Question, if I want to replace my current older mesh system can I buy a new mesh and use the same SSID and password on the new system and all the devices carry over without reprogramming??
Yes, that will work for the most part. If you have 2 SSIDs, one for 2.4 and one for 5GHz then just use the same names. If you don't currently separate the 2 bands then I would start over by dividing them, just use 1 name the same so you can connect half right away.
I’ve never had an issue with my ISP extenders. They work great and I have over 100 devices connected to them. I’ve been having lots of 2.4GHz issues, but after rigorous testing and process of elimination (including swapping routers, modems, using mesh vs ISP routers and extenders, resets, turning off all electricity and only connecting 1 device) my issue is external interference beyond switching channels etc (neighbors are experiencing the same). Would love to know if anyone else has experienced issues with 2.4 only. 5GHz works amazing
At some time I was told to put my router on the top of a high cupboard (even in single story home) instead of on a low lying table which every router manufacturer shows in their advertising. In the middle of the home instead of where the internet comes in helps too. ...P.S. a little trick my brother (qualified electrician) taught me was to use a tongue out of tongue and groove floor boards to help feed cables through difficult areas.
Here in the Las Vegas valley, builders are putting in data boxes in 2nd floor laundry rooms (no basements) with Cat 6 wiring to as many rooms as you like. Since many laundry rooms are centrally located along one long side of the house, there's pretty good coverage inside & outside the house. Are builders in other regions just not offering wiring thru-out new homes?
I'm still using a DSL SmartRG bridged to an Asus RT-AC68U with open source firmware. Generally, the smaller ISPs are going to be better for a setup like this and/or if you just want to use your own equipment. (Bell will have a fit. Literally.) I have had eBox, who are just in Ontario and Quebec for years but there are many others. The other thing to be concerned about is updates when you're dealing with ISP equipment. Most never do any because they are afraid of bricking something. There could be a serious security threat and you're not going to be patched. Off the shelf routers are a security nightmare too. Thats why I go with open-source firmware. It gets updated for years.
I literally repurposed my existing telephone wires which used cat5e to do wired backhaul. While my eero Max7 did great already on wireless backhaul (for 1G ISP, I was getting consistent 700-950 mbps over WiFi), when I plugged in wired backhaul, my 5GHz devices seeing consistent speeds in 950mbps range, and my 6GHz devices were exceeding my ISP at 1000-1150 mbps. LAN ports were also running 10Gbps between the three nodes.
I had to chuckle when you (properly) disparaged WiFi extenders. I do have one use case where an extender is required: I have an Orbi 970 w/ 2 satellites and 2Gig fiber. Segue to our dog, Remy who doubles as an escape artist ... enter Tractive's GPS dog tracker collar ... very cool and very clever. It sends notifications and real-time map tracking when Remy escapes his geo-fence. That said, GPS tracking takes a ton of collar battery power, so Tractive shuts off GPS to save power when the collar is in its "home" wifi. Our Orbi powered 2.4GHz IoT Wifi reaches 5 houses down the block, giving Remy a big head start before Tractive notices "no home wifi" and then switches to GPS and cell to send a notification. Enter wifi extenders!!! By connecting Remy's Tractive collar to an extender's SSID, with its greatly limited range, instead of a powerful Orbi SSID, it effectively shrinks the "safe zone" as defined by existence of an SSID. Viola. Only use case I could come up with ... cheers
I'm glad I watched this. I am about to start looking for a new Wifi mesh system, and might easily have just gone for the latest wifi standards. But with mainly 2.4ghz smart devices and an old UK brick built house, the higher bands just wouldn't penetrate anywhere or be useful as backhaul.
What modem do you recommend for the Google system? Can the Google system use backhaul connection as you showed in your video? I’m having cat6 cables installed to match your configuration and I would love your opinion before making expense.
Hey! So your modem can't be changed and there's not a recommendation I'd have for that. :) Your ISP brings you that and you should have it already. And yep! Google Nest Wifi can use a wired backhaul. I'll be showing another system from TP Link soon, and there's also a lot of options with Eero. Enjoy!!
@@mariog7682 I would say a few things: whichever ISP modem they provide you, make sure you don’t get a combo modem/router, or deactivate the router settings by putting the modem in Bridge mode (you may need to call them to ask how). As for purchasing your own router, eero is great for me and lots of people rave about the stability and speed, but it does NOT have nearly as many options in settings you can tweak like other routers like ASUS, TP-Link, Netgear. It’s more of a “set it and forget it” router.
Do all of the mesh systems you looked at require the same SSID for both 2.4GHz and 5GHz? I found this to be a problem for some 2.4GHz only devices that have trouble connecting. The eero system offers a temporary turn off of the 5GHZ signal for this purpose.
ASUS XT8 and XT9 allows to split your 2.4GHz and 5 GHz Bands. The last 5 GHz band already split for dedicated backhaul. I liked ASUS XT9 when it worked, but eventually became unstable after a few months and went with eero Max7. Incredible but pricey router.
i think you are un unformed in the model/router of canadian isp's shaw/rogers and telus modems can all be put into bridge mode either by them or by you logging in and turning off those features. then you have just a modem.
Having just asked my ISP that, I don't think I'm completely uninformed.🤣 Also a modem doesn't need to be put into bridge mode. It's a modem. And I have never seen the ability to log into a modem. So I assume you're talking about their routers and you can log in and sometimes make changes. That is not always the case and many of the less expensive plans do not allow this
@@AutomateYourLife the modem router you showed was a shaw docsis 3 modem/router combo, you can certainly login to that and disable the router completley as it's from Shaw/Rogers and a standard modem router used in canada by isp's supporting docis 3 and yes i know you can't login to the modem i was refering to the device as a whole because bridge mode is available on any plan whether the support rep you spoke to konws or not. I use to train those front line techs so i am very aware.
I’m running around 100 Wi-Fi devices. I’m surprised you didn’t go UniFi. Our Google Nest started failing around 70 devices and then Eero failed in the 90s. UniFi has been stellar!
Interesting! Unifi might be an eventual end but I must say, Google drops enough into their gear to manage a lot of devices. They had some early problems with Wifi Pro, but they've got it worked out now and I can easily push into 100+
I wouldn't be surprised if Brian wasn't far off that number with all his hubs using Zigbee, Zwave, Thread and other devices connected directly via an Ethernet cable.
Great video Brian. Don't forget the importance of a Thread Border Router. I use Google Nest wi if pro with Home Assistant. I'm not sure whether the wired backhaul helps the thread mesh though.
@@AutomateYourLife Hey, thanks for getting back to me! I'm a bit lost on how to connect the two mesh systems. They both send out Wi-Fi signals. Modem -> Mesh System -> Smartthings hubs. All devices will connect to what system? As mentioned, I am confused about how to integrate both meshes.
@JaimeLAlmirall Smartthings hubs don't create Wi-Fi. They join Wi-Fi networks and they can create zigbee or Z-Wave or even thread networks. Those are different and meant more for your smart home gear. If you're using a different version of SmartThings and it includes a Wi-Fi mesh system, then I think they're pretty old and I think you're going to want to upgrade and maybe look at a different smart things Hub or turn off the Wi-Fi component in those. That's probably where you will end up over the long haul if that's the case
Mine is ET-WV525 router. It's got both 2.4 and 5 GHz bands, and there are three of them. All my devices are hooked up to this system, and the main hub is connected to the modem. So, how do I go about adding a new mesh network to this setup?
Thanks for a great review. I have the Google nest mesh right now and it works pretty good, but I’m looking to upgrade to the pro once I get my fiber optic installed.
Don't think there is a reason to look for interference to find a unused channel. When you change your router to a different channel, your neighbors router will see that change and also change on their own if they are on auto. So its just cat and mouse, right?
So that's going to give you 1 Giga BIT (divide by 8 approximately for Gigabyte) of speed through the cable. That's likely to be slower than Wi-Fi in many cases. (Wifi 4 max is 1.2 Gigabit) However it'll still take loading off your Wi-Fi system, so it'll help! I'd go up in cable if you can!
Nice video. Hoping you cover how to set up iot devices. We have 2 main computers, a media PC, phones, Chromecast, iot devices etc. Setting up a new home assistant green too. What goes on the guest wifi and what goes on the main wifi? Do I really need more isolation than that?
Brian, is your opinion the same for the Bell Canada Giga Hub? I do eventually want to attempt replacing the router function with a mesh wifi but I must say the Giga Hub is located in a closed basement room and I still have fairly good speed on the upper front room of our house. Much better than the previous Bell unit we had. Thanks.
I don't know that hub personally so I can't comment. If you're having good success in your home stick with it, but when things start dropping off your network...I'd look there as one of the first few things!
If I buy a new mesh system, does that mean I have to go back and reprogram all of my devices for the new mesh WIFI or is there an easy way to bring it all over to the new system. I'd love to see a video on how to do that, especially since I do not have a hub.
No they don't! Most of the time an ISP requires their own modem regardless of what you do for a router. Most routers don't have a fiber or coax connection either so you can't use them that way
Loved this video! But still unsure how to apply to me. 1. I share internet w my sister next door via google wifi pro. She has modem fibre connection w 1st mesh point, and I have 2 points. Is backhaul still possible? How do I increase my speeds/reliability? Can I use ethernet or coax cabling in my house even though modem is in a seperate house? 2. parents house doesnt have fibre access and adsl is discontinued. They have data card modem and google mesh. The internet is so slow and constantly disconnects. Is backhaul possible through ethernet or coax cables? (pls save me, I keep having to go over just to reconnect their work computers and tvs).
Bit of a weird situation you have going on here! That's why it's tough. Honestly, probably time to break out the wallet and get your own service! Otherwise, there's not much to do here. What you can do probably costs just as much as getting your own service, if not more. For example, I would run a fiber cable or an ethernet cable (protected from the elements, likely buried in a sleeve) between the houses if this is a long term thing. You can bury it fairly shallow, but it needs to be in a proper sleeve (pipe, sealed, no water/snow getting in it). That would tie the two homes together in a network that's wired. Another option is to try a different WiFi set that broadcasts a little further. Or adjust the locations of those mesh points to hopefully get the network a little more stable between the homes. It's just tough to do through 2 homes!
Great video! Question. Is it possible to have too many Wifi mesh devices? I'm stuck between choosing the 2-pack vs a 3-pack mesh system. I was told if you have too many, you can create a wifi "bubble" inside a bubble and that will worsen your connections. Our home is about 2700sqft colonial. Its a 4 bedroom home. We have a "Great Room" off the kitchen which is has an open ceiling (no rooms above it). We currently have the older Nest wifi mesh system (3-pack) and want to go with the newer Nest wifi Pro system. Just want to make sure I dont over do it but also dont want to under-do it if that makes sense! Thank you again!
3 sounds about right to me for that home. You may even end up at a 4th depending on how your coverage goes. I haven't experienced anything like that with a "bubble". In fact, I've never heard that term so I'm not sure what it means! In general, I'll tell you that if they say "great" connection with WiFi Pro, you're going to be in a good situation. They adjust channels automatically too so they tend to avoid each other. I haven't noticed any spot where it's bad and my nodes are fairly close together. :)
Great WiFi tutorial! I have 3 Synology Mesh Routers. One connected to my modem, another as a wired back haul, and a third as a wireless backhaul. Have about 100 devices. Oh, I agree on not using WiFi extenders. I’m assuming that doesn’t include Ring Extenders since they are Z-Wave back to the Ring Hub, correct?
@@AutomateYourLife if you're going to do wired backhaul with mesh, it's the same number of wires as a router and wired APs, right? Unifi can handle lots of devices too
@cdarrigo yep! Folks can use it. It's just the ease of mesh that I recommend for most people. People don't necessarily have the skills for that, same as Home Assistant. Those are kinda my levels of complexity that I stop recommending at. Nothing wrong with unifi at all. Helped a couple friends with those networks. Love some of the features
Thank you very much for all this information and I can't wait to see the other two parts.When I was on the market to buy a router, I watched Nest Wifi Pro for a long time. Unfortunately, it does not support speeds beyond 1 GBS. This is It is for this reason that I bought an EERO system.
If you are wiring your (Mesh) Access Points back to your main router you are not using Mesh, you are hard wired (back haul). Mesh is when you wireless connected Access Points to main Wifi router. As you showed that your AP are wired you are confusing people about Mesh.
I get that there is another term... But let me ask you this. When I showed the system today that had a wireless and a wired back haul... What do we call those? Do we have to use both terms now? 🤔
The benefit of my renting a router from my ISP (Xfinity), is that they give me a 100TB bandwidth cap (with no "fair use" disclaimers) per calendar month. Yes, I pay $30/month for the priviledge but for me it is a fair trade-off. I regularly use about 3.5 to 4TB of bandwidth per month and, without my 100TB/month plan, I would owe Xfinity an additional $300 every month in overage charges. The plan is called XFi Complete and I don't think it is available everywhere yet. My speed is 1Gb down/23Mb up. My house is also 4,600 square feet so repeaters are necessary. I have two XFi Pods (Xfinity repeaters that I bought outright) on my lower floor and the only part of my house where I don't have coverage is my garage. For the upstairs, I regularly get WiFi speeds of 380-450Mb down and for the downstairs, I regularly get WiFi speeds of 80-100Mb down.
Why are you using that much data? And sounds like your plan is essentially subscription for that much data. There's no technical reason for them to enforce that you use their router on that plan.
@@AutomateYourLife you are correct, that there is no technical reason for them enforcing that plan. Here in the United States, it used to be that the only way Comcast customers could get unlimited bandwidth with an Internet provider was to go with a business plan. Within the last year, Xfinity decided to offer the benefits of unlimited bandwidth with a personal plan. It was a business decision on Xfinity‘s part to offer unlimited data to nonbusiness customers, bye stipulating that they use Xfinity equipment in order to get that unlimited band with. They also stipulated that there was an additional $30 per month cost in order to obtain that unlimited bandwidth. The person who I live with lights to fall asleep while watching Keable TV. Because their bedroom does not have a coaxial jack, Xfinity had to put in a Wi-Fi cable box in that room. Because it is a Wi-Fi cable box, it uses bandwidth every time it is turned on. I also regularly back up all of our collected data to multiple cloud providers for redundancy. Because I work in IT support, I have a large amount of data on my home computer (Roughly one terabyte of data). The backups I have implemented, and my housemates watching cable TV on the Wi-Fi box, that is why I use so much data in a given month. Xfinity’s normal bandwidth in a given month is 1.2 TB. A lot of people wonder why there are bandwidth caps at all here in the United States. years ago, I specifically asked, and Xfinity business representative why they had banned with capped at all. It was explained to me that the bandwidth caps exist, is because does not own their infrastructure outright. The infrastructure is owned by the Internet backbone providers. (for example, level three communications.). Xfinity rents the usage of their infrastructure from the Internet backbone providers. To recoup their costs of what they pay the backbone Internet providers, Xfinity then charges their customers for the band with BU. If my housemate and I did not have the complete plan and the associated unlimited bandwidth, we the maximum of $300 worth of overage charges for our usage.
@@AutomateYourLife unfortunately, UA-cam seems to have deleted the very detailed comment I left you earlier this morning. I had given you a very detailed answer to both your questions. UA-cam must’ve thought I was trying to spam your channel.
"It's easy, all you have to do is use RJ-45 cables for your backhaul". Try to add this RJ-45 setup into a house build, like we have in Europe, with stones and concrete, not "cardboard" walls ;) Sometimes I do envy you, Canadians ^^
Since good mesh systems have increased so much in price, I was forced to use Telus's equipment. The good news is that with their fiber plans, they do offer a pretty decend Mesh router. I have 2 covering an 1800 square foot house quite nicely. They're not givingme ultimate speed, but better than I've ever had before, and they use the old Shaw cables with a connector to give me wired back-haul, and have extra ethernet ports for my most impo0rtant devices! That gives my PC and other internet-hungry devices 900+mhz and all my wireless-only devices just under 400mbps reliably.
That's more than enough speed. Just watch if things start dropping off the network when you're streaming or when you get a few more devices. Telus is pretty clear that the router they use for most systems is 20-30 devices tops
@@AutomateYourLife Yep. Original Google nest WiFi mesh system. Router and 3 points. I actually put a point in the garage just to keep cams and such from dropping connections.
Thanks for the nice, informative video. One nit, though. I notice that you explained that the modem is different from the router. However, you didn't explain that a router is different from a wifi access point. In your discussion you refer to a wifi access point as a router. They are two distinct and different items. Not all routers have an access point and not all access points are housed in a router.
most ips put modem in living now unless another reason bc mine is next to tv there for over 5 yrs now. i use a cheap modem from amazon and a cheap archer router and does everything i need good wifi, vpn, etc. if you place router signals where ppl sit i found best. never had much issues for my devices just wish i can have vlans bc my iots are on guest 2.4 lol. i'm waiting for a reason to upgrade and ya. save money unless you must buy.
For all that I know about smart home stuff, my WiFi knowledge is crap! Significantly less crap having watched & absorbed this video though, Thankyou 🫡
*bows*
Question, if I want to replace my current older mesh system can I buy a new mesh and use the same SSID and password on the new system and all the devices carry over without reprogramming??
Yes, that will work for the most part.
If you have 2 SSIDs, one for 2.4 and one for 5GHz then just use the same names.
If you don't currently separate the 2 bands then I would start over by dividing them, just use 1 name the same so you can connect half right away.
@@todds2254very cool. Thanks for replying
Good to know about the extenders. Many thanks!
I'm amazed reputable router brands still try to push those on us in Facebook advertising. Powerline extenders too
21 connected devices. Child, please!
LOL!! I can see I'm going to get a lot of flack for that! 🤣🤣
Lmao I was thinking the same thing. I have 46 lights alone LMAO
Right? I have 21+ smart switches.
Great video, really looking forwards to part 2
😃👍
Excellent walkthrough
I’ve never had an issue with my ISP extenders. They work great and I have over 100 devices connected to them. I’ve been having lots of 2.4GHz issues, but after rigorous testing and process of elimination (including swapping routers, modems, using mesh vs ISP routers and extenders, resets, turning off all electricity and only connecting 1 device) my issue is external interference beyond switching channels etc (neighbors are experiencing the same). Would love to know if anyone else has experienced issues with 2.4 only. 5GHz works amazing
At some time I was told to put my router on the top of a high cupboard (even in single story home) instead of on a low lying table which every router manufacturer shows in their advertising.
In the middle of the home instead of where the internet comes in helps too.
...P.S. a little trick my brother (qualified electrician) taught me was to use a tongue out of tongue and groove floor boards to help feed cables through difficult areas.
I'll have to see that little trick!
Here in the Las Vegas valley, builders are putting in data boxes in 2nd floor laundry rooms (no basements) with Cat 6 wiring to as many rooms as you like. Since many laundry rooms are centrally located along one long side of the house, there's pretty good coverage inside & outside the house. Are builders in other regions just not offering wiring thru-out new homes?
@@kevpaulsen correct! We do it cheap and easy here in Canada. Pay for upgrades or else... nothing good
Lot's of great info, Brian. Thanks!
Thanks Big Bear!
I'm still using a DSL SmartRG bridged to an Asus RT-AC68U with open source firmware. Generally, the smaller ISPs are going to be better for a setup like this and/or if you just want to use your own equipment. (Bell will have a fit. Literally.) I have had eBox, who are just in Ontario and Quebec for years but there are many others. The other thing to be concerned about is updates when you're dealing with ISP equipment. Most never do any because they are afraid of bricking something. There could be a serious security threat and you're not going to be patched. Off the shelf routers are a security nightmare too. Thats why I go with open-source firmware. It gets updated for years.
Interesting! Learned something
I literally repurposed my existing telephone wires which used cat5e to do wired backhaul. While my eero Max7 did great already on wireless backhaul (for 1G ISP, I was getting consistent 700-950 mbps over WiFi), when I plugged in wired backhaul, my 5GHz devices seeing consistent speeds in 950mbps range, and my 6GHz devices were exceeding my ISP at 1000-1150 mbps. LAN ports were also running 10Gbps between the three nodes.
Nice!!
Very informative! Thank you very much
You're very welcome! Thank you!
I had to chuckle when you (properly) disparaged WiFi extenders. I do have one use case where an extender is required: I have an Orbi 970 w/ 2 satellites and 2Gig fiber. Segue to our dog, Remy who doubles as an escape artist ... enter Tractive's GPS dog tracker collar ... very cool and very clever. It sends notifications and real-time map tracking when Remy escapes his geo-fence. That said, GPS tracking takes a ton of collar battery power, so Tractive shuts off GPS to save power when the collar is in its "home" wifi. Our Orbi powered 2.4GHz IoT Wifi reaches 5 houses down the block, giving Remy a big head start before Tractive notices "no home wifi" and then switches to GPS and cell to send a notification. Enter wifi extenders!!! By connecting Remy's Tractive collar to an extender's SSID, with its greatly limited range, instead of a powerful Orbi SSID, it effectively shrinks the "safe zone" as defined by existence of an SSID. Viola. Only use case I could come up with ... cheers
That's a good use case. Any dog must be saved by whatever means necessary! :)
Amazing video. Doing an A+ job over there.
Thanks Doc!
not sure why if you are routing wires you would opt for a mesh setup vs access points?
There's no reason in that case. You can pick either. Really very similar.
But most people don't run cables
I'm glad I watched this. I am about to start looking for a new Wifi mesh system, and might easily have just gone for the latest wifi standards. But with mainly 2.4ghz smart devices and an old UK brick built house, the higher bands just wouldn't penetrate anywhere or be useful as backhaul.
Glad it got you on the right track!
Hi!
Thanks for the video! What software did you use to make the renders of your home?
HomebyMe :)
UK resident here. Currently sitting on 51 connected devices. I know, I'm a freak!
I have 72 wifi and 48 zwave and zigbee devices.
No freaks here! Just living life the smart way!
What modem do you recommend for the Google system? Can the Google system use backhaul connection as you showed in your video?
I’m having cat6 cables installed to match your configuration and I would love your opinion before making expense.
Hey! So your modem can't be changed and there's not a recommendation I'd have for that. :) Your ISP brings you that and you should have it already.
And yep! Google Nest Wifi can use a wired backhaul. I'll be showing another system from TP Link soon, and there's also a lot of options with Eero. Enjoy!!
@@mariog7682 I would say a few things: whichever ISP modem they provide you, make sure you don’t get a combo modem/router, or deactivate the router settings by putting the modem in Bridge mode (you may need to call them to ask how). As for purchasing your own router, eero is great for me and lots of people rave about the stability and speed, but it does NOT have nearly as many options in settings you can tweak like other routers like ASUS, TP-Link, Netgear. It’s more of a “set it and forget it” router.
Excellent, Brian!
Thank you sir!
Do all of the mesh systems you looked at require the same SSID for both 2.4GHz and 5GHz?
I found this to be a problem for some 2.4GHz only devices that have trouble connecting.
The eero system offers a temporary turn off of the 5GHZ signal for this purpose.
Lots of them do that but the tp link ones I showed late in the video Do seem to give you the opportunity to split out your networks.
ASUS XT8 and XT9 allows to split your 2.4GHz and 5 GHz Bands. The last 5 GHz band already split for dedicated backhaul. I liked ASUS XT9 when it worked, but eventually became unstable after a few months and went with eero Max7. Incredible but pricey router.
i think you are un unformed in the model/router of canadian isp's shaw/rogers and telus modems can all be put into bridge mode either by them or by you logging in and turning off those features. then you have just a modem.
Having just asked my ISP that, I don't think I'm completely uninformed.🤣
Also a modem doesn't need to be put into bridge mode. It's a modem. And I have never seen the ability to log into a modem.
So I assume you're talking about their routers and you can log in and sometimes make changes. That is not always the case and many of the less expensive plans do not allow this
@@AutomateYourLife the modem router you showed was a shaw docsis 3 modem/router combo, you can certainly login to that and disable the router completley as it's from Shaw/Rogers and a standard modem router used in canada by isp's supporting docis 3 and yes i know you can't login to the modem i was refering to the device as a whole because bridge mode is available on any plan whether the support rep you spoke to konws or not. I use to train those front line techs so i am very aware.
@KShedTech I have Telus...lol
I’m running around 100 Wi-Fi devices. I’m surprised you didn’t go UniFi. Our Google Nest started failing around 70 devices and then Eero failed in the 90s. UniFi has been stellar!
Interesting!
Unifi might be an eventual end but I must say, Google drops enough into their gear to manage a lot of devices. They had some early problems with Wifi Pro, but they've got it worked out now and I can easily push into 100+
Which eero did you have? I’m running eero Max7 which capable of handling 200 devices. I don’t even have near that, but it’s a solid performer.
Just 21 connected devices. That’s cute.
I wouldn't be surprised if Brian wasn't far off that number with all his hubs using Zigbee, Zwave, Thread and other devices connected directly via an Ethernet cable.
I could have just a few now, but I'm always testing new gear so it goes quite high!
Great video Brian. Don't forget the importance of a Thread Border Router. I use Google Nest wi if pro with Home Assistant. I'm not sure whether the wired backhaul helps the thread mesh though.
I don't know if that helps Thread! But it would be interesting if it did.
I'm keeping my three SmartThings Hub v3s. What Wi-Fi mesh system should I pair them with?
That wouldn't change anything Jaime! You're open to whatever :)
@@AutomateYourLife Hey, thanks for getting back to me! I'm a bit lost on how to connect the two mesh systems. They both send out Wi-Fi signals. Modem -> Mesh System -> Smartthings hubs. All devices will connect to what system? As mentioned, I am confused about how to integrate both meshes.
@JaimeLAlmirall Smartthings hubs don't create Wi-Fi. They join Wi-Fi networks and they can create zigbee or Z-Wave or even thread networks. Those are different and meant more for your smart home gear.
If you're using a different version of SmartThings and it includes a Wi-Fi mesh system, then I think they're pretty old and I think you're going to want to upgrade and maybe look at a different smart things Hub or turn off the Wi-Fi component in those. That's probably where you will end up over the long haul if that's the case
Mine is ET-WV525 router. It's got both 2.4 and 5 GHz bands, and there are three of them. All my devices are hooked up to this system, and the main hub is connected to the modem. So, how do I go about adding a new mesh network to this setup?
Thanks for a great review. I have the Google nest mesh right now and it works pretty good, but I’m looking to upgrade to the pro once I get my fiber optic installed.
That might just give you a good reason hey!
Don't think there is a reason to look for interference to find a unused channel. When you change your router to a different channel, your neighbors router will see that change and also change on their own if they are on auto. So its just cat and mouse, right?
Their auto mode won't adjust to interfere with you. It should stay where there's less interference
Would cat5e be adequate for a wireless backhaul?
So that's going to give you 1 Giga BIT (divide by 8 approximately for Gigabyte) of speed through the cable. That's likely to be slower than Wi-Fi in many cases. (Wifi 4 max is 1.2 Gigabit)
However it'll still take loading off your Wi-Fi system, so it'll help! I'd go up in cable if you can!
Nice video. Hoping you cover how to set up iot devices. We have 2 main computers, a media PC, phones, Chromecast, iot devices etc. Setting up a new home assistant green too. What goes on the guest wifi and what goes on the main wifi? Do I really need more isolation than that?
People are really split on that whole guest or separate network thing. I think it makes it hard to manage but can be worth it from a few standpoints!
Brian, is your opinion the same for the Bell Canada Giga Hub? I do eventually want to attempt replacing the router function with a mesh wifi but I must say the Giga Hub is located in a closed basement room and I still have fairly good speed on the upper front room of our house. Much better than the previous Bell unit we had. Thanks.
I don't know that hub personally so I can't comment. If you're having good success in your home stick with it, but when things start dropping off your network...I'd look there as one of the first few things!
@@AutomateYourLife Ok thanks!
If I buy a new mesh system, does that mean I have to go back and reprogram all of my devices for the new mesh WIFI or is there an easy way to bring it all over to the new system. I'd love to see a video on how to do that, especially since I do not have a hub.
If you use the same Wifi credentials, most (if not all) things will reconnect!
Do all routers work for the modem part or did you have to use isp modem
No they don't! Most of the time an ISP requires their own modem regardless of what you do for a router. Most routers don't have a fiber or coax connection either so you can't use them that way
Loved this video! But still unsure how to apply to me.
1. I share internet w my sister next door via google wifi pro. She has modem fibre connection w 1st mesh point, and I have 2 points. Is backhaul still possible? How do I increase my speeds/reliability? Can I use ethernet or coax cabling in my house even though modem is in a seperate house?
2. parents house doesnt have fibre access and adsl is discontinued. They have data card modem and google mesh. The internet is so slow and constantly disconnects. Is backhaul possible through ethernet or coax cables?
(pls save me, I keep having to go over just to reconnect their work computers and tvs).
Bit of a weird situation you have going on here! That's why it's tough.
Honestly, probably time to break out the wallet and get your own service! Otherwise, there's not much to do here. What you can do probably costs just as much as getting your own service, if not more.
For example, I would run a fiber cable or an ethernet cable (protected from the elements, likely buried in a sleeve) between the houses if this is a long term thing. You can bury it fairly shallow, but it needs to be in a proper sleeve (pipe, sealed, no water/snow getting in it). That would tie the two homes together in a network that's wired.
Another option is to try a different WiFi set that broadcasts a little further. Or adjust the locations of those mesh points to hopefully get the network a little more stable between the homes.
It's just tough to do through 2 homes!
Great video! Question. Is it possible to have too many Wifi mesh devices? I'm stuck between choosing the 2-pack vs a 3-pack mesh system. I was told if you have too many, you can create a wifi "bubble" inside a bubble and that will worsen your connections. Our home is about 2700sqft colonial. Its a 4 bedroom home. We have a "Great Room" off the kitchen which is has an open ceiling (no rooms above it). We currently have the older Nest wifi mesh system (3-pack) and want to go with the newer Nest wifi Pro system. Just want to make sure I dont over do it but also dont want to under-do it if that makes sense! Thank you again!
3 sounds about right to me for that home. You may even end up at a 4th depending on how your coverage goes.
I haven't experienced anything like that with a "bubble". In fact, I've never heard that term so I'm not sure what it means! In general, I'll tell you that if they say "great" connection with WiFi Pro, you're going to be in a good situation. They adjust channels automatically too so they tend to avoid each other. I haven't noticed any spot where it's bad and my nodes are fairly close together. :)
@@AutomateYourLife Thank you for replying sir!
Great WiFi tutorial! I have 3 Synology Mesh Routers. One connected to my modem, another as a wired back haul, and a third as a wireless backhaul. Have about 100 devices.
Oh, I agree on not using WiFi extenders. I’m assuming that doesn’t include Ring Extenders since they are Z-Wave back to the Ring Hub, correct?
Yeah correct! Z wave and Zigbee extenders are different. They do come with some issues but much less than Wi-Fi counterparts!
How are you finding the synology system?? 100 devices sounds like it's going well
informasi yg bermanfaat❤
Why recommend a mesh over something like a unifi solution with wired APs?
That's fine too Chris. Absolutely. Most people don't have all the wires for that though. :)
@@AutomateYourLife if you're going to do wired backhaul with mesh, it's the same number of wires as a router and wired APs, right? Unifi can handle lots of devices too
@cdarrigo yep! Folks can use it.
It's just the ease of mesh that I recommend for most people. People don't necessarily have the skills for that, same as Home Assistant. Those are kinda my levels of complexity that I stop recommending at.
Nothing wrong with unifi at all. Helped a couple friends with those networks. Love some of the features
Thank you very much for all this information and I can't wait to see the other two parts.When I was on the market to buy a router, I watched Nest Wifi Pro for a long time. Unfortunately, it does not support speeds beyond 1 GBS. This is It is for this reason that I bought an EERO system.
Awesome stuff! Gotta find what's working for you!
If you are wiring your (Mesh) Access Points back to your main router you are not using Mesh, you are hard wired (back haul). Mesh is when you wireless connected Access Points to main Wifi router. As you showed that your AP are wired you are confusing people about Mesh.
I get that there is another term... But let me ask you this.
When I showed the system today that had a wireless and a wired back haul... What do we call those?
Do we have to use both terms now? 🤔
The benefit of my renting a router from my ISP (Xfinity), is that they give me a 100TB bandwidth cap (with no "fair use" disclaimers) per calendar month. Yes, I pay $30/month for the priviledge but for me it is a fair trade-off. I regularly use about 3.5 to 4TB of bandwidth per month and, without my 100TB/month plan, I would owe Xfinity an additional $300 every month in overage charges. The plan is called XFi Complete and I don't think it is available everywhere yet. My speed is 1Gb down/23Mb up.
My house is also 4,600 square feet so repeaters are necessary. I have two XFi Pods (Xfinity repeaters that I bought outright) on my lower floor and the only part of my house where I don't have coverage is my garage. For the upstairs, I regularly get WiFi speeds of 380-450Mb down and for the downstairs, I regularly get WiFi speeds of 80-100Mb down.
Why are you using that much data?
And sounds like your plan is essentially subscription for that much data. There's no technical reason for them to enforce that you use their router on that plan.
@@AutomateYourLife you are correct, that there is no technical reason for them enforcing that plan. Here in the United States, it used to be that the only way Comcast customers could get unlimited bandwidth with an Internet provider was to go with a business plan. Within the last year, Xfinity decided to offer the benefits of unlimited bandwidth with a personal plan. It was a business decision on Xfinity‘s part to offer unlimited data to nonbusiness customers, bye stipulating that they use Xfinity equipment in order to get that unlimited band with. They also stipulated that there was an additional $30 per month cost in order to obtain that unlimited bandwidth. The person who I live with lights to fall asleep while watching Keable TV. Because their bedroom does not have a coaxial jack, Xfinity had to put in a Wi-Fi cable box in that room. Because it is a Wi-Fi cable box, it uses bandwidth every time it is turned on. I also regularly back up all of our collected data to multiple cloud providers for redundancy. Because I work in IT support, I have a large amount of data on my home computer (Roughly one terabyte of data). The backups I have implemented, and my housemates watching cable TV on the Wi-Fi box, that is why I use so much data in a given month. Xfinity’s normal bandwidth in a given month is 1.2 TB. A lot of people wonder why there are bandwidth caps at all here in the United States. years ago, I specifically asked, and Xfinity business representative why they had banned with capped at all. It was explained to me that the bandwidth caps exist, is because does not own their infrastructure outright. The infrastructure is owned by the Internet backbone providers. (for example, level three communications.). Xfinity rents the usage of their infrastructure from the Internet backbone providers. To recoup their costs of what they pay the backbone Internet providers, Xfinity then charges their customers for the band with BU. If my housemate and I did not have the complete plan and the associated unlimited bandwidth, we the maximum of $300 worth of overage charges for our usage.
@@AutomateYourLife unfortunately, UA-cam seems to have deleted the very detailed comment I left you earlier this morning. I had given you a very detailed answer to both your questions. UA-cam must’ve thought I was trying to spam your channel.
@DerfyStolt :(
"It's easy, all you have to do is use RJ-45 cables for your backhaul".
Try to add this RJ-45 setup into a house build, like we have in Europe, with stones and concrete, not "cardboard" walls ;) Sometimes I do envy you, Canadians ^^
Not easy for sure, but do little bits where you can! And continue to envy our -40 C 🤣🤣
@@AutomateYourLife 😄😄😄
Since good mesh systems have increased so much in price, I was forced to use Telus's equipment. The good news is that with their fiber plans, they do offer a pretty decend Mesh router. I have 2 covering an 1800 square foot house quite nicely. They're not givingme ultimate speed, but better than I've ever had before, and they use the old Shaw cables with a connector to give me wired back-haul, and have extra ethernet ports for my most impo0rtant devices! That gives my PC and other internet-hungry devices 900+mhz and all my wireless-only devices just under 400mbps reliably.
That's more than enough speed. Just watch if things start dropping off the network when you're streaming or when you get a few more devices.
Telus is pretty clear that the router they use for most systems is 20-30 devices tops
Im currently at 113!
Just a few then 🤣🤣
@@AutomateYourLife Yep. Original Google nest WiFi mesh system. Router and 3 points. I actually put a point in the garage just to keep cams and such from dropping connections.
Thanks for the nice, informative video. One nit, though. I notice that you explained that the modem is different from the router. However, you didn't explain that a router is different from a wifi access point. In your discussion you refer to a wifi access point as a router. They are two distinct and different items. Not all routers have an access point and not all access points are housed in a router.
Good point! Those can be separate
@@AutomateYourLifeEspecially if you buy Ubiquity Unifi products.
most ips put modem in living now unless another reason bc mine is next to tv there for over 5 yrs now. i use a cheap modem from amazon and a cheap archer router and does everything i need good wifi, vpn, etc. if you place router signals where ppl sit i found best. never had much issues for my devices just wish i can have vlans bc my iots are on guest 2.4 lol. i'm waiting for a reason to upgrade and ya. save money unless you must buy.
They'll do that if they can, but can't in many homes. I haven't seen a lot of incoming fiber for a modem into the middle of Canadian homes.
Coax, yep
what is the application name? wifiman?
Yep! By ubiquiti
I have 21 devices on wifi in just my bathroom 😂
Ahahahahaha!
I got 45 devices.
That's a few! 👍
Wow, you don't have a smart thermostat?
Brand new house, so nope!
@@AutomateYourLife getting the new Nest or Ecobee premium?
21 ! Lol, not at Automate your life fans base !
Sorry! I am lost...as always ;)
@@AutomateYourLife Your fans, if like me, have WAY more than 21 connections to their routers ! I have 70 right now !
@philipperostin oh yeah! Tell me about it. I'm pushing 120 right now 🤣🤣
*throws his iphone at your head*
Ouch! 🤕🤣