Wifi Questions
 

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.

No basements, very few second floors. I have a Comcast Xfinity modem/wireless router that I relocated to near the center of the house, and do not need any other equipment, excellent coverage in all rooms, 3200 sq ft house.

I don't have a mesh setup in our northern home and that is 3500 sq ft. Netgear modem/router combo there, also with Blink cameras. No issues with WiFi anywhere in the house, including the basement. Here in the villages I have a Motorola modem/router combo that I purchased at Best Buy and it works just fine. I don't have a WiFi irrigation controller in the garage so I couldn't tell you if there would be issues but my phone is connected to WiFi in the garage as well as the yard.

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Your question appears to me WiFi, not internet.


I would recommend your own router, not one offered by an internet provider.


When you by a WiFi router, "over do it".
If the router says good for 2000sf, get something over 3000sf.
Get dual band: 2.4 GHz & 5 GHz.
5 is faster, 2.4 goes thru walls better.
Some doorbells, cameras, etc., only work on 2.4.
I like Linksys. I have WRT3200. Did have WRT1900 with no issues.

Ditto as above.Mine is also elevated 5 feet. I have a Arris Surfboard i may try to eliminate modem rental.

I have Comcast with my own Arris modem and a Linksys 8300 router. Have wifi cameras, doorbell, light bulbs, and garage door. Everything works great. Have a Rachio irrigation controller yet to be installed.

I have the erro mesh WiFi system. Total of 5 modules thru the house. You could have more or less depending on your coverage and needs. Installed it in our Ohio home in 2016 then installed it in our Villages home last year. Very pleased.
My WiFi devices are 35 plus and growing. Ring cameras, Ring security, Rachio irrigation controller, WiFi locks on doors, smart TV's, light switches and more.

What village/location? That could possibly be a factor. I'm using a Tmobile home unit, since I travel as well and just take the thing with me.

Everybody I talk to that has the CenturyLink at $49 a month seems pretty thrilled for a static installation.

I have a Mesh system up north as well with NEST all over the place. I am considering a static CenturyLink connection here as well with NEST everywhere.

I wouldn't bother running CAT6 here - you're talking busting into the wall and running cable everywhere. My work in your northern home - just depends on how easy it is to get into the walls from above or below. I used to to alarm systems a long time ago that were all wired - what a pain!

Let us know how it all works out and what you choose!

I use a eero mesh router in my NC home. It is 3,600 square feet. I use a Motorola cable modem router in my home in The Villages. It is 1,650 square feet. No problem with 100% coverage plus front porch and lanai.

Any mesh router will work great... we get good coverage everywhere including outside around the pool.

A lot depends on your home layout. We don't need mesh at our CYV. An Asus AC1900 is fine.

As for "smart items" in our main CYV.

-Nest Doorbell
-Chamberlain Wifi Garage door opener
-Hunter 6 zone PRO-HC 6 wifi irrigation controller
-LaView wireless NVR with 5 cams. Cameras are wireless but still had to run AC to them.
-Honeywell Wifi thermostat
-Flume Water monitor - Mounts out at the street, alerts to suspected leaks.
-Got an august for the dead bolt but never installed it. I do have a keyless entry though. I'll put the August at our other CYV when we finally get done renovating it.

In our NJ house we got wifi capable washer and dryers, but that's so silly, I never bothered to connect it. The notifications seem a little too personal. "Hey, dummy, I'm washin over here, maybe try not to get so dirty next time"

I have spectrum for my internet - you can go month to month. I pay for cable now, but will cancel and go to 100% streaming

Thermostat is a NEST - i used Munns to install. Buy the thermostat from them and they warranty it

I replaced my hunter irrigation controller with this
Hydrawise | Smart Wi-Fi Irrigation Control
I used TLC to install

I have a combination lock - did not put a WiFi connected lock in yet - not sure if i need it or not. They run through batteries quickly.

Located south of 44 in Marsh Bend, using Spectrum. Homes are prewired with Coax and CAT-6 ethernet in each room. Some even have 2 of each.

All cables left unterminated in the low voltage box.

Rather than locate router in low voltage box as some do, mine is in the front office bedroom of our Designer Iris.

I too am a techie. Spectrum charges an extra $5/mo to enable the wifi in the router, and I did not enable, as I planned to use a mesh network.

I have 4 TP-Link M5 mesh hub/routers with one connected to Spectrum router in the office. One in living room media cabinet, one in kitchen, one in MBR, and one in garage. 2000 ft home, and overkill 😉.

TPhLink has additional security features that help prevent access to suspected websites.

In living room media center and office, I added ethernet switch added to the mesh hub so I could have hard wired connection to the devices there.

I have Ring doorbell at front door.

I overdid things as I use WiFi calling for our two cell phones, and have great coverage everywhere.

Also have 3 Panasonic "Link-to-Cell" cordless phone handsets, leaving cell phones near the Panasonic base station.

No issues but have Blink and Arlo security cams as well as a few other PTZ cams from previous 4500 sq ft home in Oregon. Were full time so didn't really see a need to install them as neighborhood is very safe. We were out in the countryside in Oregon, so useful there.

Lastly, had an AT&T microcell, but AT&T wouldn't activate as they are trying to phase them out.

If you have any other questions, happy to try and answer them.

They all stink and there all expensive but the better of all evils is Xfinity