Wanted to post this the other day but got busy here’s my model fwiw https://www.bestbuy.com/site/netgea...Vg8aGCh2z2wt0EAQYASABEgL_LfD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds bought it at Costco tho, I believe
Yeah I also have a UniFi set up! Love it. Been think of upgrading to the rack mount dream machine for gigabit IPS.
Started on Linksys (velop ac2200) and upgraded to their most recent mesh system (velop ax4200). Both sucked imo. Now use Orbi ax6000 and it’s been great
Not too pleased with my tplink deco. Got it from Costco so feel like exchange for something else will be easy. Is Orbi or eero better?
I had to switch off 5g bc it kept dropping internet on some devices. Now my garage tv buffers all the time. I’m in 2k sq ft house. I have a deco in living room basement and upstairs bedroom. Idk what’s wrong?
This thread was way more popular at than I expected. Love all the recommendations. We move in a couple of weeks, so we’ll see what we need to do abs revisit this thread before making a purchase
Depends what model deco you have. There’s like 6 versions, some way better than others. generically, Tri band perform better for any brand. I think it’s worth the extra you pay so I’d pay attention to that whatever direction you go.
You'll get a lot more interference on the 5ghz band, and it wont reach as far. Often you'll get devices that will receive signal from 5ghz, but not have the power to get it back reliably. Often times you'll see better performance if you turn the power of the 5ghz band down. Additionally, make sure its on a different channel than the neighbors.
I just bought Deco S4 this past week because we now have a three-story house, and the coax access is on the top floor (idk why). It works flawlessly all throughout the house. One thing I was a little surprised about it that it's just AC1200. We've been using an Arris Surfboard gateway for the past six or seven years that is AC1750. It worked really well, just couldn't do the whole new house. Not sure which is faster. For now, just using the gateway as modem. In the old house, I was also using RJ45 direct...so even 80mbps is a good bit slower than what I was used to...
Are you guys using one of the wireless "pucks" as your router or are you using the ISP router and basically using the "pucks" as access points?
Moving to our new house next month and we have Google fiber. Any reason to not go with their mesh solution?
With the Orbi system you really dont even have a choice, so there is one router and a few satellites (as many as you need, i have 2). Dont forget to put your ISP modem in bridge mode or have your ISP do it for you. Otherwise you will lose a bunch of the speed that is in there by itself
So I have my ISP modem, but did not get the ISP router... So I'm using one of the Deco's as the router. Do I still need to put the modem in bridge mode? I'm moving pucks around in my house to see if it helps but I'm still having some issues. Might just return this to Costco and get something else if it doesn't' get better. I have spectrum internet, so not sure how to log into the modem. I'm reading you can't.
The drawbacks of Google(Nest) mesh are that it is made for beginners so they don't give you a lot of access to customize the routing and setup. That is my biggest gripe.
i dont know for the deco but for my orbi id still put the ISP modem in bridge mode (aka, do nothing mode). Otherwise what your basically doing is putting a wired connection between the mesh router and the ISP modem but still having the ISP modem quality signal between the 2. In bridge mode it makes things just reach peak potential. so again, dont know with the decos but i think you can do a wired backhaul between the different pucks, if there happens to be a wired connection between 2 different spots in the house that might be a way to boost performance a bit
I have one of the pucks hard wired into my ISP modem. WiFi on the modem is turned off. This is in the back corner of the house. Another puck (not wired to anything) is in a front corner of the house on the same side. The other puck (not wired to anything) is in the bonus room above the garage, far corner away from the wired puck. This also gives me full coverage on our 1/3 acre lot.
Bridge mode basically passes the DHCP lease from the ISP to the router or device. Two routers performing routing functions will make a new network inside the old one. Bridge mode generally shouldn't be needed for a modem, since normally its a function to turn a router into a bridge/switch. If you have a modem without a router, it should pass the lease to the next router, so you're pretty much right, but needing bridge mode seems to conflict with Baron saying they did not get the router. Can you give me the modem model?
Dropped in an Orbi about 18 months ago and have been super happy with it. One satellite and I get comprehensive coverage throughout the house and onto the back patio.
Looks like this is just a modem, so you shouldn't need to worry about bridge mode. Could you let me know what issues you are having specifically? Drops or you can't connect at all?
i put in two of the deco solutions and their customer support is not horrible. Call them and explain what is going on and I’d imagine they could solve his problem pretty quickly.
I moved the upstairs Deco to another side of the main floor. So I now have 2 on the main floor on opposite sides and it seems to be working fine so far.
Yeah but seriously if something isn’t working right just call. It’s a pretty quick process. Their first level is reading through a script so you have to sit through that, but that’s troubleshooting. I never had to wait in some 30-40 minute queue and all mine was nights and weekend.
I appreciate the reminders about bridged mode. I knew there was a setting I was supposed to change in the gateway, and that was it!
I was just about to post how moving that Deco to another side of the house was working so great, then my tv in my garage started to buffer and say no internet. WTF. Was working fine all day yesterday with NO issues at all and same things using internet.
Nice. Thats good news. Have you done a walk through with a scanner? You can try using WifiMan or a wifi scanner on the app store. In general if I'm having issues I run down a few options: Are the APs too close together? (Clients Roam too much) Are the APs too far apart? (signal holes) Is the AP signal strong enough to reach the devices? Is the device signal strong enough to reach the AP? Is there interference from other APs? Neighbors Wifi? Are all your APs on the same channel? (they shouldn't be) I may be forgetting a consideration or two, but for the most part if you've checked on those its not the wifi signal itself that is the issue
Firewalla are really slick little devices, much easier than setting up a server and manually ARP poisoning your network. Helped me spot a couple devices that were constantly trying to send data to China for no good reason. And also the daily “your sons computer is watching porn” alerts.
I really need a devices that can do IPS at gigabit speed. Firewalla Gold and Unifi DreamMachine Pro are the only two I've seen remotely close to my price range, and the latter isn't a great for the spot in terms of size.
Yeah this video was where I learned of the Firewalla, figured I’d just spend the money rather than their home brew setup, but it’s an option if you have an extra system laying around. https://www.blackhillsinfosec.com/webcast-no-span-port-no-tap-no-problem/
I've been using Unifi since 2015, its a great option. I run it at my home, business, parents, and in-laws.
Yeah it's great. I use the EdgeMax line at home, but unifi for my parents. However, while I wouldn't say you need a CCNA for Unifi, I think some people may struggle with it. It's super simple on the surface, but theres so many features that can break the network for older devices, which a lot of people have at home. When I first turned on the Wifi AI optimizer, it created a huge mess. I feel like that one would be bait for the average home user.
I’m not sure how to ask, so if you want to point my dumbass to a subreddit or something it’s all good. I use an xfinity modem/router and I had to disable the firewall to be able to sign into my work VPN. At one point I read instructions on how to white list that VPN and the firewall still wouldn’t allow me to connect. Is this firewalla configurable to a point where I could whitelist a specific connection and still protect all the other bullshit air fresheners in the house that my wife thinks need to be on WiFi so it can automatically buy more refills? edit to add: I’m getting my new modem/router from Xfinity today since we got notification on Monday that Gig speeds are now available in my area. I have to keep the modem active to maintain my grandfathered in unlimited data package but could potentially turn off the router I think? I know next to nothing when it comes to networks.
Yeah so you probably don't want to run without the firewall at all, so it's good you are looking to address that, but yes a firewalla will let you do that. Gold would probably be overkill for you. You could just use the xfinity gateway as your modem, and use a different router with more fully featured firewall capabilities. It's a little odd you would have to disable the firewall to reach out to an external resource though. Usually with home devices, firewall rules only match on inbound connections.
https://www.reddit.com/r/firewalla https://www.reddit.com/r/homelab https://www.reddit.com/r/HomeNetworking/
Congrats. Admitting this to yourself is the first step in becoming a networking enthusiast. This feeling doesn't go away.
Sounds like Firewalla is sort of what Gryphon is doing in their routers. Probably not quite as good, but they do have this HomeBound service that puts all your devices through the router even when on different or cell networks. I figured that was overkill so I don't use it.