Mesh Wifi advice • Non-Gaming • Science & Technology • Eurogamer.net

IronGiant 6 Mar 2019 13:58:16 6,352 posts
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Hoping the EG hive mind can help with this..

We've got Sky Q and Broadband which works fine but the router is upstairs and the Wi-Fi signal drops significantly in other rooms downstairs, plus I need a connection in the garden room. Been looking at Mesh systems and wondered if anyone has gone for one and used it with Sky?

The Google Whole Home Mesh system is on offer at Amazon and for not much more the BT version is also tempting.

Edited by IronGiant at 13:59:03 06-03-2019

Tricky 6 Mar 2019 14:03:36 5,088 posts
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I've had Google WiFi for a while now and it's superb - I think I only had to restart one of the nodes once due to an odd issue with slow speed but it cleared up once it was rebooted.

Not used it with Sky Q, but it covers my entire house. It's a 4 bedroom property using 3 nodes which is probably overkill, but in my old house the rooms were spread out over a larger distance (man cave off the back of the garage, which was the furthest point from the modem) so it was very necessary there.

Alastair 6 Mar 2019 14:09:19 24,828 posts
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I have recently got the Google WiFi solution. 3 pods/nodes for approx Ł300.
Very pleased with it so far.
An absolute doddle to set up - there should be no problem using it with Sky - it's only replacing your router WiFi - one node has to be plugged into your router.

I believe some of the cheaper solutions use different tech/frequencies for the nodes communicating with each other.
The BT solution look slike it has terrible reviews on Amazon which is because they released a patch which busted the whole system. A friend of mine has it and he is very pleased with the performance.

fontgeeksogood 6 Mar 2019 14:42:11 12,913 posts
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How far across the estate does it cover Al? I mean, do they really need WiFi in the servants' servants quarters

mongo116 6 Mar 2019 14:52:57 62 posts
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I use the BT one and it's worked without any issue since it's been setup.

BurnoutJunkie 6 Mar 2019 20:31:01 1,222 posts
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I have Google Wi-fi, bought three units last summer. No regrets, works perfectly. Very expensive though. Would recommend.

HarryB 6 Mar 2019 22:55:21 7,630 posts
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Same, Google WiFi and its fantastic. The app is good too if you mess with stuff often and need to open ports etc ..

BurnoutJunkie 7 Mar 2019 09:14:17 1,222 posts
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@HarryB I've not really had to mess with anything yet, but glad that your impression of it is good.

@OP - sorry, should've said. I use my Google Wifi with BT fibre, not Sky...though I don't see why it would have any issues with Sky. I hope not. If you buy from Amazon and it doesn't work, you should be able to return it without any issues.

breakablepants 7 Mar 2019 09:54:33 1,118 posts
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I have had a TP-Link Deco set-up for nearly 2 years now, connected to Sky Broadband (phoneline connection - there is no fibre in my part of Brighton). My typical download speed is 8-9mbps, upload 1-3. So crappy connection :-)

I live in a Victorian ground floor flat with thick walls and tried powerline and wifi extenders, but the mesh is good as the handover is seamless. I have one unit at the front of the flat, one towards the back, and one in a basement room we had added.

The units are unobtrusive and a doddle to set up. 90% of the time everything is fine, but I've had the following issues:

- first set had one of the nodes brick itself after 6 months. Got a replacement thanks to Amazon
- I do get intermittent issues with bandwidth dropping to near zero, I've checked with Sky and they say there is no issue at their end, and router is up to date etc. TBH I never totally trust Sky's connection, but I don't have the technical skills to get to the bottom of it. Does not appear to be hardware, but I can swap back to the wifi network from the Sky Router and I have no issues.
- The Deco app is OK but not great. For example, you can run a speed test that will tell you you are getting speeds when you know it's not connected. Also, sometimes it will not connect at all to the units.
- Quite a lot of gripes on the TP-Link forums on the software being rubbish

All in all they do their job but I am not amazed by them. However, in fairness, I've had to do a hard reset a handful of times in 2 years. I would expect that with a better connection into the flat I would find they work a bit better.

fiery_jackass 7 Mar 2019 10:00:22 1,214 posts
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I've had an Orbi with one satellite for about a year, covers a fairly big, old house well, from the front doorbell through to the garden and, crucially, good coverage in the upstairs toilet. Very fast.

Took a bit of fiddling to get the placement right but it's worked well since. Didn't play nicely with my VPN, though, happily there's a Chrome extension for that which works well.

IronGiant 7 Mar 2019 10:19:14 6,352 posts
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Took the plunge on the Google double pack in the Amazon offer, thanks for the advice.. Hoping for good results.

Deleted user 7 March 2019 11:35:11

Love my BT Mesh.

Before it, I couldn't get into my annex even with a TP Link booster. after getting a two pack, I was able to watch streaming HD youtube at the end of the garden with no problems. I like that I can easily pause "groups" of items and can set windows for when they can be used.

My kids don't like that feature so much