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 Post subject: Mesh Wireless
PostPosted: Fri Sep 01, 2017 10:34 
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Had problems with wireless around my house for a while now. Devolo plugs kept playing up and killing the wireless. So been looking a Mesh solution for a while, not been 100% sure but after speaking with one of the IT network guys who just bought one I took the plunge.

Bought the Linksys Velop Tri-Band AC6600 3 pack, not cheap @£380 but I had estimated replacing the problem DLan500 plugs with 1200 would set me back £240 and I had no confidence these would be any better.

Set up is all driven by a IOS app that has a simple step by step wizard. First job is to get out a node that will be “master” in that it will be wired into your router or modem.

Thing to note here is that the Velop wants to take over your router (it’s a router itself) there is a bridge mode but it’s not easy to get any tweaking done prior to following the wizard. So if you have VPN and or other complex router stuff at home do your homework first.

After some attempts not following the wizard I finally gave in and the first node was done, my router was then reduced to a switch. Not too much of an issue as I had a Linksys router before so interface etc is the same.

The node had annoyingly given out a different IP range so I had to change a couple of things but was soon good to go for node 2.

Adding node 2 proved to be a pain in the arse, had about 10 attempts to join it, even having it next to node 1.

Got the same error again and again saying it couldn’t attach to main node. In the end, I found the problem, the first node had updated its firmware after setup and the 2nd node needed this version to join the network.

The frustration is the firmware update is only done after a node is joined to the network, so it’s a bit chicken and egg! I found I could update the node firmware via the IOS app part way through the setup so it finally worked.

Coverage is very impressive with only the 2 nodes in so far. House is full bars everywhere and I get this signal strength at the bottom of my garden which is 130ft from the house. Will put the final node in my shed just to catch the last bit of garden.

With the wireless, you have one SSID, I chose my old one so that everything just connected, it offers 5GHZ and 2.4GHZ from a single SSID, devices that support 5 will use that and if they don’t they use 2.4.

I did have a few issues, one Echo needed resetting, my Plex server needed restarting and my Kodi boxes need rebuilding. They have SMB connections to media with the old IP range, whilst you can edit these the interface just freezes half way through as the box is trying access the library all the time.

I have a house of around 1900 SF and it started life a bungalow with extensions upstairs so is bottom heavy space wise. I would think one node would be ok for the house, but I would lose range in the garden. 2 is more than enough and 3 is one too many but I will use it regardless. :)

Overall not cheap, but then getting the sort of coverage I wanted isn’t, would recommend it though.


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 Post subject: Re: Mesh Wireless
PostPosted: Fri Sep 01, 2017 11:24 
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I ran network cable through my house when I moved in, which solved all these kinds of problems very nicely.

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 Post subject: Re: Mesh Wireless
PostPosted: Fri Sep 01, 2017 11:29 
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Grim... wrote:
I ran network cable through my house when I moved in, which solved all these kinds of problems very nicely.


I have cables as well for NAS etc

You must have something else for wireless though (assuming you have issues) extenders etc?


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 Post subject: Re: Mesh Wireless
PostPosted: Fri Sep 01, 2017 11:30 
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Grim... wrote:
I ran network cable through my house when I moved in, which solved all these kinds of problems very nicely.


I keep my carpets permanently damp and then trail bare wires from every appliance to the floor to ensure excellent conductivity

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 Post subject: Re: Mesh Wireless
PostPosted: Fri Sep 01, 2017 11:31 
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asfish wrote:
Grim... wrote:
I ran network cable through my house when I moved in, which solved all these kinds of problems very nicely.


I have cables as well for NAS etc

You must have something else for wireless though (assuming you have issues) extenders etc?

I have a pair of wireless routers in the house, and one in the garden.

They probably cost about £20 each, asusming I didn't just take them from work :)

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 Post subject: Re: Mesh Wireless
PostPosted: Fri Sep 01, 2017 11:32 
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This should be in the first world problems thread. "My house is too big!"

Sweet system though


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 Post subject: Re: Mesh Wireless
PostPosted: Fri Sep 01, 2017 11:35 
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Grim... wrote:
asfish wrote:
Grim... wrote:
I ran network cable through my house when I moved in, which solved all these kinds of problems very nicely.


I have cables as well for NAS etc

You must have something else for wireless though (assuming you have issues) extenders etc?

I have a pair of wireless routers in the house, and one in the garden.

They probably cost about £20 each, asusming I didn't just take them from work :)


:)

I tired all of that and extenders there was always a fecking issue, think the main problem is when your device hands off from one plug\extender to another.

Most of the time I could live with it as I'm mostly on cables for my stuff, but the Echo's started going red and loosing the internet so had enough.


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 Post subject: Re: Mesh Wireless
PostPosted: Fri Sep 01, 2017 23:46 
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My WiFi has been really naffing me off - it requires an extender to just get from one end of the house to the other, the extender we have is 2.4ghz only and single antenna - and there's no sign of me slinging cat6 around the exterior, so I've done the only sensible thing and also bought one of these.

Good job we hadn't declared a 'quiet few months needed' yesterday.


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 Post subject: Re: Mesh Wireless
PostPosted: Sat Sep 02, 2017 8:49 
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BikNorton wrote:
My WiFi has been really naffing me off - it requires an extender to just get from one end of the house to the other, the extender we have is 2.4ghz only and single antenna - and there's no sign of me slinging cat6 around the exterior, so I've done the only sensible thing and also bought one of these.

Good job we hadn't declared a 'quiet few months needed' yesterday.


I just added the 3rd node, it worked the first time and then did the firmware at the end, it also said that the position was perfect. That's the complete opposite of the experience with Node 2!


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 Post subject: Re: Mesh Wireless
PostPosted: Sat Sep 02, 2017 15:46 
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Good to know.

Amazon decided the guaranteed delivery date of today really means tomorrow (which happens a lot, I should complain really) so I don't get to play as expected. Bah.

I'm semi-seriously expecting to need at least one more node to get round the house and give good garage/garden coverage, but we'll see!


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 Post subject: Re: Mesh Wireless
PostPosted: Sat Sep 02, 2017 16:12 
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BikNorton wrote:
Good to know.

Amazon decided the guaranteed delivery date of today really means tomorrow (which happens a lot, I should complain really) so I don't get to play as expected. Bah.

I'm semi-seriously expecting to need at least one more node to get round the house and give good garage/garden coverage, but we'll see!


Looking at the pricing 2 is a better buy than one!

£200 for One, £249 for Two. Even if you only need the one, you could get £100 or more for the 2nd on Ebay


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 Post subject: Re: Mesh Wireless
PostPosted: Sun Sep 03, 2017 21:35 
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This thing's a bag of wank - node with router at one end of the house, node in the middle then one at far end.

The far end one complains about being too far from the router - because it will only connect to the far end one, not the one in the middle!

And the middle one moans about wanting to be a bit closer anyway, sat right next to the existing extender!

It's literally being of no improvement whatsoever over a bt homehub and bobbins Netgear extender. Detriment in fact, because things connected to the far end one suffer a really shit connection (until they transition to the middle one, if they're.lucky).

This from the one that reviews better than any of the others for reliability at distance.


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 Post subject: Re: Mesh Wireless
PostPosted: Mon Sep 04, 2017 11:51 
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Quote:
And the middle one moans about wanting to be a bit closer anyway, sat right next to the existing extender!


I would ignore that (unless its stopping it working)

When I did node 2 next to node 1 in my PC room it said it was too close, then with node 3 in the same position it said it was just right!

Once I had set up node 3 I took it to the bottom of my garden (140 foot or so away from node 2) and after a couple of mins for it to come back up it connected no issue. There are no walls between these nodes of course, do you live in an older place with stone walls etc?

If you launch the phone app and choose Velop administration you can see all you nodes that are online and update firmware if needs be. Also make sure you enable notifications on the app, as that will see that you have node issues and can launch a wizard to try and resolve.

Other thing to try is to swap the middle an far one around, if that fails flatten them and rebuild. These can be a pain in the arse to set up but worth it


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 Post subject: Re: Mesh Wireless
PostPosted: Mon Sep 04, 2017 11:53 
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BikNorton wrote:
And the middle one moans about wanting to be a bit closer anyway, sat right next to the existing extender!
Maybe you need a bigger house.


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 Post subject: Re: Mesh Wireless
PostPosted: Mon Sep 04, 2017 12:43 
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Yeah, swapping those two and rebuilding the parent node are my next steps - relocating and resetting the children hasn't helped.

Bits of my house are sandstone (there's also a bread.oven so fire bricks and cast iron door/vent), and lots of wall is wattle and daub so who knows what got mixed into that. It's also been extended twice so there may well be RSJs knocking about too.

I can understand reduced range but this is just daft. It'd be fine if the far end would just mesh to the middle one instead of going the largest distance even when it knows it's doing badly!


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 Post subject: Re: Mesh Wireless
PostPosted: Mon Sep 04, 2017 15:56 
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Swapped the children and the far end still connects directly to the parent.

The xbone had transitioned to the parent and would not move off it, even with a download giving under 500kb/s - reboot the console and it correctly lumped onto the far end node which it's in the same fecking room as and it's now getting 20mb/s (which it couldn't do last night until it did eventually switch to the middle node, so relocation has helped apparently).

Oh, and they did all update their firmware when I built the mesh the first time.


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 Post subject: Re: Mesh Wireless
PostPosted: Mon Sep 04, 2017 19:10 
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I'd flatten them and try again


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 Post subject: Re: Mesh Wireless
PostPosted: Mon Sep 04, 2017 19:18 
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asfish wrote:
I'd flatten them and try again


Title

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 Post subject: Re: Mesh Wireless
PostPosted: Tue Sep 05, 2017 1:38 
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I was considering recommending this sort of thing to Lady T's father (so he could buy it, and I set it up when we visit in Oct) to replace their router and extender situation which I set up years ago.

But, as the current set up kinda works and they've got used to it I am not inclined to mess with it, unless someone has broken or fiddled with it in the two years since we last went home.

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 Post subject: Re: Mesh Wireless
PostPosted: Fri Sep 08, 2017 17:12 
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Velop and I had fallen into an uneasy truce until this afternoon when I was rooting around in the garage and noticed I had a decent WiFi connection to the node in the kitchen. That's a good 8 or 9 metres through two walls and several tonnes of earth, because the roof of the garage is level with the bottom of the house.


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 Post subject: Re: Mesh Wireless
PostPosted: Fri Sep 08, 2017 19:50 
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BikNorton wrote:
Velop and I had fallen into an uneasy truce until this afternoon when I was rooting around in the garage and noticed I had a decent WiFi connection to the node in the kitchen. That's a good 8 or 9 metres through two walls and several tonnes of earth, because the roof of the garage is level with the bottom of the house.


So all the node connection issues are ok now?

Mine has been great not an issue for a week


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