are located in a place inconvenient for network usage. They are set up typically for telephone convenience. If you are building your home you can have the ethernet upgraded when designing the home.
The easy solutions are put a 5 or 8 port switch in the low voltage panel in the garage. Terminate the ends on the cables that are in the panel. Identify the cable you will use to back feed the switch in the garage panel. Put your modem in that room with a 4 port switch to feed from the modem and back feed the switch in the garage. You can now punch down any ethernet outlets in the walls. There are two places in the home that have cables run that are not terminated at all in the home, one in the living room ceiling & one over the kitchen cabinets near the refrigerator. You will have to pull new cat6 and install ethernet outlets in some places where you may need them ( living room, lanai, garage).
I know all this sounds a bit much but if you are tech savvy its not a huge project. You can get a local electrician or handyman to pull the new drops for you if you don't want to attempt this. I spoke with a local company they wanted about $159 for an interior wall, $259 for an exterior wall. I pulled the drops myself. Toughest part is getting to the low voltage panel to feed the new drops, inconvenient but not impossible.
The key to total reliable coverage is having your mesh system wired to ethernet and placed strategically through the home. In our home one pod in garage, one on lanai, one pod in front bedroom/office,& main router in living room.
We use spectrum for internet (400 Mbps) they supply the modem at no cost (no data cap). I used all TP Link equipment, TP Link Deco X20 (3 units) & an Archer AX6000. We are cord cutters so stream all TV we watch, Ring security system, ring cameras, smart light and switches throughout the home, Amazon Alexa devices in every room. Absolutely zero issue with the WIFI. We have coverage on any area of our lot slowest connection speed 80 Mbps.
There are newer versions of the deco systems out now that are somewhat faster. I like the decos because you can add more pods if needed, and they support 2 way communication on WIFI with dedicated streams. Deco X20 specs:
Qualcomm’s Networking Pro 400 chipset, the Deco X20 is powered by a 1GHz quad-core processor. It carries 4GB of RAM and 1GB of solid-state storage of its firmware and commands. Able to connect up to 150 devices, the Deco X20 has an AX1800 rating, meaning that it's rated at a peak throughput of 1.8Mbps.
I hope this helps.